The little West Hollywood Halloween strut along Santa Monica Boulevard has grown up. "What began as a primarily gay and lesbian event," says the official website, is now calling itself "one of the world's largest Halloween celebrations." With Halloween on a Saturday, organizers expect a half-million people. Officially it runs from 6 pm to 11 pm, but Santa Monica Boulevard will be closed between La Cienega and Doheny until 6 a.m. Same for Robertson Boulevard between Melrose and Santa Monica and La Cienega between Holloway Drive and Santa Monica. In truth, you won't be able to drive easily anywhere in the area. Says the website:

The West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval is the Los Angeles area's second largest event, second only to the Tournament of Roses New Year’s Day Parade. To give some perspective on the size of the event, the Los Angeles Coliseum Holds 120,000 people, only 24% of the Carnaval’s expected turn-out.

On theme: Pretty good story about ghosts in Laurel Canyon from today's "Off-Ramp" on KPCC. Listen

Photo from 2007 carnaval