Invasion of the undead

Smeared with fake blood and white grease paint, the undead 20-somethings downing glasses of beer looked out of place at Newport Brewing Co. on Saturday afternoon while families with young children ate cheeseburgers out on the patio.

“We really want to freak the locals out,” said Ontario resident Mike McEvlly, who was dressed as a zombie lifeguard on Saturday along with two of his friends.

From zombie punk rockers and brides to a clique of bloody Catholic school girls, the undead flocked to the Balboa Peninsula on Saturday for the first-ever Newport Beach Zombie Pub Crawl.

The event, sponsored by the upstart night life website Localhipster.com, attracted at least 100 zombified partygoers in search of drink specials.

“It’s going to be cool seeing all of these zombies walking down the street in the middle of the day,” said Local Hipster event organizer Emily Diddle. Diddle, along with Morgan Slauson, also of Local Hipster, came to the event dressed as zombie beauty queens, decked out in bloodied tiaras and ripped, vintage bathing suits.

Local Hipster is a spinoff of a Minneapolis-based website by the same name. Only a few months old, the Orange County-based site is already causing a buzz. The site showcases local drink specials.

“There just really wasn’t anything like it here in Orange County, so we thought this would be a good market for it,” said Local Hipster organizer Matt Dowgwillo.

Organizers hope the zombie pub crawl event will grow into an annual Halloween tradition. The Minneapolis Local Hipster Zombie Pub Crawl attracts several thousand people each year.

Heather Power, of Yorba Linda, came to the pub crawl with three of her friends dressed as a zombie Catholic school girl, complete with argyle socks, pleated skirt and blood-smeared face.

“I went to a Catholic school for like, 10 years, so I had all of these old polo shirts lying around,” Power said. “I thought, hey, I can do something with these.”

Powers completed her zombie look with painted-on bruises around her neck to resemble marks from a noose.

“I guess I wasn’t very happy at Catholic school,” she said.