What to Know
- Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood
- The theme park-based fright fest features several high-tech haunted houses, including one inspired by the fourth season of "Stranger Things"
- Sept. 7 through Oct. 31, 2023 (select nights); tickets and passes are on sale now
Halloween Horror Nights: September's sunny ways can't hide the frightful fact that the shadowiest stretch of the year is now here. And one of the most mondo of the monster-taculars? It's this Universal Studios Hollywood happening, a multi-night eek-stravaganza that features numerous elaborate haunted houses, eerie entertainment, fearsome photo opportunities, and a creepy caboodle of Halloween-ready characters roaming around the theme park, wickedly. The scares begin Sept. 7; tickets and passes are on sale now.
Los Angeles Union Station Train Festival: A Celebration of Past, Present & Future: Locomotive mavens will choo-choose to visit the fabled landmark on Sept. 9 and 10, all to peruse an assortment of train-related exhibits and experiences. Model trains, architectural tours, giveaways, and all sorts of rail-y great train-themed offerings will give steam to the celebration, which is free and open to all ages. Where to go? All over the vintage venue: Goings-on will take place around the Ticket Concourse and beyond.
Maritime Festival: If it is the first part of September and you've dropped anchor in Dana Point Harbor, chances are you'll spy a tall ship or two. For this is the time of year when pirates — and mermaids — call upon the picturesque area, all to give visitors a ye olde taste of when these massive and mast'd vessels roamed the oceans. Cannon battles, chances to go sailing, and on-shore activities for kids are plentiful at the Sept. 8-10 yo-ho-happening. Note that some events are ticketed while others are complimentary, so map out your adventure before you go.
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Surf Dog Surf-a-Thon: Playful pooches helping critters in need? So many sweet dogs (and kind-hearted dog people) regularly do so, all to support the Helen Woodward Animal Center of Rancho Santa Fe. Now one of the biggest events of the year is about to wade into the Big Blue, and it involves a bevy of briny barkers taking to the waves. There's an on-the-sand Canine Costume Contest, too, at the Sept. 10 fundraiser, and more dogly doings around Del Mar Dog Beach.
Big Bear Lake Oktoberfest: What's that in the distance? Is it in the unmistakable wheeze of an accordion, signaling that the season of steins, schnitzel, and dirndls is upon us, now that the weather is starting to almost-kind-of-sort-of cool down? It is, and this festivity, which will take place each Saturday and Sunday through early November, is one of the celebratory stalwarts. New in 2023? Friday nights will be a thing each weekend in October.
Universal Studios and NBC-owned TV stations operate under the same parent company NBCUniversal.
