By Sister Dana Van Iquity
On October 31, 1989, two weeks after San Francisco was devastated by the Loma Prieta earthquake, we Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence stood on stepstools and held buckets to collect thousands of dollars for the Mayor’s Earthquake Relief Fund from the Halloween crowds that traditionally fled into the Castro gayborhood. Thus, The Sisters’ very first Halloween fundraiser was born.
Beginning in 1990, The Sisters, with the SF Gay Men’s Chorus and Community United against Violence, produced a fabulous Halloween fundraiser for the next five years, drawing huge crowds with live entertainment while collecting for AIDS charities. By 1994, approximately 500,000 people were attending the event. People got very drunk and disorderly. I was shocked to spy a man in costume with a running chainsaw. When the police confiscated an AK-47 from a reveler trying to enter the celebration, and arrested 60 people, The Sisters decided to move the celebration, and the Sisters’ Halloween in the Castro ended.
The next year, we Sisters hosted a costume-mandatory dance/contest called HallowQueen in the SoMa queer nightclub Pleasuredome, raising over $6,000 for AIDS and LGBTQ charities. For the next ten years, the City tried everything to manage Castro Halloween. But in 2006, a gunman wounded nearly a dozen in the crowd, and that put an end to closing off the streets for Halloween. Now the Castro is overloaded with cops and street-sweepers who discourage loitering on the sidewalks and keep celebrants off the streets.
Bad news for those costumed folks who love experiencing Halloween in the Castro. But good news: there are plenty of events to attend this year to celebrate the queer spirit of All Hallows’ Eve.
In 1993, on our 15th anniversary, we Sisters started The Children’s Halloween in the Castro as a safe space for kids. This event continues to this day as a treat for gay and not gay parents and their children. Around noon, children arrive with their parents at Eureka Valley Recreation Center in costume to enter the costume contest. There is usually live entertainment – in the past, circus acts with clowns and acrobats – and bags are handed out with free candy. Then we parade up and down Castro Street, trick or treating the various shops that lovingly participate by putting treats in the bags of participants. thesisters.org
• Trannyshack Halloween (A Party) is Oct. 31- The Final Trannyshack. It’s fitting that it happens on this highest of gay holidays. Costume contest. Performances by Roxy-Cotten Candy, Cookie Dough, Fade Dra, Fauxnique, Rusty Hips, Clammy Faye, Bea Dazzler, Fruitbomb, Exhibit Q., Dina Isis, Precious Moments, Cousin Wonderlette, Rice Rockettes, and more! With your hosts Heklina and Peaches Christ, and DJ MC2. Beatbox, 314 Eleventh Street, 9pm doors, 11pm show. trannyshack.com
• UnMasked, GLBT Historical Society Gala, Oct. 24. Share your passion for history and commitment to a brighter future with hundreds of like-minded people at the Contemporary Jewish Museum near Yerba Buena Center. Enjoy entertainment, silent auction, food, and drink. The theme often leads attendees to don gay masks and/or costumes, so leave your inhibitions at home! glbthistory.org
• The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence host Unholy Rollers, a Halloween themed skate party for LGBTQQ youth and their allies on Oct. 28, to benefit LYRIC, a queer youth organization. 7-10pm with a $10 cover, skate rentals available for $5. A portion of door sales will go to LYRIC. Held at the Church of 8 Wheels in the Lower Haight neighborhood now occupying the former Sacred Heart Church, 554 Fillmore Street at Fell. churchof8wheels.com
• Game of Thrones has all of the mystique, glamour, intrigue, and majesty of your favorite show…fashioned into an epic Circuit Party! Gus Presents Game of Thrones on Halloween Night. Massive Thrones-style props, full stage shows, and a crown jewel of a sound system are the ingredients for this sure to be memorable Masquerade Ball. Dragon-fire lasers, concert caliber light show and two of the most sought after international all-star DJs: Alex Acosta and Ivan Gomez. Costumes are a must. guspresents.com
• LYRIC – Halloween Eve Fundraising Extravaganza, hosted by BALIF & AABA, the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area. Come as a lawyer, a banker, a candlestick maker. Have a fabulous time! Oct. 30, 6-9pm, The Drake Lounge, 508 4th Street. Donations: minimum $25 in advance, $35 at the door. balif.org
• Peaches Christ – Creatures of the Nightlife Oct. 30, 6pm-10pm, California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive. Features a horrific drag-show as well as Monster Makeovers by celebrity drag creatures. Last year she hosted as Peach-feratu and this year she’s sooooo excited about her new costume…but wants to keep it a surprise! facebook.com/peacheschrist, calacademy.org
• Cookie Dough Monster Show, October 30, A Nightmare Before Halloween – Horror Movie Night. DJ MC2 spinning before & after the show. LipSynch for your shot. $5 Stoli and all flavors drink specials 9pm to close. The Edge Bar, 4149 – 18th Street @ Collingwood. $5.00 – 21+ w/ID.
