Just because you’ve come to the terms with the fact that you’re too old to trick-or-treat doesn’t mean you have to skip out on all of the Halloween fun! Get that costume ready and take yourself out on the town for one of Los Angeles’ hottest Halloween soirees!

Unicef Masquerade Ball at Cliftons

Always wanted to try out one of those mysterious and elegant masks?  The Unicef Masquerade Ball is just the place!  This high-brow celestial themed bash at Clifton’s, a DTLA historical landmark and super cool maze of bars and old-school cafeteria,  boasts an open bar, DJ sets, and plenty of opportunities for dancing in your evening wear.  Ticket are pricey, but the proceeds benefit UNICEF’s emergency funds and empowering Syrian refugee women, well worth the spooky ticket price!

KCRW’s Masquerade Ball

LA’s favorite radio station returns to form once again this Halloween for another masquerade ball (hope you’ve stored up your masks this year).  At MacArthur park, you’ll be lost in a maze of new experiences from circus troops, to ghost stories, and DJs spinning for costume-clad masqueraders.  Plus, food trucks will be lining up to give you a taste of LA when you’ve worked up an appetite from all that dancing!

a Belle et la Bête + Beastly Ball

A fancy gothic theater and lobby make Downtown’s Ace Hotel is the perfect venue for a Halloween night to remember.  Early in the evening you can catch a screening of La Belle et la Bete with a live score.  Beauty and the Beast comes alive on stage with the help of the wildly talented LA Opera as a part of the Off-Grand Series.  A soundtrack by Phillip Glass plays elegantly alongside Jean Cocteau’s 1946 work of cinematic art.  You’ll surely be enchanted on Halloween night at the Beastly Ball!

Cabaret de L’Enfer

If there’s a right to spend beneath the earth, it’s Hallow’s eve.  The Edison will give you a taste of the underground as you take in Cabaret L’Enfer featuring DJs, live performers, stilt walkers, tarot card readers and “Attractions Diaboliques”  (direct quote) .  Expect to have an old-fashioned good time in the dimly lit subterranean party. Best of all, it won’t cost you an arm and a leg at $25.  

Cheers to getting your chills and thrills this Halloween!

Halloween is creeping up on us both literally and figuratively, so it’s high time to go out and find your perfect pumpkin for carving!  Sure you could snag a pumpkin on your next run to the grocery store, but there’s something truly magical about a trip to a pumpkin patch.  Whether it’s a trip out to a farm or a city lot with games, this list has all your pumpkin picking needs covered!

Mr. Bones Pumpkin Patch

Besides having the cutest darn name out there, Mr. Bones Pumpkin Patch has a killer pumpkin selection and a history too!  The Campbell family has been operating the patch since 1987 where they brought farm life to Los Angeles kids at an urban pumpkin patch.  It’s a little bit spooky, plenty of fun for families and kids, and even educational with some opportunities to learn about nature and the environment along with the Fall harvest! These days it’s become quite the celebrity haunt and a premiere Halloween destination for Southern Californians.  

Shawn’s Pumpkin Patch

If you love a good farm feel, Shawn’s Pumpkin Patch is the perfect place to peruse for pumpkins.  Wander through the corn stalks and straw bales as you move through a sea of orange along with rare gourds and squashes.  Shawn’s is also stock full of carving kits and accessories to help you do your best Jack-O-Lantern art. Kids will go bonkers for the activities — a ball house, bouncer, train, face painting, petting zoo,  pony and train rides.  It’s an all-out fall amusement park in the city!

Tapia Brothers Farm

Feel like getting lost this weekend?  Then Tapia Brothers Farm is your spot!  They have a truly incredible corn maze that comes with a map and trivia questions.  Trivia and maze winners are entered to win $100 cash.  Even if you don’t win cold hard cash, the pumpkin selection will bring you joy.  Pumpkins as far as the eye can see, plus a farmers market, kettle corn, corn stand, a tractor-pulled train, hayride, and much more. Needless to say, you’ll be entertained while you seek out your pumpkins!

Happy pumpkin hunting and carving everyone — hope you scare up some fun along the way!

What’s Halloween without a few good shrieks of terror?  If you’re a thrill seeker, we’ve got a few places on our list that might send some chills up your spine.  In downtown Los Angeles and surrounding areas, here’s where the thrills at:

Creep LA

Magic Box LA; 1933 Broadway Blvd

You know how sometimes real stories are actually scarier than legend?  Creep LA embraces this idea full force while inviting you into an alternate universe where folklore is oh-so-real.  Secrets out at Creep LA, the frightening truth makes for a far better story.  In the space stories aren’t just camp tales, it’s an entire experience that will creep inside your mind and have you freaked for weeks!

Haunted Hayride

4730 Crystal Springs Dr

You might have hiked Griffith Park during the day or peered over the sweeping views from the Griffith Observatory, but have you ever explored the hills at night?  This ain’t no pumpkin patch, the hayride reveals all kinds of boogey monsters and demons as you ride through park in the dark.  You’ll be escorted to a number of frightening mazes, scare zones, and even a pitch black maze filled with who knows what.  This year’s theme happens to be clowns, you’ve been warned.  

ScareLA

Scare LA isn’t just a haunted house, it’s an entire expose dedicated to the spirit of Halloween.  Located in the Convention Center, ScareLA showcases the city’s top talent and hottest Haloween attractions in Southern California.  If you’re a Halloween devotee, you’ll definitely meet your people while partaking in classes, industry panels, screenings, games, and much more.  Attendees raved about the VR and AR horror experiences from previous years, it’s definitely an experience you won’t want to miss!

Dark Harbor

In Southern California’s largest port, the transformed Queen Mary awaits visitors looking to experience a good haunting.  The Queen Mary has long been rumored to be haunted whether or not it’s Halloween, but during the season it becomes the Dark Harbor where visitors come to have the bejeebers scared right out of them.  Several mazes actually explore the bowels of the Queen Mary, as if that weren’t scary enough, aided by fog, actors, and horrifying props.  It’s an experience not for the faint of heart, but it does make for a singular experience for those willing to risk it!