CEMETERY LANE 2022 REVIEW: FAMILY FRIENDLY SPOOKY FUN

In the large swooping landscape of Southern California, there are many options to choose from to get your Halloween fix. Actually, I think it’s one of the most wonderful parts of SoCal. As people who love the spooky season, having a smorgasbord of Halloween celebrations to choose from allows for that itch to be scratched many different ways. One of our favorite events returning this year, which really made a lasting impact on us, was Cemetery Lane located at the Historic Heritage Square in Downtown Los Angeles. This wonderful trick or treat experience is unique in its concepts yet warm and familiar in its presentation. A visual feast for the eyes, the houses of Heritage Square are flooded with colorful lights and simply ooze the very essence of Halloween.

Cemetery Lane provides a family friendly atmosphere to allow for a wonderful trick or treating experience for the young and the young at heart. It features 13 themed trick-r-treat stops for the entire family to load up on their favorite sweet treats. I can’t tell you how many families we saw having a blast going house to house getting their favorite candies from some very spooky characters.

I think outside of the overall tone of Cemetery Lane, the accessibility of the event to people of all ages is ultimately the biggest success of the event. While our kiddo was obsessed with the candies in her baggy and running through the mini hay maze. We were enthralled with the historical aspect of the houses, the gorgeous architecture, and some of the spookier aspects of the event as a whole. Also, they had a small bar for those parents that might like to partake in a cold adult beverage. While Cemetery Lane is labeled as a family friendly style event, they don’t shy away from including some scarier aspects of the season in a tasteful way. We witnessed a Groundkeeper character located outside a cemetery scaring some of the older guests while encouraging the younger ones who might not have been as brave to approach the crypt to get their candy. In fact, our kiddo was one of the kids who were just a bit more intimidated by this particular trick or treat location. Lucky for us, the Groundskeeper character was kind enough to give our kiddo her candy via his shovel. Throughout the evening, our kiddo eventually worked up the courage to approach the crypt and yell TRICK OR TREAT at the top of her lungs. Needless to say, it made these two spooky parents extremely happy. But ultimately that is the type of environment that is perfect for cultivating experiences to bolster these kids courage when it comes to things that might be a bit scarier than they’d like.

If we had any suggestions for the event, it would be to have some type of environmental/ambient music playing throughout because in certain areas it was just very quiet. Near the “radio station” area, there is music playing. But on the other end, it gets very quiet. While you’re still very much surrounded by wonderful architecture, having added musical ambiance would really take it to the next level. But that truly is our only critique of the event.

As a side note, we love the merchandise for this years event. The whole idea seems to stem from having your iconic traditional monsters at the main houses but with a twist. There is a whole story of this radio station, 103.1 The Crypt, (the same one I referenced before) that’s playing tunes in the neighborhood. You even get a cool graphic of it before coming into the event. But they sell shirts advertising just that radio station. We loved it so much so we purchased one for ourselves. We are suckers for great and unique merchandise options at halloween events.

Overall

The wonderfully imaginative and creative people behind Cemetery Lane have created a Halloween playground. From the actors/actresses, the location, the tone, and overall aesthetic; Cemetery Lane is the place to visit if you want to truly get in the mood for traditional halloween fun with a flair. We sincerely cannot recommend Cemetery Lane more to people who want a fun, spooky, and safe trick or treating experience in Los Angeles. Also, you’re going to leave with a great amount of candy.