The Castro + Halloween = "Shut Up! I Have To Work Tomorrow, I Need To Sleep
The Castro is considered one of the Gay Meccas. I suppose it is...Unfortunately. Now usually when I tell someone I live in the Castro, the response I get is something along the lines of, "oh my gawd, that must be so great," or "wow, I wish I could live in a place so accepting." Yeah, yeah, whatever. I just have to say living in the Castro is fine most of the time except on two occasions; the first is Gay Pride/Pink Saturday, and the second is Halloween (especially if Halloween falls on a week day as it did last night.)
Let me explain.
As many may know, when it is Halloween in San Francisco, The Castro essentially shuts down from 19th street down Castro Street, across 18th (18th is shut down from Noe up to Eureka) all the way to Market and then from Market to Church. Now for the uninitiated to the geography of this area, that is about 4 or 5 blocks of major city streets shut down for a party (Market Street being THE major city street in The City!) Now to give you an idea of how large this little gathering is, the police estimated there were about 300,000 people in attendance last night. 300,000 people. At night. A week night. A week night when I have to work the next morning. And there lies my bitchfest.
Now this is not just a bunch of streets being shut down so people can walk around and look at all the costumes/freaks, no, there is a DJ. Two DJs. Both of these DJs are set up about two blocks from my apartment (one even had a large screen behind him with psychedelic images flashing. So imagine if you will, me sitting in my apartment. 10:00 pm-ish. Time for me to go bed. Now imagine two DJs playing the standard circuit party soundtrack, both a block or two from my front door. Now both of these DJs are using sound system's normally used to invade small South Asian countries. On a Monday night. Mondays are generally followed by Tuesday. Now, Tuesday, being a weeknight and all, means I have to work the next day. Unfortunately, I have to endure the Boom, Boom, Boom of the DJs music until midnight (when the cops are supposed to shut the party down). Now one might think that once midnight rolls around, the noise would stop. No. It. Doesn't. Even with the music stopped, the people keep going (right under my window, it would seem. And many of these people have drums!(?)) Anyway, long story short, I did not get to "sleep" until around 1:30 or 2:00 am while all the revelers slowly left The Castro so they could go home and sleep, no doubt taking today off because that's what people do, they plan ahead and take the next day off from work when Halloween in the Castro falls on a weeknight, whereas I had to get up at 6:30 am to get ready for work.
I didn't plan ahead, I should have taken the day off. I am a bad gay. Fuck. I. Am. Tired.
The moral of the story, kiddies?
1) The Castro can suck two times a year.
2) Take the following day off from work if Halloween is on a weeknight.
3) Gay Mecca? Phffffft!
/bitchfest.
Let me explain.
As many may know, when it is Halloween in San Francisco, The Castro essentially shuts down from 19th street down Castro Street, across 18th (18th is shut down from Noe up to Eureka) all the way to Market and then from Market to Church. Now for the uninitiated to the geography of this area, that is about 4 or 5 blocks of major city streets shut down for a party (Market Street being THE major city street in The City!) Now to give you an idea of how large this little gathering is, the police estimated there were about 300,000 people in attendance last night. 300,000 people. At night. A week night. A week night when I have to work the next morning. And there lies my bitchfest.
Now this is not just a bunch of streets being shut down so people can walk around and look at all the costumes/freaks, no, there is a DJ. Two DJs. Both of these DJs are set up about two blocks from my apartment (one even had a large screen behind him with psychedelic images flashing. So imagine if you will, me sitting in my apartment. 10:00 pm-ish. Time for me to go bed. Now imagine two DJs playing the standard circuit party soundtrack, both a block or two from my front door. Now both of these DJs are using sound system's normally used to invade small South Asian countries. On a Monday night. Mondays are generally followed by Tuesday. Now, Tuesday, being a weeknight and all, means I have to work the next day. Unfortunately, I have to endure the Boom, Boom, Boom of the DJs music until midnight (when the cops are supposed to shut the party down). Now one might think that once midnight rolls around, the noise would stop. No. It. Doesn't. Even with the music stopped, the people keep going (right under my window, it would seem. And many of these people have drums!(?)) Anyway, long story short, I did not get to "sleep" until around 1:30 or 2:00 am while all the revelers slowly left The Castro so they could go home and sleep, no doubt taking today off because that's what people do, they plan ahead and take the next day off from work when Halloween in the Castro falls on a weeknight, whereas I had to get up at 6:30 am to get ready for work.
I didn't plan ahead, I should have taken the day off. I am a bad gay. Fuck. I. Am. Tired.
The moral of the story, kiddies?
1) The Castro can suck two times a year.
2) Take the following day off from work if Halloween is on a weeknight.
3) Gay Mecca? Phffffft!
/bitchfest.
posted by Michael at 8:29 AM
6 Comments:
I have the same problem, except the noise comes from a herd of cows at my neighbor's farm. Where THEY got a big screen with psychedelic images is beyond me.
Unfortunately, I need absolute quiet in order to get to sleep. So when I'm in the Castro for one of the major festivals, I usually have a similar thought: "I'd hate to live here right now." If I was going to live in the neighborhood, State St. is probably as close as I'd be willing to get.
On the other hand, when I'm in the Castro early in the morning (for, um, whatever reason), I love it. Lots of vital, yet sober, energy.
Sweetie, dahling,
I think the real question is why, OH WHY, were you ready for bed about 10 PM on Halloween night?
Work be damned! Halloween is one of the few holy days we orthodox queers have.
Luv and Kisses.
Tami
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you didn't mention the helicopters flying overhead until well after midnight...those added to the general cacophony and gave the neighborhood a cozy wartime feel
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