08/09/2007
San Francisco Officials on Halloween: "There Will Be No Party"
Following violence at last year's annual massive Halloween event in San Francisco's Castro district, city officials have announced that there will be no party in the Castro, nor will there be one at AT&T Park, which organizers had been considering as an alternate site. There will be no party at all.
At last year's Halloween in the Castro, several people were injured as gang violence broke out and shots injured nine people. At the time, a security guard at the event told the Chronicle: "When the shooting happened, people just dove to the ground like a wall of water."
The celebratory event has lost its luster, Dufty told the SF Chronicle: "It's not a holiday in the Castro. It's a night in which the neighborhood is overrun by people who come to gawk, not celebrate, and unfortunately it turns into gang night out in the Castro."
Supervisor Bevan Dufty has sent a letter to 110 businesses in the area, requesting that they be closed the night of the event to discourage partygoers from gathering. five have already agreed to close, including popular outdoor cafe Café Flore. There will be no road closures, no barricades set up, but police presence will be as strong as ever and say there will be "zero tolerance" for misbehavior.
Sphere: Related ContentPosted 9:25 AM EST by Andy in Crime, Halloween, News, San Francisco | Permalink
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This is a real shame. This used to be such a fun party, but a few years ago some people ruined it for the rest of us. And then they did it again and again.. and completely ruined it last year with these shootings.
The biggest part that upsets me is all the business that the Castro will lose that night, especially if the businesses do end up closing down for the night.
I worry that this year something bad is going to happen again. They have tried to move the party in the past, and people still go to the Castro because it is a tradition. Hopefully everything will work out...
Glad I was able to participate in the events while it was still fun and safe to go to.
Posted by: gabriel | Aug 9, 2007 10:01:49 AM
Thank our lucky stars [Judy, Marlene, Garbo, Bette, Charles Pierce, Martha Raye]. I can now approach or leave my apartment at the corner of Sodom & Gommorah that night without having to go through a police line and less fear of being stabbed, shot, or trampled to death by a herd of blind-drunk Kinsey 0 auslanders hoping for a freak show. They have been known to charter buses, CHARTER BUSES, to gridlock gay ground zero whose fairy dust long ago stopped glittering. It still is the source of many magical memories for me, but has been allowed to deteriorate to the point that everytime I pass tourists, particularly at this time of year, whose language I don't understand, I imagine they're saying the same thing they would visiting the center of "Hollywood,"—"Is that all there is?"
And, no, it's not the presence of the Homeless but the preponderance of the witless.
Posted by: Leland | Aug 9, 2007 10:02:19 AM
Xenophobia is ugly, Leland.
Posted by: Sylvan | Aug 9, 2007 10:18:40 AM
Is that all there is?
Is that all there is?
If that's all there is, my friends
Then let's keep dancing!
Let's break out the booze,
And have a Ball!
Posted by: Princess Superstar | Aug 9, 2007 10:21:49 AM
Now if the city and the CA ABC could start enforcing liquor laws 24/7 in the Castro we’d have fewer DUI arrests and fewer gay hard-core drunks. The gay do-good groups shriek about HIV and crystal meth year in and year out but the alcoholic academies have paid for their silence. The bars in the Castro don’t just serve patrons until they are drunk they serve them until they cant walk or talk. Every obnoxious drunk that can walk, crawl, or drive heads to the Castro on Friday Saturday and Sunday to mistake each other for porn stars. You can always hear them yelling into a cell phone trying to convince the world how great they are.
Posted by: ggreen | Aug 9, 2007 10:28:54 AM
Straight's have ruined the party for everyone. Over the years, homophobic drunk thugs and frat boys have started coming to the Castro to mock and bully the gays...Why? I dunno but alot of the aggressive and angry drunks have been the straight boys.
Posted by: HUGO | Aug 9, 2007 10:54:20 AM
People ruin everything!
Posted by: Michael W. | Aug 9, 2007 11:00:13 AM
By the way, the article makes it sound like there have been gay bashings at the Halloween events.. and if my memory serves me correctly, I don't remember any of the violence being homophobic or a gay bashing. It has always been gang violence.
Posted by: gabriel | Aug 9, 2007 11:00:24 AM
Stupidity and reductio ad absurdum is uglier, Sylvan.
