It may not be the scariest haunt around, but this new walk-through experience in Santa Monica, based on a mad clown and a freaky fortune teller, hits all the right frights for those who want to experience an old school funhouse.
Inspired by the Santa Monica amusement park’s history, the new Funhouse is an all-ages walk-through attraction that opened this month at the pier’s Pacific Park venue.
“We wanted to bring a new full-time attraction to the pier. We spent sometime developing it and I like a good story. We mixed in a little bit of lore with some history to create a unique walk-through funhouse yet spooky attraction that will appeal to multiple ages,” said Charity Hill, co-founder and executive producer of Epic Entertainment Group, which created the immersive 2,800-square foot attraction that runs indefinitely through 2026.
Her company previously produced the Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor Halloween event, which used the ship’s haunted history to inspire its many mazes. Epic followed that same plan when creating the Funhouse, since it was inspired by the original Toonerville Funhouse that was located at the Santa Monica Pier in the 1920s.
“It was the funhouse of its era and I used a little of that in my creation and design and I wanted to bring forth an old concept that everyone understands as a funhouse, but bring it to the 21st Century,” Hill said.
The Funhouse, which is located near the park’s roller coaster, follows Sprinkles the Clown and the Fortune Teller who are in cahoots as they lure visitors deep into the maze and toward their possibly chilling end in the ice cream freezer. There are no live actors in the attraction but Sprinkles and the Fortune Teller will make personal appearances on select dates.
Into the Funhouse
People will first enter through what appears to be an empty storage area where they’ll hear loud roars and a wild animal trapped in a box. The first room will be fun for the kids since it’s a circus-inspired bounce house of sorts that leads to the giant clown face with its mouth wide open. If you dare to go further you will be taken through a squeeze room and you will now be deep inside the world of a mad clown.
The various other rooms include an epic light tunnel, a room with fog and lighting effects that make it looks as if you’re walking through a spooky river and a really confusing mirror room where you will be lost for quite a while, since it is a pretty complex design.
There’s a ballroom where you may run into the clown, or at least a projection that suddenly pops out, and then there’s the best part of the maze, as you’re led into Sprinkles’ ice cream truck, which uses projections to show it driving out of control on the pier.
Go ahead and hop behind the wheel, but be careful because the truck may go more out of control than you imagined.
Funhouse at Pacific Park
When: Through 2026
Where: Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier, 380 Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Tickets: $15
Information: pacpark.com