The North End of Boston

The animated friendliness and sense of well-being of North End street life is contagious. In getting to know the community better, one realizes that there is a complex set of rules of behavior which operates beneath this jovial exterior. The invisible code is hard to learn, particularly for outsiders who are considered a threat to the community and are regarded with mixed friendliness and hostility.

One outsider learned about the code in the hardest way. He persisted in parking his car in a vacant curbside space, despite local instructions to the contrary. "Hell," he said, "it's a public parking place; no one can own a parking space on the street." When he returned, two hours later, all his tires were slashed.

A North Ender can in fact own what outsiders might consider public property. A highly organized code exists and can only be learned by living in the North End for a long time, and even then, you can never fully share it unless you are an Italian.