Halloween Lands on a Saturday in Old Town Monrovia, and the Town's Victorian Side Is Running the Week

Just off Myrtle Avenue, at 512 S. Ivy Ave., there's a red and white Victorian farmhouse that used to hold hundreds of oil lamps. It also held five pump organs, two of which survived the restoration, and dining room shelves stacked to the ceiling with 19th-century etched glass. All of that belonged to Steve Baker, Monrovia's longtime city historian, who was known around town for his top hat.

This summer the house reopened as the Arthur Blair Historic Inn. On Saturday afternoon, the Old Town trick-or-treat crowd will be a short walk from its porch. The people keeping Monrovia's 1880s history alive also built much of this year's Halloween week, and the trail runs from Live Oak Cemetery to Library Park.

The house on Ivy Avenue took three years and one preservation group

The Los Angeles Times told the story in August. Joshua Cain and André Reyes, preservationists who had restored their own 1887 Monrovia home, met Baker in 2021 when he walked through their open front door uninvited. The Times reports that Reyes found him standing in the living room in his signature top hat and asked:

"Excuse me, who are you and how can I help you?"

According to the same report, the three spent the rest of that morning comparing notes on restoration techniques. They grew closer as fellow members of the Monrovia Historic Preservation Group. After Baker died in 2022, Cain, Reyes and Cain's business partner Jeff Godbold bought his 1887 home and the Blair House next door. Baker's great-grandfather Bradford Arthur bought the main house in 1888. The Blair House is a more ornate Eastlake Queen Anne Victorian, built the same year by architect Luther Reed Blair.

The finished inn spreads across three homes with 11 guest rooms. It has a room full of Victorian books for board games and a row of robin's-egg-blue Viribus bikes for riding to coffee shops and parks around town. The City of Monrovia's July announcement credited the three-year restoration to the co-owners working with the town's old-house preservation community. The inn opened to the public with a charity soiree on July 4.

On Oct. 24, the same group led people through Live Oak Cemetery

The preservation group that pulled Baker's house back into use also sponsors Monrovia's October cemetery walk. The Monrovia Historic Preservation Group and the Monrovia Historical Society ran the Live Oak Cemetery tour on Saturday, Oct. 24, at 3:30 p.m. It lasted about an hour and a half, with tickets at $25 and room for just 25 people. The Historical Society received the proceeds.

The City's Oct. 2 update called it a return for anyone who had missed the tour "the past two years," which makes 2026 at least the third year in a row. That update described the tour as a look at Monrovia's early families and the roles they played in founding the town. The Oct. 16 update was more candid about the Halloween appeal. It promised stories of early and prominent residents along with "the stories behind some of the more tragic deaths in early Monrovia."

If you missed the tour, the Monrovia Historical Museum keeps steady hours. It's open every Thursday and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. at 742 E. Lemon Ave. in Recreation Park. That puts it open on Thursday, Oct. 29, and again on Sunday, Nov. 1, the day after Halloween.

Saturday on Myrtle, by the clock

Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, so the City's free Halloween Spooktacular and Trick-or-Treat Bash runs as a weekend afternoon. Trick-or-treating in Old Town is sponsored by the Monrovia Old Town Advisory Board, so the candy comes from the merchants along the street. The afternoon also has Library activities, activity booths and a photo booth.

The costume contest is free and takes place in Library Park. Categories cover youth, adults, groups, families and dogs, and the City's notice specifically welcomes four-legged family members.

Parking is the detail that decides your afternoon. The mid-block lot on the 100 block of West Lime stays open for merchants and patrons even while that block is closed to through traffic. Full details are on the City's event calendar page.

Library Park is also where Make a Difference Day started on Saturday, Oct. 24. That was the 36th annual edition, hosted by the Volunteer Center of San Gabriel Valley, with volunteers fanning out to help seniors and low-income homeowners with repairs and yard cleanups. The same patch of grass on Myrtle hosted a home-repair morning one Saturday and the town's costume contest the next.

Old Town's buildings did the work all week

The week before Halloween put Old Town's storefronts and streets to use in ways a normal week doesn't.

From Oct. 23 through 25, Painted Promises returned to 306 S. Myrtle Ave. Local artist Ryan Burch created it, and Community Reimagined presented it as a fundraiser that fills the interior of a vacant building with urban art. The City reported that last year's edition raised more than $18,000 for local artists and school communities affected by the Eaton Fire. This year's proceeds go to The Creative Compound, a free monthly gathering for local artists hosted at KGEM Television with the Monrovia Association of Fine Arts.

On Sunday, Oct. 25, the Kiwanis Club of Monrovia held its 11th annual A Taste of Old Town. Merchants and restaurants lined Myrtle Avenue from 5 to 8 p.m. with live music. Tickets were $80, 21 and over, and sold in advance only, with all profits going to youth benefits in Monrovia.

Then on Saturday, the Old Town Advisory Board hands out candy on the same blocks. Over nine days, an empty building became a gallery, Myrtle became a tasting room, and then it closes to cars for trick-or-treaters.

Friday night comes first

The night before Halloween, the Monrovia Street Fair & Market goes ahead as usual. The City's Oct. 16 update lists it as a Friday event starting at 5 p.m., and the organizer schedules live music every Friday. It's at 700 S. Myrtle Ave. at Chestnut, the south end of Old Town.

Check the closing time before you plan a late dinner around it. The market's own site lists fall hours as 5 to 9 p.m. and treats a 10 p.m. close as a spring and summer extension. California's certified farmers market roster, dated Oct. 1, 2026, shows Fridays from 5 to 10 p.m. year-round.

Where Halloween weekend ends up after 7 p.m.

Once Myrtle reopens Saturday evening, the short walk back to Ivy Avenue is the obvious nightcap. The Los Angeles Times reported in August that the inn's Arthur House parlor was already open to the public for drinks and dining. Its on-site restaurant, Viola's Bar & Bistro, was described as opening soon. An April preview from What Now Los Angeles described Viola's as a French bistro with Southern influence. The plan was brunch and evening small plates with beer, wine and cocktails. Hours have moved since summer, so check the Arthur Blair Historic Inn site before Saturday.

Two newer names are close by if you'd rather stay on the main drag:

1. Pie Life Pizza, 338 S. Myrtle Ave., held a Monrovia Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting on June 24, 2026. It sits a few doors from Library Park.
2. Sourdough & Co., 144 W. Foothill Blvd., Suite E2, had its Chamber ribbon-cutting on July 13, 2026. It's a north-of-Old-Town stop for Sunday morning.

Two weeks later, the museum grounds turn to planting

After Halloween, the museum on Lemon Avenue hosts the next big public draw. On Saturday, Nov. 14, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., the San Gabriel Mountains Chapter of the California Native Plant Society holds its California Native Plant Sale at the Monrovia Historical Museum, 742 E. Lemon Ave. You'll find native seeds, art and a native flower guide, plus local gardening experts on hand for advice. The City will give away 200 free native trees to attendees while supplies last.

The free trees go to attendees on the museum grounds while supplies last, so an early arrival on Nov. 14 is the surest way to take one home.

Old houses like the ones on South Ivy Avenue need a certain kind of patience, and the families who own them in Monrovia tend to know their home's story as well as Steve Baker did. If you own a historic home in Old Town and are wondering what comes next for it, whether that's a sale, a lease or passing it on through an estate, Art Del Rey Realty has been working with San Gabriel Valley homeowners for decades. Pamela is glad to talk it through with you, no pressure at all. Let's Connect.