Harry’s Haunts Halloween Neighborhood

2024 Dates & Hours: October 31, 6-10pm.

Location: 5637 Colbath Avenue, Van Nuys

Quick Take: Harry’s Haunts benefits from cumulative impact: no individual yard display may stand out, but their combined impact is impressive, creating a block party atmosphere on Halloween night when the street if abuzz with trick-or-treaters.

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Harry’s Haunts Information

The plural in the title of Harry’s Haunts is no mistake: the address listed above is the hub of haunt activity on a cul-de-sac featuring several yard displays, all of them decorated by Harry, who presides over the neighborhood like the local King of Halloween.

The cul-de-sac creates a sense of isolation. Walking onto Colbath Avenue feels like leaving the outside world behind and entering a Halloween Land, where trick-or-treaters are free to flit from house to house like ghosts fluttering in the wind, unconcerned with automobile traffic, which is virtually non-existent.

Decorations are mostly tombstones, lighting, and mannequins, enhanced with some mechanical effects (a skull head popping up and down). Some of the ghastly sights push the limits of what might seem appropriate for a family-oriented neighborhood event, such as a static display of mad surgeon with the corpse of a beautiful woman, bisected like the Black Dahlia.

The amount of decor varies from house to house, but the cumulative effect is remarkable, making Harry’s Haunts one of the best trick-or-treat neighborhoods in Los Angeles.