After 3 days of being cooped up in the apt because of Hurricane Sandy, we really needed last night. A friend of ours, Tim and I had to get out. We decided that despite the ban on the Halloween parade that we were going to go out and have a little adventure despite the NYPD and Bloomberg. We got dressed - I jacked up my hair, put a little eyeliner on, painted my fingernails black and threw on my Lucky Brand skull patterne
d sweater and went as a Preppy Goth Boy. (Boy) hmmmm? Our friend came as a marine and Tim was a "Modern Vampire" - what ever that means.
We went to our default Thai restaurant around the corner - Yum Yum Too ( Yes there is a Yum Yum One and Three) for dinner. While there - this British Guy and his Asian girlfriend have a little love spat which resulted in him throwing his IPhone across the restaurant. I love when couples fight in restaurants. Needless to say, it led to some hilarious bonding with a couple tables around us - one guy writing LOVE? on a napkin and holding it up like a banner calling for peace and happiness. We all ended up showing off our latest new toys on our phones - I didn't realize there is an instant disco strobe light ap that you can get for spontaneous dance parties - Gotta get me that one!
We grabbed a cab and rode down to Washington Square Park. We got out and couldn't believe how dark and empty the entire Village was at that moment - scary, surreal and beautiful all at the same time. You couldn't go into the park because of a patrol cop - so we wandered down to our default bar - Duplex which was all lit up with candles and looked beautiful and we wandered in and started drinking.
Suddenly, we see cop car lights and hear a tuba and looked outside and there is this spontaneous group of people dressed up in fabulous costumes coming down Christopher Street. We walk outside and feel like we just stepped into the party scene from the movie, Short Bus. This amazing group of people who decided despite the horrible events of the three days that the Halloween Parade was going to go on. We jumped into the crowd filled with people dressed in every imaginable costume and a little marching band playing a tuba, accordion and a couple brass instruments. It was amazing. It was like the old days of living in NY. It felt like how the old Halloween parade used to be. People kept joining the crowd and we were all just laughing and dancing and walking through the Village. All of a sudden the police started harrassing people on the sidewalk and they grabbed our friend and pulled him across the street and everyone stopped to watch them start to arrest him. We were standing there shocked - and the crowd started booing at the police - there were now 20 of them and a couple other police cars pulled up. We thought that they were going to arrest him but after the crowd started booing and yelling at the police they let him rejoin us. Big cheers and we all started down the sidewalk. People kept joining the crowd and it ended up being quite a little parade of people celebrating - and then the moon came out and it was such a great moment. You could see the stars last night and you can never see the stars in the city at night. People celebrating that the Halloween parade and the spirit of the parade couldn't be squelched by a Hurricane and the negativity of the Police in this town.
We left the parade by 6th and 18th and wandered over to my old neighborhood - walking through pure darkness and took pics of the building that lost it's facade at the corner of 14th and 8th. Wow, bricks still everywhere and all the belongings of the apt dwellers spilling out from the openings. We grabbed a cab and drove up 8th Ave back to our apt. There are moments in this town that are still so magical. I love NY.
I got back to the apt and I looked like a raccoon - the eyeliner smeared around my eyes looking like a chubby, tired Adam Lambert. However, I went to bed knowing that the spirit of this city is still there and shows itself in the darkest of moments.
We went to our default Thai restaurant around the corner - Yum Yum Too ( Yes there is a Yum Yum One and Three) for dinner. While there - this British Guy and his Asian girlfriend have a little love spat which resulted in him throwing his IPhone across the restaurant. I love when couples fight in restaurants. Needless to say, it led to some hilarious bonding with a couple tables around us - one guy writing LOVE? on a napkin and holding it up like a banner calling for peace and happiness. We all ended up showing off our latest new toys on our phones - I didn't realize there is an instant disco strobe light ap that you can get for spontaneous dance parties - Gotta get me that one!
We grabbed a cab and rode down to Washington Square Park. We got out and couldn't believe how dark and empty the entire Village was at that moment - scary, surreal and beautiful all at the same time. You couldn't go into the park because of a patrol cop - so we wandered down to our default bar - Duplex which was all lit up with candles and looked beautiful and we wandered in and started drinking.
Suddenly, we see cop car lights and hear a tuba and looked outside and there is this spontaneous group of people dressed up in fabulous costumes coming down Christopher Street. We walk outside and feel like we just stepped into the party scene from the movie, Short Bus. This amazing group of people who decided despite the horrible events of the three days that the Halloween Parade was going to go on. We jumped into the crowd filled with people dressed in every imaginable costume and a little marching band playing a tuba, accordion and a couple brass instruments. It was amazing. It was like the old days of living in NY. It felt like how the old Halloween parade used to be. People kept joining the crowd and we were all just laughing and dancing and walking through the Village. All of a sudden the police started harrassing people on the sidewalk and they grabbed our friend and pulled him across the street and everyone stopped to watch them start to arrest him. We were standing there shocked - and the crowd started booing at the police - there were now 20 of them and a couple other police cars pulled up. We thought that they were going to arrest him but after the crowd started booing and yelling at the police they let him rejoin us. Big cheers and we all started down the sidewalk. People kept joining the crowd and it ended up being quite a little parade of people celebrating - and then the moon came out and it was such a great moment. You could see the stars last night and you can never see the stars in the city at night. People celebrating that the Halloween parade and the spirit of the parade couldn't be squelched by a Hurricane and the negativity of the Police in this town.
We left the parade by 6th and 18th and wandered over to my old neighborhood - walking through pure darkness and took pics of the building that lost it's facade at the corner of 14th and 8th. Wow, bricks still everywhere and all the belongings of the apt dwellers spilling out from the openings. We grabbed a cab and drove up 8th Ave back to our apt. There are moments in this town that are still so magical. I love NY.
I got back to the apt and I looked like a raccoon - the eyeliner smeared around my eyes looking like a chubby, tired Adam Lambert. However, I went to bed knowing that the spirit of this city is still there and shows itself in the darkest of moments.
No comments:
Post a Comment