Bring On the Lights : Although hard-hit by the quake, many Candy Cane Lane residents say homes will glow for the holidays.

It’s the day after Thanksgiving, and it’s a beautiful day in Dave and Cathy Rodgers’ neighborhood.

Strings of Christmas lights are being wrapped around houses, trees and white picket fences. Plywood figures of Disney, Peanuts and Sesame Street characters are popping up on front lawns. And Santa Claus is standing 19 feet tall at his annual post, the corner of Oakdale Avenue and Martha Street.

This, of course, is no ordinary neighborhood. This is “Candy Cane Lane,” an eight-square-block area of Woodland Hills renowned for its Las Vegas-like display of colored lights and other lavish holiday decorations every December.

Since residents began a tradition of decorating en masse in the early 1950s, generations of Southern California residents have flocked to the upper-middle class community just southeast of Pierce College and north of the Ventura Freeway. They cruise past homes with their headlights dimmed and their eyes aglow.

“It’s one of those things that, if it was gone, it would be disappointing to so many people,” said Dave Rodgers, who moved his family to Jumilla Avenue in 1975. “That’s what makes this so special.”

This year, perhaps, more than ever.

Rodgers and his wife had to move out of their house for more than three months after the Northridge earthquake while more than $125,000 in repairs were made. Dozens of other of the community’s ranch-style houses, built in the early 1950s, were similarly damaged and several remain vacant. The rubble of collapsed chimneys and other brickwork remains a neighborhood presence.

Alas, there figure to be a few dark spots on Candy Cane Lane this season. But most of those fortunate enough to be home for Christmas say the lights show must go on. And they plan to do what they can to make up for those who won’t be participating.

“We were looking forward to the holidays this year more than any other year,” Cathy Rodgers said. “This area got hammered so hard, we figured if we made it this far, we’d really deck it out.”

For many residents of the four streets that make up Candy Cane Lane--Penfield, Lubao, Oakdale and Jumilla avenues--the notion of not decorating is absurd. Over the years, circumstances ranging from the energy crisis of the mid-1970s to a rash of vandalism a few years ago have had a brief chilling effect on the decorating.

Traffic also has created problems. For many years, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation dispatched traffic officers to help with congestion around Candy Cane Lane, and members of the Los Angeles Police Department added assistance on a volunteer basis.

But police stopped helping about five years ago, according to Mary Moss, a transportation supervisor, and the transportation department is short-staffed and can no longer manage the traffic flow.

“We just couldn’t afford to fund it anymore,” Moss said.

Still, the spirit prevails.

“One year it was just dark, nobody decorated,” Jean Harwood, a Lubao Avenue resident since 1951, recalled of the year in which the energy crisis dampened spirits. “Oh, it was just awful. We were afraid it was over.”

Fran Bergstrom, who lives across the street from Dave and Cathy Rodgers, decided to forgo decorating one year because she was having a new roof installed. “I felt like such a Scrooge,” she said. “I felt like it wasn’t even Christmas.”

And this year, Bergstrom said, she has spotted a flyer urging neighbors to curtail decorating in deference to those still scrambling to recover from the quake.

Bill Rush, whose Lubao Avenue house served as the polling site for the Nov. 8 election, said the topic was on the lips of almost every resident that day.

“Everyone was talking about it--whether to decorate or not decorate,” Rush said. “But I’d say, maybe, about 10% of the people said they wouldn’t decorate this season.”

Nevertheless, for some who have moved back home, decorating has had to take a back seat to more important tasks such as painting, cleaning and settling in.

Robert Grover, a general contractor who has lived on Oakdale Avenue since 1984, with his wife Debbie and two daughters, sustained more than $150,000 in damage to their house. In addition to making their own repairs, Grover’s company is doing the work on 13 other houses in the area.

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“Everything that was brick just fell apart--all of it,” Grover said. “I never thought we could be hit so hard. From what I’ve seen, I think (the earthquake damage) is going to affect this season. Some people are not even living in their homes. And some people are so stressed out with anxiety, they can’t even think about decorations.”

For others, recovery can only be enhanced by decorating. Judy Gray, who has lived near the corner of Jumilla and Martha avenues since 1971, was displaced for eight months while her house underwent more than $160,000 worth of repairs. Gray re-entered her home in late September and has been planning her decorations ever since.

“This year I ordered a bunch of new stuff, including a three-piece wooden train . . . and reindeer,” Gray said. “And I’m going to replace whatever I lost.”

It all should mix well with Gray’s surviving figures of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and the sign that she erects each year that proclaims Jumilla “Avenue of the Bells.”

“I heard about (the flyer) a few days ago,” Gray said. “I just don’t understand it. If you don’t want to decorate, fine. But it’s been such a (lousy) year, if anything, I think you should decorate more .

“I can’t imagine Christmas around here without all of this.”

Where to Go

What: Christmas decorations along “Candy Cane Lane.”

Location: Penfield, Lubao, Oakdale and Jumilla avenues in Woodland Hills. East of Winnetka and west of Corbin avenues, between Oxnard and Martha streets.

Hours: Many residents start decorating by Dec. 1. Although there is no official time for lights to go on, residents generally display lighting from dusk until about 10 p.m.