Posted by: Leland | Aug 9, 2007 11:01:40 AM
With all due respect, there have been gay bashings and little "gang violence." Most violence has erupted among the members of the Bud[weiser]s and the Millers.
Posted by: Leland | Aug 9, 2007 11:07:02 AM
It should be noted that the shootings last year didn't occur until after they shut the party down at an earlier time than the previous years. I think if they just let people have their fun instead of continually trying to control/shorten it as much, everything would go smoother.
Posted by: Michael | Aug 9, 2007 11:11:55 AM
Shutting this thing down is going to create a serious problem. Sadly, I think they are going to need to set up gates anyway to keep out people who have no reason to be in the area. Yeah, it sounds bad, but what else are they going to do? Tis could turn ugly fast.
Posted by: Andrew | Aug 9, 2007 11:57:08 AM
I've never been to this event, but from what I've read from numerous sources it's mostly heterosexual individuals who come into the Castro full well knowing that there is a gay event taking place and looking for trouble.
This is something you'd expect to read about in an Eastern European country, and instead it's in one of the first U.S. cities to openly accept homosexuality.
I know it's been said, and I'm being melodramatic in my statement, but fuck all I am so fuckin' sick of being a GOD DAMNED TARGET FOR WHO I LOVE! Maybe it's time we start taking down the straights like they're taking us down! First pink triangles on the way to the chambers, and now not a day goes by without one of "us" being taken to their grave because some straight either hates us or hates the fact he wants one of us to suck his dick in a back alley.
NOTE: It's not often in the news that a FEMALE is accused of beating, taunting or killing a male or female homosexual, it's always a MALE (and in the rare case with a female in tow). Interesting eh?...
Posted by: Cory | Aug 9, 2007 12:17:49 PM
Careful girls. Sounds like a Stonewall 2 in the making. (I'll mention it tonight at the gay debate in WeHo.)
God, wouldn't that be f'n fabulous!?
Sign me up bitch's!
Posted by: Joe in the OC | Aug 9, 2007 12:29:08 PM
Leland - I'm not following. Are you saying that there has been gay bashings at the Halloween in the Castro events?
I'm not saying it didn't happen, I just don't remember it ever being that. Last year was the first year I skipped since '01 or '02 and I thought the times there have been problems were not related to gay bashings.
What is so odd is that the Pink Party is a huge party that can go on without issue, why can't this? Plenty of straights go to that too...
Posted by: gabriel | Aug 9, 2007 12:30:04 PM
Really trying not to dominate this thread, but having lived at the corner of 18th & Castro since before this all started, I feel impelled to amplify. First, gay Halloween outdoor partying used to happen on Polk Street when it was "the" gay district in SF before the Castro caught on. But it got too violent there and the city shut that down.
Gatherings in the Castro gradually developed, spontaneously, organically, and with a very conscious attempt by the city not to recognize it [no permits issued, no stages set up for entertainment, etc.] for fear that what happened in Polkstrasse would happen in the 'stro. But it got bigger rather quickly and the metal police barricades that were quietly unloaded in the neighborhood a few days before should they be needed were always eventually set out and traffic rerouted when people by design or of simply too many numbers moved from the sidewalks into the streets themselves and were in danger of getting hit by cars or busses [just as sometimes develops to a lesser degree on New Year's or election nights].
As more people appeared year after year, more barricades were set out, then set up, and the number of streets blocked off spread further and further out from "18th &."
Maybe 10 years ago, maybe less, officials finally realized that it was going to happen regardless, and attempts to attract the crowd elsewhere [Civic Center Plaza because it's, well, a plaza, as I recall] failed, hoping for the best, formal meetings began between police, local business, gay community groups, etc. Streets were officially shut down; busses formally rerouted, etc.
I suspect that this did not cause but rather was coincident to the crowds getting even bigger. Estimates go into the high tens of thousands. Whatever the number, it's become far too high WHEN MIXED WITH BOTTOMLESS, UNCONTOLLABLE ALCOHOL. Efforts to control alchohol [stopping the many bars in the Castro from selling on the street, confiscating obvious containers carried by people entering the cordoned off areas] were outwitted almost before they were instituted. One Halloween on my way home from Walnut Creek 45 minutes away, BART trains were packed with young, primarily straight people ALREADY drinking booze they had with them. By the time they arrived in San Francisco and transferred to MUNI or otherwise made it to the Castro they were already drunk. Then there were the charter busses I mentioned, some all the way from Sacramento, and, no doubt, all well-stocked with booze.
