L.A. County Yard Haunts 2020: Fairbrook Manor, Chavez Nightmare, Grey Phantom, Curse of the Raven, and More
Los Angeles County, CA
We’re making pretty good progress in running through the rest of our 2020 haunt season coverage. With today’s update, we’ll have three or four more updates left (depends on if I decide to break my Halloween night home haunt adventures into one update or two) to cover it all, which puts us (hopefully I’m not jinxing this) on track to finish before the start of the Christmas attraction season!
Today, we’re checking out several home haunts on the east side of Los Angeles County, from east Long Beach to Norwalk to La Mirada. All of these were haunts that I was visiting for the first time, but they included yard displays that were among the highlights of the season. From another rookie home haunt sensation to a stellar Dark Harbor tribute to one of the best cemetery displays I’ve ever seen, these haunts were truly a delight to behold. If/when they come back next year, be sure not to miss them!
Fairbrook Manor
We’ve seen several first-year haunts make big splashes this season on a year when Halloween seemed to be in danger of being cancelled, and on the Thursday before Halloween, I visited yet another one in Fairbrook Manor! Owner Robert Duck (who also coincidentally happens to be a longtime Westcoaster reader—shout-out to that!) had reached out on Instagram to extend me an invite to visit, and though I had been following progress in Instagram throughout the month, I wasn't prepared for the level of detail, atmosphere, and comprehensive decorations and spooks that I found here!
Robert’s east Long Beach home was perfect for a yard display. A nice picket fence with brick posts formed a great border, and a central pathway divided the haunt into two halves--a graveyard with gnarled tombstones and a creepy girl hiding in the shadows and a scarecrow field in the vein of Trick 'R Treat with some excessively creepy ghostly figures. It was unnerving to see these bodies with pumpkin heads that seemed sunken into the shoulders, resulting in decidedly inhumanly compacted body proportions.
Welcome to the eerie, chilling, and deliciously atmospheric Fairbrook Manor.
A beautiful jack-o-lantern entry framed the front door. Looking through the living room window onto the scene outside was Victoria, the (eternally) longtime caretaker of Fairbrook Manor. Her phantom visage in front of a lavishly haunting interior space bathed in people produced a chilling effect, and the extension of Gothic furnishings into the interior of the living room produced a fantastic depth in the scene.
To the right, on the driveway, a lot monstrous animatronic scarecrow figure lurked, and just beside was Sam from Trick 'R Treat. The display even extended into the sidewalk, with lit candles and pumpkin fixtures lining the street and climbing up a tree. The careful consideration to foreground / midground / background evoked a strong haunted environment, with each element contributing to a greater whole. I loved how the assembly of each component built up to the larger haunted scene!
Incredibly, this was Robert's first year doing a full fledged haunt, and he's already thinking of a walkthrough maze next year. He joins a very strong Southern California rookie home haunt class that includes standouts like Rotting Hill Cemetery and Grim Grinners, among others. In addition, Fairbrook Manor also held a canned food drive this year to help local food banks. Guests and neighbors were encouraged to stop by and bring a canned food to help. The charitable cause was awesome, and it’s wonderful of people like Robert to care while they scare!
Victoria has haunted Fairbrook Manor for an eternity, and she’s delighted to have new guests to visit… and claim forever…
Fairbrook Manor is located at 5426 E Fairbrook St, Long Beach, CA 90815 and operated nightly from Saturday, October 17 through Sunday, November 1, from dusk to 10:00pm. Full effects were on during the weekends.
Nearby, there are also four neighboring houses that were decorated--three houses together on one side plus an across-the-street neighbor. The decorations weren't as polished as some other places I've visited, and the lighting could have used better balancing (one was way too lot; the other three were a little underlit), but I loved that four neighbors had mutually decorated their houses on different ways--each reflecting their own style and preferences.
This is one of four houses located just up the street from Fairbrook Manor. It’s a rather elaborate graveyard display, just missing the moodier, more dramatic lighting.
