From glam to graveyard

In the days leading up to Halloween, even a lovely home with a white picket fence with a rose-covered archway, such as the one at 818 D, suddenly includes a porch filled with ghosts and cobwebs guarded at the handrails by a fly the size of a bread-box. And watch out for the menacing black owl.

At 921 D, practically overnight, Bradley Cotton's front yard has been transformed into a graveyard with a dozen large headstones and a 9-foot-tall ghoul guarding the porch.

It's a time-honored tradition, transforming a neighborhood into a Halloween scene for the children who will come trick-or-treating on Wednesday.

It's also a big decision. Should you head over to Santa Rosa's McDonald Avenue where stately homes lend grandeur to the evening? Or take a funky art stroll in Sebastopol?

Many gravitate toward proud old avenues with wide sidewalks. Add an arch of oaks or a sprinkling of mansions and you may just experience true Halloween Magic.

In Petaluma, "Cavity Cove" at D and 12th, the brainchild of homeowners Lawrence and Stephanie Cowell, sets the neighborhood bar for creativity.

The pirate-themed Disney-esque motif transforms the Cowells' 1929 Spanish Colonial Revival mansion into a pirate's den, complete with chains, treasure chests and vultures.

One new neighbor is a bit worried.

"I just moved here in July and my daughter told me about that house," said Jane Falleta, pointing down the street. "I've heard that all along D street it's just kids, kids, kids. I guess I'll be needing a lot of candy," she said.

In a neighborhood where creativity is high and displayed in haunting architectural tableaus, it's hard to decide if living near Cowell is an inspiration or cautionary tale. It is rumored that one year the Cowells handed out 7,000 chocolate "doubloons" kept in a treasure chest on the porch.

Definitely a hard act to follow.

Bradley Cotton's Halloween theory is to think big. Considering he's a mild-mannered accounting software salesman by day and a Elvis impersonator by night, his idea of big is really big. Before he picks which one of his eight Elvis costumes to wear to hand out candy, he's got an engineering task. On the roof.

"I've got this huge inflatable spider and I'm thinking it will really scare kids if I put it up there. Or maybe in the tree," he said Saturday, looking skyward.

Spiders, witches, headstones are common along D Street, but some motifs make you wonder, where did they get this stuff? For example, where does one actually buy a giant plastic centipede like one straddling a box hedge, guarding a coffin at 817 D?

Cutting over to 117 12th Street yields original black graphics in two picture windows. One is of a menacing bird claw -- original and scary even in the daylight. Wait till they're backlit.

Around the block from Cavity Cove at "Casa Quinn" at 15 Laurel, a modest yard is stuffed with faux headstones -- "Here Lies Jed," "He Be Dead" -- and pumpkins on the stairs lead the way to a creepy skeleton butler guarding the door. Two more skeletons rest on a porch settee.

For two young mothers pushing strollers along D Street, the fun part leading up to Halloween is deciding which neighborhood to hit on the big night.

Michelle Hakeem and Gina Brians, best friends since Casa Grande High School, have different opinions. For Brians, the Westridge area is a fun neighborhood for trick-or-treating. But Hakeem is torn. She says D Street might be fun, too.

"I love scary. I love creative. I like it when I can see that people put a lot of effort into it," she said.

You can reach Staff Writer Rayne Wolfe at 521-5240 or rayne.wolfe@pressdemocrat.com.