Halloween on the poor side of town, Santa Barbara, California 1984


When I tell people that I lived on the poor side of town in Santa Barbara, most people think that I'm joking. As if the poor side of town there is was where the people with the less fancy yachts lived, or something. But I was there, in 1984, on the Milpas side of town, living in a house which had been converted into tiny apartments, surrounded by an older community that had seen better days, and was now crowded with people who were doing the kind of things that people in wealthy communities need, and rarely give a thought to the people who do them.

I had just moved there, and on Halloween day I really didn't know what to expect, but I was at the grocery store anyway, so I picked up a bag of candy just in case some trick-or-treaters knocked on my door, which didn't seem very likely. My door was just one of many in the converted house, and it was around the back, and the street was a dark and lonely dead-end.

But as the sun went down I could hear the kids in the neighborhood, and I could see them from my porch. The house had no decorations (very few houses in the neighborhood were decorated, anyway) but someone must have seen that my light was on, maybe they saw me moving around inside, and I heard a knock.

The little guy couldn't have been more than three or four, and his mom was standing right behind him, coaching him what to say. He wasn't wearing a costume, but he had on something that was probably as close as he could get to it - an oversized jacket even though it wasn't a cold night. I could see in his eyes that he was amazed that you could go around the neighborhood and get free candy. Or maybe he was just amazed to be out there. I've lived on the poor side of towns, and I know that getting stuff for free is amazing for people who are just scraping by, even if it's just a Snickers bar.

I filled up his little ordinary paper bag to overflowing, and as I recall a few more kids did trickle in, as I remember making a quick run to the grocery store for another bag of two of candy.

A couple of years later I moved to Los Angeles, and then to Phoenix, which where I am now, and when I mention that I lived in Santa Barbara, I know that no one sees it the same way that I do. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
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