It was another example of the spirit of Halloween in action! As Midsummer Scream would say, it was awesome to see these neighbors “do their part to save Halloween!”
Next to it is another Halloween home with a little less content but still a fun vibe.
This quartet of houses is located at 2146, 2152, 2153, and 2156 Stanbridge Ave, Long Beach, CA 90815. The display lights were still on after 10:30 on a Thursday night when I drove by. The quartet was easily reached by driving west from Fairbrook Manor and following Fairbrook Street as it turned diagonally and then became Stanbridge Avenue.
The Chavez Nightmare
George Chavez has been creating neighborhood frights every Halloween for the past dozen years with an extensive maze that he runs on Halloween night. Originally imagined as a combination of things that give people nightmares, it's since become an ever-changing theme each year and an elaborate Halloween night tradition for neighbors looking for a scary treat!
Creepy rocking horse girl will haunt your dreams at the Chavez Nightmare.
This year, with COVID around, the Chavez Nightmare was yard display instead of a maze, but in a return to its original roots, it was still very much composed of your worst dreams! The most prominent member of the whole exhibit was a creepy girl, rocking in a chair, calling out to guests with illuminated blood-red eyes. Her singsong calls echoed with ominous supernatural threats. Sure, she sounded innocent, but she sure looked like she would consume your soul!
To the side, an equally creepy mannequin with countless arms reaching up to it conveyed another unnerving scene. Strobes flickering against this macabre work of art created a frenetic and psychological fray. Across the lawn to the left, ghouls and skeletons peeked out from posts and seemed to fly overhead. Their fearsome expressions suggested that they were in no mood for treats. On the opposite side of the front yard, a gruesome scarecrow figure and an inflatable gargoyle served as sentinels.
This year saw a medley of displays throwing it back to the first year theme of this home haunt, centered around various fears and nightmares.
The Chavez Nightmare is located at 12038 Hopland St, Norwalk, CA 90650 and all throughout October, from 6:30 - 10:30pm nightly. It is gritty and horrifying and lives up to its moniker. George mentioned that not a lot of other residents on the street get too into the Halloween spirit (decorations-wise, though there was also a cute skeleton wheelbarrow display that I noticed on the corner of Hopland and Norwalk Blvd, but I didn’t have time to stop and take photos), but I'm glad he's holding up the fort for everyone else!
The Grey Phantom
You may have seen it on Instagram, but nothing compares to actually seeing The Grey Phantom’s amazing Dark Harbor tribute display in person, featuring a front yard rendition of the Queen Mary herself! The popular Long Beach haunt, which is dark this year like most other commercial haunts due to the Coronavirus, was lovingly represented in this amazing display that featured several rooms harkening to iconic mazes and nods to the events recurring characters.
It’s not often someone builds a ship for the sake of ambiance (ala Tokyo Disney Sea), but that’s what happened here at The Grey Phantom.
A boiler room that seemed to reference the old Hellfire maze or maybe a part of B340 cackled with sparks of electricity, and projections of spirits materialized with mildly startling fright. In the next room, a misty abyss would appear from time to time, reminiscent of Submerged or Lullaby, until other spirits manifested. Was that Graceful Gale? Or maybe Scary Mary? The apparitions would vanish before a good look could be taken. In the third space, a skeleton enjoyed a fireplace inside a study. Up on the top deck shadows moving through seemed to suggest the presence of The Captain.
Amazingly, all of this came together in only a month, with creator Ernie Veloz, his mom and brother, and friends from Sinister Pointe working on the construction and decorating. The result garnered raves and admiration at the scope and scale of it all. Ernie actually worked Dark Harbor and has experience building sets, so he had a very clear vision of what he wanted. The execution was fantastic, and there were plenty of admirers on hand on the Halloween Eve night that I stopped by, appreciating the little details and the grand production that Ernie and his family and devised.
Its three chambers carried some great Dark Harbor easter eggs for fans to discover!
