December is marked by an explosion of lights, music, ornaments, decorated trees, sales, advertisements, and the inevitable strain on our wallets.  If you’re like me, you want to do it all!  

In Los Angeles, we have a number of fun, holiday light extravagances to choose from, but they can get expensive:

• Astra Lumina at South Coast Botanical Gardens is the least expensive at $29 per adult.
• Enchanted at Descanso Gardens is $39.
• LA Zoo Nights:  Animals Aglow is $39.
• Lightscape at the LA Arboretum is $40.

These shows are excellent and definitely worth the price.

But, for the holiday budget-conscious person who want to see holiday light shows for free, I have the solution.

I have selected 10 places where you can see holiday lights and light shows for free, with some honorary mentions at the end.

Ready for some magic?  Then read on!

Unwrap the Magic in Beverly Hills

This was, by far, the best, free light show I’ve seen this year.  It’s a large, 3D projection show on a corner of the Beverly Hills city hall building.  After a countdown from 10, city hall is wrapped in holiday paper.  Its unwrapping reveals a fun, holiday, and impressive 3D animation.  And then it’s wrapped up again.  Each unwrapping reveals something new and magical.

If you can only see one holiday show this year, this is the one to see.  It was superb.

The show is every half hour from 6:00 pm through 9:30 pm.  

In between the shows, you can choose from 12 different 3D holiday animations from a kiosk on the lawn.  The animation you select also displays on the side of city hall.

Some of these animations appear to show the top of city hall being unscrewed, and the sides of the building opening to reveal the 3D animation within.  After the 30 second animation, the walls close again, and the top screws back onto the building.

It was truly fun to see and fun to be able to select the different animations myself.

More info:  https://lovebeverlyhills.com/events/view/unwrap-the-magic-projection-show

Sparkle DTLA at The Bloc

The Bloc is a collection of retail shops & restaurants right above the 7th Street Metro station.  You’re greeted at the entrance on 7th street with a huge, all electric walk-in holiday ornament – definitely insta-worthy.

The open courtyard boasts a huge, all-electric tree that you can walk through for more selfies.

Suspended above the courtyard are different sized, lighted holiday ornaments.  

Each hour, from 5 – 9 pm, a holiday music & light show plays, pulling all of these holiday features into a cohesive show for your entertainment.

More info:  https://www.theblocla.com/event/sparkle-dtla/

Mission Inn Festival of Lights

This year is the 30th anniversary of Mission Inn’s Festival of Lights.  Mission Inn borders a pedestrian mall, where food vendors, street musicians, and holiday decorations compete for your attention. 

The Mission Inn itself is decked out in electric-light splendor for you to freely behold.  Last year, the large christmas tree out front also featured a music & light show.

More info:  https://www.missioninn.com/experiences/events/festival-of-lights

The Americana

In Glendale, go to the Americana.  The Americana is an outdoor mall with grass and benches that surround a fountain with Belagio-style water dances.  And that’s every day of the year.

For Christmas, they have a ridiculously tall Christmas tree, and a newly built house for Santa to hear the wishes of good little boys & girls, and probably a few naughty ones as well.  

Sitting & talking to Santa is free.  But the photos & video are not.  

For me, it was worth it to have photos to send with my holiday cards.

More info:  https://americanaatbrand.com/

The Citadel

The Citadel is a shopping outlet of upscale stores located in the City of Commerce.  If you ever drive along the 5 freeway, you’ve undoubtedly seen the large, beautiful, Egyptian building that is the Citadel.

I thought the Christmas tree at The Americana was large, but the Citadel’s tree was even larger.  In fact, it is the largest Christmas tree in the United States, even larger than the tree at the Rockefeller Center in NYC.  

Each night, they feature 4 holiday music & light shows, with snow!  

Called Snowy Nights, the shows play every hour, on the hour, from 5 to 8 pm.  This show is a lot of fun to see.

More info:  https://www.citadeloutlets.com/

Beverly Hills

Beverly Hills has some of my favorite holiday light displays, in addition to Unwrap the Magic, above.

Beverly Gardens Park, home of the famous Beverly Hills sign, features a light show called Lights on the Lily Pond.  It runs every hour from 6:00 – 8:00 on weekdays and adds an extra show at 9:00 pm Thursday-Sundays.

The center median on Rodeo Drive features new decorations each year.  This year, it’s holiday train cars carrying presents, ornaments, dreidels & teddy bears.  

