Here’s What It’s Like to Live on “The” Halloween Street
Every city or neighborhood has that street that’s known for Halloween. It’s the street that every child goes to when they’re trick-or-treating. They’re known for their haunting decor and king-size candy bars. And, in Washington, D.C., the Halloween street is East Capitol, a wide avenue that runs from, you guessed it, the Capitol building, right though the Capitol Hill neighborhood. For roughly 10 blocks, homes craft clever scenes of witches’ hats and political graveyards (it is Washington, D.C., after all), and, on Halloween night, thousands of costumed children from all over the city descend on East Capitol to fill their bags with candy and delight in the ghoulish merriment.
But what’s it actually like to live on the Halloween street? And do most buyers know what they’re getting into before they sign on the dotted line? Here’s what two East Capitol residents have to say.
Anna Weaver, a vintage seller and designer who has lived on East Capitol since 2017, had the unique timing of closing on her house on Halloween day. “[With] the kind of Halloween street party that takes place every year, our first question to the former owners was, ‘How do you handle the crowds?’” Weaver says. But she notes that they played down the level of participation in the festivities that was expected of residents on this spooky street.
Not sure what to expect, they hung a “NO CANDY” sign in front of their house immediately after closing, and headed back to their old neighborhood to trick-or-treat with friends. But they quickly realized what they’d been missing.
“We realized all the fun we missed that first year. How could we not love living on a street that felt like a runway of some of the best costumes?” Weaver says.
Every year since, with the help of her husband and three daughters, she has filled the year with a different theme. Weaver explains, “Usually it’s a current show informing the theme. In the past we’ve done Hocus Pocus, Stranger Things, Wednesday, and Harry Potter.”
Now, as the Halloween scenes have gotten more elaborate, Weaver says she finds herself making bigger Costco runs. “As our yard decorations get bigger, so has the amount of candy we buy. We always run short, despite having filled a Costco cart full of mega bags of candy.”
But Weaver adds, they plan to have many more Halloweens in this house and, hopefully soon, they’ll get the ratio down right.
One East Capitol resident who, due to the nature of her quintessentially Washington, D.C., career, must remain anonymous, notes that she had no idea that she was buying in a prime Halloween location. She hoped to find a home in a neighborhood that was family-friendly, which Capitol Hill is, so there’s an expectation of holiday cheer and festivities, but Halloween took them by surprise.
“Our first Halloween was a total shock. Two weeks before Halloween last year, two of our neighbors pulled me aside asking if we were ready. I said, of course, and mentioned my Costco-size bag of candy inside. Their eyes got big and asked, ‘How many?’ That’s when I knew we were in for something else.”
They went in with a few neighbors on a group decor theme, which helped ease the shock of their first experience with an East Capitol Halloween, but the candy quantity is something you have to see to believe. “I just added more and more to the Amazon cart until it seemed impossible we’d go through it all. Surprise! We went through 3,000 pieces of candy in two hours.”
For her second Halloween on East Capitol, she’s going in on a top-secret group theme yet again with her neighbors, this time, with even more candy in tow. But her favorite part of it all is the sense of magic the neighborhood creates for the kids — and the unique angle that being in close proximity to the Capitol gives the celebration.
“There’s something extra special about Halloween on Capitol Hill. For every kid (or parent) dressed up as a senator or Secret Service, there was another actual Secret Service agent trailing a tiny Taylor Swift-costumed kid,” this unidentified resident adds.
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