September 5, 2008
Halloweeen Moves to AT&T Park Area
As SFist first reported back in March, Halloween in the Castro (as you knew it) is dead. But! The formerly violent celebration will be resurrected "at a parking lot near AT&T Park as a multicultural celebration." It'll be planned in two parts: one part family party, one part adult party. The family fun (4 to 9 p.m.) will feature a Burning Man art installation, local youth performers, a Dia de Los Muertos exhibit, and parade, and more. The adult party (8 p.m. to midnight) has Destiny's Child's Michelle Williams, tranny performances, a $31 price tag, and booze. (But what we really want to know is this: are the streets in the Castro going to shutdown again that night?)
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San Franciscans! We've listened to your commentary, and have given you everything you wanted!
Culturally rich Castro district? Total crap. How do you get better than a parking lot? Yeah, I knew you'd be excited.
Plus, our party is so fucking edgy, that Burning Man is the KID'S part. Drop your kids off with our expert hippies/babysitters/dealers, and they won't cry about a thing until tomorrow's wretched hangover.
Oh. Also! It's multicultural, motherfucker. Right in the middle of our fucking parking lot. Did we mention it was in a parking lot? Shit yeah, bitches.
This is more retarded than Trig Palin.
manys just made me guffaw so hard I almost shat myself.
Is there some kind of Comment Hall of Fame? Because if there isn't, there should be for manys. We're all going to hell, too.
"The adult party (8 p.m. to midnight) has Destiny's Child's Michelle Williams, tranny performances.."
How will we know that it's really Michelle and not some random tranny from Oakland. And for $31 I would much rather see trans Laverne from "I want to work for Diddy". Now she is awesome.
http://www.myspace.com/lavernecoxnyc
This is fucked up. If you recall, Supervisor Dufty said on TV NEWS CAMERAS that last year's canceled event will be brought back to the Castro, especially because this year's was planned to be on a Friday.
The city broke its promise again, and now we go to a notorious parking lot, in where else???? AT&T Park.
And as always, whenever there is any event at AT&T Park, including the Cirque, you know they are going to fuck you out of as much money as they can. The news already stated a $31 admission fee, but don't forget the usual 17% ticket surcharge when buying at a ticket outlet or online, and if they offer parking (especially if you hate Muni) you'll get nabbed with at least a $20 or even $30 parking fee. Lastly, if you plant to eat there, there will probably be an outside food and liquids ban, thereby forcing you to pay $5 for a bottle of water, and $10 for a cheap looking burger.
And if we all recall from the Outside Lands experience, I don't think Muni's metro system is particularly ready to take the brunt again. The parking lot is too far away from the N line, and everyone will be taking the T-Third which only runs one-car trains because the platforms are too short.
Bring it back to the Castro. Last year's "closure" really hurt the neighborhood's economy because the city encouraged businesses to close. And the ones who resisted and opened had lines out the door.
My estimates shows that the city spent at least $300,000; mostly in police overtime, $40,000 to David Perry's anti-Halloween promos (poorly made using Youtube quality videos and poster drawings that looks like some kid in kindergarten did it), and other expenses.
If the city used that $300,000 to open last year's Halloween at the Castro, it would have been much more beneficial to the neighborhood's economy.
Read more from my old postings:
http://www.akit.org/2007/10/lamest-no-halloween-in-castro.html
http://www.akit.org/2007/11/halloween-in-castro-2007-financial-bust.html
@manys and what
that was the first time i laughed so hard at work that i got busted reading blogs. excellent work.
$31? Are they kidding? Way to make sure no one goes. It makes me want to go to Castro just to spite them. When is the city going to figure out that it is obligated to provide logistical and material support for popular events, rather than try to move them as a back-handed attempt at cancellation.
Ideally, the city would keep Halloween in Castro while expanding its geographic scale in order to reduce crowding, prevent altercations, and allow better policing. Exploding the event across the city is only going to divert resources away from what is likely to remain the epicenter of the celebration.
I hope everyone has fun getting a lesson in world cultures at the city-sponsored parking lot pep-rally.
wallcloud hits on a good idea. halloween should be a citywide thing. different neighborhoods, different events.