I was in Hollywood last night at the Hollywood & Highland complex for the 125th anniversary of Hollywood. (And if you think that’s a lot of ways to say “Hollywood,” well, welcome to Hollywood.) While I was there, I noted yet again the scores of amateur costumed characters pestering tourists to get their picture taken with them — and then insisting on a “tip.” One guy couldn’t even bother with a costume; a semi-fit black guy wearing a black muscle shirt emblazoned with the sobriquet “Mr. Muscles” commandeered a section of sidewalk near the Kodak Theatre and bellowed out “Mr. Muscles! GIT your PICture with MR. MUSCLES!” Nobody seemed eager to do so.

Tonight, once again, and once again in front of the Kodak, a brawl erupted. Someone posing as Jack Sparrow got into it with Catwoman (my money’s on her) and an alien and another pirate. Here’s the story in the LA Times. (If this other pirate is the one I’m thinking I’ve seen there, I’m not surprised he was involved.) Spider-Man was led away in handcuffs, and SpongeBob was detained. You can’t make this up.

Here’s a prediction:  The police and the city and the local merchants are going to get more involved in this. Exercising your free rights to parade around in a costume is one thing; presenting a public nuisance and menacing passersby is another. And my experience every place I’ve been, inside the U.S. and out, is this:  Whenever it threatens the tourist trade, the local authorities swing into action.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 2nd, 2012 at 10:10 pm and is filed under Comics, Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.