Halloween

Since it’s that time of the year again, I thought I’d do a Halloween-related post to heighten the atmosphere here a bit. This entry takes me back to the public Halloween costume party in Castro Street in San Francisco, USA. Once considered to be the leading Halloween celebration in the country, it was a well-known city event from the 1970’s up until it was canceled in 2007 due to security issues.

I had the chance to see the second to the last Halloween celebration in the Castro. This mainstay in San Francisco’s gay district was immensely popular with city folks of all backgrounds as well as tourists.  The 2005 Halloween party was loud, boisterous, shocking, funny and kitschy yet we as spectators just could not help but watch.

After dinner on the 31st of October, me and my roommate took the bus from our dorms to the Castro. All I had on was a lame postman costume but it was alright. Some of our local friends had suggested that we check out the quirky San Francisco style of celebrating Halloween. And yeah, it was really eye-opening.

Pictures after the jump. Some of the pictures may be considered offensive, so be aware of that. Hope you view with an open mind as I did!

The people love to be seen and photographed. Some of them work really hard to get their costumes done. It’s serious business during Halloween!

In recent years, the event came under the wing of the city government. Although security was tightened, violent shootings and fights marked the celebrations in some years. Good thing it was mostly safe during our year.

I heard there won’t be any such celebrations for Halloween this year in San Francisco. Revelers this year may very well put on their own costumes and go trick-and-treating with the kids. At least there will be free candy.