The 21 Best Halloween Events in Los Angeles, from Drive-Throughs to Haunted Houses
Halloween is just around the corner, and Los Angeles is ready to bring on the spooky festivities. Sure, you could spend Fright Night streaming scary movies or organizing Halloween activities for the kids at home, but we recommend checking out one (or more!) of the many fun things to do out on the town. Whether you’re looking for a terrifying haunted house, a family-friendly jack-o-lantern display or a drive-through scream fest, we’ve got you covered with the best Halloween events in Los Angeles for 2022.
The Best Pumpkin Patches Near Los Angeles
1. Tunnel Of Terror OC
MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images / Getty
Location: Anaheim and Fontana
Dates: Thursday through Saturday, October 6 to October 30
Not only is the Tunnel of Terror back, but it’s expanding to two locations this year. It's worth the drive to Anaheim or Fontana to experience a haunted car wash in which ghouls tease, taunt and torment you even while you're in line to enter the soapy and scary drive-through. While we don't recommend this one for the littles, in case it forever scars them from going through a car wash again, but for tweens and up it's a fast and fun jump-scare experience that will leave you with great snaps for social media and a shinier vehicle, all for $30 per car.
2. Haunt O’ween
Location: Woodland Hills
Dates: September 30 to October 31
This large-scale family-friendly event is set in a 200,000 square-foot space and features 35,000 pumpkins. This year, there will be pumpkin picking, face painting, trick-or-treating, and performances and games for kids. Equally exciting is the 40-foot carousel and immersive Halloween-themed tunnels. Don’t worry, there's also fun for the grown-ups, like a beer and wine tasting garden and food trucks. Open every day in October.
3. Nights Of The Jack
NIGHTS OF THE JACK
Location: Calabasas
Dates: Select dates, September 30 to October 31
Stroll through the King Gillette Ranch in the Santa Monica Mountains hideaway at this event that's appropriate for all ages. There are thousands of hand-carved jack-o’-lanterns arranged in various themes, from local sites (like the Hollywood sign) to classic Fright Night displays (like a cemetery). We recommend having your kid put on their costume before you go, so you’ll have some great pics for the family album (and look like you actually made an effort this Halloween, even if the night itself turns out to be a bust).
4. Halloween Howl In Duarte
JOSEPH PREZIOSO / GETTY IMAGES
Location: Duarte
Dates: October 31
The Duarte Parks & Recreation Department is once again sponsoring this annual, family-friendly event. The festivities will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. on Monday October 31 at the five-acre Royal Oaks Park. There will be trick-or-treating stations, zombies, and even prizes for the best costumes in different age groups. Happy Halloween!
5. Electric Dusk Drive-in
Location: Glendale
Dates: Every Friday and Saturday in October, plus Monday, October 31
Enjoy the great outdoors...well, a former Sears parking lot...with other horror film lovers at this makeshift drive-in theater which has food vendors and is showing classic spooky films every weekend for the entire month of October. Two showings a night are scheduled (6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.) and there is a good mix of family-friendly flicks like Hotel Transylvania and bloodier films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
6. Haunted Hayride
LOS ANGELES HAUNTED HAYRIDE
Location: Los Angeles
Dates: Select nights, September 23 to October 31
An LA favorite for more than a decade, the Haunted Hayride is back again at Griffith Park this year. There will be the iconic wagon hayride (of course), and guests can also walk around the fictional town of Midnight Falls for trick-or-treating and scare zones, tour the mortuary and more. Monte Revolta and His Band of the Living Dead will also be entertaining guests with 30-minute shows every night.
7. House Of Spirits: A Haunted Soiree
HOUSE OF SPIRITS
Location: Los Angeles
Dates: Thursday through Sunday, October 15 to October 30 and Monday, October 31
What makes a Halloween haunted house experience even better? Some cocktails, of course. At House of Spirits, guests can sip on drinks while exploring the Rasputin-inspired haunted manor. Just enjoy the ambiance if you’re skittish, or venture deeper and interact with the actors and props if you’re adventurous. Four miniature cocktails are included with a standard ticket, but you can upgrade your ticket for more, and additional food and drinks will be available for purchase.
8. Delusion
Location: Pomona
Dates: Thursday through Sunday, September 17 to November 20
The immersive experience Delusion first launched in 2011 and continues to be the leader of interactive theater. This year, Delusion will put on a play called Reaper’s Remorse. The interactive play will start at the designated check-in times and lasts roughly 90 minutes, but guests are allowed to explore the manor and grounds for as long as they want (between opening and closing times). There will also be a full bar and food offerings for those planning to make this their full night outing.
9. Carved At Descanso Gardens
DESCANSO GARDENS
Location: La Canada Flintridge
Dates: October 7 to 31
For one of the less spooky activities on our list, Descanso Gardens will be lit up with hundreds of jack-o’-lanterns this fright night season. In addition to the mile-long trail of glowing pumpkins and the opportunity to enjoy the garden itself at night, there will be Halloween-themed sculptures, parking carving demonstrations, a hay maze and harvest-themed food and drink offerings.
10. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari: Organ, Film & Music
Walt Disney Concert Hall
Location: Downtown L.A.
Dates: October 31
The Walt Disney Concert Hall is holding a showing of the silent 1920s horror film classic, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, also considered to be one of the most influential films in the German Expressionist genre. The film will be accompanied by the concert hall’s monster pipe organ, played by Clark Wilson, one of the most prominent organ virtuosos and conservators. The concert starts at 7:30 p.m., so there’s time to grab an early pre-show dinner.
