Night of the Jack at King Gillette Ranch 2026

Every fall, a lawn in the Santa Monica Mountains fills up with carved pumpkins, and not a few dozen of them. Night of the Jack puts thousands of hand-carved, lit jack-o'-lanterns along a trail at King Gillette Ranch in Calabasas, and it's back for 2026 on select nights through November 1. That includes Thursday, October 1 through Sunday, October 4, so if you're hunting for family events in Los Angeles that actually feel like Halloween, this one belongs near the top of the list.

The ranch sits off Mulholland Highway, and the centerpiece is the white Spanish-style mansion that razor magnate King C. Gillette built there in the late 1920s. At night the organizers wash it in purple light and project the event's logo onto the tower. Pumpkins cover the grass in front of it in every color the LEDs can manage.

What's new this year

The 2026 season runs on a new trail layout. The official site calls it a one-mile route with more than 30 themed environments, which is a real walk, so plan on comfortable shoes and a good chunk of the evening. Along the way you'll find lantern displays and projection mapping on top of the carved pumpkins, and a lot of the jack-o'-lanterns are carved with characters kids will recognize.

Plenty of the October kids activities LA families book are daytime pumpkin patches. This one happens after dark, which is half the fun.

Jack's Carnival is the other addition, with rides and games. Food trucks park on the grounds for dinner. For the grown-ups, The Spookeasy lounge pours themed cocktails, beer and wine. It's a rare Halloween outing where parents get a drink and kids get a ride, and nobody's bored.

Hours and tickets

Tickets start at $29.35, and the event sells advance tickets only, by time slot. Per the official site, the grounds open at 5:30 PM and close at 10:00 PM. The trail entrance and the carnival open at 6:00 PM and shut promptly at 9:15 PM. Food trucks, bars and activities run 5:30 to 9:30 PM. The organizers suggest showing up about 30 minutes before your slot, since there's pre-show stuff to do before the trail.

Groups save a little: four or more tickets in one order get 10% off with code GROUP10, and the discount grows with bigger groups. It's one of the better things to do with kids LA has in October, and a group of cousins or a whole class of friends makes the ticket math easier.

Getting there

King Gillette Ranch is at 26800 Mulholland Hwy in Calabasas, a few minutes south of the 101 via Las Virgenes Road. You'll need a car. Parking passes must be bought in advance with your ticket order, and none are sold on site. The lot closes at 9:00 PM, so don't cut it close on a late slot.

It gets cold in the canyons after dark in October. Bring a jacket for the kids even if it was 85 degrees in the Valley that afternoon.

For more ideas, browse the rest of our family events or see what else is on across Los Angeles. Full dates and the ticket link are on the Night of the Jack site.