Grinch Darkens Mood at Candy Cane Lane Home

Did the Grinch steal Christmas from Candy Cane Lane?

Unlike the Dr. Seuss creature with the Mr. Scrooge attitude, this real-life thief apparently did not have a change of heart.

And so far, there’s not much of a happy ending for Lynnette Amerian, who works as a secretary for City Councilwoman Laura Chick, the head of the council’s public safety committee.

Amerian spent hours in the rain Sunday putting up hundreds of Christmas lights at her Jumilla Avenue home. She was doing her part for the neighborhood, known over the holiday season as Candy Cane Lane. Each year, thousands come here to see the elaborate holiday displays.

Friday morning she woke to find it all gone--lights, timers, even extension cords.

“Who else would be capable of something like that,” Amerian said, referring to the Grinch, who in the story impersonates Santa to clean out a village on Christmas Eve.

“I mean Christmas lights . . . can you believe it?”

Amerian estimated she will have to spend $150 to replace the decorations.

“For me, it’s worth it when the cars drive past and people yell out, ‘Merry Christmas!’ ” she said. “And I don’t want to discourage the neighbors from doing this next year.”

The neighborhood apparently earned its name in 1951, when a group of residents gathered for coffee and talked about decorating their homes for the holidays.

Someone came up with the idea of slapping a coat of white paint on a stovepipe, then wrapping it with a red ribbon to make it look like a giant candy cane.

Since then, tens of thousands have come to visit the homes on Lubao Avenue and surrounding streets.

Amerian said this wasn’t the first time a holiday hoodlum threatened to steal the Christmas spirit.

A few years back, she said, some neighbors suffered a similar theft. But they didn’t replace the lights.

Instead, they put up a sign in their front yard explaining that someone had stolen their lights and that they weren’t going to bother to put up any more.

“I just couldn’t do that,” she said.

Councilwoman Chick, Amerian’s boss, said unfortunately such a theft is not the kind of thing the LAPD should bother with. In the Dr. Seuss story, the Grinch returns all the gifts and decorations he stole after his heart miraculously grows two sizes.

Chick said the theft is an unfortunate comment on society.

“It’s just so symbolically horrific,” Chick said. “It’s such a sick idea of Christmas.”