Sunday, November 01, 2009

Not in Kansas anymore...

We land-navv'ed our way across Chicago last night to get to a restaurant for dinner, and managed to find ourselves on surface streets in the middle of Wrigleyville. On Halloween.

It's been a long time since I lived in Midtown Atlanta. I wasn't entirely prepared for the sight of Peter Pan and the Lone Ranger walking down Halstead, hand in hand.

"Are you sure that wasn't Robin Hood?" asked Shootin' Buddy.

"No, there was no bow and arrows. Also, the impression was definitely more Sandy Duncan than Errol Flynn."

Broad Ripple may be Berkeley on the White River, but it pales in comparison to the Near North Side on All Hallow's Eve...

14 comments:

Brian said...

I actually live pretty close to Halsted and saw Daredevil bum a cigarette from a crossdressing geisha in a Notre Dame t-shirt who kept the pack tucked in her leggings. Picture windows can be very entertaining on nights like Halloween.

Home on the Range said...

I can tell you that if your trick or treat companion goes as Tallahassee from Zombieland and asks each host for a Twinkie in the fancy area of southeast Boone County they WILL not have a CLUE what that is all about. :-)

og said...

yeah. During the summer it's mostly trust-fund hippies, which is infinitely more scary.

cma said...

Does it mean I'm old, that I thought not of Sandy Duncan when you mentioned Peter Pan, but instead of Mary Martin?

Tango Juliet said...

Once upon a time, my buds and I went to an evening showing of "The Seven Samurai" on the Berkeley U campus.

And since it was a Saturday night, we were treated to a very colorful crowd lined up outside the theater waiting to see "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" when we left the theater.

MCSA56 said...

Give me a shout the next time you find yourself in Mordor...

They ran RHPS last night at midnight!
(I haven't done that in a while!)

Will Brown said...

Hmmm. So, when's the wedding?

rremington said...

Will Brown said: "Hmmm. So, when's the wedding?"

I was just thinking that....Taking SB home to meet the Folks.

Geoff aka Pathfinder said...

I used to live on Aldine just off Broadway, then Pine Grove (a block off the lake just east of Wrigleyville) 1 building north of Addison.

When I went back to the Belmont and Broadway area with my (now ex) wife, about a year after moving to the Pine Grove address, I realized that in that very short time we had become the only hetero couple on the street.

Ew.

Anonymous said...

It wasn't Hallowe'en, but I swear to you on my life I saw a dude in an evening dress and heels go skydiving.

Odd world, no?

Jim

Matt G said...

In metro areas, the gay community treat Halloween like a red letter, High Holy Day. They then proceed to be more sacrilegious and funny than anyone in the history of evar.

Tam said...

Matt,

It wasn't until after re-reading this post that I realized some people might not get it.

As I noticed the sea of taxis on Lakeshore Drive up around the Irving Park exit, I blurted "Oh, jeez, it's Halloween!"

"So?" said Shootin' Buddy.

"This is maybe the biggest gay district outside San Fran or New York!"

"And...?"

"Halloween! It's their biggest holiday! Every last gay person for a hundred miles around is going to be club-hopping and bar-crawling right here. Tonight. Traffic will be ungodly!"

Matt G said...

My point was just that, in years past, the entertainment of watching the Halloween Parade was so good, that my wife and I have actually sojourned to the gay avenues of Dallas to just... watch. (Gawk.)

Anonymous said...

I don't mind someone posting a gay Halloween parade synopsis.
But please, no blow-by-blow descriptions.