Relive the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade in the 1980s

This piece was originally published on October 29, 2014; it has been updated.

Scott Laperruque lived on West 10th Street from 1982 to 1986——and every October during those years, the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade marched right past his second-story windows.

Naturally, he was inclined to pick up his camera and shoot black-and-white images of the raucous spectacle, which was then in its infancy. The annual fest of elaborate costumes and unabashed pride started in 1974 as a relatively small affair, with just 160 participants; its growth and popularity meant that by 1986, it was "too big for the small side streets of the Village and was moved to the larger avenue."

Laperruque compiled 113 of his images in his 2013 book, Treaters, and shared 13 with Curbed. "Photographically it is difficult because it is at night. Fast-moving, tight spaces," he recalls. "I'd like to think that the people I photographed, even decades later, still treat Halloween like it's the greatest day of the year."

This year’s Halloween parade happens tomorrow, October 31, at 7 p.m.—here’s everything you need to know about that.

• Treaters: The Greenwich Village Halloween Parade 1982-1986 [official; eBook]
• Scott Lapperruque [official]