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El Segundo’s over-the-top Candy Cane Lane is canceled for the first time since the ’40s

The neighborhood Christmas lights display is taking a break this year.

Michael Juliano
Written by
Michael Juliano
Editor, Los Angeles & Western USA
Candy Cane Lane El Segundo
Photograph: Courtesy CC/Flickr/alexmwang
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Halloween is barely in the rear view mirror but the season for Christmas lights has already arrived. Ticketed drive-thrus are opening up across the county as we speak, but some neighborhood displays are still a question mark—or, in this case, already canceled.

Candy Cane Lane, an over-the-top display of Christmas lights that takes over East Acacia Avenue in El Segundo, has been called off for 2020. In a Facebook post from the city, El Segundo says that it’ll “take a pause for the first time since 1949” due to public health and safety concerns.

Thousands of visitors typically flock to the residential display, which would clearly be bad news for the county’s current ban on gatherings. “In previous years, the city supported the private neighborhood event by issuing a special event permit to close off the street to vehicles, and El Segundo Police provided traffic control,” the statement reads. But this year, the city has opted to not issue any such permits.

It’s worth noting that there are actually two neighborhoods in the L.A. area that go by Candy Cane Lane: The other one covers eight blocks in Woodland Hills—centered around Lubao Avenue and Oxnard Streets—and has blanketed the neighborhood in lights for 60 years. However, that neighborhood has yet to release 2020 info. Meanwhile, Altadena’s car-friendly Christmas Tree Lane will go on as planned, albeit without its usual in-person lighting ceremony. In other words: The status of residential displays will vary by neighborhood, but even for the ones that are still on, expect them to look a little different this year.

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