The Grey Phantom is located at 14338 Funston Ave, Norwalk, CA 90650 and ran Thursday through Sunday nights from October 15th through the 31st, during a narrow window of only 7:00 - 9:00pm. I imagine the reduced hours were out of respect for the neighbors on this rather intimate and cozy street. I'm not sure if this display will be back up next year, but even if it set sail for only one autumn, I'm glad this Grey Phantom was able to grace us with its presence!
“Nightmare Menagerie” on Calverton
I stumbled upon this Nightmare Menagerie while I was on my way from The Grey Phantom haunt to my next destination. This display had all sorts of monsters and villains and gruesome creatures! Lightning strobes and haunting animatronics added some dynamicism to the scene. It was a completely random find, but worth a quick five minute stop!
This house featured a plethora of spooky and frightful figures on its front yard.
It was as though a host of villainous characters showed up for a lawn party!
This residence was located at 15419 Calverton Dr, La Mirada, CA 90638. Apparently, the owner has been setting out this display for years, just for fun. It’s little surprises like this that made this year’s haunting season so fun—finding high quality odes to Halloween that weren’t on anyone’s radar, just waiting to be “discovered”… or most certainly appreciated.
The Curse of the Raven
So I've known that my friends, Kristy and Robert Bradvica, have had a nice Halloween yard display for the past several years. Both Kristy and Robert have had extensive haunting experience. Kristy, for example, has worked for Knott’s Scary Farm, Decayed Brigade, The 17th Door, and other places doing make-up, and the Bradvicas count in their close friend circle the legendary “Regulators” band of longtime Haunt monsters like Spats and Cowboy Bobby and Spaz. With that resume and experience, it would make sense that they would go wild in decorating their home for Halloween. I just never realized *how* well they went until two Friday evenings ago, when I visited their residence for the first time and was absolutely blown away by the scale, detail, ambiance, scope, and sophistication of The Curse of the Raven!
This fantastic decrepid shack facade was one of multiple high quality sets and theming elements at The Curse of the Raven.
If you want to talk about one of the very best cemetery displays around Southern California, this is definitely in the conversation. The meticulously carved tombstones, integrated projections, rustic shack facade, entire life-sized crypt, bountiful jack-o-lanterns, and carefully synchronized AV effects made this home haunt look completely professional and absolutely spellbinding. The placement and framing of the various elements was fantastic. I especially liked the creepy twins inside the crypt and the floating reaper in the distance, at the doorway to the residence.
The graveyard was nothing to sneeze at, with meticulously detailed tomb stones and even a full fledged crypt structure. The hanging jack-o-lanterns were a great touch too!
In addition, there were also a couple of scareactors at the display (light frights tended to manifest on Friday or Saturday nights), providing some moderate but family friendly and occasionally silly startle scares through the evening. This was accompanied by a couple of animatronic shocks. But not to worry, several projected wise cracking pumpkins lightened the tone.
I spent a fair amount of time taking photos and just gawking at the whole presentation. The professional lighting, stormy sound effects, eerie movements, and exquisite detail made for a most photogenic display. What an absolutely beautiful and passionate example this was of Halloween spirit, creativity, and ingenuity!
The Curse of the Raven was laden with detail everywhere, from spooky skeletons to ominous ghouls hovering and moving in the background!
The Curse of the Raven is located at 4682 S Stanton Ave, La Mirada, CA 90638 and ran from Saturday, October 17th through Halloween night, from 7:00 - 10:00pm nightly, with full effects on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings.
And that concludes maybe one of the more prominent home haunt updates, at least when averaging the level of quality and detail across the haunts covered. We’re deep in the homestretch of our Halloween season recap now. Next, we’ll be moving over to Burbank for a second round to check out some wonderful Halloween displays that we saw on Halloween night, plus a visit to one of Toluca Lake’s quirkiest October traditions. If this season has proven anything, it’s that there is a titanic abundance of passionate, creative, talented Halloween artistry all throughout Southern California, and most of it isn’t even professional. But the caliber of the creations certainly is!
Architect. Photographer. Disney nerd. Haunt enthusiast. Travel bugged. Concert fiend. Asian.
