Inside the ritzy LA neighborhoods turning Halloween into a Hollywood horror movie

There are two kinds of people in Los Angeles: people who decorate for Halloween, and people who live north of Montana in Santa Monica and apparently have access to the Warner Bros.prop department.Every October, the streets around 16th and Georgina become a destination for people who want to see what happens when expensive real estate meets an unlimited enthusiasm for fake corpses.In most neighborhoods, a pumpkin and a plastic skeleton will do.

In Santa Monica, you begin to suspect somebody has hired a production designer.(Which, given where we live, is entirely possible.) Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.

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Never miss a story.Los Angeles is uniquely equipped to take Halloween too far: We have actual prop builders, special-effects artists, costume designers, set decorators and makeup professionals living among us.In another city, your neighbor might be an accountant.

In Los Angeles, your neighbor might have spent six seasons making monsters for television.Now he’s retired, has a garage full of equipment and is apparently prepared to make Halloween everybody else’s problem.This is not decorating; this is an unofficial branch of the entertainment industry.

And because this is Los Angeles, there are multiple ways to experience it, each requiring a completely different outfit and parking strategy.In Santa Monica, families head north of Montana to admire the elaborate displays and collect candy.In Venice, people can trick-or-treat along the canals, where the decorations compete with waterfront real estate and the occasional boat.While in West Hollywood, Halloween is less about candy and more about becoming a person who requires three hours of theatrical makeup and cannot sit down in their costume.

WeHo’s annual Halloween Carnaval takes over a mile of Santa Monica Boulevard, fillin...