Daily Forty-Niner, October 26, 2020

weekly digital print edition

DAILY FORTY-NINER EST p 1949

Vol. LXXII, Issue 10

www.daily49er.com

Monday, October 26, 2020

WELCOME TO THE MIDNIGHT MASK-ERADE

Halloween Special Edition

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2020 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | EIC@DAILY49ER.COM ON THE COVER: Photo Illustration by ANDREA RAMOS

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ANDREA RAMOS | Daily Forty-Niner

Staff picks: Halloween favorites

Sports Editor Jacob Powers sports@daily49er.com Design Editor Alejandro Vazquez design@daily49er.com Advertising Manager Carter Magee advertising@daily49er.com Business Manager Rani Hanna business@daily49er.com Special Projects Editor Peter Villafane Photo Editor Andrea Ramos Video Editor Pablo Unzueta Social Media Editor Jocelyn Torralba Podcast Editor Cameron Johnston Multimedia Assistant Luke Pajari Design Assistant Anna Karkalik Arts and Life Assistant Celeste Huecias

By Daily Forty-Niner staff

Trader Joe’s pumpkin-flavored items A yearly favorite, these foods are a hit. Trader Joe’s has everything from pumpkin empanadas, to ravioli, to ice cream. There’s something for everybody, especially if you’re a pumpkin addict. We recommend the pumpkin bagels!

Halloween throw blankets from Target These throws from the Hyde and EEK! Boutique’s Halloween collection are so soft and come in four cute prints. They are the perfect accent to your bed or couch, and at $10 each, they’re a steal!

Plastic carving pumpkins Love jack-o’-lanterns but hate actually dealing with pumpkins? These are for you! These plastic alternatives are easier to carve because they have a thinner exterior. They are much easier to clean up and they’ll never rot. They’re available at many places, including Target, Lowe’s and Michaels.

Halloween-themed face masks Get into the spooky spirit with face masks featuring Halloween prints. Amazon has a 50pack of disposable masks with ghosts, jack-o’lanterns and witches all over. For those who want reusable cloth masks, check out Wicked Clothes! Their masks come in “little devils” and “animal bones” prints and also come with Pillsbury Halloween Sugar Cookies These cookies are Halloween folklore! You’ve seen them before, you had one years ago and yet, they never seem to be in stock at your local grocer. But if you happen to see a box of these ready-to-bake cookies, do yourself a favor and snag five because these little sugar cookies are heaven during Halloween!

Spooky handmade earrings Make a bold statement with some Halloween earrings. Two of our favorite Etsy shops, LosRaritos and UndoubtedlyMad, have listings that are perfect for the season. These include glittery tombstones, hearts that say “spooky bitch” and more! Show your love for the holiday and support small businesses at the same time.

Home decor from ZombieKrafts This Etsy shop has everything for die-hard Halloween fans. Bring the holiday to your home and have Halloween all year round with their cauldron makeup holders or spiderweb napkin holders. Our favorite is their coffin shelf!

Corn mazes Nothing puts you in the spooky season spirit like getting lost in the dark towered by 10-foot tall ears of corn. As you mindlessly aim the maze, feel free to imagine your favorite scary movie killer, or just children in the corn, to enhance the scariness of the experience.

“Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (1974) This classic film might be hailed as one of the most frightening movies of all time, but don’t let the title fool you. All of the gore is off-screen, which means it’s up to your imagination to fill in the scenes. So grab a blanket, avoid the popcorn if you’re prone to queasiness and enjoy a film that is quintessentially horror.

“Halloween” (1978) John Carpenter has all the classic elements of horror wrapped in one film. Suspense, eerie music and a horrifically realistic antagonist, “Halloween” is the ultimate horror movie to watch on Oct. 31.

“The Nightmare Before Christmas” (1993) This movie is the epitome of childlike fantasy surrounding the holiday seasons. Making the usual monsters associated with Halloween, relatable and not so scary. With catchy songs to last a lifetime, this family film is the perfect in between cushion to the real horror films.

Opinions Assistant Jireh Deng Sports Assistant Terran Rodriguez Special Projects Assistant Giselle Alexandra Ormeno Photo Assistant Richard Grant Video Assistant Lauren Berny Social Media Assistants Ashely Ramos Desiree Aguilera Webmaster Assistant Kevin Patel Distribution Manager Rachel Barnes Design Adviser Gary Metzker Content Adviser Barbara Kinglsey-Wilson Advertising and Business Jennifer Newton Adviser

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2020 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | STAFF@DAILY49ER.COM

HALLOWEEN 3

Halloween’s history

Rooted in ancient tradition, the fall holiday once used to mean more than gorging on candy and wearing glitter.

