Halloween in West Hollywood

Warning...this blog post is a long one! After you read you will see why it had to be!  Prepare yourself for Halloween in West Hollywood!

I have always enjoyed the Halloween holiday.  I loved going trick or treating when I was a child, and I loved handing out candy to the neighborhood kids when I became an adult.  I would even throw a treat in for the parents by giving them cups of hot apple cider so they could continue on the journey with their kids, but my husband, well....he LOVES Halloween!  Every year he gets into the season and plans cool outfits and ways to celebrate the holiday in true fashion.  He would even dress up to hand out candy to the kids!  But THIS year no candy for the witches and warlocks because it was our first Halloween in Los Angeles, the city where movies are made and the party never dies!

As the days got closer you could feel the excitement in the air.  Never had I seen SO MUCH to do over Halloween.  The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) had an exhibit with Tim Burton's wonderfully twisted creations which we did not get to attend because it was sold out, the costume stores were full of wonderful and freaky things to delight the eyes and there seemed to be hayrides, mazes and haunted houses EVERYWHERE.  I had resigned myself to just handing candy out this year but hubby had other plans.  He was so excited that I got excited so on Halloween day he ventured out and obtained two great costumes for us so we could celebrate in the festivities of the Halloween Carnival in West Hollywood.

Ah yes, West Hollywood holds one of the largest Halloween parties in the world!  This party rivals Marti Gras in SO MANY ways.  Little did I know this would be one of the best Halloween's of my lifetime.

The evening started with my husband picking me up from work so we could get a jumpstart on the evening.  He also wanted to show me the treasures of his Halloween shopping. I was going to be an Egyptian and he had obtained the needed items to pull it off, at the last minute to boot!  How he manages to get these costumes is beyond me, but the labor of his day showed.  All I needed was a little bit of makeup and I was set for the evening!  We headed home and started the dress up!  I know,  I know...you want to know what he dressed up as, but you will have to wait on that for now!

We had been warned not to drive and that it would be best to catch the Metro. So we routed our way and planned our time carefully so we could jump in the pool of ghoul as soon as possible.  I am so glad we live close to the Metro, we headed to the station dressed to the 9's.  It was an evening of treats for the eyes.  It seemed everyone was headed to the same party so the train was full of ghosts, vampires, princesses, ax murderers and a host of other creatures.  One short ride to the bus stop and the night amped up.  There must have been 100 dressed up people waiting on the bus to get to the party.  All of us checking each other out, buzzing and ready to get the party started right.  After two buses PACKED full of people passed us up, it was our time to cram into the bus like sardines.  I am sure we were over capacity, there was NO way you could not get to know the riders around you intimately in some way because you had no choice of being pushed together.  As we bounced and bobbled down Santa Monica Blvd we chanted out street names, laughed together and helped create the pre-atmosphere of the night, even the bus driver was cool and sang out the stop names as we got closer.  

Final stop....FAIRFAX and SANTA MONICA, we all poured off the bus and streamed in droves to the party.  You just can't take it all in, so much to see, so much music, the lookie loo's, the street vendors with yummy smells of hot links, and my appreciation of the flats I had decided to wear instead of heels!  (HA) Yes a girl can only go so far in heels at a party like this!

On the way to the party, we decided we would stop into Hamburger Mary's to grab a burger, it was one of the places we had wanted to stop so tonight would be a perfect complement!  YUMMY, YUMMY and more YUMMY.  I can't tell you how HUGE the burger was but I was only able to eat a 4th of it and another patron decided it was worth a photo!  Blue Cheese, Onions, Sauces, the bun, oh my....I ate like the Egyptian Queen I was!  And all around us a free show of people dressed in costumes, we saw a "Lucy", a pirate, a flasher, Aladdin, and more than I can recall, and that was just the people standing in the line for the restroom!

