Photo Essay: A Long-Neglected Playhouse for Variety Acts Gets Some Much-Needed Attention from the Art World

Back in 2012, I didn't have the lay of the land in Los Angeles yet—so, I just tried to take every opportunity to go anywhere that seemed cool, even if I'd never heard of it before. 

That's how I ended up at Variety Arts Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles, thanks to a haunted house/immersive theater show for Halloween by horror movie producer Jason Blum called Blumhouse of Horrors. 

I remember being led through an auditorium with seats—at one point, through one of those squeeze tubes that make it feel like you're traveling through a birth canal. And I remember someone in costume—maybe an usher? or a bellhop?—taking a group of us up the elevator to an upper level that felt more like a hotel than a theater.

But it was so long ago—and I only have one photo of the night, taken outside with a scare actor (jump to the photo ↓)—that I barely can recall any real details.

 

The Variety Arts Theatre has been open to the public very rarely since then, including for the Delusion haunt in Fall 2025—but it's had construction fencing up out front for years. Thankfully, that finally came down, and the theater doors swung open once again. 

Photo Essay: The California Museum That Celebrates the Art of the Clown

There's something so appealing to me about single-genre museums—like the Bunny Museum or the Banana Museum—and narrowly-curated collections, like the Crochet Museum or the Beauty Bubble Salon and Museum. 

So, despite having no particular affinity to clowns (other than dressing up as one last Halloween), visiting a clown museum in Barstow was still a must-do detour on my way back from Death Valley this past summer.

Photo Essay: WeHo Halloween Carnaval 2025

I've lived in the same Los Angeles neighborhood for 15 Halloweens—and for almost half of them, I've spent the night of October 31 at the West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval.

Photo Essay: Celebrating Day of the Dead at the Birthplace of Los Angeles

I've liked cemeteries for all of my adult life, at least ever since I used to climb up behind Chapel House and spend some quiet time at the Colgate University Cemetery. 

 

But living in Southern California has taught me a little bit about how Mexican cultures honor the dead in a very living sort of way—namely, building altars (or ofrendas) where they honor the lives of those who've passed by making offerings (like sugar skulls) and setting up photos, dioramas, and more.

Photo Essay: The Pageantry and Personas of the WeHo Halloween Carnaval, 2024 Edition

The Halloween Carnaval has been drawing crowds to the streets of West Hollywood since 1987 (with a couple years taken off during the COVID-19 pandemic). 

Is it a parade? Well, not exactly—because there's no determined order of the participants and people walk in both directions. 

But is it really a carnival? Well, there's definitely some masquerading and "riotous excess."

I like to describe it as kind of a walkabout.

 

Photo Essay: 101 Years of the Anaheim Fall Festival (Upon the Centennial of the Halloween Parade)

The last Saturday in October is always a busy one—and try as I might, I never seem to make it to the Anaheim Fall Festival, which always lands on that day. 

 

This year, on the 100th year of the parade (but the 101st year of the festival), I finally made it—casting all other plans aside, because you just can't do everything you want to do all the time. 

Photo Essay: L.A. Circus, A Prop House Providing Everything Under the Big Top to Hollywood and Beyond

It takes a lot to surprise me. Especially after living in LA for 13 years and seriously exploring Southern California for about 16 years. 

 So I was thrilled to be introduced to a place I'd never heard of—LA Circus in Riverside, California—and have the chance to tour it with the Los Angeles Railroad Heritage Foundation. 

Photo Essay: A 'Haunted' Underground Tour of the Los Angeles Athletic Club, Circa 1912

I've toured the 111-year-old Los Angeles Athletic Club in Downtown Los Angeles twice now, including once in 2012 upon its centennial, but there's one spot I hadn't gotten to yet: the basement. 

  

 

So, we took the opportunity to attend LAAC's Roaring Twenties Masquerade right before Halloween, which offered a "haunted underground tour" in addition to the masked revelry upstairs.

Photo Essay: The Return of the Once-Dead WeHo Halloween Carnaval

I haven't been to the West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval every single Halloween night since I moved into the neighborhood—but I always liked knowing it was there as an option.

When I walked Santa Monica Boulevard back in October 2019, I had no idea that the street festival wouldn't return the next year—or the next, and next.

By Halloween 2022, the City of West Hollywood had declared that after the pandemic pause of the event, nobody in charge was very interested in bringing it back. 

