Rose Garden Resident

Cover Story

Photograph by Vicki Thompson

Warm Glow: The house at 992 University Ave. continues its holiday curb appeal tradition again this season with lighted candy canes and icicles in the yard.

Annual lights tradition continues in Rose Garden

Streets boast new, old holiday decor

By Mary Gottschalk

While Santa has been busy at the North Pole, his local elves have been just as busy putting up lights, hanging wreaths in windows and garlands on fences, setting up trees on their lawns, creating outdoor holiday displays, wrapping light poles with red ribbon, hanging banners and generally making things merry and bright.

Two of the busiest thoroughfares through the Rose Garden area boast some of the best displays.

At 1330 W. Hedding St., AJ Schutte and Steve Rodarte are once again stopping traffic with their annual gift to the street.

This year, heeding pleas from fans, the couple is incorporating parts of past displays and adding some new elements.

New are two 16-foot tall nutcrackers.

"They are unbelievable," Schutte says. "It took me hours to decorate these things, but I had to bring them to life, and they are--they are alive."

Schutte says they have had so many people stopping by asking them to redo past scenes that this year they decided to revive and combine them.

There are the huge, boxed presents from 2003, the very popular gingerbread town from 2004 and the 12-foot tall mantel with holiday stockings from 2005.

"We like to do something different ever year, but so many people wanted to see the gingerbread city again," Schutte says.

The rains delayed putting up the scene for a week.

Schutte says she added new presents to the stockings, but it's clear she's most pleased with her new nutcrackers.

"They're pretty cute, I must tell you," she says.

Also on W. Hedding, at 1777, the Glascott family has again decorated its front yard.

Tom Glascott, son Tommy, 13, and daughter Alyssa, 10, all work together on the outdoor décor.

"It's always a surprise for me. I never know until it's up," says mom Adrianna Citti Glascott.

"This year it's a little over the top, but it's every child's fantasy.

"We get a lot of people that stop to look, which is fun. You see the little kids' eyes peeking out of car windows, and neighbors bring their kids by in strollers."

Glascott says it is her husband who adds something new each year.

This year it's a life-size nutcracker at the front door, joining Santa, Rudolph, a snowman and a snow globe with lots and lots of lights.

The nutcracker is especially fitting as Glascott has collected nutcrackers since she was a child. Her own collection numbers more than 75, and each year she gives her son and daughter a nutcracker as part of her family tradition of going to see the San Francisco Ballet production of The Nutcracker.

Another holiday décor landmark is across Highway 880 at 2398 Newhall St.

Bob Moore has had his smiling Santa Claus there waving at passersby from Thanksgiving through Christmas for several years now.

The mechanized figure, which Moore made himself, is so lifelike children have stopped to talk to it, and many passing motorists, including at least one Santa Clara policeman, wave back.

Three years ago, Moore added a second Santa riding a unicycle back and forth on a high wire suspended between the house and a tree in the parking strip.

Frustrated by the time it took to keep the unicycle Santa in operation, this year Moore decided to build a different Santa.

The 2006 version sits atop a Penny Farthing bicycle with a large front wheel and small back wheel. This Santa, who sits higher than the Moores' house, waves as well, and his front wheel turns.

Moore says it took him about three months to build this new Santa, using plywood and hundreds of lights. The result is striking, both at night and during the day.

"It worked out pretty good," Moore says. "It's an old-fashioned bicycle, and I'm an old-fashioned guy. Everybody who comes by thinks it's something."

The familiar waving Santa comes out during the day, when Moore or his wife Kay, sit inside and operate it.

University Avenue is a popular street to drive down during the holidays. Most of the homes along it, as well as on adjacent streets, join together to put a tree with lights in their front yards, in addition to other decorations.

The house at 1598 University has large lighted stars suspended in its trees every year, and many homes display lights, inflated figures and snow globes.

However, it is the Italianate Victorian at 992 University Ave. that stands out year after year.

Gail Beard says her husband James climbs atop the roof of their two-story home each Thanksgiving weekend to hang the lights that outline the house and position Santa.

"He puts Santa up and ties him down so he won't fly away in a storm," Beard says.

Outlining the house in lights, putting candle lights in the windows, Santa on the roof and Frosty the Snowman on the porch is a tradition the Beards started when they moved into the house in 1998 after spending two years renovating it.

Now their son Tyler, 10, and daughter Elsa, 8, are the major proponents of adding more and more, Beard says.

As might be expected, families that decorate their own homes also take time to drive around and check out other decorated homes.

Beard says the family makes trips every year to the Fantasy of Lights at Lake Vasona in Los Gatos and Christmas in the Park in downtown San Jose.

Looking at lights is also a tradition with the Glascott family.

"It's really fun to look at other people's lights," Glascott says.

Where to find bright lights

Now is the time of year when families wanting a break from holiday preparations climb into the car to drive around and look at decorations.

There's plenty to look at this year in the Rose Garden environs.

Inflatable figures, including snow-globe styles, are as popular as ever, along with snowflakes, candy canes, wrapped presents, skeletal deer and trees, snowmen, a few nativity scenes and, of course, Santa himself.

Drive or walk down almost any street and there are lights to see, although some streets and houses have more than others do. Keep in mind that although it's dark before 5 p.m., a lot of people don't turn on their holiday lights until later in the evening.

It's impossible to list every house worth seeing, but here are a few:

711, 712 and 731 N. Baywood Ave. --This trio of neighboring homes brightens the whole block.

