Toluca Lake Neighborhood Trick or Treating
More Home Haunts Per Block Than You Can Count
Hollywood Gotique Says...
This well known destination for trick-or-treaters features dozens of yard displays densely packed within an area of approximately one square mile, located south of the Ventura Freeway and extending approximately from Cahuenga Boulevard to Pass Avenue. Some streets have numerous decorated homes, sometimes side by side, creating little Halloween neighborhoods. Though some include movement, sound effects, and special lighting, there are no elaborate audio-visual shows or walkthrough mazes. Instead, the static displays rely on clever themes or amusing decorations for their effect.
Ledge Ave and Moorpark Street
Toluca Estates Drive and Valley Spring Lane
tinasmithhomes.com/halloween
Dates: Trick or Treating takes on Halloween Night only. Houses are decorated by the third week in October in order to qualify for the annual contest, organized by local realtor Tina Smith. Prizes are awarded in four categories: Best in Show, Spookiest, Most Creative, and Cutest. Winner are published in Toluca Lake Magazine and receive their prize in the form of a gift card to a local business of their choice. Check the event’s webpage for submission and voting deadlines. Winners are announced a few days before Halloween Night.
Toluca Lake Neighborhood Trick or Treating Info
The neighborhood of Toluca Lake is well known mecca for for trick-or-treating: several streets are filled with decorated houses, perhaps because many of the residents work at nearby Warner Brothers and Walt Disney Studios and relish the opportunity to show off their technical skills on Halloween Night. Unlike other well-to-do neighborhoods in Los Angeles, this is less of an isolated enclave, so you may actually be able to find parking. There is little if anything that would be terrifying to any but the most timid trick-or-treaters. Consequently, Toluca Lake provides an excellent option for family-safe fun on Halloween Night.
The density of yard haunts within a close distance of each other makes Toluca Lake worth visiting on Halloween Night, when costumed trick-or-treaters are flitting in the darkness; however, many houses are decorated days or weeks earlier in case you want to visit when the streets and sidewalks will not be crowded. Foreman Avenue and Mariota Avenue are particularly good haunting grounds for trick-or-treaters, with several yard haunts side by side.
On the corner of Mariota at 10104 Moorpark Street is the eye-catching Lilley Hall. The 1927 Tudor Revival features a quaint style of architecture whose aura of bygone days is well-suited to an old-fashioned Halloween theme featuring a multitude of plastic Jack O’ Lanterns.
Other prominent stops include Creepy Casa on Toluca Lake Avenue, Highway to Hell at 4428 Mariota Avenue, and Rotting Hill Cemetery at 4848 Sancola Avenue. The latter, with its animatronic effects timed to an audio track of jokey dialogue, is probably the most effects-heavy Toluca Lake yard haunt. Most displays rely on clever themes, elaborate decoration, lighting, and sometimes music for their impact.
Toluca Lake Trick-or Treating Photo Gallery
Check out a selection of photographs below, or find more in our Halloween Yard Haunt Odyssey 2020: Toluca Lake.