"It's just gotten crazy," Rick Stelmach told the San Francisco Standard last Halloween. He estimated he had given out about 3,800 pieces of candy the year before. He starts buying in early September so he doesn't have to stock up all at once, and he estimated his candy bill runs as high as $700 a year. He said it's worth every penny.
That detail explains how the Gold Coast's Halloween works. No festival committee or business district puts it on. It runs on households that plan ahead, and in October 2026 those households are once again ahead of the official calendar. Halloween falls on a Saturday this year. The skeletons are already up. Two of the citywide events that usually come along with them don't show 2026 details yet.
The Prep Started Weeks Ago
The Alameda Post's October 4 column reports bats, ghosts, skeletons and pumpkins appearing in Alameda yards this week. It also mentions a giant skeleton at the corner of Alameda Avenue and Grand Street and another figure hanging near the curve on Central Avenue. The same column remembers Phil Rabe, an Alameda resident whose elaborate yard displays took shape over several weeks every October. The writer reposted a video of his past installations in Rabe's memory.
Those few weeks of setup are normal on these blocks. The Standard's 2025 reporting put the busiest stretch around Grand and Paru streets. Longtime residents said the area has drawn trick-or-treaters for decades, and newer arrivals said neighbors warned them to buy extra candy.
The scale shows up best in the numbers from individual houses:
| Household, per 2025 reporting | Location | What they described |
|---|---|---|
| William "Wooly" Wolverton and family | San Antonio Avenue and Sherman Street | About 5,700 pieces of candy for about 2,500 kids, at $500 to $600 |
| Helen Molloy | Sherman Street | Treats packed into about 2,000 clear plastic gloves |
| Rick Stelmach | Gold Coast | About 3,800 pieces the year before, bought starting in early September |
Wolverton has lived on that corner since 1982 and started decorating around 2010, when his first grandchild was born. His son-in-law, Kirk Crenshaw, now helps with setup. Wolverton said the month of October is a treat for the children who walk past on their way to and from Franklin Elementary. "The 3-, 4-, 5-year-olds, at first they're terrified, but then they're running up, touching everything, complaining because something's not working," he told the Standard.
The designs change every year. On Grand Street, Karen Cowell decorates differently each season. In 2025 her theme was a "haunted toy store," with a freestanding door, a giant Yahtzee box and a collection of undead dolls. "We try to scare the adults more than the kids," she said. A few blocks away on Sherman Street, Molloy got tired of cemetery themes about five years earlier and switched to inflatable eyeballs. She started with four and had 20 by last year.
A Night That Grew Its Own Small Economy
Once a block draws a crowd, other people start showing up for it. According to the Standard's 2025 reporting, neighbors said many visiting families come from other places, Oakland in particular. Sausage carts and glow-stick vendors set up on corners on Halloween night, and pedicabs carry people around the neighborhood starting in early October.
East End native Melissa Nava-Leyva gave the Standard a rough timeline of how the night has grown. All dates are relative to fall 2025:
- Long-standing: The Gold Coast's large homes have always been known for elaborate decorations, and many residents hand out full-size candy bars.
- About five years earlier: Houses started playing music.
- The past three years: Hot dog vendors appeared on street corners.
- Halloween 2025: Seven children played drums, bass, keyboard and guitar at a home on the corner of San Antonio and Morton streets.
Families from other cities come in part because Alameda is flat, which makes it easier to get around with young kids, according to Nava-Leyva. The Standard spoke with a group that came from San Francisco because they found the trick-or-treating better here.
The newest neighbors pick up on it quickly. Simon Carless moved to what the Standard called one of the neighborhood's spookiest intersections in 2025. He added inflatable tentacles to the side of his house and planned "trick or trade" packs of Pokémon cards. "We feel a little pressure to step up," he said, and then wondered aloud whether he had bought one or two 15-pound bags of lollipops. Across the street, Ryan Anson was getting ready for his first Alameda Halloween. Friends had told him and his wife, "If you're not sold on the house, come by on Halloween and you will be."
