For over 30 years, there has been one consistent annual informal celebration in the Castro neighborhood. I have no idea how the event started, as my first participation was in 1982, but I never missed another one. This event was peaceful and fun, every single year, yet there was no promotion, advertising, or announcements. Thousands of people peacefully participated in it, and it always seemed that everyone had a great time.
This event was locally nicknamed "Gay Halloween," and that night was the first time that I put on a costume since childhood. It always happened on the Saturday before regular Halloween, and the only times it wasn't a success was due to bad weather. Also, it always resulted in the closure of Castro Street from Market to 18th Street, though some years the closure was extended down to 19th Street due to the number of participants.
This event was in sharp contrast with regular Halloween, which attracted a much lower percentage of people in costumes. Regular Halloween was always somewhat threatening, and I volunteered to patrol the area most Halloweens in the 1980s under the auspices of Community United Against Violence. My best friend and I did the patrolling due to a sense of civic duty, and we were often involved in somewhat scary situations. Usually these situations concerned inebriated individuals (some of whom were not gay) not typically in costume. Luckily, neither of us was ever injured and incidents of an extreme nature were relatively rare.
After the 1980s, the regular Halloween event grew in size but remained consistently not-as-pleasurable. Eventually, we stopped doing monitor duty, so there were many years that I would wear three different costumes: one for Gay Halloween, one for Halloween, and a third more business-appropriate outfit for work.
Local businesses became dependent on the revenues from both of these events. It was an especially important period of the year for many businesses, as this was the last event of the calendar year that attracted many tourists and outsiders to the Castro. In fact, many businesses make about half their revenue for October in that last week of the month, and that income makes for some their last profitable month until the next spring (when the larger volume of tourists return). Unfortunately, the Castro has never been a neighborhood that attracted people for many traditional holidays. In fact, Thanksgiving and Christmas tend to be desolate times in the 'hood, as many locals go homeward for those holidays.
Getting back to Gay Halloween, Castro Street was not cleared for foot traffic the last two years for the event. I asked a local police officer why the street was not being made available for the crowds of people uncomfortably dealing with too little sidewalk space and I was told that the decision was Bevan Dufty's, the supervisor of the district.
I know that Dufty is newer to the neighborhood, and he is probably unfamiliar with the historical relevance and impact on the area. Also, he has aligned himself with neighborhood families. Oddly, he is typically business-oriented, so it is strange that he is not more supportive of annual street events. Over the years, we've lost the dog show (one year featuring Shirley MacLaine), and the Harvey Milk celebrations (his birthday, especially), and there has also been a decline in the number of political demonstrations in the neighborhood.
I can understand why Dufty might have avoided supporting the event last year, as it was contrary to the "shutting down the Castro" plans that he wanted. Therefore, he probably sought to stop any Halloween-related celebrations. Unfortunately, poor judgment was shown on Halloween, as hundreds of police officers stood around, menacingly, wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars in police salaries, and turning the Castro into a police state - outnumbering the celebrants by a significant amount. This was the first police state in the Castro since the windows of the Elephant Walk were smashed in reaction to the Dan White situation years ago. Any tourists in the area that evening might not ever return to the Castro, due to the discomforting atmosphere.
However, there must be transportation issues related to re-routing bus traffic, which is one good argument against Castro celebrations. There is also a need for some level of security provided by local police. But are there any other reasons to discourage a street party with no prior history of violence - and that brings so much joy to so many people?
But we are now left with Pink Saturday, the Castro Street Fair, and what's left of regular Halloween for regular Castro street-closure events. We've lost the second best (who could argue against Pink Saturday?) event of the year for the area. This year may be a particularly difficult year for what remains of Gay Halloween, since regular Halloween is on a Friday - which is as far as you can get from the previous Saturday. How can Gay Halloween be rescued?