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Celebrate the holidays in SoCal with light displays and drive-through extravaganzas

Candy canes at Holiday Road at King Gillette Ranch in Calabasas.
(Line 8 Photography)
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Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Saturday, Dec. 9. Here’s what you need to know to start your weekend:

    Dazzling holiday light displays in SoCal

    We don’t have chestnuts roasting on an open fire or Jack Frost nipping at our noses in Southern California. But the holidays have arrived with light shows all over the place.

    Our guide highlights the 30 best ones in SoCal. Some are casual: Drive through a neighborhood where every house is adorned in glamor. Some are more official: Pay to be dazzled by a city, zoo or community’s extravagant displays.

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    Volunteer light shows

    Some of the most creative holiday displays adorn people’s houses in fancy neighborhoods. These all-volunteer efforts bring in thousands of visitors every year.

    In Torrance last year, as part of the Seaside Holiday Lights show, I saw houses decked out in lights and decor representing California football teams and Disney characters. One house even had a machine on the lawn that spewed out fake snow, which was so cool!

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    Motorists cruise Santa Rosa Avenue, better known as Christmas Tree Lane, in Altadena.
    (Los Angeles Times)

    Altadena’s Christmas Tree Lane starts its 103rd year of elaborate drive-by holiday decorations tonight. Nearly a mile of twinkling lights and dazzling decor is strung among 155 massive deodar cedar trees lining both sides of Santa Rosa Avenue. A group of volunteers spends 10 weekends manually hanging some 18,000 lights every year.

    Light festivals and enchanted gardens

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    Neighborhood light displays aren’t the only way to ring in the holidays in SoCal.

    Mission Inn Festival of Lights — the granddaddy of SoCal’s holiday light shows — in Riverside drapes a full city block with lights and moving figures. The tradition began 31 years ago and is now one of the largest public light displays in the country. It’s so popular that the inn opted to run it for an extra week this year!

    A man and a woman kiss and take photos among the sights and sounds of a holiday light display.
    Linda and Joe Rodriguez of Fontana take photos among the sights and sounds of the 29th annual Festival of Lights display which features Christmas-themed displays, fake falling snow and roaming carolers performing for diners at the restaurants at the historic Mission Inn Hotel & Spa in Riverside.
    (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

    There are more around, too: A cosmic light show meshing lights, projection and sound illuminates the garden walk at Astra Lumina, while a new hanging light installation under the oaks and a labyrinth of 3-D geometric sculptures transform Descanso Gardens into a luminous paradise.

    Read our full list here: 30 dazzling holiday light displays that make SoCal shine.

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    How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.

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    For your weekend

    A street view of the exterior window of DTLA Cheese Superette in downtown Los Angeles.
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    Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team

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    Elvia Limón, multiplatform editor
    Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
    Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

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