Free previewStop 2 of Dyker Heights Christmas Lights Walking Tour
The Woman Who Lit 84th Street
You're on 84th Street in Dyker Heights, in front of number 1152. This is Lucy Spata's house. Look past the lights for the angels. Lucy Spata put up 40 of them at the start, and she still sets those original 40 out today, surrounded by snowmen, Santas and a crowd of other holiday characters. See how many angels you can pick out.
To understand why they matter, picture this block in the mid-1980s. Dyker Heights already had big houses and deep front yards. What it didn't have, come December, was much of anything glowing in them.
In 1986, Lucy Spata and her husband, Angelo, moved onto 84th Street. Lucy has remembered that first stretch as a kind of dark age. She and Angelo were disappointed by how plain the neighborhood looked. Lucy decided not to wait for anyone else to fix it.
That's the opening. The rest plays at stop 2 of Dyker Heights Christmas Lights Walking Tour (2 min in all). Unlock the tour to hear it all, or try stop 1 free first.
