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Hey,
Guess what readers--You're looking at my first ever truly journalistic piece!
Yep, did an interview, took pictures, the whole deal.
Now before we get to the main event, Old Man Scoot would like to regale you young un's with a tale of Halloween in the 1980s:
Seriously, Those of you who were just recently of trick-or-treat age, or still are--you've got no idea how good you have it as far as retail costume shopping is concerned.
(and if you are still young enough to trick-or-treat, does mommy know what you're doing on the computer? That content warning is there for a reason, kids.)
You guys get costumes made of actual cloth, masks made of real rubber, and not from some specialty shop(I'll get to those later), this is the stuff the local drugstore or Wal-Mart carries.
We had to make do with flame-retardant vinyl smocks and thin plastic half masks with elastic bands that sliced into the back of your head like a straight razor. And if you wore glasses, like me, you were fucked--no way in Hell were you getting one of those lame-ass masks on over them.(80s kids--remember these names? Ben Cooper? Don Post? Collegeville? Imagineering?)
I was lucky, I had a mother with a background in theater who did excellent make-up jobs, so I'd usually go the greasepaint route.
Full head rubber or latex masks certainly existed, but the ones for sale at the department or drug stores where I did my usual Halloween shopping were of poor quality and generally too expensive.
But the kind of costumes available to us 15 years ago is beside the point, what's important is the establishments where we bought them.
Now I can't speak for the rest of the country(or world), but in my neck of the woods there's been a Halloween specialty store in pretty much every shopping mall in the area for at least the last ten years. Sometimes they're even in simple plazas or strip malls.
As a kid who was raised on getting my costumes from(here's some Chicagoland name-dropping)Osco, Walgreens, K-mart, Venture, or even Zayre's(God, I'm old), any one of these Meccas of all things Ghoulish and Creepified would have caused instant death by fatal nerdgasm. My geeky little body just wouldn't be able to withstand such wonderfulness.
But even without specialty stores, and even with the added handicap of growing up in a shithole suburb like Waukegan, the Halloween Gods still managed to bestow their blessings on little Scooter.
Here's how:
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you: THE COSTUME SHOP!
For over fifty years this little jewel has been tucked away in a residential area just outside of downtown Waukegan. It is truly in the middle of nowhere, blocks away from any major street or commercial district. I thought it'd be damn near impossible for anyone who is not intimately acquainted with Waukegan to just "happen upon" this marvelous building--but the owner assures me that more than a few people every year find it purely accidentally(I credit this to the aforementioned "Halloween Gods").
I grew up less than three blocks from the Shop, and I'm still amazed that a kid as obsessed with Hallowen as myself didn't start living and breathing this place until I was 11 years old. Granted, they don't carry small children's costumes, so I wouldn't have been able to use any of their wares until--well, about 11 or 12. I guess, then, I really didn't miss anything--but even if I was too small for their costumes and masks, still would've gone just to gaze in awe at such a place, this cathedral of masquerade, this palace of disguises.
The Costume Shop cemented me as a lifelong customer when one of their wonderful masks won me the school-wide costume contest in 6th grade. I wish I had a pic of this mask, it was just the traditional Grim Reaper-type hooded skull, but it was a masterful, proffessional-grade piece of work--not one of the aforementioned dime-store crap masks.
I can, however, show you the second mask I ever bought from them--I traded it back to them later, so they still had it:
Beautiful, isn't it?
Interesting thing about this mask--it marked the last time in my life I threw a temper tantrum. I was 12, and I'd made some kind of deal with my Dad to get the money for this mask($25). I don't remember the details, but I didn't do or do completely whatever it was I said I'd do, so my Dad said no.
I flew into a screaming rage, ran up to my room and cried and yelled for God knows how long. Not my proudest moment, granted, but Halloween was two days away, and I had no backup plan--no way in Hell was the big day gonna catch me uncostumed!
Long story short(er), My Dad caved, and I got the mask--I think it was worth my twelve year-old dignity.
I also got back from them a piece of my dissolute teen years:
I borrowed that cross from Gary, the former owner whom I'd gotten to know fairly well over the years, it was a prop for a zombie costume. I was 16, me and my best friend had won tickets over the radio to see the Ramones on Halloween. We both went as zombies. I'd go on, but this is a memory that deserves it's own post. Anyway, I bought it from the owner for ten bucks, and I'm delighted to have it.
Right, now for some useful information:
The shop is open year round by appointment, and open to the public throughout October--depending on volume of business. In other words, if it's slow, they may not be open all of October. This year, the weather out here is unseasonably warm and sunny, and for some reason more people come by during this area's traditional cold, wet, and miserable Fall weather. My young self hated this schedule--I wanted the doors open 365 days a year. I would've moved in if they'd have let me.
As well as a large selection of traditional Halloween costumes, they also carry Santa suits for Christmas and Bunny outfits for Easter.
Here's the website, it's got better directions on it than I could give, as well as hours of operation, and more pics of their merchandise.
Here now, are the rest of the photos I took, and a bit of scintillating commentary:
Here's a long shot, to give you all an idea of the size of the shop and a look at the surrounding environs.
According to Audrey, the currrent owner, sometime back in the Cretaceous Period, the original owners once had a custom-made costume shop in downtown Waukegan on Genesee St.(which might mean something if you lived here). This building was an old corner store of some sort,and it so happens that the owners of the original Genesee shop lived right across the street. I assume they bought it so they could work closer to home, which is Audrey's theory as well.
That's Audrey, the owner(I forgot to ask her last name--I'm one hell of an investigative journalist, huh?)
She bought the place from Gary, the aforementioned previous owner back in 1996. She's very cool and was nice enough to humor me long enough to take these pictures and ask some questions. Come visit her if you're ever unfortunate enough to find yourself in Waukegan.
A couple friends I made during the interview. The Tiki God rocks!
These folks are the main mask rack, sorry about the quality, the sun was coming right through the window there--should've waited til dusk.
Notables: Predator, Hilary, Freddy, Joker's clown mask from Dark Knight.
This is a photo of a photo, which is why the quality is for crap. It's from the shop's little hall-of-fame corkboard, and it depicts Gizmo and Stripe, ready for a night on the town. The Costume Shop is excellent at coming up with creative ways to use a mask.
Some racks of costumes--that's pretty much all there is to say about this.
Pac-Man and a Clone Trooper. This article's Minimum Daily Allowance of nerd content.
A glass case. Featured: Another Clone Trooper, Lady Liberty, Yoda, and Gizmo sans evening wear.
Well, that should do it for this visit from the Ghost of Halloween Past.
The Costume Shop is at 643 Center St. Waukegan, IL 60085
The Main Line is (847) 344-9600
The Shop Line is (847) 336-2299
And, once again, the website is: http://www.the-costume-shop.net/
Night of the Living Scoot
