80 DAYS TO NEW YEARS (#16)

Halloween And The City

Whether or not you celebrate Halloween, it’s an unavoidable night. Someone will knock on your door and ask for treats.
 
Halloween takes on a different vibe depending on its location. I spent last week in New York and wondered what a Yankee Halloween looks like.
 
I didn’t have to search far; I got my answer while having lunch with my step-daughter, Ashley, who lives in Manhattan, above East Village and adjacent to Gramercy—an area called Stuy Town, a large community dominated by families and small children. Consequently, in that area, Halloween decorations are elaborate and abundant. Displays of spiderwebs, scarecrows and bales of hay are commonplace, contributing to the festive spirit of the season.

Yet, some trendy New Yorkers in their 30s, like Ashley, do different things than what families and small children do.
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For Ashley, October is her favorite time of year in New York City, as it’s a month filled with costume parties, spooky décor, and this year, relatively warm temperatures. While other holidays are obviously meaningful and delightful—consumed with family gatherings, hometown visits, and traditions of all kinds—Halloween holds a special place in her heart.
 
She describes Halloween as a holiday where creativity meets glamour meets ingenuity. She feels it’s an opportunity to dress incognito in a city where anonymity is already easy enough to come by—but still, Halloween is an excuse to go all out.

This year, she’ll be going with a friend to one of her favorite venues in the city, the Dream Hotel—a boutique hotel located in New York City’s Meatpacking District. This year is their 6th annual Halloween celebration. 
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​Ashley raves about the views from the PhD Rooftop Lounge, offering some of the most impressive views she’s seen in the city.  The celebration also extends to the Gallery, a spacious ballroom, as well as the Electric Room—an intimate, smaller, and usually more exclusive club at the lower level of the hotel.
 
She couldn’t be more excited for the upcoming celebration.  Now she just has to figure out what she’s going to wear…and whether she takes me with her. 

What do you think? Will I be lucky enough to celebrate Halloween in New York City with Ashley?
 
Michelle