This time of year, going to Barbarella in La Jolla Shores is a frightful experience. Which shouldn’t surprise anyone, since owner Barbara Beltaire spares no expense every year in making her Italian restaurant La Jolla’s Halloween “hang.” Surrounded by countless decorations of “things that go bump in the night,” Beltaire noted her annual Halloween haunt 15 years ago “started small, with people sending me things,” then really took off. “I started getting into it after seeing the reaction of the kids and adults,” she said. “I was having so much fun that I turned it into something that I can give to the community once a year.” Beltaire has so many decorations she has to store them in a warehouse most of the year. “I have so much Halloween stuff, I can’t put it all out,” she admitted. Beltaire drew inspiration for celebrating holidays in a big way, especially Halloween, from her mother.
“She was the original influence,” said Beltaire. “She loved to have fun and make people happy. It’s really a lot of fun: more than I could have ever imagined,” she said. The amount of scary decorations is truly astounding. Beltaire estimated she’s invested as much as $100,000 over the years in spiders, bats, ghosts, ghouls, a mummy “choir” and some 50 “mechanicals” that howl, hoot and leer and are endlessly entertaining/frightening. “Some of the kids scream and are scared to death,” noted Beltaire, who added her employees have been possessed by her Halloween spirit. “They are really playful with it,” she said. “They’ve been inspired by my insanity.” Her employees dress in costume for a couple of weeks leading up to Halloween. One recently suggested they all have a cowboys and Indians theme night. Suggestions like that fit neatly into Beltaire’s business philosophy. “I tell my employees they need to be ‘daymakers’ — that’s our job,” she said. Asked if her Halloween decorating is a business draw, Beltaire responded, “That was not my intention. It is my intention to give back and do this for the community.” Beltaire doubts there’s anyone anywhere who does Halloween in a business quite the way she does.
“I don’t think anybody else is crazy enough to do this,” she said with a snicker, while adding, “It’s a pretty big burden. It’s something you have to maintain day and night, plugging in all the electrical things. That’s pretty intense.” Beltaire also dresses up Barbarella for other holidays, like Hannukah and Christmas. But Halloween, as anyone who’s visited Barbarella this time of the year can attest, is completely over the top. Beltaire said her Halloween haunting, though expensive in countless ways, is entirely worth it. “I don’t buy fancy shoes or clothes,” she said. “I don’t drive a fancy car. I just spend all my money on my restaurant — and Halloween. It’s for everybody else. I could have bigger problems, you know.” Beltaire owns upward of 100 Halloween costumes, many of which she loans to her employees to wear. She said people young and old come in to share her Halloween “happening.” “I encourage my customers to dress up, and they do,” Beltaire said. “And we’re talking all ages: people in their 80s and 90s, kids, dogs.” Other fun things happen at Barbarella, like Barbara Day, celebrated every year on Dec. 4.
“That’s St. Barbara’s Day,” pointed out Beltaire, adding, “It’s our name day.” So Beltaire hosts a special invitation-only event wherein all the Barbaras come down with a gift in hand for a wing-ding and all the proceeds are donated to a worthy charity, like Toys for Tots last year. Beltaire said Halloween, though, is truly special, because it gets her re-energized every year “putting more money into it, keeping it fresh.” She presented two Day of the Dead pillows made especially for her by one of her older patrons. “How nice is that?” asked Beltaire, adding, “Every year, she makes me something for Halloween. That is the sweetest thing ever. The customers are amazing. They keep me alive.” Barbarella is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner at 2171 Avenida de la Playa. For more information, call (858) 454-7373 or visit barbarellarestaurant.com.