Leisure

Favorite Haunts

Where to Throw Your Halloween Blowout

You live in a city where people do monster makeup <em>for a living</em>—you can’t just throw a Halloween party at some normal bar and expect greatness. Here are a few of the creepiest places to Halloween like you mean it.

GRAVE MATTERS

Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever

The pedigree: Rudolph Valentino. Marion Davies. Everyone who’s anyone gets buried here.
Tricks/treats: You’re in an old Masonic Lodge. In a cemetery. Yes, they can arrange for a bar.
For channeling: The most unsubtle Halloween party ever.

THRILLER NIGHT

The Downtown Palace Theatre

The pedigree: Michael Jackson and Ola Ray filmed Thriller in this pretty amazing 1911 theater.
Tricks/treats: Ornate decor, seating for 1,100 and a fully functional stage and screen.
For channeling: Two words: zombie dance.

HALL ON EARTH

The Gorbals at the Alexandria

The pedigree: Ilan Hall wasn’t afraid to open his restaurant deep inside the creaky Alexandria hotel. Which is disturbingly haunted. According to basically everybody who works there.
Tricks/treats: Bacon-wrapped matzo balls for everybody.
For channeling: Real Halloween danger, tempered by bacon-wrapped matzo balls.

HAY GIRL

A Private Haunted Hayride

The pedigree: The Old Zoo in Griffith Park, long abandoned, is totally haunted. At least that’s what the proprietors of the Haunted Hayride would have you believe.
Tricks/treats: A private wagon for 30 of your closest, hardiest friends.
For channeling: Real scares. On a wagon. In the dark.

STORY TIME

The <em>American Horror Story</em> House

The pedigree: American Horror Story was filmed here. Serious sh*t involving Jessica Lange and leather unitards went down.
Tricks/treats: Three stories, a grand ballroom and a recording studio... selling for a cool $17 million.
For channeling: A truly amazing Halloween house party that shares FX’s generally lax policy on nudity.