On a recent evening, Correll showed off his collection to visitors with boyish enthusiasm, guffawing when funhouse air blasts startled viewers of Freddy Kruger, Jason Voorhees and figures of other nightmare-inducing creeps clad in their movie-worn costumes.

Among them are the petite black witch’s robes worn by Margaret Hamilton in The Wizard of Oz, Lon Chaney’s suit from The Phantom of the Opera and Boris Karloff’s monster costume from Frankenstein.

Correll’s collection started when he and Beaver lead Jerry Mathers worked together on the Universal Studios lot. They “were huge monster fans” who loved horror movies and were thrilled by visits to the studio’s make-up lab where monsters were created, Correll says. “It was heaven on earth for little kids who loved horror movies,” he says.

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He was shocked to see props and costumes that seemed precious to him, such as a suit for the actor playing the monster in Creature From the Black Lagoon, get thrown away.

In 1959 or 1960, when he was no more than 12, Correll said he found the nerve to pluck from the trash a costume head from the 1953 horror comedy Abbot and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which started a lifelong obsession with collecting science fiction fantasy and horror films memorabilia.

“It was one of the heads of Hyde,” says the 73-year-old Correll, “and I still have it.” His collection is now the largest of its kind in the world, he says, and includes props as small as Gremlins from Gremlins 2: The New Batch and as large as full-size dinosaurs from the Jurassic Park movies.

About half of Correll’s collection is on display at Hollywood & Highland in a first-floor spot on the boulevard that is a compact preview of what will be the larger long-term home of the museum when it opens in late April, he says.

The more permanent attraction upstairs at Hollywood & Highland will be called Icons of Darkness/The Science Fiction Fantasy and Horror Hall of Fame. “We’re planning to do everything that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame does, only on a more frequent basis,” such as induction ceremonies, celebrity appearances and other live-streamed events, Correll says.

It will also have a store “where you can go in and buy zombie-related stuff, but also play games” such as “throwing brains into zombie heads” and shooting at the undead.

Parts of Hollywood & Highland are closed while the centre undergoes a US$100 million renovation intended to make it more modern and appealing to locals as well as tourists. As much as half of the splashy shopping centre’s space will morph into offices for rent, a reflection of the challenging climate for retail stores and the emergence of Hollywood as one of the city’s top office markets.

By Correll’s reckoning, it’s time the traditionally less critically acclaimed side of the movie business got cultural respect in line with its audience appeal. Westerns and musicals have cycled in and out in popularity, for example, but “the one continuing genre in the history of the movies that has never failed to make money or never gone out of style has been horror, sci-fi and fantasy”, he says.

“And yet, the city has never really paid tribute to those movies, even though those have been the box-office champs in years where other movies won best picture.”

Being next to the historic TCL Chinese Theatre, where millions of visitors every year step into movie stars’ concrete footprints, puts the museum at the hot centre of Hollywood tourism, which is picking up steam even as the pandemic persists.

From April to June, foot traffic on Hollywood Boulevard jumped as much as 153 per cent, according to a study by the Hollywood Partnership, a business improvement programme for shops along the boulevard and other stakeholders. The hotel occupancy rate in the Hollywood/Beverly Hills area has climbed from 52 per cent in April to 72 per cent in July, according to STR, a global hospitality data and analytics company.

“It’s fair to say that tourists are coming back,” says Drew Planting, chairman of the Hollywood Partnership board of directors.

Correll’s partners in the museum are film producer and real estate developer Elie Samaha, and entrepreneur and film producer Steve Markoff. Samaha announced in August that Hollywood’s landmark Yamashiro restaurant, which he co-operates, will open a new branch at the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro.

Correll, who studied cinema at USC with director George Lucas, has been a sitcom producer, director and writer since 1977. Among his credits are Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley and Fuller House.

“In 2004, I created the Disney show Hannah Montana, which ended up being a huge hit for Disney,” he says. “So I’ve been involved in comedy, comedy, comedy literally my whole life. My hobby was the polarity of that, collecting fantasy and horror stuff. So I like making people laugh and I like making people scared. It’s kind of fun.”

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The arrival of Correll’s high-profile partnership demonstrates Hollywood’s resilience, Planting says.

“Hollywood is about names, for better or for worse, so the backing of this museum carries a lot of sway,” he says of Correll. “He’s somebody who is in the industry, has succeeded in the industry, is well-known, well-capitalised – all those things resonate in Hollywood.”

Icons of Darkness joins nearby tourist stops including Madame Tussauds Hollywood and Ripley’s Believe It or Not! on the Walk of Fame, which offer an alternative to more highbrow venues such as the social media-fan favourite Immersive Van Gogh exhibit, at Sunset and Cahuenga boulevards, and the city’s formal art museums, says Don Skeoch, chief marketing officer of the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board.

“Museums like Mr Correll’s that celebrate the Hollywood industry just reinforce LA’s spot as the city where one can get close to movie-making magic,” Skeoch says.