Cemetery Traffic

Went to the theatre tonight.  (I do that.  It's that whole critic thing.)  Theatre in question was on Santa Monica Boulevard, about a mile and half off the freeway.

I hit the off-ramp with a good 20 minutes to go before the show.  The fact that I had to wait for the light at the end of the ramp to go through three cycles before I even got off the freeway suggested that I might have a little trouble making it.

I'd left a little early -- figuring that, y'know, Hollywood on a Saturday night might be a bit crowded.  I was envisioning some pre-Halloween weekend parties at the various clubs that line Santa Monica -- but the theatre was really before I'd hit the club area, so I figured I'd be ok.

Traffic inched down Santa Monica for the first mile -- until I saw what the hold-up was.  Cops standing in the middle of the street directing traffic.  TONS of pedestrians waiting around to cross the street.  A few in costumes; most not.  Many with small children -- clearly, this was not your Hollywood Party crowd.

And they were all heading to ... the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.  Oh!  Dia De Los Muertos!  ("Merde," I thought, mixing my languages.)  You gotta remember when you live in such a multi-cultural mecca as Los Angeles, to keep an eye on the world calendar.  (Y'know -- someone ought to make one of those.  A calendar that lists all the holidays celebrated everywhere.  'cause, I mean, it'd be fun knowing it's Botswana Day.)  (I thought I was making that up -- Botswana Day.  But I googled it.  September 30.  Now you know.)

I digress.  If'n you wanna learn more about Dia De Los Muertos, here's the website for the event I peeked at while waiting for traffic to crawl across the street.  Says here that Hollywood Forever Cemetery is the only cemetery in the country that opens its gates for a Dia De Los Muertos celebration, and from the looks of the images in their gallery, they really go all out.