October's End ~ Nosferatu, Halloween and Olvera Street's Dia de Los Muertos

All Hallows Weekend

Where there is no imagination

there is no horror.

~Arthur Conan Doyle, Sr.

Nosferatu at the Walt Disney Concert Hall

O.K. so first I want to show off the amazing sky we had last Thursday ... 

This was what I saw before walking into work!

And when I came out, after work, it looked like the sky was on fire! My little iPhone could quite capture it.

Anyway, a few of days before Halloween, I called my friend Karen to see if she was interested in going to happy hour, on Halloween. Turns out she and her two neighbors had a plan, and I was invited along!

They were going to the Disney Hall, to see the old 1922 silent film, Nosferatu, by German filmmaker F.W. Murnau! It was the first Dracula movie ever made. 

I decided to be a "Devil in a Red Dress," for Halloween.

Clothes make a statement.

Costumes tell a story.

~Mason Cooley

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror

1922

You can see the organ, on the left facing the movie screen. All hour and a half of the film, the score was played by organist Clark Wilson. Below, you can see the wild set of organ pipes. It really did sound amazing!

This is the whole remastered movie but if you want to watch the end segment, go to 1:25:35

After getting our creepy Halloween on, at Nosferatu, Karen and exited the Disney Hall out into a  shiny and wet downtown. It finally rained in LA!!! We decided to walk over to the big Music Center across the street to walk around and hopefully find a cozy warm drink, which we did! Otto's Grill is now a place a French Brasserie called Kendall's, and they have really good fries!

On my way home in the car I ripped off my annoying false eyelashes. I took this following photo in the mirror, before washing off my Devil makeup (which took forever, to get off! To say that the black liquid eyeliner was waterproof, was a bit of an understatement.) 

Anyway, the photo struck me as strangely looking like a German expressionist portrait ... a weird sychronicity because, as it turns out, the film, Nosferatu was considered a German expressionist film. 

Google German Expressionist portraits, and you will see what I mean.

On Saturday Evening, Nov 1st, it was Dia de los Muertos, and I headed downtown with my friend Shea and her family to Olvera Street. We used to go to Hollywood Forever Cemetery but it's so packed full of people these days, that we now look for alternatives.

Dia de Los Muertos

Olvera Street, Los Angeles

He who has gone,

so we but cherish his memory,

abides with us,

more potent, nay,

more present than the living man.

~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The Procession

If the people we love are stolen from us,

the way to have them live on,

is to never stop loving them.

~James O'Barr, David J.Schow, and John Shirley

The Crow, 1994

 

Pardon the blurriness, but without a flash, and considering that it was dark out, it was the best I could manage!

Of course, being down at Olvera Street, we had Mexican food and margaritas. Well, the adults had margaritas!

My friends daughter, checking out some trinkets ...

Doesn't this next girl, look like Norah Jones?

I ended up getting this little pink clay cross, as a keepsake. I love it.

It's always moving to see the altars and offerings to someone's ancestors, and others that have passed.

It had been rather windy and had rained again earlier, which I guess is why the candles weren't lit. I love the photographs and marigolds ...

Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them. 

~George Eliot

The Aztec dancers were there, as well as musicians, in the main square. (I've mentioned my family connection to this place, before. My great, great grandparents had their wedding reception here.)

After a margarita, I had no problem asking people if I could take their picture!

 

Another fun group of musicians!

It finally started to clear out, toward the far end of the street.

Found this video, on Youtube. It was uploaded in 2009. It was filmed and edited by Amos Clark with a Canon 5D Mk2. He did a really great job, with the filming, and it was apparently edited with Final Cut Pro.

Before we left for Olvera Street. I had originally wanted to do the skull makeup, but after having to scrub off my devil expressionist visage, I decided I would save it for next year.

For my colorful past daytime posts of Olvera Street, click here and here.

For my Olvera Street Dia de los Muertos post from 2009, click here.

Blessings and light!

And here's to a beautiful November!