Photo Credit: Craig Duffy – Pink Cow Photography
3:00pm | Are you feeling run down? Is that spring in your step been absent, lately? Do you think that life, as you’ve known it, has come to an end? Has your skin lost its luster, and become putrid and green? Has your appetite for delicious human brains been on the upswing? If so, you might be a zombie!
Many of the ‘living’ have negative stereotypes about the undead. People think, “Oh, I don’t want them in my neighborhood.” Some say, “They just want to ear our brains!” (As if that’s a bad thing!) Not the good people of 4th Street’s “Retro Row,” however. They’ve opened their hearts, and closed the street, so that Zombies can, at least for a few hours, proudly walk amongst us. Think of the 2nd Annual 4th Street Zombie Walk as a “Zombie Pride Parade.”
Logan Crow, Executive Director of Mondo Celluloid (and part time Zombie), is the organizer of the Annual Zombie Walk here in Long Beach. I asked him about the origins of this phenomena.
Logan: The Zombie Walk started up in Northern California as a sort of flash mob. Some organizers thought it would be fun to reach out to the community and encourage people to dress up like zombies and take over a block. Other cities started doing it, and now there are Zombie Walks all over the world. There were three major ones in L.A. county this month alone. Whittier had a great one that was a Zombie “Pub” Crawl.
When I realized Long Beach hadn’t had its own, I considered it a call to action. It’s really been exciting to see the concept embraced by the community. To have the city’s support has been especially encouraging and humbling.
Sander: What were some of the challenges in putting this event together?
Logan: The biggest challenge is always identifying the most effective ways of marketing it, especially on a limited budget. Getting the word out. We went all-out this time: Posters, flyers, heavy online marketing. Diane Gershuny, who does PR for 4th Street and is a huge advocate for the arts and independent businesses in Long Beach, lent her services and really did a fantastic job helping us get the word out.
I was also very concerned about keeping the masses on the sidewalks but, with the street closure, that took a lot of weight off my shoulders as now the zombies can take over the street!
Sander: In addition to getting all the businesses on 4th Street to participate, you also had to work with the City. What was involved there?
Logan: Well first, GLOBAL became a sponsor. Craig Watson [Executive Director of the Arts Council for Long Beach] and Ryan Smolar [Smolarcorp] have been fantastic to work with, and their support allowed us to ramp up our marketing, as well as cover some of the expenses for some local organizations who will also be participating with events along 4th Street the day of the event.
Then we had a meeting with Special Events, as well as the Police and Fire departments, where concern was expressed about keeping everyone safe and on the sidewalks. It was at that meeting that the City suggested a street closure, and in consideration of this event being free and the Long Beach Cinematheque (parent company of Mondo Celluloid) being a non-profit, they generously offered to sponsor that closure.
That gesture has seriously made my year, and, definitely taken a huge weight off my shoulders. As word-of-mouth has increased, I was honestly starting to get concerned: How am I gonna wrangle 1,000 zombies!?!
Sander: You also had another City related expense, the support of the Police. How did you pay for that?
Logan: We are currently raising money to cover that expense, and I’m glad to report we’re pretty close!! I decided that rather than look for one major sponsor, I would talk to various community businesses and ask them to come in at smaller levels to be part of the event. So far Identity Home Staging+Design, 562CityLife.com, The Art Theatre, Tiffany-Garcia.com tattoos, HMDB Insurance, and the Art du Vin Wine Bar have stepped forward to cover our police costs. Capizzi Insurance has generously sponsored our event insurance. This really has become a community event, which was always my vision and goal.
If anyone wants to become a sponsor for the event, contact me directly at [email protected].
Sander: Who is your typical Zombie Walker?
Logan: You know, as last year’s event proved, there really are a variety of Zombie Walkers! I was surprised to see so many children out with their parents, particularly because last year’s event was at 11pm! This week’s walk is at 8:30, with events going on all day before that on 4th, so I expect to see a lot more kids. But yeah, we had young zombies, older zombies, zombie families, zombie couples, zombies on bikes, zombies on skates. We even had a zombie on a Segway! He proved to be quite popular.
Sander: And, this year, if you don’t have the mad zombie skills, there will be people on the street applying makeup.
Logan: There will be makeup artists at Elan Collective and Salon Pop, as well as a complimentary kiddie zombie makeup clinic at Lil’ Devils Boutique, hosted by our friends at Alive Theatre. Portfolio Coffee House will also be doing Zombie makeup.
Sander: And the big culmination of the evening is at the Art Theatre, where they’re showing the instant classic, Shaun of the Dead.
Logan: Yeah! The movie is screening on a 35mm print at 9:30pm. We expect it to sell out, so we will more than likley add a midnight screening for those who don’t make it in.
Sander: Will any of the local restaurants be serving special Zombie food?
Logan: The Art du Vin and 4th Street Vine will be serving up zombie-themed drinks. Lola’s Mexican Cuisine will be staying open until midnight, and I believe they’re theming the place up. They’ve been hush-hush about what they have under their sleeves, but apparently they’re going to do something pretty cool with their decor.
For complete details about the 2nd Annual 4th Street Zombie Walk, visit mondocelluloid.com/zombiewalk. If you’re feeling confused or scared about becoming a zombie, don’t be. You, too, can learn to look like a zombie. If you really want to stand out, you can learn advanced zombification techniques. If you’re a zombie, and you feel like nobody understands you, you’re not alone. Maybe it is time to join a Zombie Support Group.