4th of July at Edgewater - Hollywood Beach fireworks and a relocated beach rave
I've been celebrating American Independence Day on Edgewater's Hollywood Beach. Rather then trying to watch fireworks at Navy Pier, I would watch the fireworks show Saddle & Cycle Club put out on the nearby[Foster Beach]the same Foster Beach where Danny and Sandy had their summer romance in the original, Chicago-based version of Grease. The view from the southern tip of Hollywood Beach was pretty good, and afterwords, I would dance the night away at what I've dubbed the Hollywood Beach Rave. A local DJ sets up equipment on a small hill at the southern tip, and everybody is welcome to dance along. Last year, things didn't go too well, and I was hoping that this year would be different.
And boy were they ever.
Now, I knew from the last two Independence Days that there will be people launching fireworks from Hollywood Beach. But I've never seen anything quite like this.
People set up lawn chairs all along the beach's perimeter, and many groups had their own picnic-type set-ups on the lawn a little further back. Some groups even brought grills. None of the pictures I took really quite captures it, so I'll have to make due with the few shots that weren't completely shrouded in darkness.
The fireworks were bigger and more complex then anything I've ever seen on Hollywood Beach
Most fireworks were launched a bit further south, closer to the beachhouse, but one group was launching fireworks only a dozen or so meters away
Behind me, a little girl who was watching the fireworks with her father shouted "This is the best thing ever!"
If the photos don't quite give you the sense of what I saw yesterday evening, hopefully, these videos will
Watching the fireworks, I didn't just feel impressed. I felt weirdly... proud. This was something that people in my neighborhood put together. Not the City of Chicago - us. Edgewater.
After watching it for about half an hour, I decided to head toward the south end of the beach. While I knew that people would keep fireworks for at least another hour, the pace was starting to slow, and it looked like all the fancy stuff was already fired off. I carefully walking along the beach's rim. As randirogue would later text me, there is always a risk of stepping up on a firework and losing a limb, and with the lighting being what it is, I wasn't taking any chances.
I walked along the stone ridge, passing families that chatted in Polish, Ukrainian, Spanish, Korean and some languages I couldn't identify.
Closer to the beach house, the little girls were lighting fireworks.
with all the fireworks firing off from several different directions, the entire beach filled up with smoke.
At this point, I didn't particular care if I see the Saddle & Cycle Club fireworks. As far as I was concerned, I already got my Chicago 4th of July fireworks watching experience. But I did want to see what was going on with the beach rave.
And I saw that the beach wasn't up in the bushes this time - the DJ set up his equipment right on the beach. On the up side, it meant more room. On the down side, it meant that you probably wanted to take off your shoes if you wanted to get any dancing done. Which is why there are a lot of discarded shoes lying around.
In a bit of a new feature, the DJ set up a screen that projected... my first instinct was to describe them as "winamp-style visualizations," but Winamp has been around for so long and influenced so many programs that came since that, much like friends feed, it has become a universal feature of programs like it.
But I digress. What made the screen cool - aside from adding a new layer of visuals - is that it gave dancers a nice backdrop they could dance in front of. And/or take pictures in front of.
By the time I got there, the rave was already in full swing.
While there were a lot of people dancing, but there were also plenty of people just standing around, or sitting around in the sand, on the edge of the beach and on the hill, chatting and looking on.
Oh, and I saw a little girl who couldn't be older then six dancing with her parents, waving a glowstick that looked enormous in her tiny hands. Which I thought was pretty adorable.
One advantage of having the rave in the sand was that, at least for the first half an hour or so, you'd see fireworks exploding behind the DJ. It was even cooler when it happened as the beat changed.
There were no issues with the sound system this time around. There were issues with power - every once in a while, the music and lights would suddenly shut off, and the DJ and his friends would have to go to rev up the generator that was apparently powering this whole set-up. But it usually took last then a minute, so the dancing just resumed as if nothing happened.
I wasn't sure how long I wanted to hang around. At first, I thought I would hang until 10:30 PM. Then, I figured I would hang around until 11:00 PM, when all the Chicago parks and beaches are officially supposed to be closed the public. But that came and went, too, and I was still dancing.
