The Christmas Tree Lane Association's own visitor page has a few instructions for the season. Enter Santa Rosa Avenue from Woodbury Avenue and drive north toward Altadena Drive. Go slowly. Turn on your hazard lights so the car behind you knows you're there for the lights and not in a hurry. The page calls the lane "a residential street without sidewalks" that is "primarily designed to be enjoyed by car during the lighting season."
That's how the lane works for most of its season, from early December to about the first week of January. One evening has worked differently. The 106th lighting is set for Saturday, Dec. 5, at the corner of Santa Rosa Avenue and Mariposa Street, and at last year's lighting the street closed to cars so people could walk the whole lane.
A mile of deodars, walked single file on the shoulder
The lane runs nearly a mile along Santa Rosa between Woodbury and Altadena Drive, under deodar cedars that LAist reported reach as high as 130 feet. The Association asks drivers not to stop or park in the middle of the lane. For anyone on foot on an ordinary night, the advice is blunt:
Be extra cautious — there are no sidewalks, and visibility is low at night. Walk single file along the shoulder and wear light or reflective clothing.
The same page says there's limited parking on nearby residential streets, and asks visitors not to block driveways or park on the lane itself. Outside of special events, there are no food vendors or facilities anywhere along the route.
So for most of December, walking the lane means single file on a dark shoulder with headlights behind you. Lighting night is the event the Association builds around people on foot.
How Saturday, Dec. 5 runs
The Association lists two events on the same corner, and both are free and open to the public.
- 3 p.m. Winterfest opens at Santa Rosa Avenue and Mariposa Street, with artisan and craft vendors, food trucks, live music, roaming performers, kids' activities, Santa photos and booths from local nonprofits.
- 6 p.m. The lighting ceremony begins, with local choirs, marching bands, musicians and community speakers, then a countdown to light more than 20,000 bulbs just after dark.
- 9 p.m. The festival wraps.
Last year, Santa Rosa Avenue was closed to traffic until 9 p.m. so people could walk the full mile, and the Los Angeles Times reported that organizers recommended that window as the only time to walk the route. Mikayla Arevalo, the Association's volunteer coordinator and communications director, told the Times she expected a crowd of around 15,000, up from roughly 12,000 the year before. She suggested parking on residential side streets and planning on a bit of a walk. Before you head out on the 5th, check christmastreelane.net for this year's street and parking plan.
If you live within walking distance, you can skip the parking question entirely.
The corner at Mariposa looks different this year
In 2025, Winterfest set up in the parking area of the Altadena Library at Mariposa and Santa Rosa. The Altadena Main Library at 600 E. Mariposa Street has been closed for renovation since Feb. 1, 2026. The work is part of a multi-year Measure Z project to repair and modernize the Main Library and the Bob Lucas Memorial Library, and the district's September 2026 update says construction on the main branch is underway.
That affects one practical detail on lighting night. The Association's visitor page lists the Main Library's public restrooms, during open hours, as the facility for the lane. The building won't be open on Dec. 5, so look at the event map once it's posted and plan ahead if you're bringing kids.
A short walk east, Mariposa Street has gained a café since the last lighting. Eater LA reported Bar Betsy opening in April 2026 at 871 E. Mariposa as a coffee-and-pastry spot starting at 8 a.m. Betsy, its dinner sibling, is next door at 875 E. Mariposa. Both are close enough to the ceremony corner to fit around a 6 p.m. countdown.
Why the lane lit up last December at all
The lane has gone dark only twice in its history. According to LAist, that was during World War II and during the energy crisis of the 1970s. After the Eaton Fire, the Association briefly talked about adding 2025 to that list. Association president Scott Wardlaw told LAist, "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.'"
The trees came through. The windstorm damaged branches and some of the strands that were still hanging from the year before, but LAist reported that no deodars were lost. The San Gabriel Valley Tribune's October report on this year's lighting gives the same account: some wind damage, and no damage from the flames.
Pasadena Now reported that the 105th lighting went ahead on Saturday night, Dec. 6, 2025. The Los Angeles Times reported that the ceremony included one minute and 19 seconds of silence for the 19 people who died in the fire. It also reported that a grant from the Walt Disney Co. paid for equipment to repair the 15-foot strands, enough to add at least one new strand to each tree, and that Disney employees volunteered in two-hour shifts over two days to rebuild them. LAist reported that each tree ended up with five to six long strands, up from four or five.
That outside help sat on top of the arrangement that has carried the lane for decades. The tradition began in 1920, when a local department store owner lit the trees to draw shoppers. The Christmas Tree Lane Association formed after Pasadena ended its involvement, following Altadena voters' 1956 rejection of annexation. Today the lane is a California State Historic Landmark and has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1990, but the Association says it receives no city funding. Donations, sponsorships and volunteer work pay the utility bills and the liability insurance. Volunteers string the lights with ropes and pulleys over several months. Arevalo summed up the appeal to LAist: "It's just the simplest thing ever — just lights in a tree."
Where neighbors fit in, before and after the switch
Because the lane runs on volunteers and member dues, there are several ways in for anyone who lives nearby:
- Volunteer. The Association is recruiting for the lighting ceremony, light installation and removal, and event safety. Volunteers must be at least 13, no experience is needed, and sign-up is online through the volunteer page.
- Join. Memberships run $40 for an individual, $20 for a senior or student and $75 for a household, with patron levels from $100 to $1,000. General donations go toward equipment, operations and maintenance.
- Vote. Homes along the lane decorate each year for the Holiday Decorating Contest, and the public picks the winner. The 2025 title went to a home on Santa Rosa Avenue.
- Sell or sponsor. Local makers can apply as Winterfest vendors, and businesses can sponsor the December event.
After Dec. 5, the lane goes back to cars. The lights stay on until about the first week of January, and the Association says the best time to see them is after dark. That's the stretch when the decorated houses are easiest to judge, from the driver's seat with the hazards blinking, heading north from Woodbury.
Part of what we love about marketing homes in Altadena is the community story behind them, and few local traditions tell that story better than this one. If you'd like to talk through what a December listing near the lane looks like, or just want to compare notes on the best side street for lighting night, Alex Lozano is happy to help. Let's Connect.