Bel Air Avenue--Many of the houses have trees in the front yards strung with white lights, making for a pretty scene.

1230 Broadleaf Lane--The use of just red and white lights make this house stand out.

1147 Chapman St. at Idaho Street--This small Victorian is always a delight with lights and Santa.

58 Cleaves Ave.--A small, lighted shrine with Our Lady of Guadalupe sits in the corner of the yard.

99 Cleaves Ave.--Lots and lots of lights, on the house, on the bushes and on the trees.

Emory Street--Between Bascom and Park avenues, most yards have frontyard trees with white lights. At one house where remodeling is going on, a lighted Santa is attached to the portable toilet in the driveway.

2026 Emory St.--White lights outline this house, the walkway and trees, as well as three reindeer.

1225 Hanchett Ave.--Look at the front porch scene with two large Egyptian cats watching the "flames" in the fireplace. Colorful, lighted packages dot the lawn along with spiral trees.

Harding, Hoover, Pershing and Schiele avenues--This neighborhood between The Alameda and Stockton Avenue has lighted trees in the front yards and several brightly decorated homes.

1452, 1463, 1439 Heatherdale Ave.--Each of these homes shares a lighted American flag as part of their holiday displays.

1330 W. Hedding St.--Look for the 16-foot-tall nutcrackers, a gingerbread town, stockings hanging on a mantel and huge, wrapped presents.

1777 W. Hedding St.--Lights, inflatable figures and now a nutcracker.

2409 W. Hedding St.--Santa in a hot air balloon and a "Seasons Greetings" message.

48 Linden Dr.--"Happy Holidays" spelled out in lights with inflated Mickey Mouse, Snowman and Santa. Colored package lights line the walkway and lighted candy canes add to this festive scene.

Naglee Avenue--Between Bascom and Garden avenues are several brightly decorated houses.

2398 Newhall St. at N. Redwood Avenue--Look for Santa riding an old-fashioned bike that is higher than the house. During the day, another Santa stands in front and waves to passersby.

2355 Park Ave. at Hilmar Street--All the windows of this corner house are filled with displays of Annelee Dolls.

2380 Park Ave.--Across the street from the doll display, look up high to see the lights in the tall, tall tree.

758 N. Redwood Ave.--Look up to see the white star on the roof.

2187 Sunny Vista Drive--Inflated Santa, lighted candy canes, train and deer.

992 University Ave.--This Italianate Victorian is outlined and dripping with white lights. Look for Santa on the roof and a snowman on the porch.

1598 University Ave.--Look up into the trees to see the large white stars hanging there.

1631 University Ave.--White lights outline the house and trees.

1460 Walnut Grove Ave.--This two-story house is outlined in white lights, and the front lawn includes a nativity scene, two moving reindeer, a caroling scene and lighted walkway.

1465 Walnut Grove Ave.--Look for Santa on a motorcycle and a snowman.

1485 Walnut Grove Ave.--Look for Santa and Mrs. Claus, Winnie the Pooh and Tigger too, with their own tree, a snowman and swags of lights across the front of the house.

1625 Walnut Grove Ave.--Lots of lights and red bows.

2415 Walnut Grove Ave.--Snowman in a snow globe and lots of blinking lights.

2412 Walnut Grove Ave.--Another snow globe, Santa, a reindeer and spiral tree.

Jewish groups bring Chanukah to Valley Fair

Members of the Rose Garden's Temple Emanu-El are joining other South Bay synagogues and Jewish organizations observing Chanukah at Westfield Valley Fair through Dec. 22. This is the first time a celebration of this kind has been observed at the mall.

A hanukiah, a menorah with nine branches, is on display on the second level near Macy's Men's Store, and each evening a candle is lighted as part of the traditional ritual.

Sometimes called the Festival of Lights, Chanukah commemorates the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem following the victory of the Maccabees over the Syrian king, Antiochus IV.

The legend is that there was only enough consecrated oil to fuel the eternal flame in the temple for a single day. Yet, the oil lasted a miraculous eight days, the length of time it took to press, prepare and consecrate new oil.

On the hanukiah, eight branches are the same height, one for each of the eight days, and a ninth branch in the center is higher. The center candle, the shamas, is lighted and used to light the other candles. The first night, one candle is lit, the second night two candles, and so on.

Melanie Aron, rabbi of Congregation Shir Hadash in Los Gatos since 1990, says the congregation approached Westfield after learning one of its Southern California malls allowed a hanukiah.

"We thought if they can do it in Los Angeles, why can't we do it here?" Aron says.

Lynne Rice, marketing director for Westfield's Northwest region, says they welcomed the request.

"Whenever somebody from the community reaches out to us, we try and accommodate them when we can," Rice says.

"Westfield is committed to the community and we have several different partnerships this holiday season. We've partnered with the Salvation Army Giving Tree, the One Warm Coat program and the Gift of Reading."

Rice says Westfield views the hanukiah as a symbol of the holidays, along with holiday décor around the mall and Santa Claus.

The hour-long program varies each night.

One night has an adult choir; another night cookies are served.

"We're trying to give people a taste of the variety of Jewish organizations active in our local community," Aron says.

The program, which centers around the candle lighting, is Dec. 21 from 5 to 6 p.m. and Dec. 22 from 3 to 4 p.m.

"It's nice for Jews and especially Jewish children to see their religion in the public sphere, but the program is open to everybody," Aron says. "We're hoping non-Jews will come by and get a little taste of Chanukah."