Feast Your Retinas On The 2019 Dyker Heights Christmas Lights

The Dyker Heights lights are an annual tradition—both loved and loathed (but mostly loved)—that harness the chaos that is the holiday season through a neighborhood-wide display of dazzling mayhem. The decked-out homes make it look like what would happen if Clark Griswold were cloned 100 times over and each version of him decided to live here in Brooklyn (with a Todd and Margo thrown in for tension), and every December these Clarks decided to have a friendly, high-wattage competition.

"It is a twinklin' freakin' wonderland," one woman correctly (if jokingly) declared in 2012, going so far as to say that the displays are "drippin' with class," and asking, "Who lives here, the Pope?" While it would be truly amazing if this were how the Pope had the Apostolic Palace decorated, this is really closer to a Winter Wonderland acid trip.

While there were no vendors out during our trip this week (to be honest, we've never noticed them in previous years, either), the cops were out, likely, in part, to enforce the vendor ban.

So do you, not a vendor, want to check this madness out? Dyker Heights is located between Bensonhurst and Bay Ridge. If taking mass transit, you'll need to take the D train and get off at 79th Street in Brooklyn, but note you'll have a 20 minute walk up and down some hills to and from (MAP). You can also take a tour bus (which will cost around $55), or get yourself as close as you can then take a rideshare service.