Halloween falls on a Wednesday this year which causes some confusion. When do we dress up? When do we celebrate? When do we cause reckless neighborhood mischief? When do we consume ungodly amounts of candy?
Instead, we should see this timely happenstance as a gift. We do it this weekend, we do it all weekend. and then we do it Wednesday too. And just so we don’t feel hungover or sugar withdrawals, maybe and we’ll do it a little on Monday and Tuesday too, because we are grown-ups now and no one can tell us when to eat candy and that there’s only one night a year to when to stay up all night and when it’s ok to be someone or something else. Fortunately, there is someone to tell us just how to do all of these things.
That’s why I’m here. Just keep reading for your Halloweekend guide. Just add mischief and a costume. Let’s get spooky baby.
THURSDAY
Oyster Tasting and Shucking Class at Greenpoint Fish Market in Long Island City
Fall is here and that means the flippant, spontaneous lovemaking of summertime is shuddering its doors and wrapping itself up in layers and briskly walking away. So it may be time to call on a little help from our friends. Tis the season for our favorite bivalved aphrodisiacs, so learn how to shuck them, taste them, appreciate them, complement them (that’s with an e people), and impress and seduce the hell out of your next lover. This educational and nutritional class by the best in town will have you shucking and tasting and sipping beer and wine for $75. Tickets and info here. 8-10pm, 5-43 48th Ave.
Wunderkammer: A Taxidermy Showcase and Competition at the Bell House in Gowanus
I have an agreement with my cat. Just before he breathes his last breath, he promises to whisper in my ear “it’s time” and I wil go get the hemlock and then we will both go together. Morbid? Whatever. Anyway, what I’m saying is, taxidermy isn’t for me because the only creature I want perched forever by my side in a glassy state of permanent pouncing is my little bearcat. And I will not live to see that happen. But there is no denying that the art of taxidermy is a curious and creepy art form. Come learn about this ancient art from some really stuffy people and find out how to take your love for stuffed animals into adulthood at the Bell House this Thursday. Costumes are encouraged, so just don’t act like you “accidentally” ended up at a furry convention, ok? $10 adv/$12 door, available here. Advance tickets automatically enter you into a competition to win a stuffed jackalope taxidermy class so WHY ARE YOU STILL READING THIS.
Little Cinema Presents SCREAM Immersive at the Brooklyn Museum
This spooky time of year makes us want to get into the spirit, to watch scary movies, to go on haunted hayrides, to hear something bumping in the night. Why not immerse yourself in it at the notoriously haunted Brooklyn Museum this Thursday? Little Cinema, the fantastically imaginative brainchild of Jay Rinsky, puts you right back into your teenage nightmares with its interactive interpretation of Scream. Tickets, $25 are guaranteed to make you howl at the full moon and shriek at what’s happening all around you. Performance starts at 7pm, but get there early; ticket price includes museum entry. Available here, 200 Eastern Parkway.
FRIDAY
Suspiria Costume Party and Farewell at Videology in Williamsburg
Come to the Videology’s farewell costume party and showing of Suspiria, the witchy thriller to get your spooks out and dress like a witch or like whatever scary thing you imagine Videology will become, like a fancy pet store, a baby Gap, or another poke spot. Kill me. The event is free, come celebrate, commiserate, inebriate. Info here, 308 Bedford Ave.
Prom From Hell at Littlefield in Gowanus
“Are we going to prom, or hell?” Veronica Sawyer, Heathers.
Why choose? Go to both this Friday night at Littlefield. They team up wtih the skint to throw a costume dance party with music from the 1980s-2000s, horror movie projections, a photo booth, over 100 pounds of candy, and a costume contest. Come dressed as Dragula, a Black Magic Woman, Laurie Strode, dead ringers, a broken subway tile. It’s Halloween, so anything goes. Big prizes go to the best ‘tumes. (yep, that’s a thing now.) Tickets, $7 adv/$10 door, available first here. Party starts at 10:30pm, 635 Sackett St.
Fearhouse NYC Warehouse Rave at the Brooklyn Hangar in Sunset Park
If you are looking for a massive Halloween rave in an airplane hangar, this is it. Fearhouse NYC will take place two nights but go Friday and save your costumes for Saturday because once you enter, you’re never going to find your friends again even if they are dressed as your friends. Trust me. World-class DJs spinning all night. Tickets start at $49 get yours here now. Party starts at 9pm and ends Wednesday, October 31st at the stroke of midnight.
Fascination Street Market at the Brooklyn Bazaar in Greenpoint
So I heard through the fermented grapevine (that’s a new way I’m saying gossip I heard at bars) that the Polonia Terrace and home of our beloved Brooklyn Bazaar has been put on the market. Because we really need another luxury apartment building. Fuck that shit, go support this amazing institution at the Fascination Street Market. Spooky things, live music, sneaky drinks, karaoke, puttputt, and likely lots of costume inspiration. Entrance is free, info here. 6pm-midnight. 150 Greenpoint Ave.
SATURDAY
Cityfox Halloween Festival at the Avant Gardner in Bushwick
Warehouse parties can be unimaginative. Fancy ticketed Halloween parties come with fancy ticketed prices and the elusive promise of an “open bar”. And bar crawling on Halloweekend is basically a slow, nocturnal suicide. Come to what promises to be the best Halloween party this weekend with the Cityfox experience descends upon the Brooklyn Mirage for a spooky spectacular in a vast labyrinth space. Four stages, 11+ DJs, immersive projections on every surface of this 4-story open-air space, spooky themed room experiences and the best dancing and party scene you’ll find outside of Ibiza. Costumes preferred, tickets are selling out soon. Get yours here now. 9pm-6am, 140 Stewart St.
