Dyker Heights? What place is that? Well, I didn’t know it existed until a few days ago, when I came across this photo on the net.
Lucy Spata’s house in Dyker Heights
Awesome, ain’t it? But I still hear someone ask: “So where is it?”.
Well, it’s a residential neighbourhood in Brooklyn, one of the five boroughs of New York City.
Dyker Heights is located approximately near the red arrow on the map above, close to Verrazzano Bridge at the entrance of New York’s Bay.
But above all, Dyker Heights is famous all over the US and perhaps the world (?) for its Christmas lights, which attract thousands of viewers every year for about three weeks.
Take a look.
There’s a guided tour of the neighbourhood called…..Christmas Lights and Cannoli Tour , lasting 3 1/2 hours and starting just off Union Square.
Cannoli you said? Yea, you got it: it’s the Italian-American section of Brooklyn!
How did it all begin? From Wikipedia:
[…] newspaper reports and tours of the area suggest it started sometime in the 1980s.
Dyker Heights has been referred to as “an epicenter of professionally hung Christmas lights”. Most holiday decorations in the area are not erected by homeowners, but by local decorating companies, but the cost of hiring professional decorators can vary greatly, from $1,000 to $20,000 or more, depending on the scale of the display.
[…] Early on, the two most noted homes were on 84th Street, between 11th and 12th avenues, directly across from one another. The home of Lucy Spata with her Santa theme at 1152 84th St and that of Alfred Polizzotto with his Nutcracker motif at 1145 84th St.
Two very Italian surnames, aren’t they? This is what happened next.
In December 1998, the Spatas’ home was covered in lights, illuminated soldiers and choirboys, and other Christmas figures. The inside is decorated with 50 motorized dolls, miniature villages and many gifts. Outside Santa, […] greets children and others who pass by.
The white mansion, owned by Alfred Polizzotto and his family, is adorned with a pair of 29-foot (8.8 m) high wooden soldiers which stand guard and wave their arms. The front lawn has rearing horses and a quartet of dancers.
Since then, the whole neighbourhood has followed suit and has become a tourist attraction at Christmas, with amazing light displays…..and, I guess, huge electricity bills!!
Keep it in mind next time you plan a Christmas holiday in New York.