Obama inauguration 2009 Washington, DC closed purple ticket gate

[dtmbcorp]

Look at all the garbage... What a joke.

[kashabear]

I was on the Mall at 5:30 in an unticketed area; should have stayed there. Was trying to get from the south side of the Mall to the north side. I foolishly thought my purple tickets would get me a better view.

Instead, what I saw at 12 Noon was the puple gate close in front of me and thousands of others who waited for many hours in lines that went nowhere.

I started out at RFK stadium at 4:30 AM and 13 hrs later I got back, having not seen or heard any of the ceremony. still can't watch it.

[polygoktigon]

it looks like the apacolypse!

[rickythecop]

Sorry for you that you had to go through all that trouble to get there.

[OldManDoc]

After emerging from the 3rd avenue tunnel of doom and coming to this spot, I realized there was no gate here at all, rather the entrance was on Louisana.  So I moved back against the crowd, climbed a fence, cut around a construction site and came back out at Louisana. Thousands of us were strained against a small gate. I made it in at 11:45 and saw the grand moment. The only thing that saved the day was the good nature of the crowd.

[IamJacksForeskin]

After waiting for roughly 5 hours we made our way up to the front, and my aunt was among the last before they reshut the gate at 12. Apparently some guy came down, started harassing the people closest to the gate, and then decided he had the authority to shut down the gate himself, saying that people could get "hurt". As a Purple ticket holder i knew this was bull shit, and feel awful for the people who had worked 120 hour work weeks to get Obama elected, and were not allowed in.

[raisenrabt]

I am someplace in your video, after emerging from several hours in the tunnel. I would have gone to the mall in the morning with my friends (who saw it all on the JumboTron) but I had a ticket and I really thought it meant that I could get into the event and that officials had a plan for getting me into the event, so long as I followed all the rules (which I did). Great photo of the Mall in the picture the next day. I still love Obama :-)

[BulletsBasketballDC]

If you are a tourist and you came here from out of town and you were denied entry you have my sympathy.

[12youtuba]

Was the same thing at the Blue Gate, where we stood for almost three hours until the "TSA" shut the gates.

[Kirt1082]

I stood in line for 3 and half hours to get the purple tickets and then waited 4 hours at 1st street at the purple gate and didn't get in.

[androy23]

Not sure how we did it, but we were in the purple section and after deciding to turn back twice but not being able to due to the density of the crowd we managed to get through the security gates at 11:30.

[herbierules]

I was there, and somehow got in.

[damienlucifuge]

I also being a purple ticket holder was in this mess on 1st Street and waited from 7:30 to 12:15 and was denied access.  I found it amusing the emt's and police thought they should force their vehicles through us.

After watching the inauguration on tv the purple section was nearly devoid of people. Oddly, all the news sources completely avoided showing that section. I got to hear the 21 gun salute "what fun!" I was Almost part of history, woohoo!

[michaelsiewert]

Not sure how many people you think they can actually fit onto the mall. Glad I was in my warm home watching it on TV.

[itsprettyscary]

I had a purple ticket and I managed to get in. It was difficult and not many people knew what was going on.. it was worth the chaos though

[Crazylaowai]

Unbelievable. We got in line in "the tunnel" at 6:30. There was no order whatsoever. I saw a few cops when I got there who directed us into the tunnel, but by the time we trudged out 4 hours later, there were no cops, no potties, nothing. And where the hell were the event people? Shouldn't someone have been out there directing folks?? Our friends came all the way from Utah and CA, one of whom had a great grandma who was a slave--really sad for them. Long live the tunnel people!!!

[travelingmanLA]

I was there as well! This was such a horrible display of poor planning and government failure. I spent almost $800 flying from Los Angeles to wait in line for almost 6 hours. In spite of having tickets, We never got in!

Such a huge disappointment!

[spoonyfork]

We didn't see anything. The bitter tone of the crowd of thousands at the fence worried me. We beat feet back to the Metro and left for Arlington to watch it on the TiVo. My two favorite parts of the experience was "the wave" down the line around 8:00AM and overhearing a guy yelling at a senator staffer on the phone about the gate being closed: "I traveled all this way for this!? Get him on the phone. I want to know why this gate is closed. ... I don't care. get him on the phone."

[SchalaKid]

Not one of my favorite experiences. Don't even get to say that the chill I caught from standing out there for 5+ hours was worth it; might as well have watched it from home. Still feels like it didn't really happen, because I still haven't seen any of it! Hm. How'd you fare?