What the Official Calendar Says So Far
Because the neighbors put on the Gold Coast's night themselves, it doesn't depend on whether the citywide events are on schedule. As of October 4, some of them have confirmed and some haven't.
Confirmed for 2026:
- "A Journey Through Darkness," the City of Alameda's teen-volunteer haunted house, runs October 23–25 between Daiso and TJ Maxx at South Shore Shopping Center. Hours are 2–9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2–7 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $5 for ages 4–17 and $8 for adults. Details are on the city's Haunted House page.
- Halloween Family Fest at South Shore Center is listed for October 23–30, with trick-or-treating and a haunted house.
- A Funky Halloween with The Funk Revival Orchestra is a costume dance party on October 30, 8–10 p.m., at 2513 Blanding Avenue. It's on the Downtown Alameda calendar.
Speer Family Farms' Alameda page lists a pumpkin operation at 2171 Monarch Street, with pumpkin painting, pumpkin picking and a corn maze. The page doesn't show season dates, so check hours before you go.
Not yet posted for 2026:
- Alameda Haunts. In 2025 the house-decorating contest celebrated its 20th anniversary with a seven-day Fête de Rattlin' Bones from October 24 to 31. It set a $10,000 fundraising goal for the Alameda Food Bank. Last year's events included the Lil' Goblins Parade and Boo Bake Sale at Franklin Park. As of this week the organizer's site, alamedahaunts.org, shows a "domain isn't connected" notice where event details would normally be.
- Park Street trick-or-treating. In 2025 Downtown Alameda ran it from 1 to 5 p.m. on October 31. Participating businesses posted "We Have Candy" signs, and families were pointed to activities on Alameda Avenue. The October 2026 calendar currently lists the October 30 dance but no October 31 entry. That means it hasn't been posted. It doesn't mean it's canceled.
Neither gap changes much in the streets around Grand and Paru. Both events used to be part of the week's plans for many families, though, so check back closer to the date before counting on either one.
Where the Night Happens
Alameda Post historian Dennis Evanosky describes the Gold Coast on an 1888 map as running from Weber Street to Grand Street, with Central Avenue to the north and the bay to the south. That's a historical outline. Bay fill finished in 1957 moved the shoreline well south of where the map shows it. The Halloween crowd also spills past any line on a map. In 2025 the Alameda Post featured a dragon at Willow Street and Clinton Avenue, an elaborate display on Chapin Street and Halloween cutouts on Morton Street. The Standard's busiest corners were Grand and Paru, Sherman Street, and the San Antonio Avenue intersections at Sherman and Morton.
Last year Halloween fell on a Friday, and the Standard's reporting describes that evening. This year it falls on Saturday, October 31, one week after the South Shore haunted house closes. If you're hosting, the planning steps the neighbors described still apply:
- Start buying candy early. Stelmach starts in September. If you haven't started yet, early October still leaves time.
- Plan how you'll hand out treats. Molloy fills about 2,000 gloves ahead of time. Bags, gloves or bowls all work when the line doesn't stop.
- Build the display over several weeks. Rabe's yard went up gradually in early October, and the giant skeleton at Alameda Avenue and Grand Street was already standing by October 4.
- Check the citywide events again the week before. Alameda Haunts and Park Street trick-or-treating could still post 2026 dates. The confirmed events above are set.
Wolverton has been decorating his corner at San Antonio and Sherman since around 2010, and the Standard reported that kids walking to Franklin Elementary pass it every day in October.
Sophia lives on the island too, and the Sophia Niu Group team will be out with everyone else around Grand and Paru on Halloween night. If you own a Gold Coast home and wonder how its spot on a well-known Halloween block affects its value, we'd be glad to talk it over. Request a free home valuation and neighborhood consultation, in English or Mandarin.
