Where San Diego's Halloween skeletons go to rest
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Skelly needs somewhere to lay his head. Photo: Claire Trageser/Axios
When the ghosts are done ghosting, the vampires are done vamping and the haunted houses are done haunting, all of those Halloween decorations need someplace to lay their (dead) heads.
The big picture: For many San Diegans with big Halloween love but small houses and zero storage space, the eternal resting place for their giant skeletons, scarecrows and zombie dogs is a rented storage cube.
How it works: You rent a wooden cube — typically 8 x 5 x 7 feet — and a storage company drives it to your house.
- You pack your haunted babies, Count Mickulas, Chucky dolls and pumpkin heads into the cube and the storage company picks it up.
- Some San Diegans pay $1,000 annually for decoration storage.
Between the lines: The span between Halloween and Christmas decorations means a very busy time for local companies like Big Box Storage in Miramar.
- On a recent afternoon, their lot was bustling with trucks coming in, forklifts unloading cubes and stacking them in a warehouse reminiscent of the final scene of "Raiders of the Lost Ark."
- Big Box entombs more than 6,000 cubes.
- Office manager Jeremy Williams told Axios he's not sure how many of those coffin-like containers have Halloween decorations, but said some customers use several boxes just for the spooky season.
- "They'll have two boxes for Halloween, two boxes for Christmas, and throughout the year we'll switch them out," he said.
Follow the money: Cubes rent for $100 a month, or $79 a month if you rent for a full year.
- That rental cost is on top of already pricey Halloween decorations.
What they're saying: Those costs don't seem to scare many customers, Williams said.
- "There are hardcore folks when it comes to those decorations," he said. "It's a year-round traditional thing that they do, and they're very serious about it."
Case in point: One customer was letting his Halloween skeletons, witches and monsters spend the year sleeping in his guest bedroom, Williams recalled.
- "But that also means that he didn't have a guest bedroom for all those years," he said. "So he called us up."
By the numbers: San Diego has lots of self-storage companies, most in the outskirts of the city around Miramar, next to highways.
- The vampires and werewolves don't seem to mind the traffic noise or long commute.
Yes, but: Plenty of people store their ghosts and goblins at home.
- Andy Cameron, the magician behind the Maryland Street Halloween extravaganza, keeps most of his supplies in his garage.