By Nicholas James Staff Writer

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he word Halloween is synonymous with the month of October, as many prepare in excitement for the last day of the month with highly creative costumes, spine-chilling front lawn displays and marathons of the spookiest films.

But while modern-day Halloween is filled with trick-or-treating and late-night monster bashes, the holiday has a rich history dating as far back as 2,000 years ago.

The most significant of the four quarterly fire festivals, Samhain, was a pagan holiday celebrated by the Celtics to welcome the fall harvest. The name translates to “summer’s end” in Gaelic.

They believed that on the night before their new year, the spiritual boundary between the world of the living and the dead became blurred, allowing the ghosts of the dead to walk the earth.

The idea of wearing costumes was not originally meant for creativity or fun. To anticipate the crossing over of ancestors, the Celts would often dress as animals and monsters so fairies were not tempted to kidnap them.

Costumes became more popular with the Scottish and Irish when younger people began to participate in a tradition called guising, where they would dress up in costume while receiving gifts from various households.

Trick-or-treat was not a term during the early history of Samhain.

Known as “souling,” impoverished people would visit the houses of the rich and receive pastries called soul cakes in exchange for a promise to pray for the souls of the homeowners’ dead relatives. The practice would later grow to the tradition of children going from door to door to ask for gifts such as food, money and ale.

Americans revived the centuries-old practice of souling and guising during the early 20th century, when many Scottish and Irish communities fled to the United States as a result of the Irish Potato Famine.

The term trick-or-treat did not become established in the United States until 1951, when it was depicted in Charles Schultz’s Peanuts comic strip. Disney would later produce a cartoon called “Trick or Treat” in 1952 starring Donald Duck and his three nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie.

Pumpkins were not originally used when people carved out jack-o’-lanterns. Originally, carved turnips were vegetables used by the Celtics that were attached by strings to sticks and embedded with coal.

The Irish would later transition to pumpkins, which became popular during the 1920s and remains the staple for all jack-o’lanterns.

Eventually, after the Great Depression and World War II, parents were encouraged to take out the frightening and grotesque elements of Halloween, as many communities began to use Halloween as a day for community and neighborly get-togethers.

Today, nearly 148 million Americans celebrate the holiday yearly. Although it may look much different than it once did, Halloween still remains an usher into the fall season.

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2020 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | STAFF@DAILY49ER.COM

Keeping the spirit alive A socially distant October has eliminated most gatherings and celebrations, however, that hasn’t stopped residents of Long Beach from putting on elaborate displays.

By Andrea Ramos Photo Editor

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alloween looks different this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Celebrating the holiday now consists of socially distant and virtual events, but one tradition still remains the same: home decorations. Many Long Beach residents are keeping the spooky spirit alive by taking the time and effort to festively decorate their homes.

Here are some notable houses in the city to check out.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2020 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | STAFF@DAILY49ER.COM

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(Clockwise from above) A house on Country Club Drive includes a witch’s cauldron and a graveyard display in its decor. A display of 12-foot tall skeletons stand before a home on the corner of First Street and Orizaba Avenue. An apartment complex goes all out on Third Street with Halloween decorations full of ghosts hanging from trees, pumpkins and a coffin. Pumpkins are strewn across the front lawn of a house on the corner of Country Club Drive and West Stewart Way. On Roycroft Avenue, a house includes a skeleton that waves at passing visitors.

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2020 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | STAFF@DAILY49ER.COM

Driving thru Halloween

By Christy Hung & Peter Villafane Staff Writers

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ecause of the coronavirus pandemic, some of the season’s most prolific and popular events have been canceled to mitigate the spread of the virus. However, that does not mean that Halloween itself is canceled.

This year, there is an array of events across Los Angeles County that keep the spirit of Halloween alive, all from the safety of your vehicle.

JOE BOB’S HAUNTED DRIVE-IN Location 1: The Roadium Drive-In 2500 W. Redondo Beach Blvd.,Torrance, California Date and time: Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 8 p.m.

(Doors open at 6:30 p.m.)

Wednesday, Oct. 28 at 8 p.m. (Doors open at 7 p.m.)

