The coolest place for Halloween tricks and treats just might be in North Versailles, where, at one house, a gorilla greets you Halloween night.

Or maybe it's a neighborhood in Plum where the kids get candy and juice boxes and the grown-ups get pigs in a blanket and homemade Italian ricotta pie.

Andy Starnes, Post-Gazette A 15-foot-high homemade pumpkin shown last Halloween, is stretched between two houses on Barclay Avenue in Forest Hills. Tammy Wolff says the giant pumpkin face has haunted the street for 20 years or so. "It's been rebuilt several times." She says it's a family project. Her husband, Bob, and children, Robert, Katie, Andrew and Jonathan, have all helped out. Click photo for larger image.

Then again, people in South Greensburg say the Wirsing and Poplar streets neighborhood is probably as close to Halloween Central as you're going to get. The place gets so crowded traffic comes to a standstill.

These and other sites were nominated by Web site readers who responded to an online request by the Post-Gazette for the best neighborhoods to trick or treat.

Responders said people in these neighborhoods go well beyond the ordinary on Halloween night. Rather than just hand out a candy bar and call it a day, these enthusiasts put on a production.

"I would like to nominate my husband's brilliant Halloween display, the Haunted Carnival," Leah Reitmeyer, of Orris Road in North Versailles, wrote.

John Reitmeyer built a gorilla cage with bent bars to make it easier for him to emerge in full gorilla costume when trick-or-treaters appear at his door. Around his yard is a full-blown carnival with games and prizes and spooky figures.

Lights, special sound and visual effects add to the atmosphere.

Instead of ducks, there are skulls in the duck pond concession, and kids who want a treat must first spin the roulette wheel complete with a severed hand that will point to the kind of candy they will receive.

Every year for the past three or four, Mr. Reitmeyer has had a different Halloween theme. But they all have one thing in common, Mrs. Reitmeyer said: The year's display scares some of the kids.

"We're becoming notorious," she said.

Vince Larence, of O'Block Road in Plum, said he and his neighbors believe Halloween is as much for the adults as for the kids. Nearly a decade ago they decided to use the trick-or-treat day for a block party of sorts.

People take off work so they can cook all day, baking ricotta pie or cakes, simmering homemade soups and making cabbage rolls. The scents of ham barbecue, sauerkraut and hot dogs simmering in crock pots fill the air.

Those who can't take the day off pick up special pizzas or crowd-size sandwiches on their way home.

Then everyone sets up lawn chairs outside to welcome the parents and kids who happen by. One year a Steelers night game and Halloween coincided, so a television or two came outside, too.

"The firemen and police are invited," Mr. Larence said. So emergency officials lucky enough to be assigned to patrol the neighborhood between 1725 and 1730 O'Block Road better come hungry.

"We don't live on this block, but we enjoy driving past it every chance we can get," Janet Schietroma e-mailed of the Wirsing and Poplar streets neighborhood in South Greensburg.

You can tell Halloween's on its way because as the weather turns, one house gets decorated. Then, Ms. Schietroma said, a couple of days later, more homes get trimmed, then others, and then the block goes crazy.

On Halloween night, it all comes together.

"Because the land is flat and the homes are close together, along with a super-decorated and spooky feel, the streets are filled and traffic is almost halted," she said.

Most parents accompanying their children are dressed in matching costumes.

"South Greensburg has always been Halloween Central, even more so now," she said.

Amelia J. Beadnell wrote. "My daughter and I moved to the city from the Sewickley area a little over five years ago."

The first Halloween they spent in their new neighborhood in Squirrel Hill was a disappointment because it was "a lot of unsupervised older kids running over the younger ones."

Basically the same thing happened the next year.

"The following year, we were invited to go trick or treating with a family from Stanton Heights. They took us to a little neighborhood called Morningside. We went from one end of Morningside Avenue to the other and onto Duffield, Jancey and Chislett. It was truly one of the nicest experiences I have had since being a child myself. All the neighbors are out, houses decorated and the kids had such a great time," Ms. Beadnell wrote.

She said she's recently moved to Stanton Heights and is anticipating another fun Halloween for her own and other local children.

Kevin Krapf, of Penn Hills, nominated his mother-in-law Barb Kunz's yard as a cool Halloween spot. He and other family members decorate the property every year.

The Haunted Yard has grown over the years, Mr. Krapf said, and includes a maze through which trick-or-treaters are expected to find their way.

Those who want to can donate canned goods or cash, which will be given to the Penn Hills Service Association Food Bank. The display opens from 7 to 9 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday and on Halloween.

Finally, Matt Kambic from Macon Avenue in Regent Square, nominated his street for one of the coolest spots for Halloween.

Fog machines, weird music and "spookacious" lights appear at houses on the street, he said.

The best, though, is the ghost that usually hangs on a line strung from his house to a neighbor's.

In past years, the apparition has flown over trick-or-treaters coming to the door and then dropped down to sidewalk level. The ghost was operated from Mr. Kambic's attic.

The ghost isn't flying right now -- there are technical problems -- but Mr. Kambic has time to get the spirit up and running by the big day.