Pumpkin Carving Near Me in Calabasas: King Gillette Ranch

When Westside and San Fernando Valley locals search for pumpkin carving near me in October and want Hollywood-caliber artistry set inside a wild mountain canyon, the destination that tops every list is Nights of the Jack at King Gillette Ranch, located at 26800 West Mulholland Highway in Calabasas. Running from late September through November 1 across the 588-acre Santa Monica Mountains park, the experience combines a newly reimagined one-mile trail of thousands of hand-carved, illuminated jack-o'-lanterns with live master pumpkin sculpting, the Spookeasy cocktail bar, and a fleet of LA's best gourmet food trucks.

For anyone obsessed with how raw gourds are transformed into detailed portraits and monsters, the Live Carver Station near the main courtyard lawn is worth half the evening on its own. Each night, professional Hollywood prop makers and competitive pumpkin sculptors sit under work lights with fifty-to-one-hundred-pound California squashes, using ceramic loop tools, wood chisels, and paring blades to carve hyper-realistic celebrity faces, snarling werewolves, and intricate filigree lanterns while chatting with guests about rind thickness and interior lighting.

Out on the one-mile walking trail, thousands of hand-cut craft and real pumpkins are arranged into towering multi-gourd vignettes spanning prehistoric dinosaurs, underwater coral reefs, Dia de los Muertos catrinas, classic movie icons, and glowing tunnels arched under century-old valley oaks. New for the 2026 season, Jack's Carnival adds vintage-style midway games, kid-friendly rides, interactive face painting, and custom souvenir pumpkin stations around the central meadow before and after you walk the loop.

The culinary and cocktail lineup on the ranch lawn feels like a curated Westside block party rather than a standard fairground concession stand. At the 21-and-over Spookeasy Bar, bartenders shake up smoky mezcal blood-orange margaritas rimmed with black lava salt for $18, spiced bourbon apple cider mules for $17, and blackberry-rosemary gin potions served over dry-ice mist for $19, alongside local Malibu wine pours and California craft IPAs for $13.

Parked in a semicircle around the hay-bale picnic tables, rotating Los Angeles food trucks dish out everything from wood-fired artisanal pepperoni and hot-honey pizzas from Triple Beam or Prince Street pop-ups for $18 to crispy Nashville hot chicken sliders for $16, Birria quesatacos with consommé for $17, and warm Belgian waffle sundaes or gourmet churros drizzled with dulce de leche for $11. Hot apple cider and Mexican hot cocoa flow at the coffee trucks for $6.50.

Nights of the Jack opens on select nights from late September through November 1 from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM, with timed entry windows every thirty minutes. Because canyon traffic along Las Virgenes Road backs up around 7:00 PM on Fridays and Saturdays, the veteran move is to book the 6:00 PM or 6:30 PM entry slot: you can order food-truck dinner and a Spookeasy cocktail while twilight settles over the Stokes Ridge cliffs, watch the live pumpkin carver with zero crowd, and step onto the trail at 7:00 PM as full darkness falls.

Tickets must be purchased online in advance, as no walk-up tickets or unpaid parking passes are sold at the Mulholland Highway gate. General admission ranges from $34.50 on weeknights to $57 on peak October Saturdays for adults and children ages 3 and up, while children 2 and under enter free; VIP Anytime Access tickets run up to $83 and include flexible arrival times plus express entry lanes.

The architectural history of King Gillette Ranch gives the entire evening a cinematic Southern California backdrop. Designed in the late 1920s by legendary architect Wallace Neff—the master of California Spanish Colonial Revival style—for safety-razor magnate King Camp Gillette, the estate features whitewashed stucco mansion walls, red clay tile roofs, arched colonnades, and a sweeping eucalyptus-lined allee framed by the jagged volcanic peaks of the Santa Monica Mountains.

After passing from the Gillette family to film director Clarence Brown and later serving as a Claretian seminary and campus for Thomas Aquinas College, the 588-acre ranch was acquired by public park agencies in 2005 to serve as the interagency visitor center for the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. Hosting Nights of the Jack here blends Hollywood scenic artistry with one of the most ecologically rich valleys in Los Angeles County.

If you head out to Calabasas in the late afternoon before your timed slot, stop by the historic Leonis Adobe Museum at 23537 Calabasas Road in Old Town Calabasas to walk an authentic 1844 Monterey-style ranch estate, or grab an early pre-trail dinner right across the street at The Saddle Peak Lodge at 419 Cold Canyon Road, a historic hunting lodge serving grilled elk tenderloin and autumn squash bisque ($22 to $58) beside crackling stone fireplaces.

Keep canyon logistics in mind before you leave the city. Temperatures in the Malibu Creek basin drop fifteen to twenty degrees faster than in Santa Monica or West Hollywood after sunset, so bring a warm jacket and wear flat, closed-toe walking shoes for the compacted dirt and paved ranch paths. The trail is wheelchair and stroller accessible, all bars, food trucks, and gift booths are 100 percent cashless, and dogs are only permitted on designated Dog-Friendly Nights announced on the calendar.

Nights of the Jack at King Gillette Ranch is unbeatable for Westside couples wanting a cocktail-in-hand Halloween date under the stars, friend groups chasing LA's best food trucks and live gourd sculpting, and families looking for an energetic autumn carnival in the mountains. Use the Karpo APP to check US-101 and Las Virgenes traffic windows, compare weeknight vs. weekend slots, and plan your canyon route.