The patio outside University Pizza Company, one of Riverside’s most theatrical gothic haunts, transformed on Saturday, August 9th, into a delightfully eerie and macabre marketplace, celebrating 50 years of the movie Jaws with a distinct twist of goth flair. From 6 to 10 p.m., the courtyard near the creepy abandoned movie theater in University Village, infused with dark energy as vendors sold haunting art, macabre jewelry, and pizza so good, it's to die for.

The theme leaned into terror and nostalgia with gusto. Costumed attendees, some dripping in faux blood, and wearing rubber shark heads, competed in a “Best Victim” costume contest at 8 p.m., vying for prizes of free food at University Pizza Company, a pizzeria in University Village, which about 9 months ago, as said by owner Jake Brown, decided to change its theme from college to horror movies. Mr. Brown purchased the business around the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. The owner stated that at the beginning of the company, he had nothing but a stream of bad luck. "Something broke every week, and strange things kept happening inside the place all the time." This led Jake and his employees to believe the space was haunted, prompting them to call a priest from Mexico to perform a cleansing, after which most of the strange activity stopped. Although the pizzeria's ghost problem may have been solved, the same could not be said for the area around University Pizza Company, which, according to Jake, was "a ghost town. However, Jake and the area were about to get some help from the most unlikely of places: The Inland Empire goth subculture.

After the pizzeria's theme was changed to horror, the local goth and horror fan population began to frequent the business and the surrounding area. Later, horror-themed event planners started collaborating with Jake and the pizza company to host events in the area. The Inand Empire Goth Night Market popped up soon after. At the market on August 9th, there was a genuine sense of local subculture pride and community. Not performance, but genuine belonging. Vendors offered gothic-themed jewelry, dark curiosities, DIY fashion, and even tarot readings. No more was the closeness, support, and empathy of the goth community more evident than when a young goth picked up her taxidermied pet scorpion, her "baby," as she called the scorpion, from one of the vendors who had done it for her.

The event succeeded not just as a novelty but as a gathering point for Riverside’s goth and horror community. It wasn’t polished, and it didn’t aspire to be. Instead, it thrived on atmosphere, oddball charm, and a shared horror-pop culture pedigree. Given the free, all-ages access and the blend of community, creativity, and casual haunt, it was more than a themed market—it was a mini-subculture revival.

The highlight of the evening was the "Best Victim" costume contest, which was open to everyone of all ages. Some attendees even came dressed as characters from the Jaws movie in true cosplay fashion. It was a tough choice for the vendors, who were the judges, to make a final decision on the winner, which turned out to be a tie for first. The fact that the costume contest was a tie only further shows the friendliness of the competition, no egos, no serious attitudes, just pure dark fun and games.

Jaws Night Goth Market at UPC delivered exactly what it promised: grim delights, gothic camaraderie, and cheeky horror homage wrapped in delicious pizza. For one night at least, Riverside got to embrace its darker side—and it was gloriously gory fun.