I won't pretend that Halloween has ever been one of my favorite holidays, but there is something nice about a cool fall day filled with carved pumpkins, spiced apple cider and candy. (Especially candy)
Maybe it's because I've been so busy lately, or maybe it's because there seems to only be one and a half seasons in San Francisco, but I barely noticed that it was fall, let alone Halloween, and I was surprised when I saw a few recognizable costumes out and about on Saturday night. By the time Monday rolled around and I was walking from the Embarcadero up Market street to 5th, I wasn't sure if the people I saw were crazy street people/drag queens that normally wear 5in zebra print platforms/homeless people who only LOOK like zombies, or some gussied up hipsters headed to a Monday night Halloween bash.
I don't have children, and I'm far past the trick-or-treating age, but apparently San Francisco is the best place to go trick-or-treating. What? How can this be? There are belligerent homeless people/gutter punks everywhere, crime is high in most densely populated neighborhoods and the streets here are not especially child-friendly. Maybe if I lived in a more "family-oriented" neighborhood like Bernal Heights or the Presidio I might go trick-or-treating with children, but sending kids door to door in the Haight is just asking for more tricks than treats. Especially when the city is touting this year as the least violent Halloween ever...except for that one shooting...
Okay - it's great that violent crime on Halloween in San Francisco is subsiding - Rejoice! But I still miss Halloween in east coast suburbia, when you knew it was fall by the changing leaves and the chill in the air...and you didn't have to play a mental game of "homeless or Halloween."
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