After dinner last night a couple of us went up to the Castro and managed to not get shot.
We were a block away at Church and Market when we heard the shots ring out. bang bang bangbang bang bang.
It was pretty clear they weren’t fireworks and then maybe 15 seconds later there was the noise of the parade fencing coming down as the panic wave started.
There was a noticable reduction in checking at the gates this year (though we decided not to go in since it was already far too packed. We hung out a little outside and watched the costumes come in.
After a couple minutes things settled down, though you could tell something had just gone down since cops were streaming in from the outside area.
I’m sure this week there will be a lot of discusion of what to do about Halloween in the Castro. It is a great thing and a horrible thing at the same time. A lot of creativity, and drunken violence.
You could tell that the city cheaped out on things this year, no entertainment but more cops. It all added to a general bad vibe.
This guy had one of the better costumes I saw, he was a perfect Hasselhoff/Kitt combo. The red light in front even moved. He must be one of those guys that don’t work at a startup and have oddles of free time.
This year I was a combo “Abe Lincoln” / “Ape Lincoln” depending on the time.
