Every year, half a million people descend on the West Hollywood Halloween Carnivale to drunkenly cavort and show off silly costumes. The looks range from simple and innocent to elaborate and bawdy. It’s nothing short of an eyeful. And it’s super fun. This year, a group of us headed down into the fray, and of course I brought my trusty camera. A large assortment of photos after the jump.
BE WARNED. There are a few pics that might not be very safe for work (partial, disturbing nudity!!!!)
Things started innocently enough at the apartment with some pre-Halloween Carnivale beer pong. Spotted here are L-Jarms and Reid, dressed as Kim Kardashian and Michael Phelps, respectively.
J-Unit, Sawgee, and brilliantmistake as Richard Simmons, Johnny from Karate Kid, and Sookie from True Blood. Be thankful you’re not viewing the higher resolution version of this pic.
Costume? Check. Beer? Check. Good times? Double check!
IndianJones impresses all with his homemade Michelangelo costume. Notice the fine detail in the chest plate. Thumbs up indeed!
Katie from TVgasm and her boyfriend Walter arrive ready to turn some heads.
And we’re off!
Oh snap! It’s IndianJones!
Ready to dominate the Carnivale.
As we approach the masses, Reid begins his transformation into Michael Phelps. Jash, meanwhile, dazzles all as a spelling bee (note the attached letters). He’s not just any spelling bee though. He’s a glittery spelling bee, and three days later, there’s still glitter ALL OVER MY APARTMENT.
Unsurprisingly, Michael Phelps was a very popular costume. This was the first of about twenty MPs we saw.
We ran into Lynn and Alex from The Amazing Race and LA Rag Mag. Here they are mugging for the camera.
One of a handful of Richard Simmonses. Unfortunately, J-Unit zipped off as soon as we got to the parade; so we didn’t get a group Sweatin’ To The Oldies picture.”
One of the more disturbing costumes of the night. There’s actually no nudity here. Just a fleshy overhang and a suggestively placed piece of fabric.
Jash unintentionally pokes his head into this regrettable scene. Note the stretch marks and underwear label…
Every year, the event attracts upwards of 500,000 people. Since it was on a Friday, however, it felt more crowded than ever. It took us two hours to walk a third of a mile at one point.
Yay drunken group photo!
Tikis! I loved these costumes.
Jash and I pose with a Wiimote and a Nunchuk. BEST EVER. It should be noted that Jash is trying to emulate the experience of playing Wii, which is why his hand seems to be on the Wiimote’s crotch.
Another Richard Simmons!
I now feel it very important to stop this post and head directly to the gym.
I kind of don’t remember taking this picture. I think this was a group of Mormons on a mission. Or something like that. They were very well coordinated.
And then there was the VIP tent… So there’s this VIP tent, which my friends and I have gone to every time we’ve come to the Carnivale. This year, however, we encountered some friction at the door. Namely, they wouldn’t let us in.
But here’s what made it so egregious. We told them we were on the list, but they said they couldn’t let us in because they were allegedly at capacity. Ahem, look at the photo above.
Oh, MY bad. There’s like three people inside. I guess it really was full!
104.3 My FM was running the door; so I say shame on them for being rude and awful. I guess they just didn’t like our very multi-cultural group of people. Yeah, that’s right. I’m pulling the Jewish, Indian, Black, gay, Native-American, Cape Verdian, Asian card. Don’t listen to their station! Booo!!!!
Tryin’ my hand at Blue Steel. I think, however, it came off more like Indigo Paper Maîché.
How exciting: a bee AND a beekeeper in the same frame!
Speaks for itself.
Battle of the Johnnies. It was a surprisingly popular costume.
I fortuitously came upon two drag queens dressed as Barker’s Beauties. They even had a little game of Plinko with them. It was awesome.
General chaos.
Jash encounters another bee, also a popular costume. This bee, however, did not spell. Nor did she leave a trail of glitter EVERY DAMN PLACE SHE WALKED.
At one point, a woman gasped and said, “Is that B-Side?” This in turn caused me to gasp and say “Did someone recognize me?” Turns out this was Genevieve, one of the very, very first commenters on TVgasm back in 2004. She and Leah3t were the godmothers of our commenting base. This was a very momentous occasion.
Warning: the next photo is VERY disturbing.
What’s with the sweatshirt? I mean there numerous people around you wearing next to nothing so it couldn’t have been THAT cold…..
You went to school in NH for God’s sake! Don’t tell me you’ve turned into one of those LA weenies who has to bundle up when it dips below 60 degrees!
GREAT PICTURES! That looks like way more fun than the party I went to.
It wasn’t cold at all. I just wore a sweatshirt because people on the Price is Right wear college sweatshirts all the time.
Yay! I’m on your blog, well most of me is anyway. Thanks for letting me drool all over you. Next time I gotta remember to get your autograph!
my best friend and I went to UCSB and were shawn johnson and nastia liukin and we had to take about 500 pictures with various michael phelps too!!
i am SO jealous of that girl that got to take a picture with you!
Honestly, I though the cop was spot-on Ponch.
OMG, that looks like so much fun! Great costumes allround and yay for Genevieve! (who’s rack is might impressive, I must say)
More Jenny!
Great pictures.
About that guy’s ass, how old was he??? Man that was disturbing.
Oh how I’ve missed the J-Unit If only he would have lifted his leg a bit more to give a glimpse of the peas and carrot.
wait… you guys knew “Obama”? Or did you just let him crash on your couch for the photo-op and quickly kicked him the eff out???
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