Halloween curiosities in San Francisco

I’ve never seen so many skeletons and so much spooky stuff as on my recent visit to San Francisco. The lengths people have gone to in decorating their homes and shops for Halloween is most impressive, let alone some of the outfits I saw  - like this frightening fellow at Fisherman’s Wharf (above).

Cobwebs and coffins are in abundance, along with spiders and other creepy crawlies. Mendel’s Far Out Fabrics and Art Supplies shop encourages visitors to make their own costumes – with some curious examples on show (below).

ShopCurious might have expected to see skulls and bones in the window of Haight Street curiosity shop, Loved to Death...

... but not inside Sausalito pilot houses.

By the way, Sonoma’s Sebastiani Theatre is showing a Witchy Poo Halloween Extraganza this weekend, which promises to be curiously camp as well as creepy.  If you’re in the area, do check it out.

Will you?

PS For a tourist trip that will seriously spook you out: ShopCurious visits Alcatraz in our latest post at The Dabbler.

Sweet but spooky retro treats

Did you know that Halloween is the second most commercially successful holiday next to Christmas? In the United States, Halloween candy sales average around two billion dollars annually.

I stumbled upon this old style American candy store on a recent visit to the States. Full to the brim with old fashioned varieties of sweets – plus retro memorabilia that included images of dead movie stars and celebrities like John Wayne, Elvis Presley and Ronald Reagan.











Never mind the ghoulish apparitions and skulls on display, I got a distinctly weird feeling about this store. The staff were very curious - and there was something decidedly eerie about the place. I started to imagine all sorts of horror film scenes, like candy store displays coming to life in a sort of Mexican Day of the Dead style procession.






















And I was reminded of the Mexican style curiosities (called Die-a-ramas) by Blue at ShopCurious. There’s one curiosity box in particular - featuring a skull and the word ‘Muerte’ (death) - that’s made from a vintage sweet tin, decorated with found objects and macabre ephemera. If you’re looking for unusual gifts for Halloween, this is curiously creepy.











Go on, have a sweetie…

Will you?