Los Angeles Christmas Lights Guide - Yahoo! News

It's that time of the year again. Cities, businesses and homeowners across the country break out their best holiday lighting displays to please the public. With today's computer controls, the displays are getting more and more exotic and amazing to watch. Here are our choices for the top holiday light displays in the Los Angeles area:

Newport Beach

Christmas is special in
View Larger Map:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Newport+Beach,+CA&gl=us&ei=68_pTJDWLIqosQPm9viwCw&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CC0Q8gEwAA">Newport Beach. About 40 miles down the coast from Los Angeles city center, it's the posh community where movie stars and business moguls live in luxurious waterfront homes and park their yachts out back.

Famous residents of the beach community have included John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Today, sports stars like Kobe Bryant and Dennis Rodman call it home.

Each year, the homes along the harbor sparkle with bright holiday lights for the annual Christmas Boat Parade. On Christmas Eve, lights on the decorated yachts are turned to red and green as the parade sails down the harbor past the light-festooned mansions.

One house in the area is so spectacular, it has won many awards for its extensive outdoor Christmas decorations and has been featured on TV specials. Greg Zimmerman's holiday displays are all computerized, and each year he finds ways to outdo his show from the previous year.

Thousands of visitors come to Newport Beach just to see the http://www.zimchristmas.com/">Zimmerman house. On and around this Balboa Island house are live and digitized Santas, elves, gingerbread men and reindeer. Although the weather may be 80 degrees, there is plenty of machine-made snow and 24,000 blinking and winking holiday lights.

Woodland Hills

The annual
View Larger Map,-117.928947&sspn=0.431132,0.470352&gl=us&g=Newport+Beach,+CA&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Oxnard+St+%26+Lubao+Ave,+San+Fernando+Valley,+Los+Angeles,+California+91367&ll=34.179714,-118.566985&spn=0.026769,0.029397&z=15">Candy Cane Lane celebration is in this San Fernando Valley community just 25 miles north on the 101 Freeway from downtown Los Angeles, at the Winnetka Avenue exit. It is one of the top Christmas light displays in Los Angeles California. The decorated homes are at Lubao and Oxnard Streets.

This will be the 58th year of the celebration, and visitors will see happy snowmen, elves, real and mechanical Santas and decoration themes from Christmas films, including Toy Story, The Grinch That Stole Christmas and The Christmas Carol.

Altadena

The most popular Christmas home display in Altadena, a town 35 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, is at the 90-year-old residence called
View Larger Map,-118.131848&sspn=0.001618,0.001837&gl=us&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=E+Mendocino+St+%26+Mendocino+Ln,+Altadena,+Los+Angeles,+California+91001&ll=34.185811,-118.111171&spn=0.006692,0.007349&z=17">Balian Mansion. It's located at the 5-point junction of Mendocino Street, Mendocino Lane, Allen Avenue and East Glenview Terrace.

Every holiday season since 1955, the old residence features a spectacular outdoor display of lights every night from early December through Christmas. Visitors can rub shoulders with Santa, snowmen, and happy kids. There's also a religious manger scene and thousands of bright lights.

Long Beach

The houses and small boats around
View Larger Map,-81.675355&sspn=0.058166,0.058794&gl=us&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Naples,+Los+Angeles,+California&z=14">Naples Island put on some of the most entertaining displays of Christmas and Hanukkah lights in Southern California. Naples Island is part of the city of Long Beach, located 20 miles along the Pacific Coast south of downtown Los Angeles.

The Naples Christmas Boat Parade this year is scheduled for Saturday, December 11, at nightfall. Each boat will have it's own unique lighting designs, and viewing the parade of boats as they pass along the island beach is an enjoyable once-a-year event for both kids and adults.

Additionally, individual homes around Naples Island sparkle with their creative Christmas and Hanukkah light displays throughout the season.

via news.yahoo.com

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