MegilLA Chanukah Issue Night One

Thursday, December 10, 2020

Folks,
Chanukah, the Festival of Lights begins tonight, and heavens do we need it. Never have I felt such a need for light, and for a miracle. Confined at home, it will take more than a few chocolate coins to get us through the eight nights. To add light to your holiday, this issue, presents a Chanukah House Auto Tour; perhaps the only car tour of Chanukah lights in the country. On a cold night when you feel the need to take a drive, I hope it brings you a nice warm glow.

Can you help me get a glow on too? Your yearly subscription is about to run out, and I need your financial support to keep the MegilLA lights on for another year. As for many small businesses, this has been a difficult year, and I need some help to keep publishing.  Please click on one of the Subscribe buttons below.

Adding more light, new editions of MegilLA will come to you on other nights of Chanukah as well.

Happy Chanukah
Edmon J. Rodman

---

After disaster strikes, a Chanukah light show is rekindled

Photos Brad Herman

Before the disaster.     

...And after.  

Edmon J. Rodman

When disaster struck, Brad Herman’s annual Chanukah house light show was up and ready to shine.

With a colorful house display of over 7000 lights, a huge menorah made of lights, and inflatable Bear, Herman’s Chanukah display for the previous nine years had been a delight for passersby to see. The display had even featured on NBC4. “It was set to be our largest show,” said Herman.

But on the morning of November 27, his work was destroyed. An out-of-control car “Crashed into two trees, knocked over a city light pole, crashed through our Chanukah light show into my wife's car, sending it 13 feet forward and totaling it. It wasn't an act of vandalism or hate, we worried about that,” said Herman.

“The car spun sideways and put a large hole in our garage wall, making it unstable,” he added.

Pieces of broken colored lights were everywhere, and the Chanukah bear lay crumpled in the front yard.

Only the night before, Herman had been putting the finishing touches on the installation that during the Festival of Lights covers his Culver City home.  “I had worked the whole week before, including Thanksgiving, with the family on the display, and it was nearly complete,” said Herman. 

Apparently, the driver was trying to get away from a hit and run that he allegedly committed a few minutes earlier. He “sped down our street at over 70 miles per hour and lost control,” said Herman.

The driver, who was dazed, got out of the wrecked car, and talked to Herman and apologized. “Then he ran off,” he said. “My neighbor chased him eight blocks till the cops could get him in custody,” for leaving the crime scene. “The young man made poor choices, and we feel bad for him.”

Though in the aftermath of the accident Herman’s garage was red-tagged, his love of Chanukah lights was not. From the strings of lights that remained intact, and the inflatables that could still hold air, a  revamped display emerged.

“We have a smaller show of what was left and what we could get turned on,” he said. “It’s not what we planned, but it’s something.”

The display can be found at 10803 Overland, Culver City.

---

Touring the Chanukah lights

In this dark Covid season, when we are all on Chanukah lockdown, where is our glow?

Before Thanksgiving each year, as I drive around my neighborhood at night, it’s dull and dark; just street lights and porch lights, maybe. Then night by night, the streets come gradually alive with Christmas wattage.

I don’t mind. Here in LA, the holiday lights are one of our few signals of seasonal change. But Jews feel a light-ness of spirit too.

Isn’t the most important part of Chanukah publicizing the miracle? That’s why we are supposed to put our menorahs in the window for everyone to see. Especially in a year like this one, when we can’t party, shouldn’t we have a way to show our heritage, and share it with our neighbors?

So what if some households have the urge to plug in their message and flip the switch on Jewish identity. Jews can have holiday house displays too.

For generations, the standard Jewish community line on decorating homes for Chanukah has been that it is assimilative. We pooh-pooh’ed the idea by saying: “It will confuse the children.” But our children know who they are, and wear ugly Chanukah sweaters to prove it.

On our house, we have two projectors shining dancing dreidels on our house, plus a giant blue light Star of David hanging over our entry way, and a “Happy Hanukkah” banner hanging, if anyone has a doubt of who we are.

Why not? It is a Festival of Lights, celebrating an historic victory over assimilation, and I want to plug in.

Chanukah house light display pioneer, Brad Herman (See story above), has led the way, and the Chanukah glow is spreading. This season, a number of homes in Beverly Hills and Culver City are done up in blue and white lights plus Chanukah inflatables. On view, early in December, with few Christmas lights to compete with, they stand out in their glow and creativity.

To take in this sparkly and whimsical side of our community, MegilLA has prepared a Chanukah House Auto Tour. All you need to do is get in the car, put some J-tunes on the radio, and take a cruise through all the blue and white light.

Special thanks to Michael Levin, Brad Herman, and Pini Herman for spotting the houses found in the tour.

Chanukah House Auto Tour

BEVERLY HILLS

238 S. Bedford Dr. All the inflatables have head coverings, some of them kippas, and a snowman wishes you a "Happy Hanukkah.

345 S. El Camino Dr.  From the size of it, the the flame in the hanging oil lamp should last at least eight days.

215 S. Crescent Dr. The twin palms in lights present a post card worthy LA Chanukah vision.

140 N. Carson Dr. The menorah in the window enchantingly lights up the miracle.

332 N. Doheny Dr.  Tangled up in blue.

719 N. Sierra Dr.  The tree of lights is a delight.

CULVER CITY

4077 Elenda St.  A blending of two traditions.

10840 Franklin Ave. Biggest menorah on the block. There's also a bench for a mensch.

10803 Overland. See top story and photo.