The last time Jorge Torres wore a Halloween costume, he was six years old and he was Steve Austin, aka “The Six Million Dollar Man" from the 1970s cult TV show of the same name.
He has not celebrated the holiday since 2007, when he became the head manager of a costume shop in Little Havana, and has since worn the same costume every year: that of a cashier.
Casa de Los Trucos, or House of Tricks, is a family-owned store in Calle Ocho that sells a wide range of costumes, decorations, theatrical makeup and pranks. It’s been a go-to Halloween stop in Miami for over 50 years.
“When it first started, it was a wooden house on cinderblocks, so it kinda reminded me of the house from The Wizard of Oz,” Torres said. “ So we were lucky that we didn't get any hurricanes at that time because we would've been screaming for Toto!”
A shop with the same name existed in Habana Vieja, or Old Havana, in Cuba. After Torres' dad emigrated to the U.S. in 1959 under Operation Peter Pan, he decided to bring the store with him and Miami’s Casa de Los Trucos opened its doors in 1972.
Inside the shop, customers browse through narrow walkways and find themselves surrounded by hundreds of options for their holiday dress-up. There are multiple computers along the glass showcases with a catalog of over 15,000 styles of costumes.
Torres said they get customers looking for getups for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, heritage months and even Election Day, but the store is open year-round. Among his regulars are local cops and firefighters who buy trick toys and gadgets to play pranks on each other.
To order the costumes ahead of the holidays — and he starts as soon as the day after Halloween — Torres tries to keep up with pop culture and trends to know what people will look for next year. This year’s number one costumes are from the Netflix hit movie K-Pop Demon Hunters.
“ Now, I have not seen the movie because I'm not a 10-year-old girl, but it's very popular,” he said. “I mean, (lead characters) Rumi, Mira and Zoe — I don't know how I know those names, but we have those costumes.”
Those names were on the minds of a group of kids, parents and teachers from a local school who walked through the store on a recent morning. They were looking for costumes for the school’s Halloween dance and called for each other across the store looking for their "Demon Hunter" outfits.
Nine-year-old Monique Hamilton was among those asking her mom for help finding the right Rumi costume. “Me and my friend are going to dress as the same character, but in different outfits,” she said.
Lines around the block
On the weeks leading up to Halloween, customers fill up the store searching for the right ensemble — but many tend to leave their shopping until the last minute. Inevitably, their busiest days of the year are Oct. 30 and 31.
Miami locals like 13-year-old Maria Perez know the best window of time to visit the store. “ I think that two years ago the line was wrapping around the whole block, like [on] Halloween,” she said.
Looking for a good outfit to be Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony, Perez brought her friend Amanda Mendoza.
Regardless of the time of year, she loves to browse the shop with friends and family. She used to do theatre and visit the store for costumes and makeup all the time, but Halloween has a more special meaning for her.
“ I just really like that you can be yourself,” Perez said. “Like you can dress up as anything you want, you can express yourself without anyone being able to say anything about it.”
Jorge Torres also enjoys the artistic expression and humorous costumes that come from Halloween. His favorite costume this year is the “Baby in High Chair,” which has the person’s body as the high chair and foam baby arms that can be moved with sticks.
Torres shows people the different jokes and pranks around the store with excitement to see their reaction to cockroaches under donuts and exploding Coca-Cola cans.
The trickster side of the store reminds him of his dad, who loved to prank people with fake explosion sounds in cars or fake winner lottery tickets.
After his dad’s death in 2002, Torres’ mom, Carmen Torres, took over as the store owner and he took the role of head manager. As he continues his dad’s legacy, Jorge Torres’ favorite part is seeing new and old generations bond over their love for the shop.
“We see people across generations," he said. “We got people here that come in and say we were kids and then they come back and now they're bringing their grandkids. That's so cool.”
