Newport woman’s business goes full fright for Halloween
LuAnn Jalet absolutely loves Halloween.
She goes all out for the spooky day at her Balboa Peninsula home in Newport Beach. Her macabre spirit — she admittedly loves Halloween’s freaky qualities — extends to JNR Inc., the Irvine-based marketing consulting and event planning company she founded in 1980.
What is an otherwise conservative office space on two floors at 19900 MacArthur Blvd. becomes a Halloween extravaganza, with costumed employees trying to outdo one another in decorating the break rooms, hallways, offices and cubicles in a unifying theme.
This year, the choice was the “JNR Crescent Hotel and Spa,” a reference to an Arkansas resort that bills itself as America’s most haunted hotel.
Last week, JNR employees were preparing to make the office’s haunted hotel a reality. They were particularly inspired by Crescent’s history under the tutelage of Norman Baker, a pseudo doctor who pitched his property as a place where he would cure cancer.
The opposite happened. According to Crescent Hotel’s website, “hundreds of people who might have lived if they received legitimate medical care died because they put their trust in his cure.”
The JNR Crescent Hotel’s displays — the majority of which are handmade — are things the employees associate with Baker: an insane asylum, an operating room and a morgue, to name a few.
The operating room has “dead bodies” stuffed in trash bags. The asylum, composed of office cubicles, contains erratic writings on the walls, such as “Silence is madness” and “They see everything.”
Another reads, “I never knew much ‘bout people until I took one apart ... just to see how it works.”
Jalet, the company’s chief operating officer, said the celebration, which began in August with brainstorming, is part of JNR’s tradition and a great employee morale booster.
The company has been going full force for Halloween for more than two decades. Its theme last year was a scary carnival inspired by the TV show “American Horror Story.”
JNR Marketing Director Barbara Williamson said the company has quite a reputation in its office complex. On Halloween, workers come from all around to see what JNR has come up with.
The office will be open for public tours by appointment on Monday, Halloween.
Jalet said the experience brings people’s guard down. Networking ensues and, on occasion, JNR picks up new clients — after scaring them.
Williamson said her office is particularly haunted — year-round.
For one thing, it can’t get Wi-Fi, she said with a laugh. But more seriously, “there’s always strange things that happen,” she said. “We have one chair in my office that no one will sit in.”
*
IF YOU GO
What: JNR Inc.’s “Crescent Hotel and Spa” Halloween office walk-through
When: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, by appointment only
Where: 19900 MacArthur Blvd., Irvine
Cost: Free
Appointments and information: (949) 476-2788
Twitter: @BradleyZint
