West Hollywood Halloween: A 2018 Preview

Halloween is celebrated most everywhere but it's always different in West Hollywood...where it's called a Carnaval, a parade of people coming in to see the most creative self-expression in a pop-up, one day festival, that makes it a different type of be-in than Burning Man, but still has all the trappings of an annual American Halloween tradition, with an organic connection to its city of birth. As no place floats giant balloons the way it's done in New York, where the sky's the limit, and as roses are red and rolled over everything...as a rigid motif applied equally to everyone...from decorative floats to the stadium that shares the same name, with the parade and college football game, known as "The granddaddy of them all," it's the union of conformity, and only a journalist might insist on letting it be known, the Parade preceded the stadium and the game, and I assume it's home town of Pasadena is ready to fight the Battle of the Roses against eco-friendly flora and fauna, a CA State imperative, as was done, when the rules of the game that applied to color had been loosened for The American Beauty Rose and Wimbledon...now no longer all red nor white.

Weho's Halloween Carnival makes no demands nor adjustments to inhibit self-expression; it's the city's reason for existing...the original "All Local" approach that has permeated so many parts of our culture..."Trick or Treat" is implicitly subjective and at Halloween, it's all about expectation and surprise...the devil's in the details, as it is with all best efforts to show one's stuff, so here is a concise preview to the extent one can be made:

This is not a garden variety day in West Hollywood for anyone, of any age, and it is not for the faint of heart nor head, as there is as much, if not more pressure on those who pride themselves on drag, to up the ante...I am incapable of imagining what impact Halloween has on Rupaul and wouldn't dare attempt it.

There are parameters, however, to ensure the safety and dignity of everyone:

One can't violate standards of decency that apply to everyone under the law.

Safety is the sidebar show...the extraordinary precautions taken by the West Hollywood Sherriff's Department, days in advance, that the untrained eye easily might confuse with a state of siege, as if L.A. finally annexed Weho against its will, or the upstart community of Palms, succeeded in an un-friendly corporate take-over, because it lacks LLC status of its own, but security of this kind ensures enjoyment by one and all...a Carnaval is about having a good time, and while this is the most LGBTQ-savvy police department in the world, ensuring everyone's safety is still the #1 job description ...it's worth braving the crowds just to see a Sherriff Deputy crack a smile, right after he or she realizes someone dressed in a similar uniform, didn't get first dibs on the 2019 line of Sherriff-wear, and only after resolving confusion as to whether this had been the savvy strategy of an undercover colleague, who, on this one day, went undercover in disguise of being an officer of the law.

I will say, however, no matter what anyone tells you...parking is likely to be your biggest Halloween nightmare.

Meanwhile, here's what's happening for costumed revelers of the store-bought kind...categorized in broad strokes, as offerings in Weho, L.A. proper...and the world at large...

It seems Black Panther is going to be the blockbuster it had been on screen, tailored mostly for adults, based on limited research.

It seems Kim Jung-Un has overtaken Donald Trump as #1 Villain...once again, not the result of a comprehensive survey but neither is it an arbitrary assessment...anyone familiar with the store WACKO knows it doesn't carry the burden of worrying about what anyone else is doing... Billy Shire, the store's owner and buyer for 30 years, has his own Midas touch, and he only chose one mask in advance of Halloween, and he rules his roost and empowered the North Korean dictator, over Donald Trump, who is still a contender everywhere else, even at The Block Party in West Hollywood. However, either it's he or me who seems to be having an identity crisis...it wasn't easy distinguishing between masks labeled Old Man and Donald Trump, no longer as simple as a combover job, and at Ah's in Weho, he is carried in two choices of inflatable costumes, a choice of the President carrying Putin or Jung-Un, and I am uncertain if the implication, is to make each, the monkey on his back or the devil on his shoulder, unless, of course, you swing the other way, in which case, flip devil with angel.

No confusion about commerce...the Kim Jung-Un mask and the Donald Trump mask both are made in China...with seemingly no tariff impeding stock nor sales. Block Party has a unique position in West Hollywood, as it is located in the heart of the city, and at the Halloween Carnival, it's dead center, so the specificity of its choices of masks is just as worthy of consideration as Wacko, and new to their line of top selling movable mouth masks, in time for Halloween, is a Goat...one of Halloween's staples of menace, with which I was unfamiliar. My guess, for THIS block party that always seems ahead of the curve, this time, even ahead of the manufacturer...it's all but a given- this is a nod to Goat Yoga.

Currently on display is another tradition that's taken hold on the road where Weho exists in tandem, with one of the country's historic highways, Route 66, a virtual back and forth timeline of American History. The windows on this world are at the thrift store, Out of The Closet, and are decorated by an artist named Edgar, at #eiotown. They are Halloween specific and of the same high caliber of art Edgar creates all year round. Andy Warhol also started out as a window dresser and his big break happened in Los Angeles, as part of a group show, but Edgar has a unique profile, as do all artists....he was born in Mexico, and now lives in Orange County; he is a favorite son in WEHO, where his work is accessible, and seen mostly on foot, and it's part of the give and take of a car culture, that so many people have no idea what they're passing by, but that's no longer your problem. You also can see his work online at: www.eiotown.com

For parents who are choosey about the sights and sounds their kids are exposed to on Halloween, there are some beautiful kid-friendly murals on Fairfax Avenue, that decorate the exterior walls of a TRADE ONLY costume store. I include this as a tip, but I shall be the ghoul of false promises, if I send anyone to Palace Costumes to check-out their murals, who then knocks on their door. Trust me...Halloween is taken seriously in WEHO and its surrounding neighborhoods...I shall regret having made assurances I could not gurantee but it won't be my house that's haunted...forever. This is a ghost-savvy town...ask any realtor. They will not hesitate to tell you nightmares about the re-sale value of a haunted house and how hard it is to sell even at a discount...and that's not a fairytale.

HAPPY WEHO HALLOWEEN!