Photos: Hello Kitty Con opens in downtown Los Angeles!

The lines were epic. If you go, pray you don’t need to use the bathroom.  (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)

A couple of fair attendees pose next to a Hello Kitty sculpture crafted out of Mega Bloks.  (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)

A fashion installation organized by Stephanie Nguyen of the L.A. boutique JapanLA, included Hello Kitty dresses made from flowers, plastic and latex. The red and white design in the foreground is by Doll Eyes.  (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)

The Doll Eyes design included these funky heeled shoes wrapped in the Hello Kitty character.  (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)

Adults love Hello Kitty as much as the kids, as evidenced by this black skirt for sale at the JapanLA booth for $30. There was a line more than two-dozen-people long simply to get into the booth.  (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)

...there was makeup, by Sephora. No joke.  (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)

Yuko Yamaguchi has been Hello Kitty’s lead designer for much of the character’s life. Here, she is interviewed by a TV crew from Japan on the floor of the convention.  (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)

Among the bountiful offerings were Beats by Dre headphones for $250. Because when one thinks Dr. Dre one thinks Hello Kitty.  (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)

The Beats by Dre booth was my favorite for its design: neon colors and blacklight and K.W.A. (Kitty With Attitude).  (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)

The convention included a totally real Hello Kitty tattoo parlor, where singer/songwriter Lolo got a Hello Kitty tat that read “Hug Life” from artist Mario Desa.  (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)

For the convention, Lolo turned out in her striped Hello Kitty socks. The singer refers to her New York loft as a “Hello Kitty Palace.”  (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)

There was stuff for the geeks, too: MakerBot, which manufactures 3-D printers was in on the action, offering small 3-D printed dolls to anyone who shared hashtagged images on social media. The designs for the dolls on view here are available for download online for $5.99.  (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)

The pièce de résistance was a room that contained a single vitrine that displayed the first Hello Kitty item ever fabricated in the 1970s: a small plastic coin purse that generally resides in Sanrio’s vault in Tokyo.  (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)

The vintage coin purse was dutifully photographed and cooed over by just about everybody in attendance.  (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)

One attendee rocked this wondrous Hello Kitty bag decked out in a Dodgers cap. (Sorry Dodgers, it was the Giants’ turn this year.)  (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)

Kim-Hoa Ung and her daughter Emmalyn pose amid the Kitty cut-outs. The family came out from Monterey Park for the convention.  (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)

For little girls who might not have enough pink, the Cartwheel Kids booth offered these two Kitty ensembles: an apron, left, for $15, and a flouncy dress for $25.  (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)

Naturally, any event attracting loads of children is a good opportunity to dispense sugary treats. These Hello Kitty-themed pops (in bubble gum, apple, grape and cherry) were available at the Dylan’s Candy Bar booth for $5.  (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)

A Hello Kitty Cafe located in an outdoor area outside the museum dispensed Hello Kitty doughnuts. They were three for $10.  (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)

There was lots of ebullient fashion on display -- on mannequins and on convention participants -- from Hello Kitty purses to T-shirts to headgear. This young woman matched her look to her Hello Kitty doll.  (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)

In addition to clothes, hats, tees, lick-and-stick tattoos, Spam musubi kits and very expensive headsets, there was plenty of plush, along with exclusive convention merch. These dolls are part of a collaboration with Tokidoki.  (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)

One corner of the floor included a towering birthday cake sculpture, marking the 40th birthday of the world’s most famous not-a-cat.  (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)