ABC 7 has this report about Halloween in SF, sans bridge traffic, and it turns out business was still strong at places like Rouge on Polk (which has $500 bottle service at the booths!) and Teatro ZinZanni, which both depend heavily on their East Bay following. The turnout in the Castro -- while still festively large with many gays doing their one night of drag for the year -- was not as huge and unruly as in previous years (one reveler in the video notes the lack of "riff-raff"), and there were plenty of cops on hand telling everyone to stay on the sidewalks.

Due to the Bay Bridge being closed over the weekend, BART will run on a 24-hour schedule for Friday and Saturday. According to BART.gov:

BART will offer 24-hour service if the Bay Bridge remains closed on Friday and Saturday nights. If the bridge remains closed from Friday night into Saturday morning BART trains will run hourly to the 14 selected stations below during the overnight hours.

Those stations are:

East Bay

• Bay Fair (parking available)
• Downtown Berkeley
• Coliseum/Oakland Airport (parking available)
• Concord (parking available)
• Dublin/Pleasanton (parking available)
• El Cerrito Del Norte (parking available)
• MacArthur (parking available, timed BART transfer point)
• Oakland City Center/12th St. (timed BART transfers, AC Transit transfer point)
• Walnut Creek (parking available)

San Francisco and Peninsula

With the Bay Bridge out of commission "indefinitely," doesn't that mean there'll be far fewer East Bay teenagers coming to the city for Halloween and therefore fewer events of the stabbing/shooting variety? After watching the (somewhat lackluster) Halloween episode of Trauma the other night, in which the Castro is talked up as the biggest Halloween party destination in the world, we feel like maybe it's time for some impromptu planning. Sure, there's always BART... but why can't we reclaim our big, crazy holiday party in the face of such transportation adversity? All we know about right now (apart from dozens of individual parties) is this Embarcadero FlashDance, but we'll be sure and let you know if we hear of anything else.

CLARIFICATION: This post does not reflect the opinions of SFist in general, but merely represents the momentary musings of the author, Jay, who is himself an LGBT person who lived for five years in the East Bay. It reflects no racist sentiment, but rather the emotional response of many who enjoyed Halloween in the Castro before it began to feel like a place for outer Bay Area teenagers (and some from SF as well) to come and gawk, get drunk, and fight with each other. The end.

After a snapped support cable struck three cars on the upper deck at around 5:45 p.m., the Bay Bridge was shut down in both directions this evening to check the structural integrity, according to ActionNewsSF.

SFGate reports:

CHP Officer Peter Van Eckhardt said what appeared to be a cable and a steel bracket fell from the eastern span's overhead steel support structure and onto the upper deck. The parts fell at about 5:30 p.m. Eckhardt said the passengers in one vehicle hit by the falling debris were shaken up but not injured.

Mercury News, however, says that one person has been injured.

Expect major delays. Check 511 for updates on traffic.

Update (7:45): Image of Bay Bridge overpass empty after tonight's closure went into effect. CHP is now diverting eastbound traffic onto Fourth Street. Also, Muni line 108 Treasure Island service has been suspended until further notice.

Update (8:08): The bridge will be closed for "at least 24 hours." Vehicles are backed up at the toll plaza. Nightmareish scene tonight, folks.

CalTrans has apparently been taken by surprise by how difficult Bay Area commuters (and Safeway delivery trucks) are finding it to navigate that new S-curve on the Bay Bridge. Following on that unfortunate grocery spillage last week, and following on 20 total accidents since the S-curve was added on Labor Day, they're committing to putting up big new signs that emphasize the slowing from 50 m.p.h. to 40 m.p.h. We ourselves have driven over it several times and had no trouble, but certainly no one wants to be driving defensively while going 50 m.p.h. around a curve. So for god's sake people, slow down! Oakand's not going anywhere!

For those of you killing time waiting to see if the Bay Bridge reopens on schedule, why not spend ten minutes watching this charming film, "The March of Progress," about the engineering marvel of the Key Route trains that once traveled back and forth on the lower deck of the bridge. The Key System served the East Bay from 1903 to 1960, and provided transbay service from the time of the bridge's construction in 1936 until 1958 when the lower deck was opened up to eastbound auto traffic.

Be forewarned, this old-timey documentary begins at, like, the dawn of time, and has to get through the Gold Rush and the '06 quake before it gets to talking about the trains. The bridge makes its first appearance at 7:10. And if you're wicked into this, you can watch part 2 here.