Location 2: The Rose Bowl 1001 Rose Bowl Dr., Pasadena, California Date and time: Saturday, Oct. 31 at 9 p.m.

(Doors open at 8 p.m.)

Price: $99 per vehicle and up to eight passengers (one person per seatbelt) “Joe Bob’s Haunted Drive-In” is a haunt and drive-in movie experience for over 100 minutes, combining a selection of horror short films with a live zombie attack. The drive-in features trailers for upcoming horror films. Then, host Joe Bob Briggs and his co-hosts Darcy the Mail Girl and Felissa

Rose will present the films they’ve selected to play. Zombies will take over the drive-in to scare the participants.

LOS ANGELES HAUNTED HAYRIDE Location: 120 E Via Verde Dr., San Dimas, California Date and time: Open until Nov. 1 Price: Tickets start at $49.99 per vehicle The annual event has not been canceled because of COVID-19 but has been transformed into a drive-thru and drive-in event.

Participants first drive through “All Hallows Lane” to enter, which features characters and visuals from previous hayrides.

Vehicles then park for a drive-in movie experience, where scary movies will be projected on a 40-foot screen. Actors will also roam around the lot while the movies play.

MALLOWEEN DRIVE THROUGH EXPERIENCE Location: South Bay Pavilion 20700 S Avalon Blvd., Carson, California Date and time: Oct. 31 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Price: Free Admission South Bay Pavilion is hosting a “Malloween Drive Through Experience” at their food court parking lot on Halloween night.

People are encouraged to decorate their cars and the top 10 best decorations will be entered into a drawing of prizes, with the first six winners receiving a year’s supply of pancakes from Norms Restaurants. There will be a green screen for participants to take a photo with. Candies will also be available while supplies last. Everyone

must stay inside their cars at all times to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The event requires reservations, and participants will have to display their printed online ticket on their dashboard for entry.

STRANGER THINGS: THE DRIVE-INTO EXPERIENCE Location: Skylight ROW DTLA 791 Bay St., Los Angeles, California Date and time: Open now until 2021 Price: Tickets start at $59 per car This event brings people right into the world of Netflix’s “Stranger Things.” The location replicates the town of Hawkins, Indiana in 1985. Participants will drive through locations from the show, including Starcourt Mall, and discover the secrets of the Upside Down for themselves. The website boasts “mind-blowing audio and visual effects,” and participants will also see characters and scenes from the show.

HAUNT’OWEEN Location: 6100 Topanga Canyon Blvd., Woodland Hills, California Date and time: Monday to Sunday, 3 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Price: $70 per car This drive-thru, interactive mini-maze in the San Fernando Valley is open for all ages. Features in the drive include a jacko’-lantern tunnel, a tunnel based on the FX show “What We Do in the Shadows,” a “pun-kin” patch and the Town of Hauntoween. Every vehicle will receive a pumpkin and candy handed over safely by live actors.

The experience lasts 25 to 35 minutes.

NIGHTS OF THE JACK Location: King Gillette Ranch 26800 Mulholland Hwy., Calabasas, California Date and time: Open until Nov. 1 Price: Tickets start at $69 per vehicle This driving trail open in Calabasas every year has become a drive-thru experience.

The mile-long trail is lined with illuminated, intricately-designed jack-o’-lanterns.

Artists have carved them into movie stars, famous athletes and animated characters.

The event is open to all ages and participants are encouraged to take photos.

THE BITE LA Location: Legg Lake at Whittier Narrows Recreation Area & 751 Santa Anita Ave, South El Monte, California Date and time: Open now until Nov. 1 Price: Tickets start at $116 per vehicle This experience is a combination of a food crawl and haunted trail. Participants drive through Legg Lake and live actors serve “bites of seasonal grub” to the vehicles. The food has vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options. Each ticket holder will receive eight bites, a dessert and a warm drink. Participants can park around the virtual campfire to listen to ghost stories while they eat.

Additionally, participants are encouraged to bring flashlights to find creatures in the “creature safari” and to decorate their vehicles to be entered to win prizes.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2020 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | STAFF@DAILY49ER.COM

HALLOWEEN 7

but make it safe Here are some ways to party and celebrate the holiday while adhering to social distancing guidelines.