Even without booze and violence, it was always something of a letdown because for every person in costume [regardless of their orientation] there were at least 100 there simply as gawkers, and that disproportion increased as the crowds themselves did. Throw in oceans of booze and I don't care if there are only a handful of people injured out of tens of thousands. If you're one of those attacked, stabbed, shot, IT MATTERS.
My first Halloween in the Castro was significant only for a children's pie eating contest and a man walking down the street naked except for boots and a scarf around his waist covering nothing but his navel......and a half-dozen Latino teenagers clearly looking for trouble. The children and pies are long gone; the number of dicks one sees are few and far between and not that much to look at anyway. But the parasites and dickheads have only grown in number. They come in all colors and with knives and broken bottles and fists and guns.
Castro Halloween. Rest in peace.
Posted by: Leland | Aug 9, 2007 1:08:21 PM
Having lived in San Francisco for almost 10 years, I can attest that Halloween in the Castro can be loads of fun...but is usually amateur hour at its worst. I remember several years ago leaving The Castro with my date for the evening headed back to my place in The Haight. On the sidewalk of a sidestreet was a young guy bleeding from his face, surrounded by a group of other guys. I had smoked enough marijuana that night to double the GNP of Jamaica so I misunderstood and thought the group surrounding the guy was there to help him. I kindly said "Do you guys need a cell phone to call the police?". My buddy had his wits about him a bit more than I did and yanked me out of their midst. I realized then that the guy was being beaten up by the group...and we were no match for them. And a few years ago, I heard that right between the gas pumps at the Chevron station at the corner of Castro and Market a group built a fire (a FIRE!) requiring the fire department to bring in a truck to put it out before the whole area blew to kinddom come. I think the decision to shut down the Castro on Halloween night is a good one...but people will go there anyway.
Posted by: peterparker | Aug 9, 2007 1:20:23 PM
This is retarded.
I've lived right in the center of this party for twenty years. Anyone who is afraid of it is simply afraid in general.
The dumbest part is that they are trying to shut down the bars...where the hell are the residents supposed to go to enjoy the holiday??
Are all the drag queens supposed to hop on buses and head for the unsafe parts of the city just so they can celebrate? Oh, that's right, we, the gays, will be safely cowering in our houses, with nowhere to go, nobody to see, and nary a speck of glitter to be seen.
Sounds fabulous. Sorry I have to be there.
Posted by: stolidog | Aug 9, 2007 1:53:58 PM
"Retardation" has many causes. Some of it comes from brain cells killed by too much alcohol. Strange, STOLIdog, how often your posts involve same.
You might want to try Living Sober, the group and the life; on Halloween or whenever.
Posted by: Leland | Aug 9, 2007 2:01:50 PM
TO HUGO stating his "straight-a-phobic" tiredness of "Straight's have ruined the party for everyone."
...let us not forget the many queens who have ruined clubland with meth and ghb and the rise of unprotected sex and hiv+ related incidents b/c of that.
Posted by: excuse me? | Aug 9, 2007 2:04:28 PM
Dear Stolidog Don’t you think 20 years is enough? Celebrating a primarily children’s holiday by drinking and noise making. There’s usually an excuse 365 days a year to get drunk just ask the liquor companies and distributors that finance all the “gay” events and politics in San Francisco. The days of finding witty repartee and sparkling conversations in cocktail lounges are long gone. Go into a saloon in the Castro and you’ll find slobbering drunks screaming at each other about what they are going to do with their lives once they stop drinking.
Posted by: ggreen | Aug 9, 2007 2:15:17 PM
Gabriel, a couple of punks called me a fag last year but that was only after they realized that I was in drag. I'm guessing they were really drunk or just stupid (maybe both) since it was pretty obvious that I was in drag. It was a fun night (for the most part).
