The Best Halloween Events in Los Angeles This Year
Haunted hayrides, over-the-top costume parties, and more Halloween fun in LA.
Before the pandemic, Los Angeles’s favorite holiday was, unquestionably, Halloween. The city was teeming with high-end mazes, scare-zones, and haunted experiences before pandemic shutdowns put many on hiatus, some (like The Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor) permanently.
Though many of the biggest events have risen from the dead over the past two years, this year finally feels like a return to form, with ultra-productions amping up, smaller events breaking through, and, finally, the highly anticipated return of West Hollywood’s massive Halloween Carnaval (back for the first time since 2019). If you’re looking to make the rest of this month more spirited than ever, here’s a roundup of the best Halloween events, haunts, and immersive theater productions across Southern California.
Haunted Houses in LA
Weekends through October 28
Temecula, Starting at $30
This new walk-through experience is a bit out of LA proper, but it comes from the former producers of Dark Harbor (RIP) which gives it some cred. The new mazes include “Ghostly Gasps,” which takes you through catacombs; the fully lights-out “The Void;” and the clown-themed, VIP-only “Delirium.” Tickets available through the website.
Various dates through October 30
Anaheim and Lakewood, Starting at $30
This believe-it-or-not-it’s-real experience started during the pandemic and has become a go-to for SoCal horror fans who haven’t cleaned their car since the last near-hurricane. It’s exactly what it sounds like: a car wash (actually, this year, two car washes) that has been taken over by ghouls and ghosts…who also still clean your car. Double win. Tickets for both locations are available through the event website.
Various dates through October 31
Buena Park, Starting at $36
Long regarded as the the most genuinely scary haunt in SoCal, 17th Door (notorious for psychological-trauma scares, like making you believe you’re drowning, about to be hit by a car, tased, and worse) moves to a new location in Buena Park for the season. Add on tickets for the off-site “field trip” where you’ll be pseudo-kidnapped and transported to a Furry rave, which sounds way cuter than the terrifying stuff that’s the organizers’ stock-in-trade.
Through October 31
Long Beach, Starting at $29.99
The Queen Mary has long been a Halloween hotspot in LA (RIP, Dark Harbor), and this takeover of Dark Harbor’s former footprint by ultimate fun guy Shaquille O’ Neal and his team is now in its second year. Expanded offerings include an actual maze on the ship and a trick-or-treat kids’ event on October 15, 22, and 29. There’s also a stage with nightly Halloween entertainment.
Various dates through October 31
Pomona, Starting at $29
Taking over some of the Fairplex in Pomona, this inaugural multi-pronged experience includes plenty of fun outside the scare-zone mazes, including a zombie-themed paintball battle. Get the Boos and Brews combo ticket if you want to afterparty: It gives you access to both Oktoberfest and Lights Out.
Through October 31
Buena Park, Starting at $59.99
Knotts is celebrating 50 years of parkwide scares this year with three new mazes, three new shows, a new scare zone, and tons of fan favorites from years past. The park’s many roller coasters are also open during the event, meaning that—even if dudes in costumes don’t scare you—you’ll scream for crazy-fast corkscrews. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
Through October 31
Los Feliz, Starting at $29.99
This is the Haunted Hayride’s 15th year cruising through the abandoned zoo (and beyond) in Griffith Park. Though the standard setup is predictable (you board a tractor towing a massive hay-laden flatbed; various ghouls startle you in different setups), the over-the-top scenes are always full of surprises. The family-friendly “Trick Or Treat” attraction, as well as two themed-out mazes, also join the mix.
Through October 31
Universal City, Starting at $87
The season’s biggest-budget spectacle is back each Wednesday through Sunday, with haunted houses based on some of Universal’s scariest intellectual property. While the Last Of Us installation is insanely dystopian and Stranger Things boasts a really impressive version of the Upside Down, the most fun experience is the one from Child’s Play, which features a ton of terrifying/hilarious animatronic Chuckies in all sorts of kill-zone scenarios. As always, it’s worth upgrading to VIP/line-cutting passes: Otherwise you’ll spend your whole night in line.
