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Carved 2022
Photograph: Time Out/Michael Juliano

Halloween events in Los Angeles for spooky fun

Get in the spirit with these festive events in L.A., from family-friendly Halloween activities to ghostly nights out

Michael Juliano
Edited by
Michael Juliano
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Not all Halloween events are hell-bent on scaring you straight. Well, alright, a lot of them are, but in addition to haunted houses and spooky screenings you’ll also find some family-friendly activities and trick-or-treating opportunities.

To make your Halloween planning a little bit easier, we’ve split this feature in two: scary and adult-focused events are toward the top with a whole section of kid-friendly events about halfway down the page.

Outside of these picks, if you’re looking for a real taste of the fall, you’ll find apple picking aplenty and—for the thrill-seekers—some real-life haunted places. But if you simply want something festive, there’s no shortage of worthwhile Halloween events in Los Angeles.

RECOMMENDED: See more of Halloween in L.A.

The best Halloween events in L.A. for 2023

  • Things to do
  • Festivals

Confront familiar foes at Universal Studios’ annual Halloween festivities, where big-budget scares meet iconic horror movie characters. You’ll be able to navigate multiple scare zones and mazes, including ones based on The Last of UsStranger ThingsEvil Dead RiseThe Exorcist: BelieverChucky, the classic Universal Monsters and a selection of creatures inspired by Latin American folklore. Also, the “Terror Tram” takeover of the studio tour will return with a Jordan Peele mash-up that features the Tethered doppelgängers from Us in the Jupiter’s Claim area from Nope.

  • Things to do
  • Festivals

This is one of the largest Halloween street parties in the world, and there’s really no better place to be on October 31st. Sure, the crowd is huge (like, a half-million people huge) and a bit belligerent, but the amazing display of costumes and general merry-making spirit deem it at least a worthy stop, if not your main destination for the evening. Find it along Santa Monica Boulevard, between Doheny Drive and La Cienega Boulevard.

See our guide to the West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval.

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  • Movie theaters
  • Outdoor
  • Griffith Park

The park-hopping alfresco film series will be screening Halloween favorites every weekend in October, with Shaun of the DeadHalloween and Hocus Pocus at the Autry, Practical Magic at Will Rogers State Historic ParkHalloweentown at Verdugo Park and The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Ford.

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  • Things to do
  • Festivals

Far from those kid-friendly rides through a pumpkin patch, this hayride unleashes all sorts of demons and bogeys on Griffith Park. Like so many pop culture horror experiences recently, this year’s Haunted Hayride once again rewinds the action to the mid-’80s in the ficticious town of Midnight Falls. The event—which this year promises new wagons and scenes and updated effects—will be centered around the jack-o’-lantern–filled Midnight Falls Town Square, with a creaky old funeral parlor set up in the Midnight Mortuary Haunted House as well as axe throwing, water balloon-based paintball and the Hellbilly Halloween maze.

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  • Movie theaters
  • Outdoor

West Hollywood’s ultra-chic restaurant and rooftop bar, E.P. & L.P., is serving much more than handcrafted cocktails and modern American bites. This October, head to the rooftop for dinner-and-a-movie screenings of ScreamGet OutAmerican PsychoPractical Magic and more, including a Hocus Pocus dress-up event on October 30.

  • Things to do
  • Quirky events

Every year, Haunted Little Tokyo turns the area into a ghoulish maze of Halloween-themed pop-ups, walking tours and performances. This year, you can embark on a ghost tour (Oct 22 5–6pm), partake in a scavenger hunt (Oct 28 1–5pm) and dance the evening away at a block party (Oct 28 1–5pm).

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  • Music
  • Music festivals

The San Bernardino rave scene injects itself with a bit of Halloween flair at this annual music fest. Insomniac Events—the group behind EDC and the Wonderland series—is setting up multiple stages at the NOS Events Center; headliners include Above & Beyond, AFROJACK, Armin van Buuren, DJ Snake, Kaskade, ZEDD and more. Explore the grounds to find mazes alongside ominous artwork and freak show performers.

Plus some family-friendly Halloween events

  • Things to do

Stroll through a mile-long trail filled with all things pumpkins, including an illuminated forest of jack-o’-lanterns, during Descanso Gardens’ annual Carved. For three weeks this fall, the event will line a loop of the botanical garden with thousands of professionally-carved pumpkins.

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  • Things to do
  • Festivals

Halloween time can be a bit scary for kids—we’ve all been there—so for a less frightening affair, head to the Original Farmers Market for their children-friendly Fall Festival: carnival games, a petting zoo and a pumpkin patch (for a small fee) are all mainstays at this annual harvest fest. Come in costume and catch a musical performance and explore the always delicious treats at the market.

  • Things to do
  • Festivals

The L.A. Zoo’s annual Halloween celebration includes two weekends of spooky decor and up-close-and-personal interactions with some of the zoo’s creepiest crawlers. Look out for trick-or-treating, storytelling, photo ops and—how macabre—an extinct animal graveyard. The animals typically get in on the Halloween action, too, with pumpkin or carcass feedings scheduled a couple times a day.

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  • Things to do
  • Walks and tours

Face your fears and head to the Natural History Museum’s Spider Pavilion, where you can observe several hundred orbweaver spiders in a living exhibit just outside of the museum. Scared the spiders might be hard to spot in the wild? Fret not. In previous iterations we’ve spotted ones about the size of an adult’s palm. Gulp. (But don’t worry: The scariest ones are in enclosed habitats.) 

  • Things to do

Walk across the grounds of the scenic King Gillette Ranch as the Santa Monica Mountains hideaway is illuminated with thousands of hand-carved jack-o’-lanterns. Nights of the Jack returns with an on-foot, mile-long trail this year (with food trucks and a “Spookeasy,” too). Timed tickets are required each night; expect to spend an hour to an hour and a half there.

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