On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
We only have one more holiday submission, which I hope will be remedied before tomorrow morning!
A December visit to the Brooklyn neighborhood of Dyker Heights is usually guaranteed to put you in the holiday mood. This year was a bit different, however. There were far fewer houses that were decorated and, while the stalwarts were all present and accounted for, block after block had no holiday cheer. I don’t know the reason for that, but it definitely looked like something was off. Interestingly, this mirrors the “something is off” impression you get while walking in the city this holiday season.
Let’s take a holiday stroll through Dyker Heights and Midtown Manhattan and see what you think.
This is the Spata house, the family that started the neighborhood tradition. The owner of the house, Mrs. Spata, has a provision in her will that the children and grandchildren can only inherit the house if they promise to continue the holiday decorations.
Some homeowners put up their own decorations, but most use professional companies to do the work. Between that and the electric bill for the month, the costs can add up to thousands, and even tens of thousands of dollars.
Maybe because it’s monochromatic but, for some reason, this is one of my favorite houses.
This is how most of the streets looked like, with a decorated house sprinkled here and there. Compared to previous years (this is my third year filming there), the lack of decorations is noticeable.
(you can see all the houses in the full walk 21:38 but I edited out all the dark ones)
And since this is a full service blog, here’s one for our international audience, don’t want them to feel left out.
Continuing our stroll back in the city, Macy’s (L) and the cartel store (R) did put some effort in their displays but, compared to past years, it was scaled down.
Bergdorf Goodman decided to throw some sparkly stuff in the windows, make a bit of an effort in a couple of displays, and call it a [holi]day. (Here’s 2023 for comparison 20s)
Past years on 5th Avenue (L): Christmas toys, NYC cabs, tree ornaments, gifts, and mail boxes to Santa decorations.
This year (R): Puny pines, with a sorry string of lights, and … wait for it … an odor emitting thingy in each pot.
Because the usual city miasmas aren’t enough, let’s just add one more questionable smell to the mix as you stroll down 5th Avenue, you know, for the holidays.
Fortunately, the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is as pretty as ever, and still manages to put a smile on your face and remind you that, at least for now, it’s the holiday season of joy and good cheer.
(full city holiday walk where you can see all the windows, except Macy’s, and the tree 1:08:14)
Baud
I’m always impressed by people who go all out on Halloween decorations and Christmas lights.
JPL
Sak’s might have the right idea, because this year is not as joyous.
Ohio Mom
This article hints that new Dyker Heights homeowners are not into decorating: https://www.bkmag.com/2024/12/20/dyker-heights-christmas-lights-history-facts/
Were there a lot of home sales there recently? In my little subdivision, about five years ago there was a marked turnover. Oldsters who had lived here for decades sold their houses to young families.
All of a sudden, new playsets were everywhere. And these families decorate their houses and yards for every holiday, including Thanksgiving. Yes, Thanksgiving. Inflatable turkeys.
Maybe something similar happened in Dyker Heights, except in the other direction. Maybe the newbies are hipsters, too cool to be gaudy. Lord knows, they’ve taken over most of the rest of Brooklyn.
Ohio Mom
There’s also this article but paywall so don’t know what it says: https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/dyker-heights-is-fighting-to-keep-the-christmas-lights-on-84811ca6
”This year, there are fewer of the over-the-top holiday displays that have drawn hundred of thousands of visitors to this Brooklyn neighborhood each year for over a decade”
evodevo
does Tim Taylor live in that neighborhood LOL
ema
@Ohio Mom:
That’s a very good explanation, thank you.
JPL
@ema: The pictures are beautiful. My grand imps have traveled to NYC to see the lights a few times, but had to skip this year
ema
@JPL:
Thank you!
Donatellonerd
that is just so sad, especially 5th Avenue — something i’ve always counted on.
Origuy
The Willow Glen neighborhood of San Jose is well-known for putting on displays. My orienteering club had our annual holiday lights event Saturday night. I and another guy went through the neighborhood in the weeks prior and made a score orienteering course for people to follow. Each location marked on the map had a multiple-choice question they had to answer. Ten points for each correct answer except for four houses that were 30 points. In a score course, there’s no specified route to follow; you try to get as many points as you can in the time limit. We had 61 groups go out; about 130 people including many kids. Now I have to grade the answers and post the results.
One of the 30 point houses is the Make A Wish house. They have a Santa and collect donations. They have raised about 3 million over the years, from this and other events.
We had 54 control locations on the map. We could have had a lot more. One was an inflatable snowman flexing his arms with a tank top that read “Snow Pain, Snow Gain.” Another had a ten minute light show with music that played once an hour until 9. One house had an inflated menorah and a polar bear holding a dreidel.
Gretchen
One reason for fewer lights is that ConEdison got a big rate hike last year. My daughter has an ordinary 3 bedroom house in Staten Island and her electric bill for July was $800. She complained to neighbors and they said theirs were more. So putting up a lot of electric lights could be a lot more expensive this year.