Dyker Heights Christmas Lights 2021

Hi friends, welcome back! Every year since the 1980s, homes in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn are decked in over the top Christmas decor like nothing I’ve ever seen before. The lights have become so popular that an estimated 100,000 people make the trek to Brooklyn each year to see the displays. I’ve been wanting to see the Dyker Heights Lights for quite some time now, but the long commute always intimidated me. To get there, you can take the subway, a guided tour with transportation from Manhattan, or drive there, but parking could be an issue.

You can view the lights from 11^th to 13^th Avenue between 83^rd and 86^th Street in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn. Anywhere you wander in this vicinity you’ll be guaranteed to see tons of lights. I went on a Wednesday night and took the subway from Lower Manhattan. I took the 2/3 to Atlantic Avenue and then transferred to the D train to the 79^th Avenue stop. Once I exited the subway, I had about a fifteen-minute walk until I started seeing the Christmas Lights. All in all, it took me about an hour to get there from my apartment.

To get home, I had about a fifteen-minute walk to the R train, and then transferred to the 2/3 at Atlantic Avenue until my stop at Wall Street. The R train makes eleven stops before Atlantic Avenue, but luckily I had a seat. This way also took about an hour to get home.

This house below belongs to Lucy Spata, she was the first to have Christmas lights and started the Dyker Heights Lights tradition. Her house is what I see in all of the Instagram posts and stories because it’s so over the top and I was glad to see it without all of the crowds. I overheard a tour guide talking about how much the lights cost because of the labor to decorate, electricity to light everything, and paying for storage for all the decor. It’s quite the commitment!

There is a company called B&R Christmas Decorators that installs the lights for over 200 houses. The owner was an engineer and art student and helped with one house in the 90s, and through word of mouth, his client list grew and now his company does most of the houses in the area. I found that so interesting, what a niche! His company designs, installs, AND takes down the decorations. All the homeowner does is flip on the switch, sounds pretty great to me 🙂

This house was one of my favorites, it looks like how I’d want Jon to decorate our future home.

This house had a snow machine and an ice cream truck conveniently parked outside! It seemed to have the second largest crowd behind Lucy Spata’s house.

I’d highly recommend making the trek out here, I had such a great time wandering through the streets taking in all of the decorations. I’ve heard that the weekends get super crowded, so I’d encourage going during the week if you can. I had most of the houses to myself and it was very enjoyable!  Dyker Heights is quite a hike from the city, but I think it’s worth it to wander through all of the decorated homes. I’m glad I made the trek and can cross this off my Christmas Bucket List 🙂