Though, y that point, I was getting kind of tired, so I decided to take a bit of a break. Before I headed out to Hollywood Beach, I thought about wearing swim trunks under my shorts and swimming around, but I decided against it, because the weather was cold. But, with all the sweat I worked up, the chilly air didn't seem to matter. I thought of swimming in my underwear, because, hey, it was dark, and most people were paying attention to something else entirely... but I never did. Instead, I went around and up the hill, got a look at the rave from the high vantage point and headed back down.
I kept on finding excuses to stay. I like this song, let's hear it to the end, Maybe next song would be better.
Before I knew it, it was only 10 minutes until midnight - and I figured I might as well hang around until July 4 actually ends.
At that point, the songs seems to have gotten.. I'm not sure "slower" is necessarily the right word. The beat was still fast. But instead of picking the songs that got people moving first and foremost, he went for songs that were more, well, tender. More romantic. And, sure enough, I saw many couples - straight and gay - dancing together just a bit slower. Less grinding and more looking into each others' eyes. And ass-grabbing, because it was still a rave, and things don't get quite that lovey-dovey.
After midnight, the DJ said that he was wrapping things up. At around 12:10 AM, he played one last song, winding down the beat as it faded out.
If it was a weekend, I might have hung around a bit more, but Tuesday was a work day (even if my work schedule is pretty unconventional), so I left before something else could change my mind.
Behind me, people chanted "ONE MORE TUNE, ONE MORE TUNE!"
The DJ acquiesced, but, by that point, I was nearing the beach house. And, sure enough, mere seconds later, I saw a cop car pulling in and heading toward the rave. A reporter in me was tempted to turn back... but a Russian in me decided to keep walking in the opposite direction. A few moments later, the music shut off, and then, so did all the lighting.
As near as I can figure out, the cops told everyone to disperse. But, by that point, I was washing my feet and geting heading home.
Overall - I enjoyed myself. The amateur fireworks show was pretty cool, and I worked up quite a sweat dancing. And while it probably would have been more fun if I had a itsmegamanda to dance with, I still enjoyed myself quite a bit. The music was great, and I didn't feel like I had to be anything but what I was, or dance any way other then how I wanted. Which, after a pretty stressful week filled with early deadlines, was a nice thing to end a holiday weekend on.
And next time - unless the temps are really unseasonably low, I'm definitely bringing swim trunks.
And boy were they ever.
Now, I knew from the last two Independence Days that there will be people launching fireworks from Hollywood Beach. But I've never seen anything quite like this.
People set up lawn chairs all along the beach's perimeter, and many groups had their own picnic-type set-ups on the lawn a little further back. Some groups even brought grills. None of the pictures I took really quite captures it, so I'll have to make due with the few shots that weren't completely shrouded in darkness.
The fireworks were bigger and more complex then anything I've ever seen on Hollywood Beach
Most fireworks were launched a bit further south, closer to the beachhouse, but one group was launching fireworks only a dozen or so meters away
Behind me, a little girl who was watching the fireworks with her father shouted "This is the best thing ever!"
If the photos don't quite give you the sense of what I saw yesterday evening, hopefully, these videos will
Watching the fireworks, I didn't just feel impressed. I felt weirdly... proud. This was something that people in my neighborhood put together. Not the City of Chicago - us. Edgewater.
After watching it for about half an hour, I decided to head toward the south end of the beach. While I knew that people would keep fireworks for at least another hour, the pace was starting to slow, and it looked like all the fancy stuff was already fired off. I carefully walking along the beach's rim. As randirogue would later text me, there is always a risk of stepping up on a firework and losing a limb, and with the lighting being what it is, I wasn't taking any chances.
I walked along the stone ridge, passing families that chatted in Polish, Ukrainian, Spanish, Korean and some languages I couldn't identify.
Closer to the beach house, the little girls were lighting fireworks.
with all the fireworks firing off from several different directions, the entire beach filled up with smoke.
At this point, I didn't particular care if I see the Saddle & Cycle Club fireworks. As far as I was concerned, I already got my Chicago 4th of July fireworks watching experience. But I did want to see what was going on with the beach rave.
