After 28 consecutive years of providing festive Halloween frights to trick-or-treaters, Malibu local Dick Van Dyke has cancelled his annual Halloween display in the Serra Retreat neighborhood.
“It finally got so big and so out of hand and uncontrollable,” Van Dyke said in a telephone call with The Malibu Times on Monday. “We had a little vandalism and stuff stolen [last year], so I thought maybe it’s time to stop.”
Van Dyke said he was sad to cancel the event this year because of vandalism, but the setup, planning and take-down had also become too much work.
“It’s a couple of weeks of work ahead, then the day of I had about 20 people helping, and … once it was over we had to take it down that same night,” he said.
When asked if he was open to bringing back the display next year, Van Dyke was uncertain.
“It’s a lot of work.”
He said he first began displaying some iteration of the ghostly gala in the 1960s when he and his children lived in Encino. Last year’s Malibu “Monster Alley” display featured a variety of scary surprises, including an animatronic grim reaper, a giant skeleton and a roaming mummy.Â
Van Dyke and his wife Arlene will still be handing out candy on Halloween. He said he plans on dressing as Scarecrow from “The Wizard of Oz” and his wife will be dressed as the witch Maleficent from “Sleeping Beauty.”
“IÂ don’t know what kind of couple that makes,” he said.