Halloween in Hollywood

Question: What is the logic of blocking off a street, but not allowing the crowd to step off the curb?

The outcome of the Hollywood Boulevard “parade” came as no surprise. Oct. 31 evening newscasts announced that Hollywood Boulevard was being blocked off and preparations were being made for a crowd gathering.

However upon my arrival, I and a woman next to me, who was holding a child, were brushed back and almost stepped on by horses of the mounted police as we tried to step around construction scaffolding and a jammed crowd that blocked the sidewalk.

The police obsession with maintaining their lines to the inch very quickly became the main attraction for a crowd that had gathered for some cheap entertainment. Horses would suddenly dart into a crowd while police cruisers screeched out U-turns and zig-zagged wildly at 35 m.p.h. in the direction of innocent onlookers who were jammed up against storefront windows.

Meanwhile, in West Hollywood, crowds were allowed to roam Santa Monica Boulevard at will as police calmly looked on.

BILLY RUPP

Hollywood