Posted by: stan | Aug 9, 2007 2:16:54 PM
It's a shame, but it needs to be done. Yes, there will be people who show up anyway, but at this point, it's law enforcement duty to make sure they don't turn it into a party anyway. How they do that is up to them. As forme, I'll be with some friends watching scary movies and answering my front door when the kids stop by.
Posted by: kitchenbeard | Aug 9, 2007 2:41:59 PM
*I* broke the dam!
Posted by: Princess Superstar | Aug 9, 2007 2:44:31 PM
Bevan Dufty horribly mismanaged this event last year, bringing in a huge number of hyper-aggressive cops (which are not especially common in San Francisco, particularly in the Castro) to harass local businesses (not the gangs or drunks) and closing the event at 10. Now he's trying to close all the businesses too. It just won't work. Every major city has some kind of Halloween celebration. People who are falling down drunk or causing trouble should be arrested. Otherwise it's basic crowd control, and given the enormous number of highly attended, alcohol-friendly events in the city, it shouldn't be such a problem. If there isn't an event somewhere in the city, people will create one---with potentially disastrous consequences. By the way, I went out alone in drag last year, and no one said anything remotely threatening to me. Yes, the nine people injured was a frightening thing, but that was caused by one crazy jerk, not nine different ones.
Posted by: Paul | Aug 9, 2007 2:45:23 PM
Boys (and Guuuurls)....do you really think this is going to prevent the Castro from haing fun? C'mon, its San Francsico, "if you hype it up, they will still come". I can assure you that on 10/27 & 10/31, the Castro will be loud and crowded, but keep a lookout for the police (Im sure they will be there as well)
Posted by: Johnny | Aug 9, 2007 3:24:21 PM
yo, retards.
Stoli is the name of my dog (thus, Stolidog), not some paean to alcohol.
Good way to skirt the issue though. And since when is there a statute of limitations on how long you can enjoy a holiday? I haven't believed in Santa since I was 7, but I still celebrate Christmas, and god knows it's not because of jesus.
Shutting down the Castro is pathetic, and reflects horribly on the gay community.
Posted by: stolidog | Aug 9, 2007 3:57:02 PM
Sigh. Halloween is far and above my favorite, favorite, favorite holiday. I go out from the Thursday night before Halloween until the actual night of Halloween, and I always have some overly complex homemade costume (this year, I'm going to be Max, from Where the Wild Things Are, and my best friend is going to be one of the monsters), and I'd always wanted to go to SFO and experience the party in the Castro. I would hope that SFO would increase police presence so that people could continue to celebrate one of the gay high holy days in our own little Mecca.
Posted by: Gitai | Aug 9, 2007 4:13:54 PM
Nobody loves Halloween more than I do.
But for those of you not here in SF, you must understand, the gawkers and thugs have TAKEN OVER the event for the last several years.
I ALWAYS celebrate, but I refuse to go to the Castro because it's not so much a fun party as it is an excuse for the kids from the burbs to get drunk and wreak havoc.
Going to the Castro in costume feels like volunteering to be an animal in a petting zoo for disturbed children.
I'm not even sure the violence is even anti-gay, it's just that the dorks have taken the cue from the gay's that this night is FOR letting it all hang out...and unfortunately, what THEY hang is not near as pretty as 20,000 burly men with five foot beehives.
It's PAST time to close off the Castro for the night.
What we need to do is make it a ghost town of gays. Boycott it ENTIRELY. Take our parties into private palaces (or up to the river) for a few years, THEN when the low-life's have moved on cuz it's no fun anymore, we can take back the streets.
That's my two cents...I know you were waiting for it.
Posted by: rich | Aug 9, 2007 6:46:37 PM
I've lived in SF for 20 years and have gone to Halloween there every year until last year. The first 15 years we amazing. Some of the best times I've ever had. However the last five have turned ugly. I watched groups of latino guys throwing empty beer bottle in to the crowd. I've had large groups of kids scream fag at me at I wanted back to my house. I've seen guys walking down the street with real chain saws as part of their costume. And I've nearly been crushed by the mob scene at 18th and Market.
The show is over ... I'm sorry to see it go, but I'm certain our creative spirit will find another great outlet for the night.
Posted by: Garrett in SF | Aug 9, 2007 7:24:55 PM