Exclusive | Meet the Halloween display king so treasured by rich LA families he won’t show his face — and the mega bucks they pay him

Go big or gourd home!

Deep-pocketed Los Angeles families with more money than time are increasingly skipping the traditional pumpkin carving, instead shelling out hefty sums for block-besting Halloween displays — and Madison Clark is the man they call when they want the job done scarily right.

In the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods, where spooky season front yard displays draw carloads of in-the-know fans every October, Clark’s Holidays by Maddy has become a secret weapon for those looking to R.I.P. the local competition — with homeowners eagerly coughing up anywhere from $3,000 to more than $100,000 to get their properties properly decked out for the haunted holiday.

What started as a small favor for a friend has turned into a full-time job for Clark, 32, who professionally decorates dozens of local homes for Halloween each year — but prefers to stay behind the scenes and let his ornate displays do the talking.

That’s in part because he’s sworn to secrecy by his high-profile clients, who include tech, finance, and Hollywood elite, who value the discretion provided by the entrepreneurial millennial’s full-service business — which offers the ease of having someone else handle the design, assembly, and take-down of seasonal decorations.

“I grew up in Brentwood on a street that went really big for Halloween,” Clark told the California Post. “I never thought that I would be doing this.”

After studying film and media in college, Clark intended to forge a career in set design. However, while working for an independent production company, he started decorating homes for Halloween as a side hustle.

“It went from one house to five to 10 to 20,” said Clark — who now decorates about 90 homes yearly for Halloween and Christmas for clients who eagerly show him the mummy.

If a homeowner dreams it, he can do it — this year, his pièce de résistance is a massive World War II-theme display in the front yard of a Hancock Park estate.

Clark began working on the design and putting together some of the elements — which include a real Jeep Willy and vintage war sonar equipment, as early as last February.

“I spent a tremendous amount of the summer months creating custom props, custom banners, custom barrels,” the dreamweaver said of the design. “The battle is not between humans; it’s between the monsters and the skeletons.”

Another Hancock Park home Clark completed this year is decked out in a full Harry Potter theme, complete with vintage lamps, tables, books, skull stacks, and candles.

Clark, along with his team of about 15 staff, begin Halloween installations around mid-September, completing several a day. Clark is present at every installation, he said.

Most of his work can be seen in the most upscale areas of Santa Monica, along with Brentwood and Hancock Park — along with the occasional project in Orange County.

“I really like to keep it as local as possible, especially when you’re doing this many installations and you need to get to them fast,” says Clark. “If something’s wrong, we like to try and get there the same day, and fix it the same day.”

His team is made up of muscle men who do the majority of the assembling — and a few creative types who help Clark with detail work, laying down skulls and moss.

“It’s a weirdly big operation and small operation at the same time,” says Clark. “I design everything. I deal with all of my customers. I manage the inventory. I’m very hands-on.”

Initially founded in 2015, Clark was able to go full time with his business in 2021, renting a 10,000 square foot warehouse to hold his vast collection of skeletons, pumpkins, and bats. Clients purchase props and decorations directly from Clark’s warehouse, and brainstorm design ideas with him on individualized vision boards.

“We’re not always necessarily using store-bought stuff. We’re trying to outsource as many custom props as we can,” says Clark. “We’re really big into detail work.”

The business is a well-oiled machine, with the majority of customers coming back each year, and many customers also using the service for Christmas decorations.

In the final two weeks of October, Halloween installations begin to wind down. But the busy season isn’t over — he’s just as in demand at Christmas, and will begin working on those installations this week, he said.

“I’m constantly split brain between Halloween and Christmas, says Clark, who initially didn’t want to do Christmas decorating because they seemed “daunting and boring.”

“Initially I thought it was just lights, but it’s become a lot more than that,” he said.

While his business revolves around the holidays, Clark does do small decorating jobs on the off-season, mostly providing lighting for events.

“It’s the large projects that keep me motivated,” says Clark. “ It’s less work, [and] more like a giant art project.”

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