Various dates through November 4
Thousand Oaks, Starting at $35
Reign of Terror, the top haunted house attraction in the United States, is an enormous, ever-growing installation above the Jann’s mall in Thousand Oaks that started as a haunted house in 1999 and now staffs dozens of insanely costumed jump-scare masters in 138 themed rooms with scary bits ranging from Deliverance-style hillbillies to massive animatronics. For a next-level experience, visit on November 4 when the whole thing will also be lights-out.
Halloween Parties in LA
October 27–October 28
San Bernardino, Starting at $129.95
If you’re antsy for some untz, then Escape Halloween is for you: It’s a two-day electronic music festival with massive Halloween-themed lighting and acts like Above and Beyond, Afrojack, Three Six Mafia, and Zedd. Of course, there are a ton of VIP add-ons if you want to splurge. Tickets and the full line-up are available on the event website.
October 28
Hollywood, Starting at $35
At the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Day of the Dead gets two distinct celebrations—one during the day and one during the night. Thousands of people in LA mark their calendars well in advance for Día y Noche de los Muertos, both huge parties with incredible makeup and costumes, altars honoring the dead, and traditional music alongside artists like Danny Lux and Bomba Estéreo. Separate tickets, available on through the event website, are required for each celebration.
October 31, 6 pm
West Hollywood, Free
Pre-Covid, this massive, anything-goes costume fest on the streets of WeHo was one of the biggest parties in the country, with over 100,000 revelers dancing, checking each other out, and having a blast. This is the first edition since 2019, so it will likely be insane—with DJs on the streets, drink specials in the bars, and tons (and tons) of skin of all shapes, sizes, and types on the street.
Family-Friendly Halloween Events in LA
Various dates through October 31
Whittier, Starting at $20
If you’re more into the iconography of the season than the actual scares Halloween suggests, this new event might be for you. Much like the massive holiday light displays that pop up around town later in the year, this event in the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area includes massive themed areas to walk through, and they are all decorated with illuminated pumpkins and other not-so-scary seasonal selections. Ticket prices vary across dates.
Throughout October (except October 17)
Calabasas, Starting at $30
This very family-friendly walk-through light show takes you along a three-quarter-mile-long trail through a ton of different Halloweeny installations, with live pumpkin-carving, a bar, and food trucks also available. The main focus is thousands and thousands of illuminated pumpkins, so make sure your phone’s charged for prime Instagramming. Tickets available through the website.
Interactive Halloween Events in LA
Through October 31
DTLA, Starting at $60
This new immersive show at the historic, 2,000-seat Los Angeles Theater has incredible high-level technology like projection-mapping and Dolby Atmos sound, which should propel it to the front of the haunt game. The story transports visitors to 1935 (around the time the theater was built), so come in period-specific costume if you really want to get into the spirit. Tickets available through Fever.
October 28–October 31
Hollywood, Starting at $47
This inaugural Cirque-du-Soleil-style, immersive theater show takes over Hollywood’s historic Montalbán Theater with high-flying theatrics, twisted clown costumes, and crazy gymnastics. Unlike most of the other Halloween events, there are daytime options as well, so you could conceivably knock this one out during the day and hit another event at night. Tickets available through Fever.
Multiple nights through November 5
North Hollywood, Prices vary
A nondescript door on a nondescript street in a nondescript area of North Hollywood is actually Zombie Joe’s. One of LA’s longest-running, ultra-adult Halloween experiences, the Urban Death Tour Of Terror theater attraction is where various Faces of Death-style scenarios play out over the night. But there are also two new shows this year if you’re already accustomed to (or not interested in) that level of carnage: the audio-focused “Dark A.S.M.R.” and the sexiness-and-spookiness show “Cabaret Macabre.” Tickets for the shows are available through the website.
Through November 19
Pomona, Starting at $95
As fun as ever, this interactive production takes over a historic mansion in Pomona with ultra-physical stunts, a story that revolves around easter eggs from years past, and an optional VIP add-on that allows you to become one of the actors yourself. If you’re not down to be involved, no sweat: There’s a new do-not-consent policy if you don’t want to interact with the actors. Tickets available on the Delusion website.