And there was a community uproar. 

After all, the event brings a lot of business into the neighborhood—and it's a tremendous resource for those that want to go out and do something on Halloween night that's not necessarily drinking in a bar or a club, and doesn't necessarily require any driving. 

I know I love leaving my car at home and being able to just walk right over, and then walk home whenever I'm done.

 

So it was pretty exciting to witness the return of the WeHo Carnaval this year, four years since all those costumed revelers had been able to take over the boulevard.

Photo Essay: Pumpkin Rock, Under the Cloak of Fog

Not all my adventures are winners. But sometimes that makes for great content to fall under the umbrella of "Avoiding Regret."

 

Take my recent hike to Pumpkin Rock in Norco, for instance. 

Photo Essay: Boney Island Gets Reanimated at Natural History Museum of Los Angeles [Updated for 2025]

[Last updated 9/17/25 9:12 PM PT—Boney Island won't return to the Natural History Museum this year, or probably ever. A new location is in the works, but that means the attraction will go dark in 2025. Stay tuned for an announcement of its new location and a future opening date.]

Back around the new millennium, Emmy-winning animation producer for The Simpsons Rick Polizzi created a super-sized yard haunt in his San Fernando Valley neighborhood. 

But it became too popular for its own good—with traffic congesting the residential area and an unwieldy crowd size arriving nightly to check out the array of skeletons and the fountain show. 

So it closed in 2016 and took a year off, reopening in Griffith Park in 2018.

I saw the original version in person in 2014 but missed out on its redux, which closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Fortunately, it reopened once again for the 2023 Halloween season—this time in yet another new location. 

Photo Essay: Oviatt Penthouse, Continuing to Return to Its Original Art Deco Glory

Anyone can visit the Oviatt Building and gawk at its ornate Art Deco cornice from across the street or examine the lovely Lalique glasswork from the front entrance. 

But if you enter the building—probably through Cicada, the restaurant that now lays claim to the ground floor once occupied by Oviatt's men's clothing store—you lose nearly all sense of Art Deco.

That's because the building itself is Italian Romanesque, and the interior was designed in the style of English Jacobian.

 

 

However, perched atop the roof of the Oviatt Building, in the form of the penthouse where James Oviatt himself lived until his death, you'll find an Art Deco masterpiece. 

Photo Essay: Golf Carts on Parade in Palm Desert, Rolling Out of a Pandemic Hiatus

When I was researching golf carts for my post on the golf cart museum in La Quinta, California earlier this year, I came across some information about an annual golf cart parade that takes place just before Halloween in the nearby community of Palm Desert, also in the Coachella Valley. 

I knew I had to go.  

Photo Essay: Dinny & Mr. Rex Are a Pair of Halloween Treats in Cabazon

I'd seen the Cabazon Dinosaurs dressed up for lots of other holidays, like Christmas, Valentine's Day, and Easter....

...but I hadn't yet seen them in costume for the ultimate dress-up holiday, Halloween. 

At Lilley Hall in L.A.'s Toluca Lake, a.k.a. the Pumpkin Blow Mold House, It's 'Go Big or Gourd Home'

In the Los Angeles neighborhood of Toluca Lake, just on the other side of the Hollywood Hills in the San Fernando Valley, there's a two-story Tudor Revival home built in 1927 called Lilley Hall. 

 

Icons of Darkness Descends onto Hollywood Boulevard With Horror-ible Movie Memorabilia [Updated for 2024]

[Last updated 8/4/24 3:49 PM PT—Icons of Darkness in Hollywood is closed as of 2024.]

The latest addition to Hollywood’s horror-themed attractions is Icons of Darkness...

 

...an exhibition of a privately-owned collection of movie artifacts, just in time for Halloween. 

Photo Essay: Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights, Back in 2021 With a Vengeance

When I first experienced Universal Studios Hollywood in 2015, I considered it one of the best places in LA. 

I know that sounds like sacrilege—especially coming from someone whose favorite LA places include the Los Angeles River, the abandoned Murphy Ranch, and the St. Francis Dam Disaster Site. 

But when I returned for Halloween Horror Nights in 2019, and again for the studio tour in 2021, I was even more sure about it. 

I wasn't crazy. Universal Studios is great.

Oh, it's no Disneyland or Knott's Berry Farm—but it's not meant to be. It's a uniquely Hollywood amusement park, with plenty of film history to offer. 

