If you live on a quiet block, don’t fret; these city streets are open for your kids to load up their pumpkins.
1) 2000-2200 block of W. Bradley Place. This part of the Bell School District, just north of Addison, is well known for its raging summer block party, but its Halloween celebration is not far behind. Eyal Altman, a resident of Bradley Place, estimates giving out 600 pieces of candy over a three-hour time frame. “I challenge any block to beat that kind of turnout,” Altman says. (If you do the math, that’s about one piece of candy every 20 seconds.
2) 2600-2800 block of N. Paulina Street. Neighbors on this block of West Lincoln Park get permission to close off the street to traffic so trick-or-treaters can have a safe space to walk. “The parents like to not have to worry about cars,” says Shayna Plankar, who lives in the neighborhood. Families fill the block and according to Plankar, the house decorations are “insane.” The block is so great to trick-or-treat on that families come from the suburbs just to go to Paulina for the Halloween experience.
3) Lakewood and Balmoral avenues. It’s not just foraging for candy in the Lakewood-Balmoral neighborhood near Andersonville. Residents here are known to make their houses haunted and open to visitors. According to Jennifer Pope, proprietor of The Red Balloon, “it’s like a parade with the amount of people.”
