The 106th lighting of Christmas Tree Lane is Saturday, December 5, at 6 p.m., at the corner of Santa Rosa Avenue and Mariposa Street. It is free, and Winterfest fills the same corner from 3 to 9 p.m. The deodars belong to the houses behind them. The people hanging the lights are volunteers. The power bill is paid with donations. Every rule for visiting the Lane in December follows from those three facts.
A Landmark With House Numbers
The trees are older than the tradition. California State Parks credits the Woodbury family with planting the deodar cedars along Santa Rosa in 1885, and lists the Lane as Historical Landmark No. 990. The Christmas Tree Lane Association's history credits the planting plan to John P. Woodbury. It says the seeds were germinated in 1883 and set out along the avenue in the spring of 1885. The Lane has also been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1990.
Homeowners do most of the day-to-day tree care. Association president Scott Wardlaw told the Los Angeles Times that the association tends the trees, but that "they are largely cared for by the homeowners on whose property the trees reside." The association has given the cedars extra water during drought years. More often, Wardlaw said, it has to warn homeowners not to overwater, because too much water can lead to Armillaria root disease, a deadly form of root rot.
So a landmark of nearly a mile depends on many separate front yards, each with its own sprinkler schedule. In LAist's report, some of the cedars reach 130 feet.
Neighbors Took Over When the City Stepped Back
The lighting started in 1920. California State Parks credits F.C. Nash with organizing it. The association's history says the first display covered a quarter-mile stretch and had help from Pasadena Kiwanis and the City of Pasadena. The Daily News describes Nash as a local department store owner who wanted to draw shoppers. The paper reports that Pasadena ended its role after Altadena voters rejected annexation in 1956, and that is when the association was formed.
Seventy years on, the association is still the whole operation. It is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) nonprofit. It handles the lighting, tree care, traffic safety, events and fundraising, and pays for utilities, insurance and supplies out of donations and sponsorships. The lights go up by hand. In a Los Angeles Times photo from November 2024, volunteers are using ropes and pulleys to raise long strings of lights into the cedars.
Last year was the hardest test of that setup. LAist reported that the windstorm behind January's Eaton Fire damaged branches and some of the lights still on the trees, while not one deodar was lost. Nearly 200 volunteers spent several months stringing more than 20,000 lights, and a donation from the Walt Disney Co. paid for thousands more. Wardlaw told LAist that the association had briefly wondered whether to hold the event at all:
"We did talk about whether it would be depressing because of what was lost. But people were urging us to do it again and saying 'Please put the event on and put those lights up.'"
Pasadena Now reported that the 105th ceremony included a silence of one minute and 19 seconds for the 19 people who died in the fire.
For 2026, the association's volunteer page asks for help installing and removing lights on weekends, from anyone 13 or older. Its sponsor page lists four tiers, from $250 to $1,500. Those sums cover the electricity for a mile of lights.
December 5, the One Night on Foot
Santa Rosa Avenue has no sidewalks, so the association treats the season as a drive-through. The opening Saturday is different. Here is the 2026 schedule from the association's events page:
- 3 p.m. Winterfest opens at Santa Rosa and Mariposa. Expect artisan and craft vendors, food trucks, live music, roaming performers, activities for children, photos with Santa, and booths from community groups and local nonprofits.
- 6 p.m. The lighting ceremony, with local choirs, marching bands and musicians, special guests and community speakers. The switch is flipped just after dark.
- 9 p.m. Winterfest closes.
Last December, the Los Angeles Times reported that Santa Rosa was closed to cars until 9 p.m. on lighting night so people could walk the Lane. It also reported that this was the only time organizers recommended walking the route. Turnout has been growing. Mikayla Arevalo, the association's volunteer coordinator and communications director, told the Times the 2024 event drew about 12,000 people. She expected around 15,000 in 2025, a record. Her parking advice was to use residential side streets and plan on a walk to the festival.
Every Other Night, by Car
The association's visiting guide says the lights come on in early December and stay lit until about the first week of January. Its rules come from the same fact as everything else here, which is that this is a residential street:
- Enter Santa Rosa from Woodbury and drive north toward Altadena Drive.
- Drive slowly, and expect traffic on peak evenings and weekends.
- Turn on your hazard lights so drivers behind you know you're looking at the lights.
- Don't stop or park in the middle of the Lane.
- If you walk, go single file along the shoulder, wear light or reflective clothing, and keep children and pets close.
- Street parking nearby is limited. Don't block driveways, and don't park on the Lane itself.
The last two rules matter most. Those driveways belong to the same households that water the trees.
Homeowners also add their own displays. Each year the public votes in the association's Holiday Decorating Contest, and the house at 2085 Santa Rosa Avenue won in 2025. The association's guide also points out that the deodars and the historic landmark plaque are worth seeing all year, including when the lights are off.
The Corner Behind the Ceremony
In 2025 the festival used the parking area of the Altadena Library at Mariposa and Santa Rosa. That building has a history of its own. Altadena architect Boyd Georgi designed the Main Library, a midcentury modern building that has served the community since 1967. The library district says it closed for renovation on February 1, 2026. The work is funded by Measure Z. The district's Next Chapter page reported construction underway in September 2026 and expects the project to take about 18 months.
The library's winter programs are running at other locations in the meantime. Winter Family Storytime & Cocoa is Monday, December 7, from 4 to 4:45 p.m. at the Bob Lucas Memorial Library, 2659 Lincoln Avenue. Winter LoterÃa is the next afternoon, Tuesday, December 8, from 3 to 4 p.m. at Fair Oaks Burger.
For dinner before a drive down the Lane, El Patrón Mexican Food Restaurant at 2555 N. Lake Ave. is a short trip east. Altadena Now reported that owner Margarita "Maggie" Cortez reopened soon after the fire and scheduled a grand-reopening celebration for August 27.
A street like Christmas Tree Lane depends on its neighbors working together, and so does the sale of a historic home there. If you own one of the houses under the deodars, or a home whose history you want told carefully when it changes hands, Chelby Crawford would welcome the conversation. Request a private market consultation.
