Time Capsule: Halloween 2009
This year’s Halloween was one which I will always remember for the rest of my life. I think I may even go as far to say as naming this year’s Halloween my favorite Halloween of ALL TIME. Here’s how it went down. This year Chelsey, Dave and I worked at Halloween Horror Nights, I’ve worked there for the past 3 years therefore for EVERY Halloween, I have been working and have not enjoyed the holiday at all. Well this year, I decided that I had was going to call in sick to work and actual enjoy the holiday for once. We came up with idea of spending the night at the West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval. It’s the biggest Halloween celebration on the west coast and promises a night which is just full of crazy. The costume you wear has to amazing or else you’ll just blend in with the other 500,000 people there.
Before the night had begun, Dave, Chelsey and I headed down to Larchmont for a delicious Halloween lunch. We needed to find missing pieces for our costumes which we were able to find one by one at each of the various locations in Hollywood. Unfortunately for me, I was unable to find a small red sweater for my costume for the evening which would be Elliot from ET. Instantly I began stressing out because timing was ticking away. Chelsey didn’t have a costume so I gave her my awesome one but I was left without anything. On the verge of a nervous breakdown, Dave and I headed down to Mexican clothing shops in Canoga Park looking for the red sweater. We were unsuccessful until we hit our 5th outlet store which I had a red sweater for $3.80. I guess the search was worth it. We each rushed home where we got ready for the night. All I had to do was slip on my red sweater, put on some blue jeans and bring my ET doll which I have had for almost a decade. We heading to Hollywood where we found an amazing parking spot, from there we began constructing our Halloween outfits. I had to get a basket onto my bike, Chelsey needed to get a huge King Kong hand to stay securely on her without ruining the quality of her amazing outfit and Dave had to safely and delicately assemble a huge Zoltar box. After a good 30 minutes, we were ready to make our entrance.
Literally after a minute after stepping onto La Cienega Blvd, a dozen cars began honking at us and screaming various praises towards our costumes. We felt like celebrities as strangers began calling for our attention. A drunk frat guy dressed as a gorilla kept screaming about how much he loved my costume, “Drew Barrymore…..Drew Barrymore!!!!” he kept screaming to try and get my attention. I was confused for a couple hours by the man’s statements until I realized he was referring to Drew Barrymore from ET. Duhhh!!!! As soon as we walked onto Santa Monica Blvd., we were literally swarmed by hundreds of people. Camera flashing. Blinding lights. Adoring fans. Photo after photo after photo after photo. It was like a non-stop photo shoot. Adoring Asian girls screaming “Kawaii”, little kids, middle aged women, anyone and everyone you could possibly think of. After a half hour, we literally moved less than 10 feet down the street. We were being swarmed by fans, photographers, crazies, this was it, we had finally found…….THE FAME!
After about an hour, we literally started getting exhausted. We didn’t even move a block and we were surrounded by thousands and thousands of people. I must admit, the sudden skyrocket of fame had got to my head. As a posed with my fans, Chelsey would be oblivious and being blocking my pictures, “CHELSEY….CHELSEY….GET OUT OF THE WAY!!!!!” I snapped at the one girl who I had spent a lifetime calling my best friend. It didn’t matter to me, I didn’t need her anymore, I didn’t need Dave anymore, I didn’t need anyone anymore. I had my fans to tend to now! The same thing happened with Dave, before we knew it he had abandoned us. We would look back to find him laughing with different groups of people, smiling for photographs, signing autographs. We meant nothing to him anymore. This fame was turning us into something very scary, it can only be described as….THE FAME MONSTER. We were mean, angry, ruthless but we didn’t let any of it show to our fans. When we walked for 5 seconds without being asked to take a photo than we assumed something was wrong. I felt myself being pulled out of the spotlight. After being attacked by a group of drunk Asian guys, I knew it was time to take a break. We tried to make our way to Z Pizza but as everyone knows, its impossible to go to a restaurant when you are a celebrity and actually enjoy yourself. Haven’t you heard the song Stan? I was able to cover up ET so everyone just thought I was a loser in a red sweater, Dave on the other hand was stuck in his box of doom. Even as we ate pizza which Chelsey had to scream and claw her way to get, Dave couldn’t even enjoy it. Multiple drunks came up to him asking for a pizza. This was our private time except there’s no such thing as private time when you are a celebrity, “YOU SHOULD PUT SOME PARMESAN CHEESE ON THAT SHIT!!” exclaimed one of Dave’s many admirers. The cracks were starting to show.
The only thing worse than be swarmed by thousands of people is being swarmed by thousands of people who think they are hilarious. Whether it was people rubbing Dave’s or random people screaming out “PHONE HOME HONEY!!!!”
It hard to try and tally up just how many photos we had taken of us. I’m 100% serious when I say that we truly experience the life of a high profile celebrity. We were not able to walk without being gawked at, we were unable to eat anywhere without being disturbed. The fame had turned us against one another and by several hours into it, we were all getting so angry. The fame had taken its toll on us and luckily we had the chance to say goodbye to all of it. It was just a little peak into what the future has in store for us, hopefully we develop a tougher skin or else we’re going to be screwed. It’s funny my costume was so simple, it was the 3rd time I dressed as Elliot, all I did was put on a red sweater and it was one of the most popular costumes out of the hundreds of thousands of people there. As we were walking back to our car, a gang of bicycle rides rode down the street through all the traffic, they screamed for me to join along. I began to peddle as fast as I could and before I knew it I was riding with 40 other bikers leading the group while navigating through traffic. People screamed from their cars and many honk their horns cheering me on, it was one of the most surreal 5 minutes of my life and the perfect way to end the night. Now the only thing that Dave, Chelsey and I are wondering is what the hell we’re going to dress up as next year to try and top the epicness of this year. Taking any and all suggestions.
Chelsey and I were featured on ABC7 News. Pretty dam epic!
And I was featured on the legendary TMZ.com
The red sweater was the best $4 I have EVER spent!!!! 