Bay Area/ San Francisco
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Published on November 01, 2024
San Francisco's "Nightmare on Front Street" Halloween Bash Revives Downtown Spirit and EconomySource: Adrian Feliciano, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Last night, San Francisco's downtown was abuzz with the "Nightmare on Front Street" Halloween block party, cemented as a staple of the city's festive events in the new Entertainment Zone. According to NBC Bay Area, Booze flowed freely in costumes among the historic streets as ghouls and goblins galore took advantage of the state's first designated drinking area, liberty birthed from a law penned by Senator Scott Wiener himself.

According to NBC Bay Area, the celebration attracted a sense of revival to the downtown district, coming on the heels of a successful Oktoberfest, which drew an estimated 10,000 revelers last month. "We know what this surge of activity does for our small business community and local economy, and we are seeing lasting benefits," Mayor London Breed noted, hinting at a slow but vibrant recovery post-pandemic.

Senator Scott Wiener couldn't hide his enthusiasm in a social media post captured by the social media X post platform. He proudly declared the zone was "absolutely rocking it tonight" and gave a nod to the city's transit system for getting partygoers to and fro. Meanwhile, the Front Street businesses licensed to serve alcohol in the open air, Schroeder's, Harrington’s Bar & Grill, and Royal Exchange, seemed to be entertainment epicenters.

Jan Wiginton, co-owner of Schroeder's, admitted to ABC7 News, "I can't believe how many people we have here tonight." And indeed, the foot traffic did not lie. The event wasn't just about saturated spirits and costumed capers; it brought measurable spikes in OpenTable reservations and sidewalk pedestrians, "so there's certainly indications that things are getting much better," as Rodney Fong, President and CEO of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce put it.