A giant creature display on Avon Hill, a last Halloween
With just a few days to go before Halloween, I’m trying to get this edition to your inbox in time for trick-or-treating.
On Halloween, many Cambridge neighborhoods turn into wonderlands. Porches fill up with pumpkins, skeletons, inflatables, and all sorts of creative decorations, and groups of costumed kids knock on doors.
If you’re still figuring out where to go, I’ve created a map of some especially fun streets.
Still need a costume? The best costume maker I know, a local parent, recommended two secondhand shops:
Garment District near Kendall Square. Vintage clothes and accessories, from decades looks to pirates and superheroes.
Goodwill. Davis Sq. and Central Sq. Inexpensive, and when I stopped by a few days ago, there were several racks of costumes.
City Halloween events, Oct. 28–30. Highlights: a costume party at City Hall (Thur., 3–5pm) and a party at the O’Connell Library (Fri., 4pm). Fire truck fans: most fire houses open Fri., 4–6pm, with candy and trucks up close. Here’s the full list.
Saturday night
Our street doesn’t usually go all out with decorations, but that’s where our night begins (and sometimes ends): knocking on neighbors’ doors, our kid showing off the costume, the first few pieces of candy landing in the bag.
There’s something sweet about ringing a stranger’s doorbell and knowing you’re welcome.
Then there are the streets that really go all out. Across the city, a handful of blocks put up spectacular decorations and draw big, happy crowds. Some are closed to traffic for the night.
Find the one closest to you on the map:
Springfield St., Inman Square. Right on the Cambridge–Somerville line, with high energy that spills onto the streets around it. Inman Square is all in.
Otis St., East Cambridge. Dense blocks and lots of families, so plenty of doors in a short walk.
Pearl St. & Hastings Sq., Cambridgeport. The whole neighborhood comes out. Start at Hastings Sq., then wander down Pearl St. and the streets around it.
Standish St., West Cambridge. A long, wide street, and people fill it up. We went there last Halloween and ran into many friends.
Dudley St., North Cambridge. With decades of history behind it, it has a new theme every year.
Crescent St., between Porter & Harvard. A short, curvy street of themed houses that feels like another world. Between 7 and 8pm, the School of Honk marches by.
Pearl Street. 10/31/2025
While working on this edition, I was thinking about you, the people this letter is about to reach. Some of you come from other parts of the US where Halloween may look a little different. Others come from places around the globe where the holiday is more laid-back, or where it doesn’t happen.
I’ve learned that outside the US and Canada, Ireland’s Halloween parades are on a whole different scale. It makes sense: Halloween started in the Celtic lands more than 2,000 years ago.
The holiday is also catching on in parts of Europe and South America, and in big cities in Asia and Africa. Two years ago, we lived in a high-rise in Beijing. On Halloween, kids crammed into the elevators, riding between the 1st and 28th floors to trick-or-treat.
Happy haunting.
Ying and five other friends,
Oct. 27, 2026
[email protected].
P.S. The clocks go back early Sunday morning, right after Halloween, so you get an extra hour of sleep after all that candy.
