There were a lot of lonely people in the Lansdowne neighborhood of Gladstone Manor during the first few weeks of the pandemic lockdown back in March 2020, so they started meeting weekly at curbside for happy hour.
It’s been 262 weeks and they’re still doing it, writes Kenny Cooper for WHYY.
Gladstone Manor, on the western end of the borough, was built with narrow streets and homes close together.
Yet Barbara Silzie, who lived alone, barely knew her neighbors, except to wave and say hello, though she did have their emails.
So, five years ago, she sent an email inviting her neighbors on Eldon Road to a socially distanced curbside happy hour.
A new neighborhood custom was born, and now the neighbors freely share conversation, drinks, food, and laughter.
“People have been living here for 20 years that I didn’t know — who now I sit out every week with and I just didn’t know them before. So it adds a texture and a depth I think for all of us,” Silzle said. “I don’t want to speak for everyone, but it’s wild that the pandemic really did grow a community here.”
See how the neighbors feel about this unexpected outcome from the pandemic at WHYY.
