Halloween in New York

Oct. 31, 2010

Trick or treaters (young ones) were out all day. Apparently it is the custom here for businesses to give out treats, so parents take their kids to all the local shops in their neighborhood.

I started the day by going to the Old Amsterdam Market. It wasn't as big as I thought it might be. It was smaller than the Pearl Market in San Antonio, I think. There was a much larger one at Union Square when I was there the other day. But many of the sales people were dressed for Halloween, and parents were there with their kids in costume. One cute one was a girl wearing a white apron and a chef's hat. I had my brunch there. I got a fantastic pork sandwich from Porchetta Restaurant. It was tender with a nice herbal flavor, and it had small chunks of crispy skin in it. Then I had a dried cherry-pecan scone as dessert.

From the market, I decided to walk to the Century 21 Department Store on Cortlandt Street. It is renowned as a place for getting specials in New York. My impression of it was that it is a lot like Stein Mart. Everything is discounted, and they have lots of name brands of merchandise. The store was full of shoppers buying big baskets full of clothing. I checked out the flannel slacks to see if they had a better buy than Costco. Their price was lower, but the pants needed hemming and they seemed to be of a lesser quality. It was so crowded that I was out of there within 10 minutes. But that gave me enough time to realize the Danes know about the store. Two different couples were shopping in different areas of the store and speaking Danish. Then at the subway stop nearby, another Danish couple was waiting for the train with a shopping bag from there!

Century 21 is right across the street from the World Trade Center Site. Still, nothing is above ground level there. They have cleared all the messages, photos, stuffed animals, etc., from the fences. And signs say that you can see the outline of the reflecting pools which will represent each of the original towers. I didn't investigate it, however. I'm ready for there to be a new building there. Then I will want to go see the building itself.

Unfortunately, the Halloween Doggie Parade never materialized for some reason. I went to the park where it was to be held. Nothing was happening. I sat and read for about 1 1/2 hours and bought a pineapple-carrot muffin from a market stall there for a snack. Then I checked again. Still nothing was happening. It's too bad. Guess the Alamo Heights Doggie Parade during Fiesta at home is still the best place to enjoy people dressing their pets in costumes and parading them.

After a rest back at the apartment, I headed out for the BIG parade--the Village Halloween Parade. The website says it has been selected as the best event happening anywhere in the world on Oct. 31. It was fantastic. It lasted about 2 hours. There were bands, organized groups, and individuals in it. Among the groups was one with its members dressed appropriately and performing Michael Jackson's Thriller, one representing Chilean minors and carrying a module like the one that brought them up, one where everyone carried long poles topped by "critters" with pull-wires to make their mouths open and close, etc. There was a small group of 4 men dressed as bugs and carrying a mattress--Bed Bugs! Because of the cold weather, the number of the more daring and adventurous outfits was limited, but there were some. One woman passed holding a cape closed; the man behind her said, "She's not wearing anything under that." I got some good photos, because a man beside me had a professional camera and kept asking groups to stop for a photo. Unfortunately, however, my battery went dead about halfway through the parade. A replacement I had went dead after 2 more photos! So I just enjoyed the rest of the parade without worrying about photos. Lots are already online from previous parades, and I imagine many from tonight will be posted within a day or two, also. Here's a link to Google Pictures.