It may still be too early to...
It may still be too early to decorate your own Christmas tree, but you can plug into a large dose of holiday spirit this weekend if you head to Altadena and help string electric lights on the 105-year-old deodar trees that line Christmas Tree Lane.
The mile-long section of Santa Rosa Avenue has been known as Christmas Tree Lane since the early 1920s, when Pasadena department store owner F. C. Nash first lit the more than 100 evergreens lining the residential street.
The 40-foot strings of lights are hauled up into the 90-foot trees by a pulley system and each tree has its own electrical power box, said Bill Caulfield, who has lived on Santa Rosa for 34 years and is a past president of the Christmas Tree Lane Assn.
Volunteers spend about six Saturdays working the pulleys, placing the light strings and putting in the colored bulbs that illuminate the towering trees for two weeks during the Christmas season, Caulfield said. “It used to be that the Brotherhood of Electrical Workers would send 75 or 100 men out on a Saturday and they’d get the whole job done in
one day,” Caulfield said, “but those days are gone.”
Now, the project could not be completed without hundreds of volunteers. It is financed by the nonprofit association with an annual budget of about $1,500, he said.
Estimates have been made that more than 100,000 carloads of people drive through the lane each year to marvel at the towering deodars, he said.
So, if you want to stock up on some goodwill and holiday cheer, go up to Santa Rosa between Woodbury Road and Altadena Drive on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. to get in on the decorating fun.
The trees, which this year have been designated a California Historic Landmark and placed on the National Register of Historic Places, will be lighted in a ceremony on Dec. 14 at 6 p.m. and will be lit through New Year’s Day.
Volunteers should look for the yellow flag on Santa Rosa, where the work will be going on. Adults and older children, junior high school age and up, are welcome. Lunch will be served.
