Halloween is still a week away, but you’d never know it from this weekend’s events, which are busting out in spooky all over.
Saturday dawns pretty normally, with two big sales.  The first is a huge estate/moving sale at 740 S. Mansfield Ave, which will run on both Saturday and Sunday, October 24 and 25, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.  The offerings include a lot of  furniture, including 2 Stiffel lamps (floor and table), a Drexel mahogany dining set for 4 (table expands to 8), couch and loveseat (good condition), a “Frem Rojles” Danish Modern round table with chairs (chairs need a little restoration), teak veneer bookcases, maple bedroom set with (queen size?)  frame and end tables, two brass planters, a fireplace set, one very large vintage 1940s decorative Japanese wall fan, a 1970s O’Keefe & Merritt gas stove, mahogany-framed mirrors, two sets of brass lamps, and lots of other household items and assorted knick-knacks. The hosts also say, “EVERYTHING must go!!!”…which hints at great deals to be had.
Next, you can drive straight north to Hope Lutheran Church, 6720 Melrose Ave. (SE corner of Melrose and Mansfield) for its big rummage sale, which takes place on Saturday only, from 8 a.m. to noon. The big highlighted item at this one are a dining room set with two tables  and eight chairs “in a style that is best described as Gothic” (dark, heavy wood – very sturdy).  Sort of “midcentury, if the century is the 14th”). One table is rectangular, about 8 feet long, with leaves.  The other table is octagonal…and the chairs are straight backed, with leather padding. Other items include clothes, CDs, books, toys and electronics.
After the morning forage, the holiday events kick in and it’s just a short drive to Hollywood Forever Cemetery, at 6000 Santa Monica Blvd., which is hosting its 16th Annual Dia de los Muertos Festival on Saturday, from 12 p.m. to 12 a.m.  The cemetery will come to life with “joyful celebrations,” including a vibrant procession with traditional Aztec blessings and regional musical-dance group dedications, musical performances by Grammy Award-winning recording artists, 100+ ceremonial altars created by members of the community to honor their ancestors and loved ones (with awards to the best altars in several categories), hundreds of Aztec ritual dancers in full costume, three stages featuring music and theatrical performances, an art exhibition in the Cathedral Mausoleum, a costume contest for the best dressed Calaca (skeleton), arts and crafts vendors, and food vendors from all around Los Angeles. Dia de Los Muertos attire is strongly encouraged. Tickets are $20 (“please bring exact change” if you don’t order in advance), and both children (8 and under) and senior citizens (65 and over) get in free before 4 p.m. 
A bit further from home, and not specifically Halloween-themed, but just as musical, Los Angeles City Council Member Jose Huizar will host an official Farewell to the 6th Street Bridge concert and festival to honor the iconic 1932 structure, which will soon be replaced by a new bridge.  The free, family-friendly event, near the 6th Street Viaduct in downtown Los Angeles,will include children’s games and activities, food trucks, community booths, live mural paintings by local artists, 6th Street Bridge Art exhibits from Art Share L.A., and musical performances by War, Aloe Blacc, Graciela Beltran, Angela & Leonardo Aguilar, Bullet & Snowfox, Buyepongo, The Cold & Lovely and DJ Crew Subsuelo. Festivities will run from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m.  The evening will end with a fireworks show overlooking…(of course!) the Sixth Street Bridge. RSVPs are encouraged at the event’s Facebook page.Â
Closer to home and back in the holiday spirit, the Wilshire Park Association is hosting its 6th annual Wilshire Park Halloween Haunt. Festivities will include flash mobs, zombies, a haunted library, the Kramer Ghost Train, a Dia de los Muertos cemetery and fortune teller, face painting, piñatas, a bouncer, dance party, silent auction, Tae Kwon Do demonstration, carnival games, hot dogs, popcorn and a chili cook-off, along with guests from the LAPD, LAFD and City Council Member David Ryu’s office.  This is a great opportunity for neighborhood bonding and fun for the whole family. Most activities are free, with small donations requested for others (besides the silent auction). Wilshire Park is an HPOZ bounded by Wilshire, Olympic, Crenshaw and Wilton, composed of about 500 residences.  The event will take place from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m., on the 700 block of S. Bronson Ave. (the street will be closed to traffic), which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Also on Saturday evening, the 5th Annual EEK! At The Greek! event takes place at the Greek Theatre.  The family-friendly extravaganza kicks off with a “Trick-or-Treat Village” in the Greek’s plaza from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., with safe trick-or-treating and Halloween activities including arts & crafts, face painting, a costume contest and more. At 7:00 p.m. the 60-piece Symphony In The Glen Orchestra, with Maestro Arthur B. Rubinstein, will play an appropriately-themed program of Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries,” “Ghost Riders in The Sky” with the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, the premiere live-to-film performance of the classic Disney cartoon “Hell’s Bells,” John Williams’s “The Devil’s Dance” from The Witches of Eastwick, and actor Armin Shimerman (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) narrating Edgar Allen Poe’s Gothic masterpiece, “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Tickets are available at the event link above.
Halloween holiday fun continues on Sunday with our own Larchmont Blvd.’s biggest event of the year:  the Larchmont Family Fair, from noon to 5 p.m. on Larchmont Blvd., between First St. and Beverly Blvd.  This year’s festivities will include camel and pony rides, booths featuring food, drinks and games (sponsored by local schools and non-profit organizations), the annual “Larchmont Has Talent” showcase, a pie–baking contest…and children’s activities such as water bubble rollers, a photo booth, petting zoo, rock climbing wall, small rides, balloons, free crafts, face painting, dunk tank and much more!  Entry is free and items purchased at the non-profits’ booths support those worthy organizations.  Halloween costumes are encouraged.
Just up the street and around the corner at the Big Sunday headquarters at 6111 Melrose, there’s also a chance to pitch in and help some less fortunate kids and their families have a Happy Halloween…at the 6th annual Big Sunday Spooky Sunday, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Sunday afternoon. Volunteers can help out with a haunted house and maze, costume giveaway, portrait studio, Trunk-or-Treating, arts & crafts and more.  To volunteer, please see the link above. (And don’t forget your costume!)
Finally, just to the west, you can wind down the day at the Grove’s Halloween Fall Festival, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday.  The free event will feature pumpkin decorating, Halloween crafts, face painting, trick or treating and a Favorite Fashion Icons Kids’ Costume Contest – dress up your little one as a famous fashion icon (such as Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Vogue’s Anna Wintour, Chanel’s Karl Lagerfeld and Marilyn Monroe, to name just a few), and be entered to win a $250 shopping spree.  (Adults are also welcome to attend the festival in costume, but “masks are, unfortunately, prohibited.”)
