The Elmwood's October Comes Down to One Saturday on College Avenue

The Elmwood has no town square, no bandstand and no closed-off street for a festival, so where does it hold Halloween? It holds it indoors, one shop at a time. On Saturday, October 24, the merchants on College Avenue open their doors for free trick-or-treating from noon to 5 p.m. That night, the movie theater in the middle of the block runs a cult classic with a live shadowcast. The strip doesn't need a separate venue for any of this because its storefronts already work as one.

That idea, that the shops themselves are the event space, ties the whole month together. It's also why the strip's next public date, set well after the candy is gone, matters to the people who walk it.

A Shopping Street Built Before the Car Took Over

Most of the Elmwood's commercial buildings went up between 1907 and 1928, according to Berkeleyside's reporting on this year's historic-district debate. City planning staff also noted that this stretch was the first area set aside for commercial use in Berkeley's 1916 zoning ordinance.

That history shows up in how the merchants program their events. Neither of the October events organized by the Elmwood Business Association uses the sidewalk or the street. Both take place inside the stores:

• The Halloween Scavenger Hunt runs all of October. You pick up a player card or print one, then find each pictured object inside the participating stores. It's free.
• Trick-or-Treating in the Elmwood is Saturday, October 24, noon to 5 p.m., in participating stores. The association says costumes are "highly encouraged." Maps of the participating shops are available at Mrs. Dalloway's, the bookstore at 2904 College Avenue, and at Your Basic Bird.

Both formats send people through the door and up to the counter, which a parade on a closed street can't do. They work on a block of small, close-together shopfronts, the kind of block College Avenue has been for about a century.

Saturday, October 24, Hour by Hour

The scavenger hunt spreads out over the month, but the 24th is the one day when the strip's merchant calendar and its theater calendar overlap. Rialto Cinemas Elmwood, at 2966 College Avenue, has two events on its own schedule that day. Here's how the day lays out:

1. 11 a.m. The Rialto screens the documentary One in a Million, followed by a Q&A with directors Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes and the film's subject, Israa.
2. Noon. Trick-or-treating opens in participating stores. A first stop at Mrs. Dalloway's for a map makes sense because it sits at the north end of the route, at 2904 College.
3. Early afternoon. Lunch is a few doors away. Baker & Commons at 2900 College serves a seasonal breakfast and lunch menu with locally roasted coffee and in-house baking. Summer Kitchen & Bake Shop at 2944 College does pizzas, sandwiches, salads and baked goods and has been on the block since 2009.
4. Mid-afternoon. Finish your scavenger hunt card while the stores are already open for trick-or-treaters. Cafenated at 2960 College, at the Ashby corner that was Espresso Roma for years, is the coffee stop at the south end of the route.
5. 5 p.m. Trick-or-treating ends.
6. Late night. The Rialto shows The Rocky Horror Picture Show with the Transylvanian Temptations shadowcast, a show meant for an older crowd than the afternoon trick-or-treaters.

Showtimes for the two Rialto events are on the theater's coming-soon page. Its listings carry no publication date, so check them closer to the day.

The Rest of the Month, on the Same Two Blocks

The Rialto's October calendar has more on it than any other single venue on the strip. Most of these programs run at midday or early evening, so they fit around weekend errands on College Avenue. The dates below come from the theater's special events listings and the Elmwood Business Association's calendar.

The Halloween morning matinee is the strip's last October event, and the one that takes a little planning. Tickets are free and only available at the box office, starting October 30. That makes Friday the day to stop by the Rialto if you want seats for Saturday morning.

November keeps going at a slower pace. The Big Screen Classics series shows Holiday on November 5 at 11 a.m., and a November 4 screening of Miss Representation: Rise Up includes a post-screening Q&A.

New Tenants in Old Rooms

The storefronts hosting this year's trick-or-treating include a few that changed hands recently, and they show how the strip turns over. New businesses move into existing rooms, one at a time.

Sweet Regalia opened July 13 at 2950 College Avenue, in the space that used to be Palm + Perkins. Founder Eileen Favretto told Berkeleyside that the Italian gift shop focuses on small-scale Italian makers and uncommon goods.

Elmwood Subs, a casual sandwich shop at 2992 College, was listed as "coming soon" in the Berkeley Eats digest on August 12 and reported open on October 7. Its exact opening day hasn't been reported.

Elements, the family-run apparel shop at 2937 College, is in a different spot. In March, owners Jason Wayman and Melissa Schappert said they were retiring after more than 30 years and looking for someone to take over the store. Wayman said the decision came from retirement, not from slow sales, and called business "buoyant." "We want to keep this business alive for the community," he said. Elements is on the association's list of participating merchants for this October. No sale has been reported.

At the north end, Nabolom Bakery & Pizzeria still posts its bakery and pizza hours at 2708 Russell Street, just off College. Last year one longtime spot near the strip closed. Rick & Ann's shut its restaurant on September 30, 2025, after 36 years, according to its own site, though Ann's Catering continues at the same location.

The Date After Halloween

The same buildings that host trick-or-treating on the 24th are back on the city's calendar in November. In June, Berkeley's Landmarks Preservation Commission voted 5–4 against designating the Elmwood's commercial strip a historic district. The application covered 34 properties, from the strip mall just north of Russell Street to the post office at Webster Street. Supporters said the designation would preserve the district's character, and critics said it would make new housing harder to build. Both sides spoke at the hearing.

That decision has been appealed. The commission's October 1 agenda puts the appeal on the City Council's tentative calendar for November 12, 2026.

A separate decision is also still open. The city's Corridors Zoning Update for College, Solano and North Shattuck avenues is heading toward final adoption hearings, with Council consideration expected later in 2026. The Planning Commission's advisory recommendation would cap rezoned College Avenue sites in the Elmwood at five stories. As of October 7, the Council hasn't voted on it. The Council's October 13 agenda doesn't list the rezoning.

Neither question will be settled by the time the trick-or-treat maps run out at Mrs. Dalloway's. The scavenger hunt cards are due by the end of the month, and the matinee tickets go out at the Rialto box office on October 30.

Over the years, the Anian & Adrienne team has watched College Avenue's storefronts change hands and keep the block's character. If you'd like to talk about how the Elmwood's commercial strip and the proposals before the Council relate to the homes around it, we'd be glad to have that conversation, no pressure, whenever it suits you. Contact Us.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.