Allston residents living in the midst of Boston University’s “Frat Row” have learned to coexist amongst the empty beer bottles and raucous parties of the University’s fraternities.
BU has 12 active recognized fraternities, according to GreekRank.
Although the University does not have any officially sanctioned fraternity houses, three streets in Allston have been designated as “Frat Row” by students. These streets — Pratt Street, Ashford Street and Wadsworth Street — contain the majority of houses used by the school’s fraternities.
The off-campus houses appeal to the brothers due to the price and sociability of the area.
“I was able to convince my parents to live in the house because it’s actually cheaper to live off campus here with the money off my rent that I’m getting for living in a smaller room than living on campus,” Ian McKelvey, a Kappa Sigma brother, said.
Nora Scott, an Allston resident, said she initially moved to the area to be closer to the basement music scene and affordability. However, the cheaper rent comes with a price, she said.
The fraternities host parties on weekends throughout the year, typically falling on holidays and the beginning and end of semesters.
Often, the parties begin with a pre-game and then transition to a mixer with a sorority, McKelvey explained. At around 10 p.m., the parties usually open to outside students.
“They’re screaming a lot. The cops come and bust up the parties,” Scott said. “People are puking and screaming. It’s loud.”
David Murphy, an Allston resident, said several hundred college students across Boston go through the streets hopping from frat to frat at “all hours of the night” throughout the weekend.
Fraternities assign a couple of brothers “on risk” to watch the streets in an effort to control their parties, McKelvey said. The appointed brothers will make sure the party doesn’t spill out in the street and guests are not bothering people, he added.
Mitchell Wallman, a brother at Delta Tau Delta, said the mornings after a party the brothers recuperate and clean up the aftermath.
“When you have so many guys willing to help, it’s not too bad. Everyone kind of does a little bit, and it goes a long way,” he said.
Elianna Gonzales lives on Ashford Street and said the streets are frequently dirty, trashed with empty cups and bottles.
Scott said with the quick graduation turnaround, there are new residents in the fraternity houses each year, so long-time Allston occupants receive the “luck of the draw” each year.
“Last year, they hated us. They thought we were calling the cops, which we were not, and our car got vandalized,” Scott said.
But this year, Scott said the frats have made a greater effort to keep up neighbor relations by giving flowers and their phone numbers to their closest neighbors, which they’ve never done before.
“They’re probably the nicest this year,” she said.
Though some residents were content with the gifts, tension remains between the frats and their neighbors, McKelvey said.
Kappa Sigma recently relocated to Wadsworth Street, hoping to attract less police presence. But now, they have more run-ins with the police than before, McKelvey said.
Nevertheless, the residents and frats have created a coexistence, and as a perk for residents, “it’s kind of entertaining people-watching,” Scott said.