Long Beach does not leave Halloween to chance. For the seventh year, the city has published its Halloween Decorated House Digital Map, a resident-built route of the most decorated homes and storefronts in town, and this year's edition carries 31 addresses. The map went live October 23 and runs through Halloween night, Saturday, October 31.

How the map works

The mechanics are simple and have not changed much since the city started the tradition. Residents and businesses that decorate register their addresses with the city, which collected entries from October 6 through a 4 p.m. deadline on October 19. The city then plots every entry on a digital map, posts it on its website and social channels, and leaves the touring to you.

Alongside the interactive map, the city publishes printable lists, one in color and one in black and white, for anyone who would rather navigate from a sheet of paper on the passenger seat. Tours are self-guided: pick a starting point, drive or walk the route at dusk, and let the displays do the rest.

No contest, no judges

One detail separates Long Beach's approach from the decorating contests many towns run: there are no winners. The city states plainly that the map exists for fun and entertainment, with no prizes announced and no judging. A house with a single carved pumpkin and a house wrapped in cobwebs, animatronics and a fog machine sit on the same list.

The 31 stops on this year's map are there because somebody wanted neighbors to come look, not because a ribbon was at stake.

Five nights left

The map covers the city's neighborhoods from the West End to the East End, and with the viewing window running through Saturday night, the timing works for a school-night cruise past a handful of houses or a full route on Halloween itself, when the displays share the sidewalks with trick-or-treaters.

The map and both printable lists are posted at longbeachny.gov/halloween, and the city also shares them on its website and social media channels. Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, which means the busiest night on those blocks will also be the last one the map is live.

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