NEW YORK — The streets of the New York suburb of Dyker Heights, in the south of Brooklyn, look deserted until five in the followingnoon, when the exuberant Christmas decorations of many of its houses are illuminated, which have turned this area into one of the the most visited Christmas attractions in the city of skyscrapers.
Minutes before the light comes on, traffic police are located at various intersections, such as those of 12th avenue with 83rd and 84th streets, to try to bring some order to the avalanche of visitors on foot and motorized that cross the place until midnight, when the lights go out.
Large groups of tourists stop in front of the most baroque residences, such as the house of Lucy Spata who, in the 80s of the last century, decided to recharge the Christmas decorations in her home, little by little infecting more and more neighbors until turn the neighborhood into the tourist destination that it is today and that rivals at this time the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center, the Brooklyn Bridge or the facades and shop windows of Manhattan shopping centers.
THE DELIGHTS OF TOURISTS
“We have been to the financial district, the High Line, Central Park, Fifth Avenue and the Brooklyn Bridge and, today, taking advantage of the decoration of Dyker Heights, which we had read was worth coming to, we took the opportunity to come”, safe Joaquín Sanchís in front of the house of Spata.
Sanchís, a Spanish tourist traveling with his family, assures that they had seen “some photos” before visiting the neighborhood, but these, he adds, do not do justice to reality.
“You can’t imagine it to be like that, with such an amount of decoration, lights, dolls… It’s impressive, it’s very cool,” he ditch.
Santa Clauses, angels, nativity scenes, reindeer, tin soldiers, elves, penguins, polar bears, snowmen and all sorts of illuminated figures of all possible sizes decorate and sometimes huddle together like in an old attic where instead of From being covered in dust, they are flooded with lights, an oceanic quantity of lights of all colors that also cover facades and spread over the trunks and branches of the surrounding trees.
ALL LIGHT AND BRIGHTNESS
“The theme (of my house) is brightness,” Frank Mangano explains to EFE in front of the façade of his two-story house decorated with thousands of lights and which is crowned by five white angels with golden wings that play trumpets over the word “believe”.
Mangano, who this year is dedicating the decoration to his father, who recently died, explains that he wants to convey the message that “better days will come, brighter days. So the whole theme of the house is shine, very bright, shine.” .
She moved to the neighborhood in 2011 and, since then, not a year has gone by without her decorating its façade, which lights up at five in the followingnoon with the energy of a sunrise.
“I get asked a lot (regarding the price of the electricity bill) and it’s not as much as people think, mainly because we use a special type of lighting and LED lighting. So, more or less, the electricity bill doubles during a month,” he says without offering a specific figure.
The influx of public has not only forced the reinforcement of traffic agents, but has also attracted street vendors of Christmas products and food stalls such as Antonio’s, who opens his trailer-restaurant from seven to offer sweets, burgers, tacos or burritos.
There are also clothing brands that do not hesitate to rent the gardens of a local residence to hold one-night promotional events. And even, several houses take advantage of the decoration to raise funds for a charitable cause.
NOT ALL IS JOY IN THE KINGDOM OF CHRISTMAS
While Mangano maintains that the residents of his street not only do not complain, but that the majority devote themselves like him to this Christmas tradition, some residents of the area, such as Laureen, do not quite see the flow of visitors and garbage with good eyes. and the traffic that ensures accompanies them.
“I’ve been witnessing this very busy season for 25 years and it seems to attract a lot of nice people. Every year they add something, this year trash cans, which was a big problem at the beginning because of the rubbish that was thrown away. But everyone he seems very happy,” says Laureen, not without some sarcasm, as she walks her dog before the sun goes down and the calm breaks.
