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Happy Halloween


Which Tyler

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No witches or ghosties flying above Gotham's Towers.  But convoys of police helicopters, you betcha! Matching the battalions of cops on the corners, unmasked, drinking coffee, bored out of their minds.  All the streets are cordoned off, so our neighborhood, the step-off point for the parade, from three blocks east of the route, and three blocks west of the route are blocked off with stanchions, the sidewalks are all stanchioned off too.  Essentially, my neighborhood and downtown west Manhattan between Chelsea and Canal is kettled.

The little kids are out in our nabes, trick or treating this afternoon, and looking so cute.  Older folks are gathering in hordes, attempting to stake out spots along the parade route. They may stake as they like four hours before step-off, but they won't be able to keep those spots as more and more and more thousands arrive, pushing and shoving to get a view.

No home-made costumes in sight, just lots and lots and lots of glitter, silver and gold lame, and immense make-up jobs with inches long false lashes.

It's early yet, thougn

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31 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Lol, bargained with a cute 8-10 year old girl dressed as a rabbit. Scored a small pack of sour skittles for the rest of my bowl (maybe a dozen candies or so). I'd call that a win. 

Does she eat the red ones last?

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For a photo gallery of the sorts of costumes individual people and their friends (as opposed to the members of the parade) were wearing last night, all taken in the subway, go here:

https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/photos/subway-halloween-2021?image=71

Quote

One of the event's organizers, Jeanne Fleming, estimated "60,000 participants and half a million spectators."

A couple of hours after the parade finished, we went out.  It didn't resemble at all what things were like at 11 PM on Halloween night in the pre-pandemic years.  Many of the restaurants had closed by 10 PM, worn out from bumper crowds of diners since the minute they opened.  There were hardly anyone in the streets and the police stanchions were already being removed.  We went to a place we haven't been since pandemic, an old established, pricey spot favored by those who make a living one way and another in entertainment, particularly on the stage and in film.  Unlike previous years, there was hardly anyone inside at the bar, which would on this night be 20 person thick with people in drag and fewer other sorts of costumes.  It was friendly, jolly, and fun, but it wasn't the screaming raucous free-for-all one would have encountered on other Halloween, post-parade nights.  All the diners were outside, the drinkers inside, and we weren't drinking hard either.  It was comfortable being among the others too, as no one is allowed in who isn't vaccinated.

What was fun though, is several of the restaurant's local regulars were 'in costume' -- meaning slippers, pjs and bathrobes!  One announced with comfortable satisfaction, "When I leave all you lovely people, all I have to do is brush my teeth before getting into bed."

Oddly it was far crazier last year despite no vaccines, no indoor service, etc.  There were parties -- illegal gatherings of far more than 10 - 20 people inside, more like a hundred or more and professional djs blasting into the streets and courtyards -- that were  horror shows of noise and screaming, that went on until dawn.  A few them were forcibly shut down, but others weren't.  None of that going on this year, at least around our stomping grounds.  For which one is profoundly grateful, when it is necessary to get up early for work.

 

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