This fall's Toluca Lake calendar runs from a storytelling night on October 5 to a holiday concert on December 8. Most of the events on it are new. The Community Howl on October 29 is in its third year. The Story Slam on October 5 is in its second. This summer brought the neighborhood's first Pride Festival and a sold-out homeowners association rooftop party. Small businesses and the Toluca Lake Homeowners Association started each of them, and in a short time.
The older traditions are still on the schedule, so this fall has both. The difference is where the new events happen. Since January 28, a growing share of them has gathered at one corner, Riverside Drive and Mariota Avenue.
The two dates that have been fixed for years
Start with the baseline. The 14th Annual Turkey Trot & Fall Festival is set for Sunday, November 22, 2026, at 4444 Riverside Drive. Fourteen editions puts its start well over a decade ago. Toluca Lake Magazine's listing gives the hours as 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., with a 5K, a 1K kids' run and activities after the race. Proceeds go to East Valley PALS and LAFD Station 86.
The other fixed point is the Toluca Lake Chamber of Commerce's Holiday Open House, listed for Friday, December 4, from 5 to 9 p.m. Toluca Lake Magazine's coverage of the last one opened by saying it wouldn't be December in Toluca Lake without it. The Chamber's 2023 edition doubled as a 100-year celebration.
Both events are run by established organizations, the homeowners association and the Chamber, and both have a known place on the calendar. That's the backdrop the newer events are filling in around.
Three events that didn't exist three years ago
The Community Howl shows how fast a new event can become a fixture. Toluca Lake Magazine covered the first one on October 30, 2024: a costumed community dog walk hosted by Mutt & Mingle and sponsored by the Chamber and local businesses, with prizes, giveaways and keepsake photos. The second edition in 2025 added a pet parade down Riverside Drive, vendors and a costume contest with prizes.
The third is set for Thursday, October 29, 2026, at 5 p.m. It's free, with a costumed group dog walk along Riverside Drive, a best-dressed dog contest, giveaways and photos. The sponsors listed are local businesses: Raising Cane's, Logix Federal Credit Union, Priscilla's Coffee, Good Dog Training and the Toluca Lake Chamber, among others. One third-party event listing puts the start at Logix Federal Credit Union, 10064 Riverside Drive. The Chamber notes that event dates and times can change, so check before you leash up.
The Story Slam comes from the homeowners association. TLHOA describes the first one as a sold-out debut and is bringing it back for a second round on Monday, October 5, on Forman's back patio. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 7:30. Residents will tell true personal stories, and a local musician will perform. TLHOA says patio space is limited and recommends arriving early.
The newest addition is the Toluca Lake Pride Festival, held for the first time on June 28. NoHo Gym owners John Paul Batista and Leonardo Foti came up with the idea after attending the Dodgers' Pride Night on June 5, and they had less than a month to pull it together. More than 2,500 people came. The festival raised over $6,000 for Brave Trails, a national nonprofit that runs leadership programs for LGBTQ+ youth. On stage, sponsors including Red Maple's Brian Veskosky said they hoped it would become a lasting Toluca Lake tradition.
All three follow the same pattern. A local business or the homeowners association has an idea, recruits neighbors and nearby businesses, and holds the event on or next to Riverside Drive. The Pride Festival's supporters included Handel's Ice Cream, Prosecco, Red Maple, Roast Per Minute Coffee and Gelson's.
Why the Gelson's corner keeps showing up
The Pride Festival was a block party on Riverside Drive and Mariota Avenue, centered on Gelson's. The corner had been open for barely five months at that point.
Gelson's opened its market at 10067 Riverside Drive on Wednesday, January 28. The grocer's story began 75 years ago in nearby Burbank, where the first Gelson's opened. The opening was itself a block party. The Chamber led the ribbon-cutting, students from Toluca Lake Elementary School performed, and Gelson's gave $2,500 each to the Garry Marshall Theatre, Pawsitive Beginnings LA and Toluca Lake Elementary.
