Hello! I’m Leslie, a new KCRW Summer Marketing Intern. I’ve been looking forward to Chinatown Summer Nights after meeting a fellow Summer Marketing Intern talk about it. She excitedly spoke about this event and tried to paint a vivid picture for me and one thing I knew was that a lot of confetti would be involved.
The day had finally arrived and walking to Chinatown Summer Nights a few people were running through as if pressed for time. Moments later another group was briskly walking through the crowds of people as if trying to get to the very front of a general admission concert. In that moment, it hit me that it was the night of the first ever KCRW Scavenger Hunt!
At dusk, confetti falling from the sky greeted me to the KCRW table where I joined the rest of the team. Minutes after arriving two women dressed in similar beanies and scarves ran up to the table, phones in hand. They asked us if we were the street team and excitedly exclaimed how happy they were to see us. Truthfully I was more happy to see them because their contagious energy instantly made everyone at the table cheer loudly because we knew they had been doing the scavenger hunt all day. They snapped a selfie with us and laughed as they pointed to one another’s facial expressions as long time friends do. I spoke to this team of two who told me that they had been doing the scavenger hunt since the early hours of the morning, which surprised me at first because they had the kind of energy only a big cup of coffee gives you. They said their reward was to dance at Summer Nights and before they even got to the dance floor they showed off their moves to all of us, with hands in air.
Flash! It was not as discreet as they may had intended but a group of people in their early 20s took a quick picture of us. Our conversation was not started with the usual “hello” but with mimicking one another’s dance moves. He told us how much he loves KCRW and we spoke about the shows we listen to when driving from place to place. You could tell he had a jam packed day wide eyed yet full of energy. He said he was doing the scavenger hunt with his group of best friends – they explored many places they had never seen and got to take pictures that will now be memories to look back to. As the music got louder the team ran off together and I could see them as they danced into the crowd.
As the night went on and the party got bigger, I met a family doing the scavenger hunt together. After telling us about their adventure, a young kid ran over to join his teammates. In that moment, I knew that this family had an awesome time exploring Los Angeles together.
Going to Chinatown Summer Nights I thought that it would just be a night of dancing, meeting new people, and a lot of confetti. However, it was much more than that – I saw friends and families come together under the night sky after a long day of adventure, exploration, and new memories.
