This Halloween there was definitely something stirring at the Padre. No, it wasn’t the ghost that is said to walk the seventh floor, but it was one of the best events of the evening. The Padre Hotel went all out, with a property-wide Halloween event. From the very beginning, at the entrance on H Street, The Padre held an eerily dark twist of a huge carnival complete with a dark ticket booth. The $40 cover was completely worth the experience.
The man that took the tickets was a Bakersfield College student who was in charge of directing guests about the events that were available, including the performance times and areas to which one must attend to see certain shows. He wore a top hat and mask of the vaudeville style that the entire Padre employee staff implored.
Instead of a typical nightclub atmosphere, as soon as you walked in, you were transformed to the picture-perfect movie set of a dark carnival completed by a Halloween theme. People everywhere, while performances caught your eye at every corner, making the entire space a spectacle to see.
There were two women on stilts that looked like their legs were six feet long. The women were dressed in white and black, with face paint to match, with a sugar skull makeup style. The women twisted umbrellas and walked the lobby to greet guests.
Centered in front of the doors to the elevators and staircase, a woman who did extraordinary moves on a carousel horse with a pole. She wore a gypsy style turquoise halter bra and panty set, she did flips, and other contortionist style moves, all while on top of the moving horse, as it rotated in a 360.
Every 30 minutes a burlesque performance took place, and the mistress of ceremonies, Donetalla MeLies, had on the most appropriate outfit for the Halloween celebration. In the vaudeville style, her ensemble, complete with short petticoat and top hat, MeLies stood out against even the most elaborate of costumes of the guests of the event. With just a touch of sexy, tons of darkness, and splashes of color, like a pink tint hue on her hair, MeLies instantly caught the eye. Her booming voice captivated the audience, and held even the drunkest person to attention.
The mistress gave instruction for the burlesque performance, inclusive of explaining that the proper etiquette of the audience is to scream, shout and “let your wildest noises fill the room,” instead of the typical clapping of hands.
The first performer was Vixen Deville, aptly named as such, with the outfit of that straight out of a Vegas showroom performer.
Deville undressed provocatively and pop locked her body in positions that isn’t suggested that anyone attempt. She contorted her body all the way forward, then all the way back, unfastening the hooks to bra and her skirt as she moved. The moves went in complete sync with the blaring music that played, as the crowd cheered and excitedly encouraged Deville to lose her top. She had pasties on her nipples, which was to the dismay to the men in the room, but was just the right level of nudity.
“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m waiting for someone to get hurt!” MeLies said before introducing the second performer, Delilah Melilah, a woman who did the seemingly impossible of performing on top of glass without hurting herself.
Melilah would position herself over a tarp full of glass shards in acrobatics only seen in the best circus performers. As Melilah did the different moves, she also would undress, leaving a little more to the imagination by remaining covered in the breast area, but completely losing the long skirt that was attached, to boast a much shorter one. The theatrics of the removal of the skirt were to show, with detail, that not only was the woman on the glass shards, but she did not get cut.
After the two women performed, there was an illusionist to whom the Mistress of Ceremonies referred to as the “proprietor weirdo” but was actually named William Drayden.
Drayden first hammered a nail through his nose and took it out his ear, explaining what a true illusionist is. “The trick is to make you think that the illusion is reality,” said Drayden. He then called up two spectators to assist him with a magic trick, one of which was BC alumni Rocky Arenas.
“It is unlike anything I have ever experienced,” said Arenas about the evening.
Arenas and his female counterpart were both shocked and amazed, in conjunction with the crowd, how the artifacts of the RMS Titanic correlated to cards that they both picked of pictures of the passengers of the Titanic.
Downstairs, the female acrobat on the carousel started to do even more acrobats, moved along with the live music that played in the Brimstone bar.
The live band was Mento Buru, and they played until around midnight. Their performance covered different songs that we all know and love. The sounds floated throughout the foyer, where periodically, the live flame eaters performed.
On the main floor, there was a tarot card reader, Billy Scream, who had a long line of anxious people waiting to hear stories of their future. Everyone who received a reading left pleasantly blown away by the Scream’s accuracy.
As a group, all of the performers and the troupe of circus people gathered for pictures at the carousel at 1:30 a.m. The group was a sight to see, as many of the people attending the event crowded around to get a look of the group and snap pictures.
The Halloween costume contest crowned the couple dressed as Shrek and Fiona as the best-dressed couple. The two were complete with green makeup and little antler-style ears that lit up.
In the Brimstone bar area, student Ruth Cruz and her husband danced the night away with a huge crowd of people. “I wasn’t going to come at first, because it was rainy and cold. But we thought about it, we would only be in the cold for a minute to get in and to leave.”
Student Debra Ramirez said, “I really had a great time. I am really happy that I didn’t let the weather keep me from coming out. I loved the event, everything was fun, and the costumes were well thought out and very colorful.”
Matthew Howell, the Food and Beverage director, hopes to incorporate more events of this grandeur. “This is the first event of this size and we hope that you and all the guest of the night really enjoyed the event,” he said.