Halloween Haunts! Where to Get Your Scary On Near KTown
Welcome to your nightmare! LA’s history is zombie apocalypse of ghostly tales, haunted buildings, and supernatural characters – not to mention Hollywood scandals! If you dare to go there, DoLA has scared up a Haunted Guide to the City, pointing you to some of the city’s most notorious spooky spots.
Take a walk on the dark side! With a nearly 150-year-old curse, werecreatures, a haunted picnic table, and numerous ghost sightings, Griffith Park has a legendary reputation for unexplained paranormal activity. Creepy LA has just the ticket, with a guide to The Ghosts and Monsters of the Cursed Griffith Park.
Now that we’ve got you totally creeped out, it’s time to get your scary on with the best Halloween celebrations near KTown!
Paramount Pictures After Dark Tour: Tales from the Other Side
5515 Melrose Ave.
Hollywood, CA 90038
Not all the stories born at Paramount Pictures made it to the silver screen.The darker stories remain, and continue to haunt the lot by moonlight. Maybe it’s Hollywood Forever cemetery next door. Or maybe it’s the passion to succeed in Hollywood that keeps the spirited personalities relevant today, even after death. The After Dark Tour will reveal how the scandals of yesteryear still live amongst us. It all starts at dusk with a champagne toast. In the silence of the night, you’ll descend into the mysteries behind our iconic gates via cavernous sound stages and the darkest corners of Paramount’s infamous backlot. Guided by flashlight, you’ll creep through the legendary Hollywood Forever Cemetery to learn the tales of Hollywood’s most dearly departed and the secrets that followed them to the grave. After this mysterious adventure, you’ll certainly think twice before wishing for a “Hollywood ending.”
Universal Studios Haunted Horror Nights
100 Universal City Plaza
Universal City, CA 91608
Enter a world more terrifying than you can imagine at Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights – the most intense, spine-tingling event to besiege Southern California – now with more mazes than ever. The studio that spawned the original monster movie genre, once again, breathes new life into your darkest nightmares – bringing deeper fears and more hair-raising encounters to all-new immersive worlds of the living, the dead, and the in-between.
West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval
Santa Monica Blvd. between Doheny and La Cienega
The West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval is one of the largest and most unique Halloween gatherings around. Admission is free and no tickets are required. Bring your costume “A-game” but be warned, the competition is stiff! Enjoy multiple music stages blasting live sets and DJ tracks. Grab some grub at one of the many food trucks parked along the street, or drop into any Santa Monica Boulevard restaurants still serving! If you take a rideshare service, don’t expect to get dropped off right at Santa Monica Boulevard—set your destination pin a few blocks away from the festival and walk. No backpacks, camera bags or totes allowed. Please carry items in clear plastic bags.
Griffith Park
4730 Crystal Springs Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90027
Did we mention that Griffith Park is one of the most haunted place in LA? Los Angeles Haunted Hayride has transformed the Griffith Park grounds into Midnight Falls, an eerie and mysterious fictitious village set in 1985, where time stands still and it is always Halloween. Within the foothills of Midnight Falls, the Haunted Hayride leads to a thrilling adventure of horrors afflicting the town. Out in the darkness, a portal has opened spilling hideous creatures from its rotted mouth. The spirit of Halloween comes to life surrounding helpless victims brave enough to board The Hayride. Other thrills and chills around Midnight Falls include Midnight Mortuary Haunted House; Roadkill Ranch, where mysterious ranch hands are responsible for collecting the main highway’s deceased varmints with a twist; Trick-or-Treat maze; and three themed Escape Rooms.
Hollywood Forever
6000 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90038
Hollywood Forever’s 20th annual Dia de los Muertos celebration will take place on Saturday November 2nd, 2019. This year, our guiding theme is the Monarch Butterfly and its winter home, the Mexican state of Michoacán. Michoacán is also one of the two cultural heartlands in Mexico where the ancient traditions of Dia de los Muertos have been celebrated the longest and most vibrantly. $1 per ticket will be donated to the amazing ECOLIFE in support of their efforts to protect the monarch butterfly biosphere reserve in Michoacán, Mexico.
Ace Hotel
929 S Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90015
Experience Alfred Hitchcock’s classic Psycho, featuring the LA Opera Orchestra, on the big screen with live violins taking the shower scene to a whole new level of creep! You know the story: a secretary on the run, an isolated motel, and an awkward guy with some serious mother issues. Shown in the cavernous Spanish-Gothic Theatre at Ace Hotel in Downtown LA, LA Opera’s got the spooky vibes fit for your perfect Halloween. Norman invites you to a killer after-party on October 25th and October 31st, included with your ticket. Are you brave enough to enter our costume contest on October 31st? The top three winners will receive a prize (if you make it out alive).
Walt Disney Concert Hall
111 S Grand Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Organist Clark Wilson sets a haunting scene as he accompanies the 1923 silent film The Hunchback of Notre Dame, featuring a legendary performance from Lon Chaney. Get a guided tour of the evening’s music before your concert at Upbeat Live! Key thinkers and guest musicians – including members of the LA Phil – share their expertise and offer historical and cultural context for your program’s pieces, giving you a deeper understanding of the music. This free event is held in BP Hall, accessible after your ticket is scanned.
Natural History Museum
900 W Exposition Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90007
Just in time for Halloween, the Natural History Museum is presenting a spooky, homegrown Hollywood exhibition that reveals the science of the scary. Walk into the museum’s Grand Foyer, past a pair of dueling dinosaurs, toward the building’s northeast corner, and you’ll soon find yourself in a dark room flickering with hidden surprises. Your senses will tingle as you hear about the scientific experiments and discoveries that inspired filmmakers to create four of the world‘s most iconic movie monsters: the Creature from the Black Lagoon, Frankenstein, the Mummy, and Dracula. Whether these classics spotlighted sinister figures lurking in the shadows or creatures waiting unseen beneath the water, one thing is true: Each larger-than-life character had a surprisingly rich real-world backstory.
Haunted Howl-o-ween Party for Dogs
Wag Hotels Hollywood
960 N Highland Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90038
Grab your pups and head over to the 6th Annual Haunted Howl-o-ween Party at Wag Hotels to benefit the Spay Neuter Project of Los Angeles (SNPLA). You’ll find a haunted hotel waiting for you and your pooch to explore, with tricks and treats around every corner! 100% of ticket and silent auction proceeds will go directly to the Spay Neuter Project of Los Angeles to support the amazing work they do to help decrease the homeless pet population across the Los Angeles area. Wag Hotels is a full service dog & cat hotel featuring boarding, training, spa services and doggy daycare.