My most memorable Halloween in NYC happened when I was around ten. I was staying with some cousins in their Manhattan brownstone, because my parents had to drive my sister back to college after her October break, and I didn’t want to spend Halloween stuck in an eight hour drive. I was a little worried about how good Trick or Treating could be when everyone lived in apartment buildings instead of houses, but it had to be better than my only treat being fries at a rest stop McDonald’s. I ended up pleasantly surprised, although whenever I have told anyone about why, they always say they wish they had caught that kind of thing growing up, so I suppose this wasn’t a typical NYC thing so much as my getting really lucky when it came to my cousins neighbors.
The people on their block didn’t want us kids to lose out on the feeling of a rare night out, so instead of staying in their individual apartments, they lined the block, sitting on the steps of each building, ready to exchange candy for an enthusiastic, lack-of-door ignoring cry of, Trick or Treat! I had chosen a gypsy costume before I knew what my Halloween plans would be, and it was no match for the NYC wind-tunnel effect between the tall buildings so when I came to the place that truly made the memory, it was all the more welcome to me. One building had decided that instead of offering candy, they were going to set up a BBQ between two stairwells, and offer kids hamburgers and hot cocoa. They had some chairs set out, and you could put your feet on a hot brick from the coals, to warm up. It was great! I was hard-pressed to admit it outright as a kid, but the real food was even a welcome break from all the candy.
