Halloween hits Los Angeles in style, and we’ve lined up the best Los Angeles Halloween events for you. Let your inner ghoul shine at masquerade balls, costume carnivals and more!
KCRW’s Masquerade
Oct. 29. Don your favorite costume and discover a feast for all your senses with five uniquely themed ball rooms, DJs, ghost stories, food trucks, performances by Lucent Dossier, Dengue Fever, Mariachi El Bronx and more. 9 p.m.-2 a.m. Park Plaza, 607 South Park View St., downtown. www.kcrw.com/masquerade
Muse Costume Ball
Oct. 29. LACMA’s Muse Costume Ball features performances by Killsonic, Jeremiah Red, and Sneaky Nietzsche, and environments created by Sypher Art Studios. Dress to impress in your funerary best or a costume of your choice, as you embark on a night full of art, music, dancing, and, the annual costume contest. Prizes will be awarded to the best Tim Burton character, best movie monster, and most creative. Tim Burton exhibition is also open late, so come by for a final viewing before it expires forever Nov. 1. 8:30 p.m. $100/$75 MUSE members. LACMA, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., L.A., 323.857.6010. www.lacma.org/event/musecostumeball2011
West Hollywood Halloween Costume Carnaval
Oct. 31. L.A. County’s biggest Halloween event—and one of its biggest annual events, period—is this costume bash in WeHo; live music and entertainment. 6–11 pm. Admission free. Santa Monica Boulevard between La Cienega and Robertson boulevards, West Hollywood, 323.848.6400.
Kinetic Theory Circus Arts: “Illusions”
Oct. 22, 29. The year is 1892, the audience waits in anticipation for the master illusionist to create an evening of wonder and amazement, but the illusionist and her motley crew have something more sinister in mind. Expect a circus theatre spectacle for all ages that is sure to give thrills and chills. 2 p.m., 8 p.m. $10 advance/$15 door. 3604 Holdrege Ave., L.A., 310.606.2617. www.kinetictheorytheatre.com
Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor
Oct. 20–23, 27–31. Madness and mayhem await in Long Beach for a fright fest that takes full advantage of the Queen Mary’s reputation as one of America’s most haunted places. The annual event features seven bloodcurdling mazes and attractions on the ship and shore, plus food and live entertainment. 7 pm–midnight. $24–39; VIP ticket $50–$60. 1126 Queens Hwy., Long Beach, 562.435.3511. www.queenmary.com
Los Angeles Haunted Hayride
Continuing. This year’s hayride at the Griffith Park Old Zoo is themed to take a deep look into the minds of the Clifton Twins, the daughters of Zoo Keeper Ferdinand Clifton. Rumored to have suffered from violent nightmares so uncontrollable they were treated for sleep disorders, the twins documented these visions in their journals, which were found and recreated into a 25-minute experience set in the woods that leaves guests as prey. $25. Griffith Park (Old Zoo), 4730 Crystal Springs Ave., L.A. www.losangeleshauntedhayride.com
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Oct. 21-30. Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas” returns to Hollywood’s legendary El Capitan Theatre in 4-D (digit 3-D along with exciting sensory effects like wind, snow, fog and more). El Capitan Theatre, 6838 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, 1.800.DISNEY6. www.elcapitantickets.com
Dia de Los Muertos
Oct. 22. Astrid Hadad and international musical icon Ruben Albarran, lead singer of Cafe Tacvba perform at the 12th annual celebration at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Come dressed in your finest Calaca apparel and find a vibrant traditional procession, commemorative altars and Mexican cuisine; a wide spectrum of Day of the Dead merchandize available for purchase; arts and crafts expositions and theater performances. noon-midnight. Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 6000 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, 323.469.1181. ladayofthedead.com
Halloween Horror Nights
Through Oct. 31. Event features six terrifying mazes, five “Scare Zones,” rides, Bill & Ted’s excellent Halloween adventure, and also find a fully re-imagined “Terror Tram” backlot studio experience, offering guests a chance to walk through Universal Studios historic movie sets. Thurs.-Sun., Oct. 31. Universal Studios Hollywood, 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, 800.864.8377. www.halloweenhorrornights.com
Dead Celebrities Halloween Costume Ball
Oct. 29. Find two floors of a maze-like atmosphere with hundreds of celebrity wax figures, along with hundreds of costume clad party-goers dressed as their favorite dead (or still living) celebrities. Ball also features an all-star DJ lineup, open bar, three dance floors and buffet. Madame Tussauds Hollywood, 6933 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. www.deadcelebritieshalloween.com
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Oct. 30. Organ virtuoso Clark Wilson will improvise an appropriately atmospheric sound track on Walt Disney Concert Hall’s magnificent pipe organ for this groundbreaking 1920 silent film, one of the earliest, most influential and artistically acclaimed films in the German Expressionist genre, directed by Robert Wiene. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 South Grand Ave., downtown, 323.850.2000. laphil.com
Magnolia Bakery Halloween Treats
Magnolia Bakery makes your Halloween a devilishly delicious one with themed treats such as classic Halloween cupcakes, pumpkin pecan cupcakes, s’mores cupcakes, Halloween cakes, pumpkin spice cake, pumpkin spice Whoopie “Pie” and any more. Magnolia Bakery, 8389 W. 3rd St., L.A., 323.951.0636. magnoliabakery.com
Halloween at the Mali-BOO Country Mart
Oct. 30. The Malibu Country Mart gets frightful this Halloween. Stop by for trick-or-treating festivities at select stores. Children and pets are also encourages to dress up in their best costume for a chance to win prizes and cupcakes from Malibu Kitchen. Trick-or-treating starts at 2 p.m. Malibu Country Mart, 3835 Cross Creek Rd., Malibu. www.malibucountrymart.com
Rush Street’s Fangtasia
Oct. 28-29. Any and all vampires, fangbangers, faeries, shape-shifters, skinwalkers, witches and werewolves are welcome at Rush Street this weekend as it shifts into True Blood’s Fangtasia. Staff members will be decked out as characters from the show, so be on the lookout for Eric, Pam, Bill and Sookie, who will be on hand serving up 2-for-1 vials of “V” and blood-red beer. True Blood bottles and bloody bottle service will also be available, as well as performances by fangbanger pole-dancers and other entertainers. (Costumes encouraged.) 9 p.m.-close. Rush Street, 9546 Washington Blvd., Culver City. www.rushstreetculvercity.com
Theatricum BOO! -Tanicum Classic Halloween Fun and Haunted House
Oct. 28. For one night only, Topanga’s historic Theatricum Botanicum theater and surrounding gardens becomes the haunt of headless horsemen, wandering witches, tale-telling hearts, man-made monsters and spirited sprites. Stop by for the haunted house, classic ghost stories (told by award-winning actors Ellen Geer, Earnestine Phillips and William Hunt), costume contest, pumpkin carving, live music food and more, including not-too-scary stuff for kids. 4-10 p.m. $20/$15 teens/$5 kids 5-12. Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, 1419 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga, 310.455.2322 x227. theatricum.com