And I saw that the beach wasn't up in the bushes this time - the DJ set up his equipment right on the beach. On the up side, it meant more room. On the down side, it meant that you probably wanted to take off your shoes if you wanted to get any dancing done. Which is why there are a lot of discarded shoes lying around.
In a bit of a new feature, the DJ set up a screen that projected... my first instinct was to describe them as "winamp-style visualizations," but Winamp has been around for so long and influenced so many programs that came since that, much like friends feed, it has become a universal feature of programs like it.
But I digress. What made the screen cool - aside from adding a new layer of visuals - is that it gave dancers a nice backdrop they could dance in front of. And/or take pictures in front of.
By the time I got there, the rave was already in full swing.
While there were a lot of people dancing, but there were also plenty of people just standing around, or sitting around in the sand, on the edge of the beach and on the hill, chatting and looking on.
Oh, and I saw a little girl who couldn't be older then six dancing with her parents, waving a glowstick that looked enormous in her tiny hands. Which I thought was pretty adorable.
One advantage of having the rave in the sand was that, at least for the first half an hour or so, you'd see fireworks exploding behind the DJ. It was even cooler when it happened as the beat changed.
There were no issues with the sound system this time around. There were issues with power - every once in a while, the music and lights would suddenly shut off, and the DJ and his friends would have to go to rev up the generator that was apparently powering this whole set-up. But it usually took last then a minute, so the dancing just resumed as if nothing happened.
I wasn't sure how long I wanted to hang around. At first, I thought I would hang until 10:30 PM. Then, I figured I would hang around until 11:00 PM, when all the Chicago parks and beaches are officially supposed to be closed the public. But that came and went, too, and I was still dancing.
Though, y that point, I was getting kind of tired, so I decided to take a bit of a break. Before I headed out to Hollywood Beach, I thought about wearing swim trunks under my shorts and swimming around, but I decided against it, because the weather was cold. But, with all the sweat I worked up, the chilly air didn't seem to matter. I thought of swimming in my underwear, because, hey, it was dark, and most people were paying attention to something else entirely... but I never did. Instead, I went around and up the hill, got a look at the rave from the high vantage point and headed back down.
I kept on finding excuses to stay. I like this song, let's hear it to the end, Maybe next song would be better.
Before I knew it, it was only 10 minutes until midnight - and I figured I might as well hang around until July 4 actually ends.
At that point, the songs seems to have gotten.. I'm not sure "slower" is necessarily the right word. The beat was still fast. But instead of picking the songs that got people moving first and foremost, he went for songs that were more, well, tender. More romantic. And, sure enough, I saw many couples - straight and gay - dancing together just a bit slower. Less grinding and more looking into each others' eyes. And ass-grabbing, because it was still a rave, and things don't get quite that lovey-dovey.
After midnight, the DJ said that he was wrapping things up. At around 12:10 AM, he played one last song, winding down the beat as it faded out.
If it was a weekend, I might have hung around a bit more, but Tuesday was a work day (even if my work schedule is pretty unconventional), so I left before something else could change my mind.
Behind me, people chanted "ONE MORE TUNE, ONE MORE TUNE!"
The DJ acquiesced, but, by that point, I was nearing the beach house. And, sure enough, mere seconds later, I saw a cop car pulling in and heading toward the rave. A reporter in me was tempted to turn back... but a Russian in me decided to keep walking in the opposite direction. A few moments later, the music shut off, and then, so did all the lighting.
As near as I can figure out, the cops told everyone to disperse. But, by that point, I was washing my feet and geting heading home.
Overall - I enjoyed myself. The amateur fireworks show was pretty cool, and I worked up quite a sweat dancing. And while it probably would have been more fun if I had a itsmegamanda to dance with, I still enjoyed myself quite a bit. The music was great, and I didn't feel like I had to be anything but what I was, or dance any way other then how I wanted. Which, after a pretty stressful week filled with early deadlines, was a nice thing to end a holiday weekend on.
And next time - unless the temps are really unseasonably low, I'm definitely bringing swim trunks.