Belly's full, still full of anticipation and ready to let loose, we finished off our meal and joined the parades of people headed to the main attraction.  The beauty of this night is the feeling of oneness.  Everyone was happy, not a fight in sight.  People taking photos with strangers, talking to each other like old friends and helpful if you had a question.

Then BAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Let's get this party started!  The streets opened up to the masses.  Wall to wall crowds, all moving and grooving to the free music provided for soundtrack of the night.  West Hollywood KNOWS how to throw a party.  There were stages on each street, music pumping, people smoozing.  If I thought I had seen the best of the costumes on the way to the party, I was sadly mistaken.  Some people just know how to do it up right.  Now obviously you have the people who like to dress sexy, or want to just see people's eyes bug out, and you can bet there was plenty of those....but those who love Halloween to the core, well they just know how to blow the mind.  It's Hollywood ya'll, city where movies are the blood pulse of the town. Most are performers at heart and dedication to this holiday makes them rise to the occasion.  My favorite of the night was the creepy zombies that would make your blood cold.  Check out the one who would really made me take a triple take.

As we headed into the pulse of the party we let it all go, my stresses of the day, GONE!  Now was MY time to be something else, walk the walk, talk the talk and just enjoy my world around me. As you can see from my photo below, I had  many laughs that night.

We had a goal, we were headed to the Troubadour where there was no cover and dancing!  Mind you, this was about a mile away from where we entered the adventure so the parade was ON. We pushed, bobbed, weaved, pulsed, ooo'ed and ahhh'ed at the eye candy all around us, enjoying the time together, experiencing this new world together!  My hubby is a tall man so it was to our benefit that people tend to move out of his way when we are in thick crowds such as that night!  I grabbed hold to his hips, conga line style and off we went. Every once in a while we would stop to breathe and take photos!  This Halloween had to be documented!

Finally we arrived at the Troubadour and we danced, danced, danced and DANCED!  Oh, did I mention we passed LaToya Jackson on the final block?  Well we did and she was dressed up as a sort of clown, her voice was unmistakable and she was TINY.  (I digress)  Anyway, it was time to head back home, it was about 1am and the crowds had started to clear.  The confetti of the night showed on the streets and those who did not want the night to die still walked up and down getting every second of the time crammed into their memories.  The hike back to the bus stop was just as adventurous as the journey there only now it was police chasing hot dog vendors down the street, and sirens in the background.  Nothing serious, just the city putting into place the rules and regulations for ending the party.  There was even a riot guard ready for action in case of trouble!  OH MY...PARTY OVER

Tired but happy, we tracked on. Once we met our destination we had a brief encounter with a very drunk gentleman who decided that my hubby would be his best friend for the rest of the night.  He took phones calls, only to give the phone to us for tell the person on the other end that our new friend was just too happy" to talk, we finally had to ditch him because he thought he was coming home with us!  

Finally at our bus stop we waited along with other the other tired party people, we crammed on the bus, and endured the loud rantings of another drunk gentlemen of the night and fought the heavy eyes we were starting to feel.  Home, oh yes, HOME.  Happy and home!  What an evening, and I am so glad to share it with you!  Our first Halloween in West Hollywood and the experience is one to share with the masses.  

Oh, I guess I can let you in on what hubby was....he was a ZOMBIE FOOTBALL PLAYER! Done up all the way, he got all sorts of gasps and looks through the night, enough to make him one happy creature of the night! (don't ask, he won't let me upload a photo!---party pooper)

It was 3am before we were able to crawl into bed with visions of ghouls playing in our head, but not before one more treat from my loved one, we enjoyed a bag of Coconut M&M's to end the evening.  Thank you hubby, oh what a treat it was.

So now you see why this entry was so long, and I hope you felt it was worth your time to share with me! I enjoyed sharing my time with you!

To see more of the 2011 West Hollywood Halloween Costume Carnival visit:  http://www.weho.org/index.aspx?page=845 

Peace, love and blessings from the Realty Goddess!

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