The market is the ground floor of The Ambrea, a four-story mixed-use building by Bar Development, designed by OfficeUntitled. Planning-era reporting from 2024 described 37 apartments above a market of about 10,000 square feet, plus a rooftop deck.
That roof drew a crowd this summer. On June 18, TLHOA's "Hello, Summer" party, hosted by Gelson's atop The Ambrea, sold out. Toluca Lake Magazine reported that most attendees had never seen the neighborhood from that height before. The evening was meant as an incentive to join or renew TLHOA membership, and it included chef demos, tastings and live music.
So in one year, the Riverside and Mariota corner has hosted a grand-opening block party, the first Pride Festival and a sold-out rooftop membership event. That's three of the year's newest gatherings at one address, which helps explain why the newer part of the calendar keeps returning to this part of Riverside Drive. If the Howl starts at Logix as the third-party listing says, October 29 will put a fourth event in the same 10000 block.
The theater fills the October weeknights
The new outdoor events land on a handful of dates. The Garry Marshall Theatre at 4252 Riverside Drive fills in the weeks between them, and this October its schedule is built around Halloween.
On Saturday and Sunday, October 17 and 18, the theater's youth education program runs "Hocus Pocus: Scene & Scream," a two-day creative project. What the participants make will become a Halloween display on the theater's exterior. Anyone walking Riverside Drive in the second half of October will be able to see it.
The theater's Halloween page lists Thursday through Saturday, October 22 to 24 at 8 p.m., for Halloween Squares, a Halloween game show hosted by Jonathan Mangum, with Dracula in the center square and a live band. Each night, nine "scare-lebrities" pick contestants from the audience based on the best costume. The theater lists the ages as "8 to Zombie." That's five days before the Howl, so the same costume could do double duty.
The theater's December booking is a one-night "Irish Christmas in America" concert on Tuesday, December 8, at 8 p.m. It falls four days after the Holiday Open House, which keeps Riverside Drive busy into the second week of December.
The full sequence, October through December
Here is every confirmed date in order:
- Monday, October 5: TLHOA's 2nd Annual Story Slam on Forman's back patio. Doors 7 p.m., show 7:30 p.m.
- Saturday and Sunday, October 17 and 18: "Hocus Pocus: Scene & Scream" at the Garry Marshall Theatre. The display it produces goes up on the theater's exterior.
- Thursday through Saturday, October 22 to 24: Halloween Squares at the Garry Marshall Theatre, 8 p.m. each night.
- Thursday, October 29: 3rd Annual Community Howl, 5 p.m., free, along Riverside Drive.
- Sunday, November 22: 14th Annual Turkey Trot & Fall Festival, 4444 Riverside Drive, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Friday, December 4: Toluca Lake Holiday Open House, 5 to 9 p.m.
- Tuesday, December 8: Irish Christmas in America at the Garry Marshall Theatre, 8 p.m.
The calendar also has a smaller recurring item. The Chamber's community cleanup usually meets at 7:45 a.m. on the last Saturday of each month at Priscilla's Coffeehouse, and runs about 90 minutes. The Chamber publishes the specific dates on its schedule, so confirm there before going.
Where to stop between dates
Two places on Riverside Drive have appeared on recent business lists. Akami Sushi took over the former Sushi Ran space at 10658 Riverside Drive. A February report said the restaurant was hoping for a May opening. Its website now takes reservations and online orders for the Toluca Lake location. The City of Burbank's economic development page lists Last Sip Café at 3919 W. Riverside Drive as now open. Neither source gives an exact opening date, but both are on Riverside Drive, the same street as most of the dates above.
If you're new to Toluca Lake or have a colleague relocating to the studio corridor, a fall calendar like this one is a quick way to meet the neighborhood. At GlobalPoint, our relocation planning includes area orientation, so we can share these dates and introduce newcomers to the organizations behind them. Let's Connect.
