It was a long walk - about 2 miles to where the huge gathering was. And by the time I got there, I was already tired. The nearer I got, the more dress-uppers I saw. And this was around 9pm, and most of them were already drunk, screaming their heads off.
The moment I hit the street where the whole thing started, everything changed. It wasn't just littered with people here and there. This was like one solid mass of human meat. Wedged together as tightly as can be. And it was a daunting task to move around in this place. And an even bigger task to snap photographs. It was close to impossible to take a picture of costume people without blinding someone with my flash. I tried. And I failed. And also, stupidly enough, my camera ran out of batteries. I would've taken like a million pictures if it wasn't for the fact that my camera battery decided to die after the 20th shot or so. I regret not charging it up fully before leaving, but then again most of the pictures I would've taken would be difficult to see anyway. Night shots don't quite work when you're trying to photograph a sea of people.
So what was the experience like?
Unique.
That's the most polite word I can think of. It wasn't my idea of a more 'traditional' Halloween. Mainly because this is Hollywood and everyone just wants to party. I guess Halloween in Hollywood really is more of an excuse for the city to go mad right up to the highest degree. It's quite mad as it is already on normal days, but I guess when it comes to the 31st of October, these people forget all sense of holding back and really just go mental. It's like one huge party. Think 'college dorm party like in the movies' kind of party. There's just people all over the place dancing, drinking, eating, etc... but just in weird costumes.
Speaking of costumes, I did mention the whole cast and crew in the previous post, but there's something I forgot to mention. With such a vast majority dressing up, I guess some people just go the extra mile to look extra special. The 'twitter' costume was pretty funny. They basically had a styrofoam block around their face with the 'Twitter' design and they had the Bird Logos on sticks which they carried. Then of course there were some really cool robot costumes with blinking light eyes. There were also group costumes - there was one group of elderly folks who dressed up as angry villagers with torches, protesting against 'monsters'. Kinda cool. Then there were just some people who went crazy and made like these really elaborate costumes.
And for the night, they became celebrities. People were taking pictures with them. They were basically standing around with their costumes, flaunting their style while waiting for people to come up to them and take a photo. They became the Hollywood regulars - the ones dressed as all the famous movie characters in front of the Kodak, each and every day. For one night, everyone adopted that occupation.
It's an experience I enjoyed, but only once. I'f I'm here for the next one, I'm not going there again.
I did catch some really nice music though. I remember mentioning this 'gospel'-ish style group? They sang alot of really 'black-church-gospel' type songs. With all the crazy tambourines and clapping and happy jig dancing. It was fascinating to see that happening alongside techno DJ's not 20 metres away.
The highlight of the night - and I really enjoyed this one - was a group of dancers performing Thriller in the middle of the street. They had a portable boom box with the music and they had a cast of zombie/ghost dressups doing thriller. That was actually pretty darn sweet. Now I wish I had learnt the moves and joined them. That would've been so much fun. It's still a stupid dance in my opinion, but when you have 20 people doing it, it suddenly becomes so darn cool.
To wrap up? It's not what I imagined Halloween to be. And technically, it's not what Halloween is like anywhere else. It's Hollywood, what do you expect?
I'd like to experience Halloween elsewhere - with kids running around trick-or-treating and homes decorated to look like spooky houses. It's all apartments in Hollywood - nothing to decorate.
End of Part 2.
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Part 3 - PICTURES (not alot of them)
Stay tuned.
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