PRIDE 6.15.18

Page 1

06.15 – 06.28.2018 ISSUE NUMBER 44, VOLUME 2

| JUNE 15 – 28, ‘18

TURNING UP BEFORE BEING TURNED AWAY

The 2018 Pride festival was oversold by thousands of tickets this year in epic turnout.

Photos: Morgan Genser.

LOS ANGELES

⚫ 1

⚫ BY HENRY GIARDINA

Thousands of would-be attendees were turned away from this year’s L.A. Pride Festival – that didn’t stop us from partying in the street. With chart-topping pop stars like Kehlani and Tove Lo headlining this year’s L.A. Pride Festival, no one could have been surprised by an unusually high turnout. However, during this year’s Pride, the City of West Hollywood, along with the Pride organizers of Christopher Street West, saw an unexpected number of ticket sales and flooded streets on Saturday, June 9, causing parade-goers to be turned away by the thousands. No one saw it coming. Especially not the ticket holders who showed up from all around the country to participate in the legendary Pride festival. Alisha Broome came out from Florida to attend. “It was my first time coming to Pride. I came out over two years ago,” Broome said over the phone. “It was really exciting. We purchased the tickets way in advance. When we got there, we were told it was sold out, they weren’t letting anyone through. Once we got up to the front of the line, we were told it was a fire hazard. They were at full capacity. There was no information given about how we would go about getting refunded.” Before any of the performances began, helicopters circled in the sky, and thousands of ticket-buyers were being told by the L.A. Fire Department that the venue was full. “There was no direct contact information to get ahold of anyone in regard to ticket sales or refunds,” said Broome. “It was just a lot.” Other would-be Pride participators agreed. After the festival began turning people away, Twitter blew up with angry responses from ticket holders who were left with no information about how to get their money back or how to move forward. “F*** LA Pride.” Tweeted user @OCNew. “They took our money, said you could pick up tix at will call. You couldn’t. Cops saying leave or get locked up.Then Pacific Design Center charging $25 for parking and giving no refunds. Sooooo I paid all that money just to drive to WEHO!” “LA Pride was so horrible.” Another user, @mkygod, tweeted after being denied entry. “Waited almost 2 hours in line only for the line to stop at the gate due to full capacity. Then they made people wait another hour before telling everyone in line to go home via helicopter.” Some attendees found that the disorganization of Pride created not just unpleasant, but outright dangerous situations of the same type that Christopher Street West and the LAPD were trying to prevent. “Extreme ticket overselling, dangerous overcrowding, police with pellet guns, and a scary near miss with a girl attempting to jump off the parking structure (which went unnoticed by authorities,)” tweeted @wondermIm. “#lapride should. have. done. Better.”

TURN, see page 10


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.