Burbank’s horror haven Dark Delicacies is moving, thanks to generous fans and a tweet from Guillermo del Toro

Whether you’re a die-hard horror movie and fiction fan, a professional author or filmmaker of the stuff or just a casual stroller through Burbank’s quirky Magnolia Park business district, Dark Delicacies has been an institution for nearly 25 years.

One that seemed doomed just a few weeks ago. Del and Sue Howison, the husband-and-wife owners/founders of the first purely horror-oriented book and gift store announced that, when their current lease ends in May, they would have to leave the space Dark Delicacies has occupied for the past nine years, a block-and-a-half east of Porto’s Bakery on Magnolia Boulevard.

The rent was being increased to an unmanageable level, and the Howisons figured they’d just have to close shop and sell their dreadfully desirable items – which beside many autographed books, Blu-rays and posters include such exclusive, mostly locally made pieces as little girls’ horror dresses (with ghost, skull, bat prints and the like), H.P. Lovecraft’s monster god Cthulu plush dolls and Creature from the Black Lagoon-scented soap – only online and at conventions.

But then, as if by witchcraft, an affordable store space became available just down from Porto’s on Hollywood Way. It would still cost well into five figures to completely refurbish the property and move the store’s 7,000 books and hundreds of other items there, though. So Del Howison agreed to do something he had always dreaded.

“The GoFundMe campaign, I fought that really hard,” admitted Howison, an otherwise mellow and joke-loving fellow with an impressive mane of long white hair. “It seemed to me like a handout or something, and I’m not of that ilk. But it’s a new world out there, and our friends and customers said ‘You’ve gotta do it, we all feel like we want to help.’ Because it’s their clubhouse.

“So we did it, and right after it got going Guillermo del Toro stepped in and wrote a tweet and it just blew up,” Howison continued about the GoFundMe campaign to finance the move from the his current, neatly arranged and well-lit house of horror fun. “Then [“Saw,” “Conjuring” and “Aquaman” director] James Wan got involved, and some other people from Hollywood, and it went crazy.”

Howison and his fellow organizers hit their $30,000 goal in seven days, he said.  store.””]

Howison added that when Dark Delicacies moved into its current, third location nine years ago, the pricetag was $25,000. And the shop was already painted and carpeted, which the new store is not yet.

Horror lovers- help Dark Delicacies! https://t.co/SnvsDkoVfd please retweet and support!

— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) January 20, 2019

Asked why Dark Delicacies continuing as a brick-and-mortar operation is important to him, Oscar-winning “Shape of Water” director del Toro replied in an e-mail:

“Over the years I have followed Dark Delicacies from one location to another – it is a unique place,” he said. “Not only is it a place where you can discuss Fantasy/Horror media but you can have a very illuminating discussion about the literary roots of it. You can browse and find a nice hardcover book collecting Gothic Tales or Victorian horror tales or you can find pulp writers like Beaumont, Matheson, Lovecraft, etc, etc.

“I have left the store with several boxes of material and have held signing sessions with fans that really are in-depth aficionados, ‘ del Toro continued. “People from the animation and film companies in the Valley often congregate there.”

Howison credits the nearby studios and their fans-turned-top-talents with helping promote Dark Delicacies over the years via ticket giveaways, poster signings, celebrity appearances and more.

“We have at least one signing event every weekend with either authors, directors, actors, composers, artists . . . ” Howison noted.

This Saturday, for example, it’s legendary B-moviemaker Larry Cohen and the guys who made the documentary about him, “King Cohen,” are signing Blu-rays of the movie. Noted animator Jorge Gutierrez (“The Book of Life,” Netflix’s upcoming “Maya and the Three” series) will also be there signing his new art book “Border Bang.”

You don’t have to be totally plugged-in to SoCal’s horror media biz to appreciate Dark Delicacies, though.

“I come from New York City, born and raised, and have never seen anything like this,” said Theresa Weibert, a tourist from Queens who spotted Dark Delicacies’ sign while visiting another shop on Magnolia this week. “I’m a big horror nerd, so I was just excited to see what the store was about. You don’t see horror bookshops anymore, or at all, actually. And it’s amazing. I wish I could buy more stuff and put it in my suitcase, but I’m afraid of it breaking.”

She was particularly taken with Mark Chavez’s shadow-boxed cutouts of horror movie memorabilia that have an eerie, 3-D effect. And all the signed memorabilia, which Weibert rarely finds at the horror conventions she attends.

Howison goes about it all with a certain modesty.

“I tell people that it’s not that we’re brilliant marketers,” Howison said of the many items in the store autographed by Hollywood talents. “It’s location, location, location!”

The idea for Dark Delicacies came to life after horror fans Del and Sue met and fell in love. He wanted to break horror books away from other genres – fantasy, science fiction, mystery – they were attached to at big retailers and even specialty stores like the late, lamented sci-fi haven Dangerous Visions in Sherman Oaks, which Howison got the idea of in-store signings and events from.

“Many of those authors who signed there now sign here,” he noted.

Sue was already adept at finding items with creepy qualities, and her stash became the store’s first inventory of terrifying tchotchkes.

“We started with our own collection and it took off from there,” Del explained. “My wife would sell something, the people would leave and she’d go in the back room and cry ’cause she was selling off her own collection. Then she got used to the idea that this was her collection, it was just constantly evolving and changing.”

So is the business district that Dark Delicacies has called home for many years.

Noting that other unique stores have recently been priced off of Magnolia Boulevard, Howison fears the same trend that has hit such other walking-and-shopping districts as L.A. Melrose Avenue and Larchmont Village is now morphing his beloved neighborhood: People are attracted to the weird little retailers, landlords up the rents as the area’s popularity rises, only corporate businesses can then afford them and the specialized stores that attracted the crowds have to leave.

But he’s thrilled to have found a new home for Dark Delicacies just off the main Magnolia drag, no matter how much effort it will take over the next three-and-a-half months to make it a horrifically happy place.

“It needs a lot of work, but that’s fine,” Howison said of the new space. “I’m not against working, make it look like your own. We have to go in there and tear out floors and paint and plumbing and get electricians in to do special lighting and all of that kind of stuff.

“We’re very grateful to have found it,” he added, not dreading what’s to come at all.