Taking back HalloweenBy Melanie Ruiz
Two years after Mayor Gavin Newsom shut down the Halloween celebration in the Castro, killing off one of San Francisco’s signature party events, a local flash mob dance promoter is trying to bring back the spirit, with an unauthorized dance party on the Embarcadero.
Amandeep “Deep” Jawa is organizing a “Take Back Halloween” party Saturday night in front of the Ferry Building. He’s arranged for at least two mobile DJs to spin and more than 300 people have signed up on Facebook. However, he has no permits for the event, and admits it’s entirely possible the police will shut him down.
“This is all a big experiment,” Deep told me. “We have no idea how it will turn out, but let's try. We think it will be awesome.”
Aside from the obvious how-to's (ahem: Wear a costume!), his web site message encourages people to do such outlandish things as “HELP clean up after yourself AND OTHERS” and “Sure, have a drink if you want! But make sure drinking isn't the focus of the night.”
Deep hopes the new location will sidestep numerous problems the Castro event experienced. The Embarcadero, he points out, is more open, is a good place to congregate, and “it's just beautiful.”
Resurrecting the Halloween celebration has been a lofty, but unrealized goal of San Francisco partiers since city officials decided that the event in the Castro had gotten out of control. Once a neighborhood revel, it had begun to attract hundreds of gawkers from out of town, and a 2006 shooting sent several bystanders to the hospital. Thankfully, there were no fatalities.
Critics complained that there wasn’t much of a public process when the city shut things down the next year. Sup Bevan Dufty, who represents the Castro, was a key player in the efforts to end the wild party, and he defends his actions. “If I hadn't tried for the past couple of years to improve the event, I would have regrets,” he said.
It’s pretty clear that Halloween in the Castro had reached the point where it wasn't celebrating gay culture -- and wasn't much fun. Rafael Mandelman, president of the Harvey Milk Club, told us he has fond memories of the Halloween nights of the 1990s, but agrees that the event got out of control and awful for the neighbors. He described the later crowds as, “super straight, super young, and kind of violent.”
The Castro was relatively quiet last year, and to discourage any street party this year, a San Francisco Police Department press release reads: “There will be no City-sponsored venue in the Castro district for Halloween, Saturday, October 31.” It warns that the police will be enforcing a “zero-tolerance policy regarding public drinking and any other criminal activity.”
Deep said that he and many other San Franciscans reveled in the “fantastic costumes and impressive creativity” that made the Castro Halloween so special. “Halloween in the Castro was inspiring, hysterical, brilliant and essential too. For years and years it was one of the highlights of being a a San Franciscan,” he said. But even he agrees that “at some point there were too many people showing up without costumes and drunk people not adding anything positive to the event.”
Now Deep wants stop mourning and start anew. But the city may not take kindly to this sort of spontaneous event, even if the revelers follow Deep’s warnings and behave themselves. SFPD Captain Daniel McDonagh told me that the city knows what Deep is up to, and that there would be sufficient police officers on scene to “handle the situation.” He said the city won’t tolerate the “wild in the streets type attitude” for Halloween, and while people will be allowed to dance and hang out on the sidewalks, the police won’t allow revelers to block traffic.
Deep has plenty of experience with smaller events and flash mobs, but this is a new step – and it will be a test, both for partiers and for the city. If the crowds can keep it under control, and the cops can restrain themselves, it could be the start of something.
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Comments (3)
Two interesting paragraphs
Gavin is all powerful, so powerful that he has his hands on the entire San Francisco conspiracy, I think Gavin Newsom also has the power over entropy which used to be centered at Hampshire and Mariposa and now is somewhere Mississippi st I believe.
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Two years after Mayor Gavin Newsom shut down the Halloween celebration in the Castro, killing off one of San Francisco’s signature party events, a local flash mob dance promoter is trying to bring back the spirit, with an unauthorized dance party on the Embarcadero.
Critics complained that there wasn’t much of a public process when the city shut things down the next year. Sup Bevan Dufty, who represents the Castro, was a key player in the efforts to end the wild party, and he defends his actions. “If I hadn't tried for the past couple of years to improve the event, I would have regrets,” he said.
Posted by glen matlock | October 30, 2009 01:46 PM
Tim would prefer more people were shot and injured or killed in the Castro because the police couldn't control the crowds. Because nothing says "San Francisco Values" like trampled, shot and bloody people lying screaming in their Halloween costumes.
But as a big house music fan I support this event. I hope everyone come to in the interests of Peace, Love, Unity and Respect and has a great time.
Posted by Lucretia the Troll | October 30, 2009 04:35 PM
The victims from the Halloween shooting apparently got screwed over by the city. It's in the NYTimes today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/30/us/30sfmetro.html
Posted by Bob | October 30, 2009 04:37 PM