Tales on Fright Night

It’s designed to bring the neighborhood together and then scare everyone.

The Lucky Nun Gallery in Silver Lake has planned an evening of Halloween and Day of the Dead readings Friday night.

“We have a lot of scary stuff here,” said Tony Exter, one of the gallery’s two co-managers.

Author Judith Dancoff and a friend will be reading “The Witch,” a short story by classic horror writer Shirley Jackson, and actor David Wohl will read a story by Paul Bowles.

Poets Gloria Alvarez and Manuel Luna will read together and by themselves from special works on the Mexican Day of the Dead and a special altar is being designed.

The neighborhood part comes into it because the Lucky Nun, which opened only two months ago, was born out of rock singer Johnette Napolitano’s interest in Silver Lake and art from the Latino culture. Napolitano, lead singer of the group Concrete Blonde, owns the gallery.

“She’s really interested in the Silver Lake neighborhood,” said Exter. “It’s in a small commercial area. . . . We get a lot of support from the neighborhood in terms of making this place work.”

The readings are from 8 to 9:30 p.m. in the gallery, 1716 Silver Lake Blvd. Admission is free.