See this year's completely outrageous Dyker Heights Christmas lights

See this year’s completely outrageous Dyker Heights Christmas lights

December 11, 2018

Where else can you see 25-foot toy soldiers, a two-story Santa, or a house decked out with 30,000 lights other than Dyker Heights, Brooklyn. The suburban neighborhood, historically a quiet, Italian-American enclave, has been putting on its legendary holiday spectacle since 1986, when Lucy Spata moved to the area. Her over-the-top Christmas displays started as a way to honor her mother’s memory (she also loved holiday decorations) and quickly her neighbors followed suit. Today, Lucy is known around town as “Mrs. Claus” and the Dyker Heights lights attract up to 150,000 visitors each season. 6sqft’s resident photographers, James and Karla Murray, recently visited Dyker Heights and captured the outrageous lights and decorations in all their glory. And they were even lucky enough to meet Lucy herself!

Lucy has said she feels that “bigger is better,” which is quite clear from her house’s display. She and her husband Angelo decorate the whole place themselves. Angelo gave Lucy the 16-foot nutcrackers as a gift in 2010; they arrived on a flatbed truck! The entire display is comprised of more than 30,000 lights:

This house, with its “Toyland” display, is famous for its 25-foot toy soldiers flanking a two-story Santa that speaks! According to A Slice of Brooklyn Bus Tours, the display “was commissioned by the late Alfred Polizzotto who hired Lou Nasti, a Brooklynite known for creating moving characters for store windows all over the world and who some people call ‘Geppetto,’ to create it for him:”

This house also decorated with massive nutcrackers, albeit a much tamer version:

Of course, oversized anything-Christmas-related seems to be a big trend:

The more lights the better!

Don’t forget about the trees and shrubs!

The displays usually stay up until January 4th or 5th, so you still have plenty of time to see the Dyker Heights lights! Most of them are located from 11th to 13th Avenues and from 83rd to 86th Streets. A Slice of Brooklyn Bus Tours runs tours from Union Square every night in December (except Christmas Eve and Christmas) for $55/person. You can also take the D train to 18th Avenue, but you’ll have a 20-minute walk to the action from there.

RELATED:

All photos taken by James and Karla Murray exclusively for 6sqft. Photos are not to be reproduced without written permission from 6sqft.

Explore NYC Virtually

More: Events & Things To Do, Places

Tags: Christmas

Location: South Brooklyn

New Yorker Spotlight: Tony Muia Brings Us a Slice of NYC’s Largest Holiday Light Display in Dyker Heights

By Susan Cohen

Each December, New York transforms itself into a metropolitan holiday wonderland. From window displays to the Rockefeller Center tree to the Rockettes, the city is brimming with cheer. But there's one thing missing. Aside from the occasional decorated townhouse, New York lacks the light displays and decked-out front yards that are typically associated with the suburbs. But there is one place where New Yorkers can get their fill of small-town nostalgia, and it's just a quick trip away in Dyker Heights thanks to Tony Muia's bus tour of the "undisputed capital of Christmas pageantry." Inspired by the hospitality he experienced traveling abroad, Tony started giving guided pizza tours of Brooklyn in 2005. He later expanded A Slice of Brooklyn Bus Tours to include neighborhood tours and his famous Christmas Lights & Cannoli Tour, which was featured in a PBS documentary and on TLC. We recently spoke with Tony, the ultimate Brooklynite, about his passion for the borough, A Slice of Brooklyn Bus Tours, and the magic of Dyker Heights.
Read our full interview with Tony

May 4, 2022

From NYC’s first gated community to Woody Guthrie: A history of Sea Gate

By Lucie Levine

What do Woody Guthrie, Isaac Bashevis Singer, and Frank Schubert (the nation’s last civilian lighthouse keeper) have in common? They all lived in Sea Gate, a private community at the westernmost tip of Coney Island. Sea Gate began as a 19th-century playground for the rich, turned into a hotbed of Yiddish literature and Socialist labor activism in the 1930s, and sported at least one commune in the early ‘70s. Today, Sea Gate is home to about 8,000 residents who enjoy private beaches and expansive views of the Verrazano Bridge. If you want to “get in the Gate,” as the locals say, but aren’t ready to relocate west of the Wonder Wheel, you can snag a summer membership at the Brooklyn Beach Club, where even non-residents can while away the hours under a cabana. Or, you can read on for the history of a Coney Island beach town you’ve probably never visited.
READ MORE

History

July 22, 2019

City demands answers from Con Edison after heat wave power outages

By Michelle Cohen

After thousands of New Yorkers lost power this weekend as temperatures soared through the 90s, the city looked to Con Ed for answers, including Mayor Bill De Blasio, who said in a Monday briefing that he was "extremely disappointed" in the utility provider, Gothamist reports. The latest shortfall, which saw over 50,000 customers in a swath of southeast Brooklyn without power this weekend, was apparently no accident; Con Ed throttled power to its customers in a "preemptive move to take those customers in southeast Brooklyn out of service in order to protect vital equipment and to help restore power as soon as possible."
What's the story, Con Ed?

City Living

August 17, 2017

De Blasio and Cuomo announce plans to eradicate ‘symbols of hate’ in New York

By Devin Gannon

After a violent weekend led by white supremacist groups in Charlottesville, Virginia, New York officials have announced plans to review and remove controversial public structures. Mayor de Blasio said on Wednesday the city will conduct a 90-day review of “all symbols of hate on city property,” by putting together a panel of experts and community leaders who will make recommendations for items to take down (h/t NY Post). On Wednesday, Governor Cuomo called upon the United States Army to reconsider its decision to keep the street names that honor Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, two Confederate leaders, at Fort Hamilton. Cuomo also announced the removal of the busts of Lee and Jackson from CUNY’s Hall of Fame for Great Americans in the Bronx.
Find out more