The Castro Valley Pub Crawl

For some time now Your Boulevardier has been aware of the Castro Valley Pub Crawl, an annual pedestrian pilgrimage through the bars of Castro Valley, with a drink purchased at each. The event has grown from a handful of young men in 2002 to a seasonal event garnering some two hundred participants.

But Your Boulevardier has not participated. There are several reasons. He cannot afford to ingest the empty calories; nor can he afford to sacrifice the brain cells. He is approximately twice the age of the target demographic. But most of all, Your Boulevardier is simply not a habitué of the public house; he prefers to patronize pet shops and picture shows.

This year, it was decided, would be different. Tonight, October 6, was the date for the crawl, and Your Boulevardier was determined to join the fun. Now, Your Boulevardier could not muster the courage to participate in the entire event, but he would partake of its shortest leg, from the Brass Boar (the bar at Castro Village Bowl) to Don Jose's, some 20 yards away. He set out from home -- on foot, of course -- around 9:45 to do so.

The event must have been running ahead of schedule, because when the Boulevard was reached at 10:00 p.m., groups of pedestrians were buzzing westward past the Chabot Cinema and JD's. Your Boulevardier thought that it could not be, that refreshments at four establishments (Dino's, Krayon's, Brass Boar, and Don Jose's) would be completed in just two hours. (The crawl began at 8:00 p.m., and organizers had estimated 45 minutes per bar plus walking time.) So he headed eastward, against the flow, toward the Village.

This provided an opportunity to scope a portion of the crowd. (It must be said that one does not know if this was a representative sample of the Castro Valley Pub Crawl's participants.) They appeared to be overwhelmingly male and youthful. Costumes were rare, in spite of this year's stated intention; a kilt here, scrubs there, an occasional cowboy hat. (No berets were sighted.) While the participants were tipsy, they were not unruly. Most surprisingly, they were clustered in twos and threes; for some reason, Your Boulevardier had expected larger groups.

When it became clear that the Pub Crawl had left the Village -- and that the next stop, should Your Boulevardier want to participate, would be Spanky's -- a decision was made. A cowardly decision, one that may be regretted in the morning. Your Boulevardier decided to walk home instead of to a bar. While he thinks the Castro Valley Pub Crawl is a wonderful, positive thing, he realized then that it is not his thing. He prefers to walk Castro Valley Boulevard in the daytime with his Trusty BoulevarDog, rather than in the evening with intoxicated strangers.

Reports from the Crawl are welcome in the comments.