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Full video: Inside the Homes of Brooklyn's Most Famous Xmas Residents

Course: Travel, culture and local lifeSection: Brooklyn Christmas homesSubtitles: en

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222 subtitle cues

0:00

it's time to fire it

0:04

up unlimited credit card unlimited

0:06

buying I don't just buy one of these

0:08

I'll buy 20 of them you know so there's

0:11

no limit extension C There's No Limit I

0:13

I have two 300,000 lights in my basement

0:16

I have enough sets to do with the half

0:18

the

0:21

city if you're standing inside my house

0:23

looking out at any given time you'll see

0:25

hundreds of people standing there

0:27

anybody want a photo with this house

0:30

when we try and leave our front door

0:32

during Christmas the crowds the local

0:34

police department has to set up on the

0:36

corners to direct traffic so sometimes

0:38

you can't leave so what do I do oh sorry

0:41

excuse me and then I go right out to the

0:43

back door of my own house I think it's

0:46

hilarious a lot of people gave us

0:48

problems they didn't want to know about

0:50

it they didn't like it but every time

0:53

they complained I went

0:56

[Music]

0:57

bigger over the bridge in Brick New York

1:00

one neighborhood is on a Merry Mission

1:02

to claim the title of most festive place

1:04

on Earth the residents of D Heights

1:07

spend all year meticulously planning

1:10

their decorations in preparation for

1:12

over 100,000 visitors descending on

1:15

their doorsteps each Christmas this year

1:18

these very spooky Nutcracker men who

1:21

have moving eyes do you see them this is

1:23

probably the craziest house I've seen so

1:24

far it's quite the wow factor but who

1:28

could possibly have started such a

1:30

colossal operation not Santa but she's

1:33

the next best thing my name is Lucy and

1:37

I am the queen of

1:39

Christmas I moved here in 1986 it was

1:43

horrible because there was no

1:44

decorations nothing on this block so me

1:48

me and I come from a family that

1:50

decorates I said to my husband this

1:52

can't be so what we did was we decorated

1:55

you know not extravagant the first year

1:58

all of a sudden like every started

2:00

coming to the block first I was known as

2:03

the Troublemaker all the streets blocked

2:05

you can't get down the block all this

2:08

and uh I refus to let it bother me

2:10

because you're not going to stop me from

2:12

decorating so every time that they said

2:15

something I just went bigger and I kept

2:18

adding and I kept adding I start

2:21

decorating the end of October Nothing

2:24

Stops me it's just something that I

2:26

promised first it was my mother I

2:28

carried it out for my mother but 5 years

2:30

ago my husband had passed and he told me

2:34

even though I when I pass we continue

2:37

this so now it's mostly in the memory of

2:39

my husband a lot of people gave us

2:42

problems they didn't want to know about

2:45

it they didn't like

2:46

it but I guess they felt if you can't

2:49

beat them you have to join them or go on

2:52

vacation it's a simple as

2:55

that Lucy's neighbors haven't just

2:57

joined the festivities they're putting

2:59

their their own spin on things my name

3:01

is Frank Mangano and I'm an entrepreneur

3:04

my name is Anthony melino my name is

3:05

Revy melino and I work at a middle

3:08

school and I'm a local real estate

3:10

broker my decorating style is primarily

3:13

the lights when people walk down the

3:16

block and they'll and I'll hear them say

3:17

oh wow look at how bright that house is

3:19

and I I know then it's I I did the right

3:22

job when I first purchased those bulbs

3:24

they weren't bright enough we actually

3:25

added a 100 WT LED light in each one of

3:29

these bulbs so that really helps to

3:31

brighten up the display all the

3:33

neighbors I think they love the the they

3:35

love the lights we joke sometimes and we

3:38

say you know what I can't sleep at night

3:40

because it's right in my window but you

3:42

know what we appreciate Frank we

3:44

appreciate his his whole VOR our

3:46

decorating style is classic really like

3:51

you know really well thought out no

3:53

three words ah our decorating style is

3:57

classic elegant memor

4:00

[Music]

