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October, 1994 - 1995: It all began with a birthday party for Gloria at her friend Bobbie's house in Anaheim. Being an October birthday, Bobbie and Dana had it very creepily decorated for Halloween, and Rowland put together three hours of scary music and sound effects (everything from Robert Johnson's "Me And The Devil Blues" to Slayer's "Seasons In The Abyss"). We left up the decorations and had an official Halloween party a week later. We followed it up the next year with the infamous Halloween Toga Party. Although these were small and mainly consisted of Gloria's closest friends at the time, they were still the seeds that sprouted into our obsessive annual tradition. All I really have for posterity is some photos, so here's a few of them:
Birthday Limbo Toga!
November 2nd, 1996: Hastily planned about ten days in advance, this was the first Halloween party held at The Commune, and it immediately became a group tradition. We had the usual circle of extended friends and a few of their guests, bringing the estimated total to around 35 to 40. Really, at the time, our biggest and most infamous party yet, but it was shortly outdone by the far more infamous New Year's Eve bash (I'm not even going to get into that). Here's a description of the evening's festivities:
The House The Garage The Yard The Back
October 31st, 1997: We went way overboard on decorations and alcohol, and it was one hell of a party. We had at least 120 people here throughout the night, with estimates running up to 140 to 150. With the closest friends arriving all afternoon, it officially started at 7:00pm, and the crowd didn't start to dissipate until after 3:30am, although at 5:30, their was still plenty of noise coming from the back room. At 6:30 I was on the cordless phone discussing with my boss how I was not coming in as I wandered about the wreckage, noting who was passed-out where, what was broken and/or scattered about, and watching the cat on the table enjoying what was left of the food. Here's a chance for you to read about what went on:
The House The Tunnel The Maze The Courtyard The Yard The Garage The Patio The Back
October 31st, 1998: We were worried we couldn't top last year, but top it we did. With plans already being discussed in early August, Rowland started constructing things on September 1st, and every Monday and Tuesday thereafter was another chunk of preparations. Things were in full swing by 6:00pm and went quite smoothly until around 11:00pm, when our first minor incident went down. When it was resolved and a large chunk of the bad element had left, we were good for another hour or so, until a fight broke out down the block that brought the police in to break things up. We still had somewhere in the area of 100 to 120 people, and around 15 stuck around to clean-up and/or crash. Things were over by 2:30am, but we were tearing stuff down and moving dirt back from the graveyard into the hole in the yard until around 4:30am. The outrageousness topped years past so well, we decided against having one next year, so here's what you missed out on:
The House The Graveyard The Deck The Courtyard The Yard The Garage The Dungeon The Back
October 31st, 1999: Okay, we didn't officially plan a party, and only had about a dozen close friends around for the evening, but we did put together some decorations, so I thought I'd fill in the gap before next year:
The Yard The Porch The Back
October 28th, 2000: It was another successful evening. We had somewhere between a confirmed 90 and estimated 110 people, and no real problems beyond a drunk Brian talking a little too much. We had live stage performances and prize giveaways, and in spite of all warnings, people still "went in there!" So, we once again present details on the only party that matters:
The House The Web The Stage The Courtyard The Stake The Dungeon The Graveyard The Gameroom
October 27th, 2001: This year was nicely spread out, with a dozen guests already partying by 6:30pm, and a dozen others still around at 4:30am (and that includes the extra hour from the time change). I guess it didn't officially end until the fist-fight at 6:30am, but we don't need to bring that up. All told, we had over 100 confirmed, and estimates up to 120. We had pool, Giant Jenga, and a couple people doing Tarot readings. We also had another cross-dressed stage show, in between two performances of "Operation", the early first being hysterical, and the late second being drunken and disrupted, thus hysterical for completely different reasons. This year I wasn't up to writing you full details, but here are some decent photo galleries:
The Decorations The Costumes
November 1st, 2002: Due to the end of The Commune and our moving to a smaller place, we drafted the home of our friends Sean and DJ for the new location of this year's event. Once again, work began by Labor Day constructing a graveyard and a giant maze full of creepy surprises. We had a large crowd by 7:00pm, and the party started off with a surprise performance by StoneBlue. We only had a small surge after midnight, so things had slowed by 2:00am, finally winding down by 5:00am, but we still had 80 to 90 people. Small by our standards, but a big party by just about anyone else's:
The Stage The Graveyard The Bar The Maze
October 31st, 2003: We had an early crowd, with at least 60 people already on hand by 7:30pm. With the slow threat of rain, the supposed brief and early set by The Pillpoppers was pushed back, and we finally moved the pool table from it's shelter so they could set-up and play around 10:00pm. The eventual rain slowed any new arrivals, although the last three showed up at 2:00am, bringing an official count from the door to 94, and an honest estimate up to around 110 or so. And a good time was had by all:
The House The Tunnel The Bar The Yard The Back The Graveyard
October 31st, 2004: Still without a large home, and with DJ and Sean moving out of the place we've used for the last two years, we failed to find a locale for this year's event. So, instead of our usual NC-17 giant, drunken monstrosity, we had a low-key PG-13 party at the request of our daughter to substitute for her birthday on the 21st. It went over well, with a dozen tweens enjoying music, games and scares. But don't worry, I'm sure next year things will be over-the-top again like they should be:
The House The Maze
October 28th, 2005: We talked to several friends trying to find a location for this year's event, and Shannon volunteered her place in Anaheim. By her request, we made it by invitation only and tried to keep the guest count down, but we ended up with around 60 to 70 by the end of the evening. The police arrived with a noise complaint from two blocks away around 1:00am, so we moved things inside and wound down by about 2:30am. Not too over-the-top, not too tiny; all fun and no fights; a good party all the way around:
The Yard The House The Web The Back
October 28th, 2006: For our thirteenth annual party, we returned to the scene of the original crime: Bobbie's house in Anaheim. With some trickling in by 7:00, and others not arriving till midnight, we had a good mix of extended friends and co-workers, topping out at probably 80 or more, but a bit more relaxed than some of the wilder years. Bobbie and Dana focused on a pirate theme, with the ship being the primary center-piece. Almost all of these pictures were taken from various MySpace pages following the party:
The Front The Ship The House The Bar The Yard The Back
October 27th, 2007: Big Jay volunteered his house for this year's bash, and despite winds destroying the maze a week before, a lot of last minute effort resulted in another amazing party. Everybody raved about the ton of food Jay's mom and sister cooked, and we stretched until around 3 AM, with the few late arrivals hanging around the fire, and Rowland walking a drunk neighbor home who got himself stuck in the maze:
The Tunnel The Bar The Yard The Maze
October 25th, 2008: We were at Big Jay's again, and set a record with around 200 people, but I have yet to write this up:
The Red Carpet The Yard The House The Bar The Graveyard The Stage
October 31st, 2009: We opted to go small again due to budget limits and combined forces with Dana's brother Rich and his wife Jen at their house in Diamond Bar. Result? Biggest. Maze. Ever:
The House The Maze Invitation 2000 Invitation 2002 Invitation 2003 Invitation 2005 Invitation 2006 Invitation 2007
Food Corpse 1994 Food Corpse 1998 Food Corpse 2000 Food Corpse 2003 Food Corpse 2005 Food Corpse 2007
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