A large, posh Christmas tree marks the entrance to Two Rodeo Drive at Rodeo and Dayton.  This European-looking lane has multiple opportunities for selfies:

• a red, velvet-like bench in a large, lighted ornament
• a neon Joy sign over a faux-green-grass background framed with 2 lighted, tin soldiers
• A collection of various-sized lighted stars and large, wrapped presents
• A human-sized, lighted frame

The other entrance to Two Rodeo Drive is on Wilshire.  At the base is another selfie opportunity, with a not-so-soft couch next to a large, jolly Santa.  

The sumptuous stairway leading up to Two Rodeo drive is decorated with thick garland, ornaments & lights.

Around the corner at Beverly Canon Gardens is another holiday display that changes from year to year.  

This year is Glowing Gardens, a collection of twisted neon-esque lights that create tree-like shapes and change colors, from the cool blues of winter to the warm reds of a fireplace.  

More info:  https://lovebeverlyhills.com/events/view/glowing-gardens-at-beverly-canon-gardens

https://lovebeverlyhills.com/events/view/lights-on-the-lily-pond

Christmas Tree Lane

Christmas Tree Lane in Altadena is the oldest, large-scale Christmas Light Display in the entire United States.   

The beautiful deodars (evergreen cedars) that line Christmas Tree Lane are over 100 years old.  

Christmas Tree Lane was originally planned as the long driveway to John P. Woodbury’s (Altadena’s founder) never-built mansion.  The trees were planted and have grown to the magnificent, holiday trees that are celebrated today.

This year is the 100th lighting of these Christmas Trees.  For this event, you have the option to drive it or walk it.  

More info:  https://christmastreelane.net/

Naples Canals

Naples, in Long Beach, is an upscale neighborhood of boat owners, whose homes are around a series of canals.  

The canals are a nice walk any time of year.  But at Christmas, a number of these homeowners deck their houses out, and it’s fun to see what they do.

This year, one house had a sign in front that read, “Oy to the World.”  It wasn’t a typo.  Up in the window was a little boy with a large dreidel, and Santa in a blue suite.  Very clever!

Next door is the Good Ship Lollipop.  This house was appropriately adorned with gummy bears and oversized lollipops.  

Another canal house sported a neon dolphin jumping across his 2nd floor porch.

This is just a small sample of the types of decorations you can find while taking a relaxing stroll along the canals.  

If you don’t want to head as far south as Long Beach, but the idea of European-style canals appeals to you, then head over to the Venice Canals in Venice, CA. 

Sleepy Hollow Light Extravaganza, aka Candy Cane Lane

37 years ago, this neighborhood banded together to create a holiday light display that would appeal to families, and they’ve been doing it ever since.  

You can either walk or drive through this neighborhood to see the decorations.

Many of the neighbors will be out selling hot chocolate, or churros, and you might find some carollers, too.

More info: https://southbayevents.com/sleepy-hollow-christmas-lights-extravaganza/

Dana Point Holiday at the Harbor

Dana Point Harbor has multiple light displays all around the harbor, including a light tunnel, a “Merry Kiss Me” booth, and a large, whale, light sculpture.  

More info: https://danapointharbor.com/holidays-at-the-harbor/

Honorable Mentions

I have 3 honorable mentions.

Christmas Vacation House

Jeff Norton devotes his entire house and front yard to honoring National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.  

It is kind of an obsession of his, but in the best possible way.

Location: 15912 Golva Dr, La Mirada, CA

Universal Studios City Walk

This is only an honorable mention, because, to be honest, I was underwhelmed with most of their holiday decorations.

At one end, they have a beautiful Christmas Tree.

In the center of City Walk, there’s almost no holiday lights at all.

But at the other end of the City Walk, outside the entrance to the paid theme park, they outdid themselves.  The lights were spectacular, and you’re on a red carpet, so it’s a pretty fantastic sight.

Parking at Universal City Walk can get expensive though.

As an alternative, you park at the Universal City Metro Station (flat fee of $3.00), then walk across the overpass to a free shuttle that will take you up to the park.

More Info: https://www.universalstudioshollywood.com/web/en/us/things-to-do/citywalk

Griffith Park Christmas Train

This is not free, which is why it’s in the Honorable Mentions.

But it’s only $7.00, which is a really good deal for a fun, holiday experience. Next to the holiday train is a Christmas Village with several selfie options. The lines can get long, so if you decide to go, plan to stand in line for at least an hour. Still, it was sooooo worth it!

If you want to see more of the Griffith Park Christmas Train, then click on the video below.