By Peter Villafane & Giselle Ormeno Special Projects Team

T Carve pumpkins over video chat Social distancing guidelines don’t have to stop the celebration of Halloween traditions. There is still a way to have a pumpkin carving party. Tell loved ones to buy pumpkins and set up a time with everybody to get on video chat together. Then, carve away! Doing this over video chat also has this added bonus: no cleaning up of other people’s pumpkin guts.

Have a candy treasure hunt Dress up in Halloween costumes and decide where to hide the candy. Leave fun clues with the location of each piece of hidden candy for the people in the home. If unsure about what kind of clues to write, use ready-made clues or riddles to make life a little bit easier. Stick a small treasure chest near the last candy piece to indicate the end of the hunt. It’s a great way to stay at home and still have fun!

here are so many fun things to do during Halloween. Contracting a virus is not one of those things.

So, here are some alternatives to partying and trick-or-treating:

Play Among Us

Host a trick-or-treating car caravan

This mobile multiplayer game has been taking the internet by storm, and it’s perfect for Halloween. Four to 10 players are crewmembers on a spaceship, but one of them is an imposter. The imposter’s job is to kill everyone on board. Once a person is killed, it is the crewmembers’ job to weed out who the imposter is. Have fun tricking your friends. It’s a treat!

This is a great way to remain connected with loved ones while still maintaining social distancing guidelines.

Friends and family can get creative and decorate their cars in the most spooky way possible. As participants drive through the street and pull up to selected houses, they can hand out candy through the car windows. At a safe distance, everyone can all be together without risking anyone’s health.

Have a virtual scary movie marathon on Teleparty

Host an outdoor Halloween movie night

Formerly called Netflix Party, this Google Chrome extension allows viewers to watch the same video stream with up to 50 people. The group can simultaneously watch Netflix, Disney, Hulu and HBO and communicate using the group chat feature. Once everyone is signed in to the selected streaming service, simply share a link and everyone can view the same screen. Watch everyone’s favorite movies and TV shows of the season while never having to leave the house.

Why not put a backyard to good use by hosting an outdoor Halloween movie night? It’s a great way to get out of the house, get some fresh air and still have fun while still adhering to the safety guidelines.

Decide where the movie should be projected by prepping the space. If a clear space isn’t available, hang a thick, beige or cream-colored canvas drop cloth against the siding of the house. Set up a projector on a flat surface and test the positioning before starting the movie.

Arrange lounge chairs and outdoor furniture six feet apart, and get ready for an awesome movie night.

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2020 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | STAFF@DAILY49ER.COM

How to make non-problematic Halloween costumes Dressing up for Halloween can be tricky and confusing, but here are some dos and don’ts for this spooky season.

By Ashley Ramos Assistant Social Media Editor

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hen I was younger for Halloween I was dressed up as a “China Doll,” which is a name that my grandpa still calls me today. Disclaimer: I’m Filipino, not Chinese.

I now understand how that costume is offensive.

It may have been something my parents overlooked at the time, but with the younger generations moving away from a traditionally racist mindset, costumes that are based on a culture that is not yours are not okay.

There’s a difference between culture appropriation and culture appreciation, and Halloween is not a day of cultural appreciation.

Truthfully I wouldn’t have thought much about it, but the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement this year has led me to reflect on my genetic makeup and ancestral upbringing. Three out of four of my grandparents are immigrants and are now citizens.

They struggled and faced many obstacles so I can have a good life.

So, seeing people dress up as cultures that they are not a part of really hurts. Everyone has different struggles, but in the United States it’s apparent that Black, Indigenous and people of color are systematically set up to struggle more.

When you dress up as a reflection of a culture that isn’t yours, it’s disrespectful because you’ll never share the lived experiences of that marginalized group.

Appropriation is racist because it perpetuates stereotypes that diminish the rich history, culture and struggle of a community. For example, dressing up as a “Mexican” but wearing a sombrero, holding maracas and wearing a colorful poncho is a minimized version of Latinx culture. Wearing that costume solidifies the lack of understanding about the continued violence and trauma happening at the border, and it confirms that Latinx history is not properly taught in standard history classes.

It minimizes the struggles my grandma had to face after crossing the Mexican border.

There’s so much you can be in today’s age that isn’t problematic. Here are some easy non-problematic costumes to dress up in.

Dressing for a decade is just incorporating the fashion of that time. Super easy decades are the ‘60s and ‘70s; all you need is tie-dye, flared jeans and some round glasses.

Dress up as something mythical or fictional, like a unicorn, fairy, vampire or alien. Being something fictional can even include characters from video games, cartoons and books.

