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Photos: The Best Halloween Costumes On The NYC Subway In 2019


By

Ben Yakas

Published Nov 1, 2019


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Scenes from the subway system, Halloween 2019

 

Sai Mokhtari / Gothamist

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By

Ben Yakas

Published Nov 1, 2019


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New Yorkers take their Halloween celebrations very seriously, and the best way of appreciating that is just by looking through seventeen gajillion photos of locals traversing our mass transit system while covered in cardboard, spandex and fake blood. As we love to do every year, we sent inexhaustible photographer Sai Mokhtari down into the tunnels of Manhattan and Brooklyn to capture all the amazing and inventive costumes New Yorkers donned for Thursday night's Halloween celebrations.

Among the highlights of this year's crop of costumes: there were a few NYC-centric winners including a living bodega and Kramer & Elaine from Seinfeld, There were fun random TV throwbacks such as Gilly from SNL, Barb from Stranger Things, and Jambi from Pee Wee Herman's Playhouse. There were also some great joint costumes, such as Elton John & David Bowie, Kathy Griffin & Trump's severed head (remember...), Mario & Prince Peach, Slash & Axl Rose, and Putin with his very own diaper Trump balloon.

The most popular costume of the year, unsurprisingly, was The Joker—but while most people were dressed up as Joaquin Phoenix's version of the clown prince of crime, we did catch at least one throwback to the Jared Leto version. We also saw costumes inspired by Marge Simpson, Notorious RBG, Jigsaw from Saw, Freddie Mercury, Buzz Lightyear, Captain Planet, Rey from Star Wars, Harley Quinn, Stay Puft Man, Pacman ghost, The Bride from Kill Bill, Barbie, Inspector Gadget, Lite Brite, Bob Ross, various Avengers, Harry Potter, Elf, Prince, The Incredibles, Home Alone, Pennywise, Tyler The Creator, Spirited Away, and so much more.

Check all the amazing outfits in the photo gallery up above, and let us know what clever puns and references we missed in the comments below.

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Ben Yakas

Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.

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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations


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