Love it or loathe it, Halloween parties consumed the weekend in Chicago. Everywhere you turned Saturday night, there was a bus carrying raucous revelers, a house party spilling out onto the chilly streets, or a bar-full of costumed folks.
The annual Chicago Avenue Halloween Bar Crawl caught our attention, and we sent a young man dressed as a photographer to capture the scenery. Cleo's (1935 W. Chicago Ave., 312-243-5600) was the tour's second stop. We rolled in around 11:30 and were greeted by several people full of Jameson wearing well-conceived costumes.
Know what's refreshing about going out on Halloween in Ukrainian Village? A near absence of the tired "slutty (insert profession here)" getup. In its place were clever disguises, including:
- A Ventra Card (complete with black eye)
- Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzig Norgay (blue in the face and covered in ice crystals)
- Khaleesi (with pet dragon)
- Coach Ditka
- Freddy Krueger
- Emiliano Zapata
- and Jambi the genie-in-a-box from Pee Wee's Playhouse. (Jambi took best costume honors)
Some of the group made it to Roots (the third and final stop) around 1 a.m., but most everyone (our photographer included) had fizzled out by then.