Halloween in the city

To try and describe tonight would be like trying to explain a three hour thriller. It is mixed with humor, surprise, fear and I am sorry to say sadness.

The day actually started quite early, around 11am with 12 foot fences being erected around one of the main 24 hour grocery stores for the lower part of the city. Apparently last year unruly customers were so bad they destroyed most of the liquor aisle among other areas of the store and thus the decision was made to close the entire store. Thus the police were using the opportunity to turn that parking lot into a holding and staging area. We are starting with good intentions and strong planning.

My night did not begin until around 8 when I decided to head over and start watching the festivities. Sure enough hundreds of police officers were in the parking lot having a final catered meal before the festivities truly got started. Getting into the main area required entrance through a security area that was looking predominately through bags, but a fairly cursory look. No pat downs for most people. Keep in mind the festivities closes a approximately 12 blocks of 6 lane roads. A single emergency lane was cordoned off using police fencing for easy transportation of officers and medical equipment to all areas of the event. I give you this information to try and paint a picture for what is to come.

Saturday before Halloween has a much less extreme version of Halloween day that is limited predominately for local San Francisco residents. It encompasses Castro street and is a great party with virtually everyone there to have a good time. Although small incidents do happen it is a safe fun filled event with people from all walks of life all dressed up and sharing a fun holiday. The day of Halloween is very different. We get literally hundreds of thousands of people from east bay and south bay many of which I am sorry to say do not come for just a good time. But I get ahead of myself. Around 8pm it is just starting to fill up with several families walking the area with small children. Some of the costumes are just amazing, thankfully I brought my camera and will be posting several of these pictures. As the evening progress the crowd thickens noticeably to the point where it gets a bit difficult to maneuver around, but still not terrible.

On a side note, until you have been in massive crowds of hundreds of thousands of people you can not truly understand what crowd behavior is like. It is amazing witnessing the ebbs and flowing of human waves of people. Little holes will open up and then just as quickly close as the vacuum is filled by more people. A fascinating scene in human behavior.

Unfortunately along with revelers in full costumes also comes thousands of gang members or gangster like people. This is the one time of year where they not only can come in full black but they can all wear masks over their faces and get away with it. These guys yell all types of lascivious words to the girls in skimpy outfits and usually take quite a few liberties feeling behinds and groping chests as well. Regardless of if the girls are with other guys, unless those guys are other large gangster looking individuals most are hesitant to really push back since none of these men run alone. I am sorry to say but this is not only common but in many cases expected. Many of the women arriving are at this point wearing nothing more than lingerie from Fredericks of Hollywood, but public nudity doesn’t seem to phase them. In fact there are some women who are baring their cheat (painted of course) all in the name of a costume. Up to now nothing is different than previous years.

A remarkable thing did happen early in the evening with a random girl coming up to me and saying my name. I did not recognize her but she is the daughter of a man who lives in my old apartment complex, in fact his daughter and I used to hang out at the pool for several summers together. Lucky she recognized me for there is no way I would have recognized her. We caught up for a little while and then she ran off with her other friends.

Still early in the evening around 11pm some popping noises were heard close by in the crowd. Most people didn’t think much of them as they sounded honestly like firecrackers in the unbelievable roar of the crowd and techno music. 5 officers stationed nearby took off at a run a few minutes later toward the noise but still nothing terrible unusual. Then a massive crash and all the safety barricades the police had setup came crashing down, not from the public but as literally several hundred police came pouring into the crowd at a full run. Now those of you who may not have had the experience of attending large rallies protected by police in full riot protection outfits, these officers do not run. They stay together, form walls and move slowly and with purpose. When these officers, many of whom are SWAT or ESU (Emergency Services) run best to stay out of the way. Then the waves of humanity start to push away from the affected scene not more than a few hundred feet away. Soon dozens of police bikes and soon fire trucks and ambulances start flying down the street. People are pushed to the sides of the street where they just hang out. In the confusion unfortunately some people decide to start taking advantage of the situation and start to more problems. I choose to wear a priest outfit every year for a couple of reasons, one it is easy to move around in and eaasy to manage but the second is it comes with a frock that goes from head to tail and makes pick pocketing near impossible. The amazing thing I felt no less than a dozen hands checking each area of my pants trying to gain access to pockets while the masses were at its most dense.

Soon word spreads that the event is officially shut down early and for everyone to get out as fast as possible. A feeling of panic is still thick in the crowd and the ones that are suffering the most are the kids from out of town. Many of these middle and high school kids can be heard on their cell phones crying and talking to parents trying to figure out the best way to just get out of there. A few of us locals start to help the kids pointing them to closest public transportation or exits just to get them out of the area. Eventually I work my way to the exit and take shelter at one of the medic bases, identifying myself and talking to a couple of the local medics. It turns out there were 7 shootings, 2 stabbings, 1 person thrown through a plate glass window and that was just in that thirty minute window. Several times a large phalanx of over 50 police bikes took off at full speed lights and sirens blaring to incidents in the perimeter of the event. I hazard to guess what those were all about.

All told, what should have been a fairly quiet fun filled event turned into a nightmare for many people and unfortunately something that will have consequences for events in the future. As for now they are just now turning off the sirens so it is time for me to finally get to bed.

Hope everyone else is safe and had a good Halloween