Santa Monica plans to close streets in six neighborhood areas to car traffic for Halloween trick-or-treating Saturday, Oct. 31.

The city's Public Works Mobility team and the Santa Monica Police Department are coordinating the closures. Oliver Chi, writing in the City Manager's newsletter republished by Santa Monica Next, said the city is planning more extensive closures than in past years because Halloween falls on a Saturday.

The planned closures include:

  • Yale Street between Washington Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard
  • Cedar Street between 10th and 11th Streets
  • 24th Street between Pico Boulevard and Pearl Street
  • 21st Street between Pico Boulevard and Ocean Park Boulevard
  • Pearl Street between 20th and 25th Streets
  • Georgina Avenue at 16th Street

The Pearl Street closure connects the closures on 21st and 24th streets. Drivers will still be able to cross Pearl on 23rd Street and Cloverfield Boulevard, where traffic control measures will be in place.

The Georgina Avenue and 16th Street area hosts an annual Halloween display that draws thousands of visitors. Police will close sections of streets there for public safety, as they have in past years.

Block party permits as a workaround

The city is using its existing block party permit process to authorize the closures after several neighborhoods applied for permits on Halloween night. The Police Department is also working to close additional streets where crowd size and trick-or-treating patterns call for it.

Chi called the approach "a workable stopgap" but said block party permits are designed for a single block, while trick-or-treating sprawls across multiple blocks in every direction. The city ended up stitching together individual permits and closing Pearl Street on top of them to connect the pieces, he wrote.

New program planned for next year

The city's Mobility and Police teams plan to develop a dedicated trick-or-treat street closure program for next year. The new program would be built around neighborhood areas rather than single blocks, with a simple resident application, clear criteria for where closures make sense and a coordinated plan for barricades and traffic control.

The city said it will share more details as the program takes shape.

The newsletter urged drivers in Santa Monica on Saturday evening to plan alternate routes around closed blocks and watch for children in costumes.

As we reported Oct. 27, Santa Monica Halloween events run through Oct. 31, including trick-or-treating on Montana Avenue from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.