Vanessa Hicks isn’t a Halloween person. She has never been into the holiday’s campiness. Yet, Ms. Hicks, an executive coach, has spent thousands of dollars every October for the past 15 years on candy and elaborate decorations outside her home on West 69th Street in Manhattan.
Halloween is a special holiday for many New York City neighborhoods, with city dwellers decking out brownstones and Victorians, rowhouses and high-rises. But West 69th Street, especially between Broadway and Central Park West on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, transforms into an open-air museum of Halloween art. Part haunted carnival and part design showcase, the scene can include professional aerialists rappelling from brownstones, doormen donning gorilla costumes and aliens dancing under a disco ball.
When Ms. Hicks, 56, moved in 15 years ago, someone from the West 69th Street Block Association explained participation is technically voluntary, but most neighbors don’t dream of opting out. Last year, she collaborated with her 80-year-old neighbor, Irene Pletka, to create a “WITCHES” theme — an acronym for “women in total control of themselves.” Inspired by JD Vance’s “childless cat ladies” comment, the display included a banner featuring Oprah, Julia Child and Emily Dickinson. This year, her theme is Hitchcock films.
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