Halloween 2006 in New York City

The annual Village Halloween Parade in Greenwich Village draws two million spectators and fifty thousand costumed participants, dancers, artists and circus performers. This is obviously a huge draw for New Yorkers on Halloween. I have been to this event on one occasion and found it be very interesting if extremely crowded. To me this falls in the Time Square category of it’s interesting to see once but then it’s time to try to seek out something a little bit different.

My advice is: if you’ve never been to the Halloween Parade before go this year and get there early because otherwise you’ll be stuck behind a few layers of people and it’ll be difficult to see anything. Although much of the fun isn’t seeing the people in the parade but seeing other people who are costumed outlandishly who may be standing right next to you watching the parade. The parade starts at 7 PM at Spring St. and Sixth Avenue.

Check the official New York’s Village Halloween Parade site for more information on the parade.

Webster Hall throws an annual after Village Halloween Parade party. Complete with open door, dancing demons, and costume contests. The location is 125 E 11th St. Check Webster Hall’s site for more information.

If you’ve seen the parade before and are looking for something a bit different a bit intimate I suggest Scumbo’s Dead Mex Halloween Fiesta held this year October 31, 2006 at Freddy’s Backroom in Brooklyn, NY. Located at 485 Dean St, Freddy’s is easy to get to by train due to it’s proximity to the Atlantic Ave-Pacific St station. It’s free to get in and guaranteed to be a unique and interesting experience. Like the parade, people are encouraged to wear costumes. Unlike the parade it’s legal to drink alcohol while enjoying the show.

Scumbo is known for lively shows including a lot of smoke (the FDNY was recently called in at one of their shows in Manhattan), strobe lights, lasers, rooster and/or cow masks and their original brand of psychedelic music.

Scumbo has much of their music available online for download including on MySpace. Hear their Psychedelic Sounds.

If you are looking for a more haunting Halloween experience perhaps you want to check out one of the supposedly haunted buildings of New York such as the Algonquin Hotel on 59 W 44th St where many guests have claimed to see members of The Round Table, a group of writers that met at the Algonquin for lunch daily after World War I.

The Bridge CafÃ?© on 279 Water St. is another known haunted location. The building dates back to 1794 and has been a bar since 1847 making it New York City’s oldest bar. It is located just under the Brooklyn Bridge. There are many reported sightings of ghosts of the pirates who used to frequent the bar.

Washington Square Park on West 4th Street and MacDougal was used as a hanging ground during the American Revolution and also used as a burial ground. 15,000 bodies remain buried there today. If you want a particularly spooky Halloween you may want to go to the park on Halloween night and just think about that for awhile.

If you want to visit a haunted house on Halloween night you can visit the Blood Manor Haunted House and it’s 5,000 square feet of terror. It includes 11 themed rooms of horror and NYC’s only haunted 3-D maze, where guests receive 3-D glasses to view ghastly images such as demons, monsters, and ghouls. They do not recommend people under age 14 to visit. It is located at 542 West 27th Street. $20 in advance and $25 at the door. Call 212-290-2825 for more info or Buy Tickets Online.

New York City is the greatest city in the world on every other day but especially so on Halloween. Be sure to take advantage of the city by attending of one of these great events this year!

Tourists check New York Hotel Deals to find a hotel.