House of Hallucinations with Eli Escobar at House of Yes in Bushwick
We’ve all had hallucinatory experiences at the House of Yes. You know you have. Admit it. This Saturday they recreate all of the imaginative, mystical, wonderous moments that you haven’t been able to believe your eyes with a world of psychedelic nightmares that will scare you into seductive convulsions on the dance floor, all night. Resident DJ Eli Escobar will be the audio master of ceremonies, expect aerial illusions, a manic makeup station, acid trip tarot to another dimension, and the best trip you’ve ever been on at your favorite place in Bushwick. Costumes are mandatory, tickets are $40. get yours here now. 2 Wyckoff Ave.
Halloween Bash and Costume Party at Threes Brewing in Gowanus
I know what you’re thinking. Isn’t there just a good straightforward Halloween party at an awesome venue with good music and drinks and costumes if you want and not $100 a ticket? Yep. There is. Unsurprisingly, it’s at our favorite brewery in the borough. Threes Brewing will be having a Halloween party and costume contest that could earn you big bucks to spend at the brewery, plus tarot card readings, a scream contest, the meat hook, and other surprises. Oh yeah, it’s free. More info here, 8-midnight so then you can go get sloppy as you want at a warehouse. 333 Douglass St.
North Brooklyn Boat Club’s Cthulhu Canoe Haunted Paddle in NoGreePo
What’s scarier than paddling on a shallow, unsteady (and possibly filled with inebriated paddlers) canoe into the radioactive body of water that was once home to the biggest oil spill in North America? Maybe the addition of some haunted chanting, ancient relics, and forgotten seamen as you drift into darkness. And Cthulhu, whatever that is. Paddle back to shore with an extra finger. Get sucked into swamp thing’s lair. Or stay on land for free with a bonfire and live music and beers and other Halloween surprises. Either way, the Cthulhu Haunted Halloween is going to be one of the most unique experiences you can have in the city this Saturday. Tickets for the paddle are $45 and include a drink and sell out fast so get yours here now. Party goes from 6-11:30pm. 51 Ash St.
VICE Howloween Dog Pawty at Villain in Williamsburg
Because nothing pisses your pet off more than putting it in dumb clothes, let it be pissed off along with a lot of other strange dogs in an enclosed space with lots of flash photography. Ok, I’m just kidding, I think this sounds cute. It’s just that I have a cat. Maybe I will dress him up as a dog? Come to VICE’s dog costume party. Prizes awarded, but just being there you’re already winning AND can take home a pet of your own and start imagining a costume for next year’s event thanks to the Badass Brooklyn Animal Rescue. Info here. It’s happening noon-3pm at Villain, 307 Kent Ave.
Atlas Obscura Musical Oddities and Monstrosities at the Arete Gallery in Greenpoint
Come hang out in an old rope factory and hear some spooky sounds played from musical oddities and monstrosities and likely a few howls from the ghosts and goblins of Greenpoint’s past. Atlas Obscura hosts this event where you can sip cocktails while witnessing and hearing multiple performances of sounds you’ve likely never heard before, nor will again. Synthesizing books, singing saws, musical vegetables, and whatever a daxophone is. Plus, I’m pretty sure you can fart anytime during this event and be accepted and applauded. Tickets are $35. Cash Bar. Info and tickets here, multiple times available. 67 West St.
Slump Halloween Party at Magick City in NoGreePo
This party description leaves nearly everything up to the imagination, and isn’t that what Halloween is about anyway? Costumes optional (I think?) DJs spinning all night, there may be kimchee, there may not be kimchee, there will be FREE BEER BEFORE MIDNIGHT!!! Tickets $10 adv/$15 door. Come see me at Le Fanfare before you go, I also give you free beer. Info (but not very much) here. 31 Box St.
SUNDAY
Halloween Parade and Party and Zombie Nerf War in Greenpoint
Feel better about whatever mayhem you caused this weekend and also dress up and hide from your shame and let your hangover get pelted out by gentle foam flying objects. Yeah, it’s a Halloween costume parade followed by a spooktacular party followed by a Zombie Nerf War in New York’s favorite small town, Greenpoint. The events go from noon-6pm. Choose your own adventure. Info here.
The Ridgewood Asylum
Get rid of your Sunday scaries by scaring the shit out of your house at this interactive haunted house in Ridgewood. I can already tell I’ll have nightmares about this event simply by reading the description. It’s a haunted house in a former insane asylum where they used to do creepy human experiments and a lot of them went wrong and I can only imagine that there are still brains smeared all over the floor. But if you still want to go to this, please don’t tell me about it. I’ll just be here with all the lights on not sleeping. Tickets, $10-30 (I think the $30 one guarantees you don’t leave with dry pants. Choose your own adventure folks) available here. This goes until Nov. 1st, so yeah. 1080 Wyckoff Ave.
Damn, yo. A club based on the L Train Shutdown had to shut down.
Not sure if you heard about this event and venue in Bushwick based on the real year-long nightmare we’re all about to have, but the event has been shut down due to “logistics and unforeseen circumstances”. Oh, like what, leaving millions of people stranded in central Brooklyn? Separating friends and families by an impassable bacteria-infested mote? Extending already insufferable commutes by 3 hours? Maybe they’ll cancel the actual shutdown too? Ok anyway bye.
学无止境，认真拜读！