If you want the real lights overload, you have to go to Dyker Heights, & really, a Thursday night before the holidays is a good time to be down there. The crowds last night were thin, and a pretty mixed group of people wandered the streets, though I heard a lot of Russian spoken. I can't do justice here to the mega-mansion size of the houses, or the razzmatazz of the lights: in my photographs the epic scenes are timid miniatures. I loved getting up close to the Christmas figures though, especially the choristers with their strange, replacement eyes, the grave, blonde angels, lips pressed to trumpets, and the Wise Man, splendid in blue, red and gold. Bulbous faced Santas were scary, and the snowman with blank eyes might track you down in your worst nightmares.
You need to be there in person to get the full impact: block upon block of massive houses blazing with lights and brassy over-confidence. As we rode home Borough Park seemed dim & secretive, and the regular house lights we had loved so much in Sunset Park & Greenwood Heights were faint, amateur affairs. How quickly we had become corrupted.
1 comment:
Great shots, I haven't been to Dyker Heights in a few years, but it's definitely a sensory overload when you go at Christmas time!
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