11. Spooky Tea At Lilly Rose
LILLY ROSE
Location: Downtown LA
Dates: Wednesdays through Sundays in October
Gather your girlfriends for a classy and a little spooky afternoon tea celebration of All Hallow’s Eve. The underground bar Lilly Rose at Wayfarer DTLA is serving up a special high tea menu for the month of October with Spooky Tea, featuring deviled eggs, bourbon spiced apples and tea-infused cocktails. The Spooky Tea will be available from 2 to 6 p.m. and costs $60 per person. Costumes welcome.
12. Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights
UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD
Location: Universal City
Dates: Select nights, September 8 to October 31
The theme parks are back with a full lineup of Halloween events this year, and Universal Studios will have their Halloween Horror Nights on select nights starting from September 8 to October 31. In addition to the rides, there will be more than half a dozen haunted mazes with themes like The Walking Dead and The Haunting of Hill House. The tram tour is also transformed into The Terror Tram complete with actors jumping at the tram to scare you.
13. BeetleHouse
Location: Hollywood
Dates: Open year-round
Technically, every day is Halloween at BeetleHouse, a Tim Burton-themed bar in Hollywood, but Halloween weekend is certainly a good excuse to finally check out this spot and hang out with Beetlejuice. From the decor to the costumed live performers, there is plenty of Instagram fodder at this fun spot. It’s more about the experience than the food here, but rest assured the food and cocktail presentations are on theme. Reservations for dinner are a must, although the bar is first-come first-served.
14. Black Lagoon Pop-Up
Black Lagoon
Location: Hollywood
Dates: October 1 to October 31
Black Lagoon is a cocktail pop-up for horror lovers created by two well-known bartenders, Erin Hayes from Los Angeles and Kelsey Ramage from Toronto, with themed cocktails in custom glassware. The two first did their pop-up at Tales of the Cocktail and it was so popular they decided to bring it to nine cities this October. In Los Angeles, Black Lagoon will be popping up at Lost Property Bar in Hollywood, which will be decked out in spookiness.
15. The Willows
JFIProductions
Location: Los Angeles
Dates: October 5 to November 13
The Willows from JFI Productions has combined the haunted house and dinner theater experiences and elevated it to a new level. The part-interactive, part-theatrical performance experience takes place in a 10,000 square-foot mansion with a group limited to just 18 guests. Each session is two hours long and includes passed appetizers and drinks. The Willows is the brainchild of the people behind Creep LA and has become such a popular production and tickets sell out quickly every year.
16. Witch!
Witch
Location: Altadena
Dates: September 30 to November 6
This immersive theater experience is hosted by the Downtown Repertory Theater Company and based on the true story of the Pendle witch trials in 1612. Guests will have one-on-one encounters with performers and explore a haunted mausoleum and abandoned chapel. Complimentary drinks will be offered before the show, and comfortable clothing and walking shoes are recommended (we’re serious about the exploring part). Masks are required.
17. Shaqtoberfest
Shaqtoberfest
Location: Long Beach
Dates: Select nights, September 29 to October 31
There’s a new Halloween fest down in Long Beach this year and it came by way of Shaq—yes, Shaquille O’Neal. Shaqtoberfest will take place next to the famously haunted Queen Mary and there will be everything from a pumpkin patch, street carnival with games and rides, trick-or-treating stations, and more. The festival will be family friendly during the day and turn into one geared towards adults at night.
18. Bob Baker’s Halloween Spooktacular
Location: Los Angeles
Dates: September 24 to November 6
Bob Baker Marionette Theater is the oldest children’s theater company in Los Angeles and one of the few remaining marionette theaters left. Halloween is a great time to check out the puppetry at this theater, whether or not it is your first time. The theater will be performing a family-friendly Halloween Spooktacular, an hour-long show with over one hundred puppets. Costumes are encouraged and whether you bring the kids or not, it’s sure to be a fun and special experience to check out this historic puppet theater.
19. Karnevil
Location: Hollywood
Dates: Open year-round
Karnevil is a dinner theater in Hollywood that is open year-round with a 1920s steam circus vibe and a tapas-style menu, but in September and October they are throwing a special performance with an American Horror Story: Freak Show theme, whisking you to the town of Jupiter, Florida in the 1950s. Reservations are $50 per person and includes four small plates with additional food (including drinks and desserts) available a la carte.
20. Knott’s Scary Farm
Knott’s Scary Farm
Location: Buena Park
Dates: Select nights, September 22 to October 31
Knott’s Berry Farm’s annual Halloween experience, the aptly named Knott’s Scary Farm, is known to be one of the amusement parks that goes all out for Halloween and it is returning now for its 49th year. This Halloween season, there will be 17 different spooky experiences including nine haunted mazes and an improvisational puppet show. Of course, there will be more scare zones throughout the park and the rides will be running for a different kind of thrill.
21. Rooftop Cinema Club
Rooftop Cinema Club
Location: Arts District, Downtown LA, El Segundo
Dates: Every day in October
Rooftop Cinema Club is bringing Angelenos all kinds of Halloween films this October, from kid-friendly Halloween movies to horror flicks both classics and modern. Between their three locations throughout the city, there are multiple showings every day throughout the month. Make it a dinner date—Rooftop Cinema Club allows guests to bring their own food from outside, although drinks must be purchased on-site. Since temperatures can drop in the evening, we also recommend bringing your own blanket.
