The black skull-studded fireplace casts a warm glow on a wall lined with haunted vintage dolls, serial killer memorabilia and signed movie props in the lounge of The Avenue Bar.
Patrons can take a seat next to a rack of torture devices or an evil Annabelle doll. They rest their drinks on either a coffin or embalming station, both of which have been repurposed from funeral homes to create authentically morbid tables.
Oakland, Calif. isn’t a town necessarily known for its commitment to the macabre, but The Avenue bar owners, Tana and Curtis Howard have made a name for themselves among the Bay Area’s Halloween scene.
Stalactites, metal chains, and tattered fabric – all DIY decor created by the married duo themselves – line the ceiling, while the walls are covered inch by inch in vintage records, skateboards and classic horror movie posters.
“I think we’re a certain ilk, we horror people. It’s just part of me,” Tana said. “I mean, I haunted every single one of those dolls on our own dining room table.”
Despite its unwavering commitment to the theme, The Avenue didn’t begin as a Halloween-themed bar. Curtis, an Oakland native and career-long bartender, purchased the property back in 2007, envisioning it to be another popular dive bar, but not one necessarily with a theme.
Though skeletons and skateboards were omnipresent, it wasn’t until Tana came on board in 2014 that the Halloween theme was made permanent.
“We started planning for Halloween together, which was a new development, because normally Curt would be along doing it, but then I came along and now we do it together,” Tana said.
Before 2014, the Howards made an effort to go all out for the holiday, but once November rolled around, it came time to painstakingly put away all the decorations they spent considerable time and energy installing. After a few years of that routine, Tana began encouraging Curtis to leave the decorations up.
Though these aren’t some run of the mill Halloween decorations. The Howards begin planning in August – and not a day earlier, according to their pact – with each year having a theme. One year was a haunted doll island theme, another was haunted clowns, and last year they created a sinister alien abduction scene.
And the bulk of the work is done by the Howards themselves.
“We will get up at 5 a.m. and try to get done before someone opens around 2 p.m. We do that for four or five days every year,” Curtis said.
The Avenue is always pulling in new patrons from Oakland and beyond, some who have come to enjoy the haunts, and many others who just stop in for a cold beer and a conversation with the bartender.
In addition to the killer decor, the bar also hosts events like dance performances, drag shows and of course, horror movie nights.
At its core, the Avenue is an Oakland bar, run by locals, frequented by locals, and kept afloat by the Temescal community that banded together to make sure cherished spots like The Avenue didn’t go under during the pandemic.
“Even though it didn’t start out like this, what I loved about it was that it had so much heart” Tana said. “Curt really wanted to make this place a community hub, and I could feel that. It truly is his heart in here.”
The Gory Details:
The Avenue Bar
4822 Telegraph Ave.
Oakland, Calif. 94609
(510) 654-1423
Theavenuebar.net