4:01

anyone can take a tour of this famous

4:03

street but they don't see the magic

4:05

behind the doors so welcome to the

4:07

inside of the believe house right over

4:10

here I have some different types of

4:12

Christmas pillows I had to switch those

4:14

out couldn't have just regular pillows

4:16

for Christmas so what I like to do is

4:19

leave the front door open so all of the

4:22

visitors can look in and see the tree

4:25

but there's so much light outside that

4:28

we had to put extra lighting on this

4:30

tree this is a picture of my dad and we

4:34

used to do a lot of decorating when I

4:36

was younger I used to help him and so

4:39

you know this is a tradition and

4:40

something now that I carry on in his

4:42

memory it was always fun just to to help

4:44

him do it and you know it brought

4:46

brought joy to him and to me and my

4:48

whole family so it was it was fun across

4:50

the road the melinos have a slightly

4:52

different approach to decorating Welcome

4:55

to our home we are minimalists uh most

4:58

of the decorations you'll see here is

5:01

not much we have our uh stockings and

5:05

these stockings are really cool cuz I've

5:07

had them for I'd say about 18 years now

5:10

so this one is for Mima which is uh my

5:13

mother-in-law and this is my son Jonah

5:16

and my daughter Talia and of course

5:18

mommy me and Dad we need the dog

5:22

stockings next year we we'll have it

5:25

yeah we don't put ornaments on our tray

5:29

um because I find it to be mishmash so

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here's how the lights change on a tree

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this is my favorite

5:35

feature and especially that it's

5:37

rotating really love

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it see like look at that Isn't that cool

5:43

so some of my co-workers are uh they

5:46

make fun of you they don't make fun I

5:48

think they they're they think we're

5:49

crazy to do do the Christmas lights the

5:51

way we do uh because of some of the

5:54

things that we have to go through uh

5:56

with trying to leave the house some days

5:58

or you know just to the store our

6:00

electric bill electric bill is not that

6:02

bad we do mostly LED lights now so I'm

6:05

like well it's for the holiday and some

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people want to be more elaborate so it's

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like a competition Sometimes some people

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really I really do think sometimes

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people compete you know but overall the

6:17

more the marrier you know if this is

6:18

what they love to do why not competing

6:21

with the residents of daa heights is not

6:23

for the

6:24

fainthearted but in the neighborhood

6:26

next door one resident is going all out

6:30

it's not a competition I got the best

6:32

you know and and have new and the best

6:34

every year the newest technology you

6:36

know the people that decorate those

6:37

houses want to hire me because they

6:39

can't get people that are qualified to

6:41

do the work they see my ideas and they

6:43

want them in their business you

6:46

know uh my name is Roy Jensen I was born

6:50

and raised in Bay D Heights Lucy started

6:53

probably 40 years ago and my parents

6:55

took me there and I loved it she had

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lights but she had everything she had

6:58

like a th000 items in front of a small

7:00

little house everything lined up and

7:03

stacked on top of each other you know

7:05

and everything but the kitchen sink is

7:07

there you know that inspired me also uh

7:10

I started in ' 89 when I bought the

7:12

house I was 22 years old I filled the

7:14

whole tree with bows and then a couple

7:17

of lights and then it just grew every

7:18

year Roy might be retired but he

7:21

decorates for all the holidays so it's

7:24

really become a full-time job some

7:27

people like that I decorate some people

7:28

are pissed that I can't spend time with

7:30

them you know you know the holiday house

7:32

has taken actually almost 100% of my

7:35

time during the holidays you know uh if

7:37

I had to estimate decoration spent

7:39

probably 150,000 a year unlimited credit

7:42

card unlimited buying I don't just buy

7:45

one of these I'll buy 20 of them you

7:47

know so there's no limit extension CS

7:49

There's No Limit you have to have a

7:50

thousand of them 2,000 I've I've have

7:53

two 300,000 lights in my basement not

7:55

just a thousand sets I have enough sets

7:57

to do the half the city at the end of

8:00

the season I'll I'll Don it to people

8:01

that don't have decorations we don't

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store any of this uh a few items I'll

8:05

save uh the tall you know nutcrackers

8:08

that are handmade and uh unique stuff

8:11

other than that we get all new

8:13

product no matter the location for all

8:16

these decorating Titans one thing makes

8:19

it all worthwhile when visitors come

8:21

here their eyes light up it's amazing

8:24

and the compliments they're encour

8:26

encouraging me and thanking me drives me

8:28

to do this I'm like well it's for the

8:30

holiday yeah we do it for the kids for

8:33

the neighborhood and obviously for the

8:35

visitors I I feel that I was meant to do

8:37

this wouldn't feel right for Christmas

8:39

if I was somewhere else and I didn't

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have this crowd of people and Lucy

8:44

certainly isn't letting this tradition

8:46

go anywhere I have two sons one is 53

8:49

and one is 50 and uh I always told them

8:54

you have to carry this out you have to

8:57

continue it Nothing Stops me he

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