• The world’s first erotic haunted house, Hell in the Armory, seeks to arouse a blend of sexual tension and fear. It features a costumed cast in scary – and skimpy – attire who entertain visitors at the company’s adult film studios at the San Francisco Armory. The century-old armory building is allegedly haunted. Employees often hear footsteps in the hallways and even see apparitions when the Halloween props aren’t in play. The building’s dungeons and padded cells are a natural place to come for a haunt. But leave the kiddies at home. The haunted house, 1800 Mission Street, runs Tuesdays through Saturdays, 7pm to midnight until Nov. 1. kink.com
• At The Café, 2369 Market Street: Pre-Halloween Extravaganza featuring Pan Dulce with $800 cash prize costume contest and Heaven versus Hell Papi Go-Go’s. Direct from Guadalajara is Mexico’s number one drag performer Ricky Lips. 9pm-2am, 21+ with ID. $8 cover, free before 10pm. clubpapi.com
Also at The Café: All Hallows’ Eve at Suggr, Oct. 31, 9pm. Cash prizes for the best costumes. jceventssf.com
• HALO is the largest Halloween circuit costume party, Oct. 25, 9pm. Join their maiden voyage at the Mezzanine SF to the exhilarating depths of deep deep space. Journey back in time and dance with the muscled Greek Gods of Olympus and taste the thirst-quenching waters of Oasis. Blast off into space and enjoy a proper circuit costume party with futuristic laser lights shows and incredible jaw dropping LED visuals, and dancers imported from all over the country. There will be chiseled muscle studs in costumes and a blend of sexy, spacey, and to die for moves. International DJ Misha Skye and DJ Micky Friedmann. ticketfly.com/event/635823-halo
• Logo TV is going to do the time warp all day on Halloween. Dr. Frank N Furter, Janet, Brad, and Riff Raff are all taking over the network on Halloween for an all-day marathon of the camp classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show from 10am to 6am ET – with audience participation elements beginning during the midnight showing. Leading up to Halloween, beginning October 26 and continuing through October 30, Logo TV will air Halloween episodes of classic sitcoms including Roseanne, Will & Grace, Happy Endings, Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23, plus frightful movies including Queen of the Damned, Shaun of the Dead, Fright Night and Kill Bill Volume 1 starting at 8pm ET.
• Shocktoberfest 15: THE BLOODY DÉBUTANTE, 15th Annual Extravaganza of Terror & Titillation: An Evening of Horror, Carnage, Puppets, and Song. Grand Guignol horror theatre and black comedies. Now through Nov. 22, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, 8pm. Special Halloween Performances Oct. 28 & 29 (Tuesday, Wednesday) 8pm at The Hypnodrome, 575 10th Street. thrillpeddlers.com
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: silent film with live organ accompaniment, October 31, 8 pm, Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Avenue. This early silent horror film (1920) is recreated as it was presented originally – with all of the drama and excitement that live, improvised organ accompaniment brings to the spectacle. The film is a terrifying glimpse into the dark side of human nature. Tickets: $20-$65, sfsymphony.org, 415-864-6000, or at the Davies Box Office, on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street.
• Masquerotica – Carnaval Mystique, Oct. 25 at The Sound Factory, 525 Harrison Street, 9pm-4am. Costumes strongly encouraged at SF’s biggest and most risqué Halloween costume party bringing together many of SF’s most gifted underground artistic, creative, theatrical, and sex-positive communities in an only-in-SF celebration of art, beauty, sensuousness, and thumpin’ rumpin’ dance. masquerotica.com
• Kinky Salon Halloween, Oct 31, is a totally immersive Haunted House experience, with interactive performances ongoing throughout the space, 11pm-1am, followed by a fabulous DJ dance set until 3am. Thrill to the shocking exploits of the Mad Scientist & his sexy nurse assistant. Run the gauntlet of dementia in Clown Alley. Tremble in anticipation as taste, touch, and smell twist together in the Tactile Sensorium! Gag as undead strippers rise up from the grave craving human flesh! Plus special guests The Thrillpeddlers: before horror movies, there was Grand Guignol- horror plays that shocked audiences with grisly themes and bloody special effects. kinkysalon.com
Wherever you go and whatever you do, have a very Happy Holloweenie, boys and ghouls!!!
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