Elmhurst Christmas Light Installation

Every December the folks on S Street between 53rd and 54th build lighted tunnels out of PVC pipe right over the sidewalk, and a good crowd strolls through them. That’s Candy Cane Lane, and it’s about the best argument we know for doing Christmas on foot. It also means Elmhurst gets visitors, and they tend to wander. If you’d like your porch ready for them, Elmhurst Christmas light installation takes one quick phone call: (916) 313-4551.

Local guides pitch Candy Cane Lane as the calmer, walk-it alternative to the Fab 40s displays up the road. So the homes on the blocks around S Street get looked at slowly, by people pushing strollers, and that changes what’s worth lighting. Walkers notice porch-height things: a lit wreath hung on the front door, garland along a railing, a wrapped trunk beside the path. They barely glance at a ridge line two stories up.

The tunnels themselves belong to the neighbors who build them, and we’d never step on that. What we can do is get your house dressed to match the block, on a timer, with cords tucked where no visiting toddler will trip on them.

Elmhurst was laid out around 1908, and the houses show it: Craftsmans, bungalows and some later ranch homes, set close together. Close matters. When the place next door is only a side yard away, a roofline that wraps the whole house mostly lights your neighbor’s bedroom window. We keep roofline lights to the faces people see from the street, usually the front gable and the porch eave, held with clips so no nail or staple ever touches hundred-year-old wood.

A Craftsman porch is the fun part. The chunky columns that hold up the porch roof were practically built for a pillar wrap, wound snug and evenly spaced from the pier to the beam. Lit garland follows the porch beam or the railing, tied on with soft ties that leave paint alone. Along the front path we set stake lighting, placed by hand so the stakes miss sprinkler heads and the roots of anything you planted on purpose.

T Street is its own animal. The houses are bigger, there are Tudors with steep front gables, and the street runs alongside the park medians at Sunset Park and Sierra Vista Park. A steep Tudor gable looks terrific traced in lights, but it’s a tall, sharp climb, so we plan it carefully and often pair one bold gable outline with lighting lower down instead of chasing every peak.

One thing to know: the trees in those medians are park trees, not yours and not ours, so we leave them be. Your own front-yard trees are fair game.

Elmhurst is known for its canopy of large elm, ash and oak trees. For lights, that’s a gift and a puzzle. The gift is the trunks. A thick elm or oak trunk wrapped up to the first big limbs glows like a column, and it’s visible from down the block in a way a low bungalow roof isn’t. The puzzle is the shade. Under heavy branches a roofline can disappear from the street, which is one more reason we lean on tree wraps and porch lighting here. If you want more on that, our tree wrapping page goes into how we do trunks and branches.

There’s no homeowners association here. The Elmhurst Neighborhood Association is made up of volunteers, and it doesn’t hand out display dates. Put your lights up when you like. We do suggest a timer that shuts things off late in the evening. With houses this close together, the neighbors will appreciate a dark street at bedtime.

January is when we take down every strand, clip and cord. Spring arrives to a bare, tidy house, and your garage stays free of light bins. If a strand goes dark before then, (916) 313-4551 brings us back.

Tell us about the house by phone at (916) 313-4551, or text a couple of photos from the sidewalk. The contact form takes them too. We’ll work out a plan and a quote from that. If you can describe the place by its neighbors (“two doors from Coloma Community Center,” “around the corner from the Julia Morgan House”), even better.

We’re based downtown and Elmhurst sits on our regular Sacramento Christmas light loop, between Stockton Boulevard and 57th Street, not far from UC Davis Medical Center and nearby Tahoe Park. Candy Cane Lane does the tunnels. We’ll do your porch.

I live a block from Candy Cane Lane. Can you match what the street does?

The PVC tunnels on S Street are built by the residents themselves, so that part is theirs. We can light your roofline, porch, trees and walkway so your house fits right in with the block.

Is there an HOA rule in Elmhurst about holiday lights?

No. Nobody here answers to an HOA. Membership in the Elmhurst Neighborhood Association is voluntary, and it sets no display dates, so the schedule is yours. We remove everything in January.

My Craftsman has original wood trim. How do you attach lights?

With removable clips and soft ties only. Nails, staples and screws stay away from trim, porch columns and railings, and January sees every piece removed.

Can you light the trees in the T Street median in front of my house?

No. Sunset Park and Sierra Vista Park are public park medians, so we leave those trees alone. We’re happy to wrap trees in your own yard.

My roof is hidden under a big oak. Is it still worth lighting?

Sometimes not. Under a heavy canopy we often suggest wrapping the trunk and lighting the porch instead, since those show from the street.