College Acres homes – Woodland Hills
College Acres is a unique neighborhood for many reasons. The most famous one has to do with the elaborate Christmas decorations homeowners on the interior residential streets put on display between Thanksgiving and New Years. This tradition dates back to the 1950s. Most of the decorations were hand-made back then and some of them are still displayed by either the original homeowners or the succeeding ones.
There are 4 streets (each with multiple blocks) that make up Candy Cane Lane:
Each street has a different theme:
(1) Avenue of the Bells (Jumilla Avenue)
(2) Candlelight Way (Oakdale Avenue)
(3) Candy Cane Lane (Lubao Avenue)
(4) Caroler’s Way (Penfield Avenue)
Each house had decorations that matched the theme. In the early years (1952-early 70’s), the theme decorations all matched. So the bells on Avenue of the Bells were all the same. The candles on Candlelight Way were the same. There could be additional decorations, but the thematic ones all matched.
If you know what you are looking for, you can still see a few of the old decorations in use. Mostly, they are the the carolers from Caroler’s Way since these were made of sturdier material. Last year there were still a couple of the old bells, and maybe a candle and candy cane.
Here are two YouTube videos I found of Candy Cane Lane at Christmas made by a very talented person – they definitely capture the spirit, cameraderie and love by the neighbors of College Acres:
Here is a slideshow of College Acres at Christmas that I created in 2011:
“Avenue of the Bells” slideshow (Jumilla Avenue)
“Candlelight Way” slideshow (Oakdale Avenue)
“Candy Cane Lane” slideshow (Lubao Avenue)
“Carolers’ Lane” slideshow (Penfield Avenue)
In December 2013, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ Online) interviewed several Realtors, including me, about Candy Cane Lane neighborhoods across the country. You can read the WSJ article by clicking on this link http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304477704579254553426661552
There is a slightly different version of the article found on MSN News: http://realestate.msn.com/blogs/post–is-hard-to-sell-homes-on-candy-cane-lane
College Acres real estate – Woodland Hills
