Haunted Houses, Pumpkin Contests, Public Parties, Scary Places, Costume Secrets: Your Patch Guide to Halloween

This is your Patch guide to where to go for all the best Halloween info in the area. Check out neighborhood photos in out photo gallery and add your own photos!

Keep checking back for an ever-growing list of great places to trick-or-treat, some real-life local ghost stories, profiles on spooky people and parties for the whole family.

If you have some advice or additions, or some fascinating Halloween decorations or costumes, send them in below in the comments area.

Studio City made the list as one of the best places to trick-or-treat in Los Angeles, due to safety and best pickings, and we're not surprised.

Haunted Houses, Scary Things to Do and Reviews:

* 3-D Haunted House Scares Up Money for Local Schools

* Valhalla Cemetery is Final Resting Place for Many Hollywood Stars

* Special Effects Experts Trick Out Their Houses for Halloween

* Valhalla Cemetery is Final Resting Place for Many Hollywood Stars

* Patch Reveals The Underpass Ghost and Explores Other Local Ghost Stories

* Valley View Parade Brings Out Characters from Books

* Carpenter Charter's Halloween Carnival Scares Up Big Crowds

* North Hollywood Station Opens its (Haunted) Doors to the Public

* The Toluca Lake Haunted Maze (see the video of the 2010 maze in the videos area) There's a pumpkin patch and petting zoo at 10601 Riverside Drive (corner with Cahuenga)

* Zombie Joe's Underground Theatre's play Attack of the Rotting Corpses in North Hollywood

* Two Gen-Xers Tackle Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights

* A Mom's Review of the Scary Los Angeles Haunted Hayride

* Hayride to Hell Heralds Horror

* A Past Haunted House in Studio City: The Witch's Castle

* For 33 years, Studio City hosted one of the coolest private and free Haunted Houses in the Los Angeles area. Thankfully, there's still a website, even five years after it ceased to exist. See: HauntingGrounds.org.

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* 5 Minute Horror

* Senior Center Halloween Party is the Bee's Knees

* Hallmark Channel, based in Studio City, is debuting Edward Scissorhands on Oct. 30 at 8 p.m. .

Pumpkins, Jack-o-Lanterns, Carving Contests:

* Encino Patch is holding their own Patch Pumpkin Carving Contest! Send your submissions now to win free Yogurtland! http://patch.com/A-P39

* Hallmark contest: Butch Patrick ("Eddie Munster") promos most artistic Halloween costumes. Spread the word :).http://bit.ly/93nkL8

* Oktoberfest Helps Raise Money for School Safety

* From the Daily D!  7 Best Pumpkin Patches 

Best Decorated Neighborhoods: 

* Dead Men Walking...and Playing Guitar? Nearby North Hollywood, at the corner of Denny and Hortense, and a little up the road on Denny (toward Camarillo) are some monster sets for Halloween, some dead folks are playing music, some lost their head driving too fast.

Best Decorated Store:

The Studio City Car Wash has some nice decorations, see the photos in the photo gallery.

Also, Rusty's Discount Pet Center is incredible. Not only are there zombies and mummies inside, but outside there's a giant spider that took over a tree. Check out the slide show above. Scary!

* Halloween is Magic for the Magic Apple

*Bite-sized Horror for the Busy Psycho

Stay Safe!

Trick-or-Treating Safety Tips for Studio City

Tips for Pet Owners on Halloween

Need to know where to shop? 

From the high end to the bargain discount, follow Susan McMartin's advice about where to get cool costumes. Click on: Where To Shop for Halloween?

* Halloween is Magic for the Magic Apple

* Western Costuming as told on My Daily Find

* Hollywood's Historic Photos on Display at Decor

* EC2 Costumes Rentals

Funny Stories.

* Patch Reveals The Underpass Ghost and Explores Other Local Ghost Stories

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* Our Studio City Mom is taking her daughter to camp dressed as a mini Harry Potter in:   and most recently My Spooky Halloween Story.

* Our Pet Peeves columnist Don Helverson talks to local comedienne Wendy Lieberman about costumes for dogs in: 21 Questions (Some for the Dogs) for Studio City Comic Wendy Liebman

* Family Next Door: Billy Wright Offers Tailor-Made Designer Pancakes and More

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* The Wendell Story Leads to a Halloween-time Tragedy it will tug your heart strings

Scary Places to Go:

* Jack McGrath Discusses the Houdini House Mystery & More-You Get $25 for Asking Patch

* Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights (not for the faint-of-heart!) Look at the videos above to see some of the previews. There are five mazes and it's truly terrifying. Tickets are $59 but some discount dates are available, check here.

* Nicole Kristal takes on the Haunted Hay Ride

* Karen Young's Valley-wide Guide to Scary Happenings on My Daily Find

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Real Life Haunted Houses?

* Haunted House on Ben Avenue. Click here to read the account.

* Doran Place Haunted House. Click here to read the story.

* Spooky happenings on Van Nuys Place and Cedros. Read it here.

Halloween Events:

* How the Schools are Celebrating Halloween

* Carpenter Charter Halloween Party Oct. 29

* Tot Halloween Party Oct. 30

* Halloween Film Fest at Valley Plaza Library Oct. 30

* Halloween Morning Pumpkin Run

* Halloween/Dia De Los Muertos - Unitarian Universalist Church of Studio City on Oct. 31.

* North Hollywood Park Halloween Festival, on Oct. 31.

* Halloween Carnival at McCambridge Park

* Boo-tiful Downtown Burbank Halloween 

* Vickroy Park Halloween Party

* Halloween Party at Hollywood United Methodist Church

* Halloween Monster Bash at Yucca Community Center

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Also, where are the most interesting decorated houses, or local haunted houses? Send us your photos and post them here! Add comments below, too!