And I couldn't wait to go back to its Halloween Horror Nights, after having a good time there two years ago and it being suspended last year during COVID-19 closures.

Bob Baker Marionette Theater Brings Enchantment Back In Its Grand Re-Re-Opening (After A 16-Month Closure)

The year 2020 was a rollercoaster for everybody, but I can only imagine the panic felt by the fine folks at Bob Baker Marionette Theater...

 circa 2019

...who'd just managed to reopen in a new space (the former York Theatre in Highland Park, Los Angeles) in December 2019 after getting pushed out of their home for 55 years. 

Photo Essay: A Pair of Drive-Thru Halloween Haunts for 2020

Adapted from my article 
"Where to Find Frightful Family Fun in L.A. and O.C. This Halloween Season" on KCET.org. 

The coronavirus has given rise to some incredible ingenuity and creativity in the haunt community—since we want to stay safe while still getting fake-scared out of our wits.

For months, I'd been begging SoCal haunters to come up with Halloween drive-thru experiences—and with just a couple of months to prepare, some delivered. 

 

At Hauntoween LA at the Woodland Hills mall parking lot, we drive through Halloween-themed immersive installations and scenic paths...

  

 

...which was a good approximation for visiting something like Alegria Street in Sierra Madre, a "Halloween Street" that likely wouldn't be able to go "all out" this year and risk drawing too huge of a crowd. 

    

 

In my car, we even got to go door-to-door "trick-or-treating"—which meant lots of candy being thrown in through the passenger-side windows. It was like a Hollywood backlot version of a Halloween neighborhood. And although it wasn't scary, it was fun. 

   

In Costa Mesa, Urban Legends Haunt made good use of the sprawling space at the Orange County fairgrounds to create a drive-thru Halloween attraction that’s part immersive theater and part haunted maze. 

 

It was an atmospheric, slow burn of an experience...

 

...with multiple setups loosely addressing the theme of "urban legends."

There was a hunt for Bigfoot, a "haunted carnival," and a manifestation of the legend of "Bloody Mary" (who supposedly emerges from the mirror when you say her name three times).

  

We got one good jump scare out of it, which far surpassed my expectations. 

And it gave me hope for next year's Halloween, in case this pandemic hasn't yet loosened its grip and we've still got to worry about gathering in public. 

In the end, I didn't really feel deprived this Halloween. I did a lot of fun stuff—and a lot of stuff that was new to me.

I mean, I've already done Knott's Scary Farm, Queen Mary Dark Harbor, and Mickey's Halloween Party at Disneyland before—and haven't really wanted to repeat myself. 

I welcome the opportunity to innovate—even if it's out of necessity. 

So let's see what the Christmas holiday season will bring...

Related Posts:

The Haunted Car Wash Inside a Tunnel of Terror

Photo Essay: Driving Through the Anaheim Halloween Parade

On Being Tested

Photo Essay: The Most Halloweeny Yard Gets a COVID-19 Update for 2020 (Updated for 2021—Closed)

[Last updated 10/29/21 9:17 PM—The yard is not decorated this year. The house doesn't appear to have been sold, so I'm not sure why. Please do not disturb the residents.]

I discovered what I thought to be the most Halloweeny yard in LA back in 2018. 

I returned in 2019 to see how it might change from year to year—and I thought maybe I'd seen it all. 

But then COVID-19 hit—and the yard was updated accordingly. 

  

It's not just that the usual figures were donning masks. 

It's that the eyes of the figures seemed to star into my soul...

...and reflect back at me the panic we've all been feeling all year. 

With the pandemic chic overlay, this yard display in Brentwood was even scarier than the prior two years...

...even in daylight. 

The creepy baby dolls felt more desperate than ever before. 

And if I wasn't staring into a looking glass, I thought maybe I was catching a glimpse of my future self in a crystal ball. 

 

Or maybe this is something of a representation of the omnipresent unseen—that which haunts us, but we can't quite put our fingers on. 

  

Are we being watched? Or are we simply watching ourselves?

        

What lies down the rabbit hole? 

Is it better to follow the rabbit—and face our fears?

        

Or stay grinning in ignorant bliss?

Related Posts:

Photo Essay: Is This the Most Halloweeny Yard in LA? (Updated for 2019)

Photo Essay: Hunting Down Yard Haunts During a Pandemic Halloween