Hollywood Gothique

Los Angeles Halloween harvest festivals, family-friendly yard haunts, kid-safe matinees at professional haunted houses, children’s sideshow events at zoos and wildlife centers

Hollywood Gothique lists a handful of notable Halloween Festivals and Community Haunts, but there are many more taking place around Los Angeles – too many for us to list, especially so because these events are intended to serve their local neighborhoods, not to attract hardcore horror connoisseurs from miles away. Nevertheless, if you are looking for [...]

Date & Hours: October 31, 5-8pm
Location: Westchester Recreation Center, 7000 W. Manchester, Los Angeles, CA 90045
Link out: Click here
Description: The Westchester Recreation Center offers kid-safe Halloween fun: trick-or-treat village; jumper; arts and crafts; story time; face painting; popcorn – all for free!
Note: For those who do not live near the Westchester Recreation Center, www.laparks.org has [...]

Last night, Hollywood Gothique trekked out to two of its favorite Halloween treats: the Boney Island Yard Haunt in Sherman Oaks and the Theatre 68 Haunted House in Hollywood. The two attractions could not be farther apart on the spectrum: Boney Island is an amateur yard haunt that appeals to kids of all ages with [...]

Hollywood Gothique is usually a bit reluctant to post Halloween videos that we did not create ourselves, but Fallen Angel Cemetery always does such a good job that we cannot resist. This amateur yard haunt takes a classic approach to Halloween – spooky, not gory. The decorated front yard is full of props, enhanced by [...]

The Los Angeles Live Steamers just sent over a pair of photographs from their 2012 Halloween Ghost Train. Hollywood Gothique has not made it out to Griffith Park for the Ghost Train in some years, but we recall it as one of the most enjoyable Halloween events for children in the Los Angeles area – [...]

The final half of October has arrived, and most of the major professional Halloween events in Los Angeles have already opened. Fortunately, more cemeteries are opening their gates on Friday, October 19, unleashing ghosts and ghouls upon the world, in the form of amateur yard haunts, perilous plays, cemetery tours, and a brand new scary [...]

The Blumhouse of Horrors has been haunting downtown Los Angeles all month; now, for those too timid to brave its terrors, there will be Saturday afternoon matinees on October 20 and 27, from 2pm to 5pm. These “lights on” presentations offer a less intense version of the half-hour haunted tour through the old Variety Arts [...]

Ah, never has joy been more bitter! Hollywood Gothique finally makes the sordid sojourn down to Brea to explore the demented delicacies of Dark Realms: An American Haunt – and discovers that amateur Halloween yard haunt that rivals many professional Halloween events. So, why the bitter tears of despair? Because Halloween 2012 may represent Dark [...]

L.A.’s newest Halloween attraction could be a real contender.
New Halloween haunts are rolling into Los Angeles like a landslide of Jack O’Lanterns: first Paranoia Haunted Attraction, then Blumhouse of Horrors, and now Hell Break L.A. The latter had its media-preview night on Thursday, October 11, and although it suffered from a surfeit of opening night [...]

Theatre 68, The Backwoods Maze, Wicked Lit, and Heritage Haunt launch their Halloween events this weekend.
We’re almost halfway through October, and it may seem as if every major haunted house, hayride, and theme park is already open; but wait – there’s more! In fact, the weekend of Friday, October 12 offers some of our favorite [...]

Date: October 14 at 3:30pm
Location: The Bob Baker Marionette Theatre, 1345 W. First Street, Los Angeles, CA 90026
Link out: Click here
Description: In association with the Cinefamily’s month-long “Nightmare City” series of Halloween events, the Bob Baker Marionette Theatre presents this Haunted Hallabaloo, hosted by comedian Emo Phillips. The afternoon’s entertainment includes cartoons, short films, perfomances [...]

Date: Saturday, October 20, 5-9pm
Location: New View Elementary School, 29680 Lakeview Avenue, Nuevo, CA 92567
Link out: Click here
Description: This family-friendly Halloween event offers a five-minute guided tour through a haunted house, featuring a maze of sets, characters, special effects, smoke machines, and strobe lights – but nothing too scary for elementary school kids, accompanied by [...]

Date: Saturday, October 20, 7:30-11pm
Location: Smooth Sound Multimedia, 6828 Valjean Avenue, Van Nuys, CA (818) 779-1259
Link out: Click here
Description: Pet Medical Center Chatoak, Raquel magro of Pinnacle Estate Properties, and David Lynn of Valley Park Realty present this fundraiser to benefit Angels in Fur Dog Rescue. This “Halloween Costume Party for You and Your [...]