The truth is that existence wants your life to become a festival … because when you are unhappy, you also throw unhappiness all around.
—Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
The human spirit craves more than a good meal and a roof overhead. That’s why there are festivals celebrating comic book characters, clowns, mermaids, drag queens. . . . Here, people’s true selves are set free and you sense that the magenta wigs, the red, thigh-high boots and the watergun bow-ties are the normal attire and the business suit is the costume.

Day of the Dead – Dia de los Muertos – at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 10/29/2016. Hollywood, California, USA

2015 Day of the Dead – aka Dia de los Muertos – Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, California, USA

The artist Carmelita at the 31st ANNUAL Kingdom Day Parade (honoring the memory and work of Dr. Martin Luther King) Presented By Congress Of Racial Equality Of California (CORE-CA) Adrian Dove, Parade President and CEO Monday, January 18, 2016, Los Angeles, CA Parade Starts Western Ave and MLK Blvd

Aztec Ritual Dancer, Day of the Dead – Dia de los Muertos – at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 10/29/2016. Hollywood, California, USA

Steampunk fashion on cosplay weekend at 2017 Renaissance Pleasure Faire, Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area, Irwindale, California, USA

New Beat Fund band performing at the Teragram Ballroom, downtown Los Angeles, California, USA 5/11/2017

Samba dance float at the 31st ANNUAL Kingdom Day Parade (honoring the memory and work of Dr. Martin Luther King) Presented By Congress Of Racial Equality Of California (CORE-CA) Adrian Dove, Parade President and CEO Monday, January 18, 2016, Los Angeles, CA Parade Starts Western Ave and MLK Blvd

A Samba instructor at the 31st ANNUAL Kingdom Day Parade (honoring the memory and work of Dr. Martin Luther King) Presented By Congress Of Racial Equality Of California (CORE-CA) Adrian Dove, Parade President and CEO Monday, January 18, 2016, Los Angeles, CA Parade Starts Western Ave and MLK Blvd