Dressing up as something that isn’t real is probably the easiest way to avoid being canceled.

Some cute group costumes I’ve seen are people dressing up as fruits, animals and food brands.

If you want to be a fruit, just get a shirt that matches the color of the fruit of your choice, paint seeds on it, and you’re all set.

Animals are simple: get an animal headband and tail, and paint your face to look like the animal of your choice.

Food brands I see the most are M&M’s and Skittles. All you need to do is get a colored shirt of your choice and paint an S or M on the shirt.

Those are just a few ideas of costumes that will be a success. At the end of the day, Halloween is just about having fun while getting dressed up. You don’t have to be anything specific, you can just wear something you wouldn’t normally wear.

If you run out of ideas, there’s always the option of being something spooky, or just dressing festive in black and orange for Halloween.

ASHLEY RAMOS | Daily Forty-Niner

Here are a few costume ideas that can help with the stress of having to come up with a costume.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2020 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | STAFF@DAILY49ER.COM

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Trick or spike (our coronavirus cases) Why celebrating Halloween at home will help us all survive the holidays.

By Bella Arnold Staff Writer

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n March I watched the days pass by as I sat on my couch, freshly moved back into my parent’s house after being forced to leave Long Beach State’s dorms in a flourish of boxes, stress pimples and bitter tears.

As the world burst into flames, I sipped on my whipped coffee and contemplated how Joe Exotic’s eyebrow ring managed to defy the laws of gravity, just trying to make sense of everything.

Yet each day I held onto a light at the end of this coronavirus-infested tunnel—that light was Halloween.

To me, Halloween is the best day of the year.

Nothing gives me serotonin like the fumes of red dye infused plastic, colored hairspray and pumpkin spiced lattes. As nauseatingly cheesy as it sounds, Halloween is more than a holiday to me.

It lives rent free in my mind as a day full of friends and creativity.

However, as Americans continue to refuse wearing masks and social distance, it grew abundantly clear that my light at the end of the tunnel was just the headlight to a car full of Karens.

As much as I yearn for a symphony of doorbells, trick-or-treats and costume explanations, this year is not the time to be partying or trick-or-treating.

Coronavirus cases are far too high, and people are

too careless to properly celebrate Halloween this year.

The risk of contracting the virus is not worth a few Milkyway bars, even if they’re king-sized.

If you’re like me, this is very upsetting news.

As eager as we all are to return to activities, like waltzing by the Walter Pyramid, seeing friends and drinking coffee that isn’t whipped, the reality of the situation is that we are not in a place to do that.

It would be patronizing to the thousands of healthcare workers who have spent the past seven months giving their lives to save ours, and the over 220,000 people who have lost their lives to this virus.

Social distancing, wearing a mask and washing our hands are the only ways we can stop the spread of this virus. At a party, all three of these things are virtually nonexistent. Congregating in large groups is almost a worse idea than Carole Baskin competing on “Dancing with the Stars.”

Almost.

Having said that, there are still some safe ways you can praise the pumpkin king this Halloween.

Celebrate from home, throw on some Danny Elfman tracks and carve pumpkins with members of your household.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the behavior and location of holiday activities are crucial to consider when navigating Halloween this year. If you are sick, absolutely stay home.

That should go without saying, but there’s a large chunk of mask-wearers who can’t bother to just pull it over the nose, so I think it bears repeating.

Nothing is safer than staying home and celebrating with members of your household.

However, if you are going to pursue a gathering, keep it under 10 people, encourage social distancing, hold the event outdoors and wear a mask.

Even if it doesn’t match your costume. Even if it’s only going to be a small group of people. Even if everyone swears that none of you have it. I don’t care, and Miss Rona especially doesn’t care.

If you are planning to attend a party this Halloween, I strongly urge you to reconsider. Throwing caution to the wind and slapping on that hat and scarf you call a pirate costume is not appropriate or considerate at this time.

One day, we will be able to sneeze into the air while donning eye patches and sitcom-themed costumes. But this is not our reality.

Until we decide to act as a collective to eradicate this virus, these little pockets of hope will continue to disappear. I, for one, am not looking to make pandemic holidays a tradition.

The only way we are going to start to see some semblance of normalcy is by abiding by the CDC’s recommendation to continue to social distance and wear a mask. I implore you all to be patient and refrain from partying this Halloween.

Save a life and stay home.