Tea, Trickery and Golden Skeletons: The Culver Hotel Goes Gothic for Halloween

On Halloween, for one day only, Saturday, October 31, the Culver Hotel's signature Afternoon Tea trades its lace for cobwebs as Spooky Tea, served from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Grand Lobby and out on the garden patio.

Finger sandwiches take on a festive turn, sweet bites and seasonal treats are included and each table receives a miniature cauldron brimming with candy and a few surprises tucked beneath. The soundtrack does the rest, expect "Monster Mash," "Thriller" and other Halloween standards drifting across the lobby.

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It is a fitting scene for a building with Hollywood in its bones. The six-story Flatiron-style hotel has stood at the heart of downtown Culver City for a century, a short walk from the studio lots where some of cinema's most famous monsters were brought to life. Reservations are required.

Spooky Tea is the finale, but the hotel has been setting the stage all month. Throughout October, gilded skeletons clamber up the building's exterior, giving passersby on Culver Boulevard a reason to stop and look up. Inside, the theme continues with oversized spiders and sheets of cobwebs in the garden patio, and spectral figures lurking in the lobby and dining rooms.

New this year, the hotel has joined forces with Mr. Bones Pumpkin Patch. The patch's own pumpkin designers have installed a whimsical gourd display at the hotel entrance. On weekends, visitors to the patch can take part in a scavenger hunt that unlocks perks back at the hotel including a $10 cocktail voucher, or a free kids' meal with the purchase of an adult entrée.

All month, the Grand Lobby doubles as a horror revival house, screening the classics: Dracula, Frankenstein, Creature from the Black Lagoon and Hitchcock's The Birds during dinner.

On Sunday, October 25, from 4 to 6 p.m., the hotel takes part in Downtown Culver City's annual Hip & Historic Halloween with its Haunted Trick-or-Treat. Costumed staff hand out candy and Halloween surprises in the Crystal Dining Room, while grown-ups can sip a seasonal cocktail and wander the decorated halls.

The Culver Hotel is located at 9400 Culver Boulevard, Culver City, California. For reservations, go to https://www.culverhotel.com/.