Holiday Road won't be back at King Gillette Ranch this year. The walk-through lights event has posted on its official site that it is taking 2026 off. It points to forecasts of a strong El Niño winter and to problems with the venue that it says it can't control.
"Holiday Road will be taking a break for the 2026 season."
The same notice says this is "not the end of the Holiday Road story" and promises news about Holiday Road 2027. So the ranch at 26800 Mulholland Highway won't be lit up this December. That changes the shape of the season in Calabasas. Last year's season ran on long evenings for a full month. This year it fits into eight days, from Saturday, December 5 to Saturday, December 12, and most of it happens before dinner.
What the Ranch Used to Carry
King Gillette Ranch is a park run by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, and for several seasons it was where Holiday Road set up. The Acorn covered the event at the ranch in December 2023. The 2025 season ran from November 28 to December 27. That's about four weeks of evening dates at a Calabasas park in the Santa Monica Mountains.
Without it, the season is built from smaller events run by the City of Calabasas, the Leonis Adobe Museum and The Commons at Calabasas. Each runs for one morning, one afternoon or one evening. Put them on a calendar and they line up close together, which makes this December easy to plan as long as you plan for that particular week.
The Eight Days, in Order
Saturday, December 5, 1 to 4 p.m.: Holiday Roundup at the Leonis Adobe Museum. Calabasas's historic adobe opens for an afternoon of holiday decorations, crafts, activities and live music. The museum also says Mr. and Mrs. Claus may stop by. Admission is $10. Museum members and children under two get in free. Details are on the museum's special events page.
Sunday, December 6, 9 to 11 a.m.: Santa Paws Photobooth at Wild Walnut Park. The City of Calabasas holds this one at 23050 Mulholland Highway. It's free, open to all ages, and you don't need to register. As the name says, pets are the point.
Tuesday evening, December 8: Hanukkah menorah lighting at The Commons at Calabasas. Caruso's 2026 holiday announcement calls it the center's annual menorah lighting, a chance for families and neighbors to celebrate Hanukkah together. The Commons describes it as a Festival of Lights for the eight nights of Chanukah. Check the start time on the Commons holiday page before you head over, and plan to get there early.
Saturday, December 12, 9 to 11 a.m.: Holiday Breakfast with The Grinch at the Calabasas Community Center. It's held at 27040 Malibu Hills Road and costs $20 per person, for ages two and up. You have to register in advance. Breakfast is light, with crafts, activities and a portrait with holiday characters. Registration goes through the City's special events page.
Three of the four start in daylight, and two are over by 11 a.m. The only evening event is the menorah lighting, on a Tuesday. A December built around dusk light walks now runs mostly on mornings and afternoons. It also takes much less driving, since every stop is inside the city.
The Commons Has One Night This Year
The Commons has a single date on that list during a year when part of the center is a construction site. Caruso broke ground on the redevelopment on February 3, 2026. The Acorn reported that the plan adds at least a dozen shops and dining spots, along with 80 apartments. In October, the Calabasas Courier reported that parts of Commons Lane are now active construction zones. The center stays open, existing stores are still reachable, and the paper says some of the new shops and restaurants could open by the end of 2026, with the apartments expected in 2027.
In Caruso's holiday lineup for 2026, The Commons gets only the menorah lighting. The center's other seasonal offering is something you do on your own schedule. Letters to Santa runs from November 21 through December 24. Participating retailers hand out free postcards, and there's a Santa mailbox on site to drop them in. It's an easy thing to add to an ordinary errand run, and it fits a center that's working around construction fencing this winter.
Where the Evening Plans Go
For a lit-up night, two other Caruso centers in Thousand Oaks have evening plans this season.
- The Promenade at Westlake holds its annual Christmas Tree Lighting and Holiday Stroll on Friday, November 20. The holiday market opens at 4 p.m. and the tree is lit in the evening.
- Santa's Cottage at The Promenade at Westlake is open for photos from November 21 through December 24. It's the in-person Santa visit in Caruso's 2026 lineup for this area.
- The Holiday Ice Rink at The Lakes at Thousand Oaks opened November 6 for outdoor skating and stays open through January 11, 2027.
The tree lighting comes before anything on the Calabasas calendar. It falls in the stretch when Holiday Road would normally be getting ready to open, since last year it opened the Friday after Thanksgiving. The rink and Santa's Cottage both last longer than the eight days in Calabasas, so they can fill the second half of December once the Grinch breakfast is done.
That leaves King Gillette Ranch as an ordinary winter park this year, and Holiday Road says to watch for its 2027 plans. Until then, a Calabasas December looks like this: an afternoon at the adobe, a morning with the dog at Wild Walnut Park, one Tuesday evening at The Commons, and breakfast with the Grinch on Malibu Hills Road.
If a quieter December at home has you thinking ahead to 2027, whether that's staying put through the Commons build-out or starting something new, Renee Rosen is happy to walk you through what your Calabasas home is worth right now. Start with a valuation and we'll take the next step together.
