How to Trick-or-Treat in the City

By , a freelance writer who covers beauty, health, style, travel, and food. She's a contributing editor at the Wall Street Journal with bylines at Vogue, CR Fashion Book, and Oprah. It’s easy to see why New York is a Halloween town. We love dressing up and celebrating under the cover of night, and we’ve got more candy stores per capita than any other major city. If you play it right, your rambles will be sweet and your revelry copious. Writer Fiorella Valdesolo spoke to local parents and Halloween diehards about their strategies for October 31. Burns Street, with its storybook Tudor-style houses and European-village vibe in the Gardens area of Forest Hills, is a charming backdrop for Halloween, says Erica Metzger, a Queens-based editor. “But it gets crazy crowded,” she warns. Uptown, West 69th Street is an all-out block party, says Carine Vinett, an executive managing director at a media company. “One house once hired live acrobats to swing from roof to roof like Spider-Man,” Vinett says. In Brooklyn Heights, Garden Place is reliably mayhem. (In years past, neighborhood spottings of Paul Rudd have prompted “Ant-Man!” chants, says marketing adviser Ying Chu.) Sherman Street in Windsor Terrace and 11th Street, between Eighth Avenue and Prospect Park West, also go big. “Sherman Street is full-on Halloweentown, and on 11th almost every home participates,” says Biba Milioto, a beauty-and-skin-care-company executive. “They have full Broadway-style production sets that bring a theme to life — a few years back, it was the Barbie house; last year, it was Jurassic Park.” Chu recommends the side streets near popular thoroughfares for less traffic and therefore more generous candy offerings. That can be found on 1st and 2nd Places in Carroll Gardens, says Florencia Cavallo, a brand consultant. And in Park Slope, says Milioto, 3rd Street is nice and wide — a mellower experience for younger children. Some apartment buildings will indicate which bells to ring and which to avoid. (Metzger’s building in Queens gives apartment dwellers who are handing out candy a pumpkin-shaped doorknob hanger.) Be polite to the doorman — “Sometimes they have the hot tip on which apartments have the best candy,” Metzger adds. Perry, Charles, and West 11th Streets in the West Village have consistently scary decorations, says creative director Chelsea Baken, and the giant spider on Waverly and Christopher is not to be missed. In Carroll Gardens, says Cavallo, a house on Henry Street, between Carroll and President, is so terrifying some kids have to cross the street. Pull some treats from the open coffin at Scotto Funeral Home, on the corner of Court Street and 2nd Place, then head to President near Hoyt to gawk at bloodstained windows and mutilated dolls. There are so many over-the-top displays across the borough that locals formed a group called Staten Island Haunted Houses to pin them on a custom Google map. A few must-see frightfests, says co-founder Michael LaPayower, are 623 Darlington Avenue, where hired actors spook passersby, and the intersection of Heenan and Rathbun Avenues, considered the most decorated corner block on the island. Theresa Canning Zast, a consultant known locally for her handmade costumes, suggests the Jackson Heights Beautification Group Children’s Halloween Parade, which kicks off at noon on 89th Street, adding that stores along 37th Avenue open their doors to trick-or-treaters. In Park Slope, the annual parade runs along Seventh Avenue, starting at 14th Street and culminating in a “Monster Mash” sing-along near the Old Stone House on Fifth Avenue and 3rd Street. How to Spend a Night Out at the New York City Ballet How to Painlessly Move Apartments in New York How to Get the Most Out of a Baseball Game in New York See All How to Trick-or-Treat in the City Your product is saved! You’ll receive emails when your saved products go on sale. Manage preferences.