37th Street and beyond

We had our last warm night for awhile before the chilly air moves in, so we went down to 37th Street to see what people have put up this year. I heard a piece on NPR today about a display called Tacky Lights, but believe me, these people may be tacky in putting up too much, but on 37th Street they put up too much and it's also a creativity contest. Also it's always got a lot of political and cultural themes. This year, Dick Cheney seemed to be the most popular victim. See the totem on the right for a start (and I made most of these pics small for loadability -- click to enlarge).

The most famously decorated house on the block is a bit different this year because the house changed owners. I wrote about it last year. The old residents left the new ones a few strings of their artful homemade lights (like the medicine bottles) but they put up their own unique thing. For one thing, here's a wonderfully hellish nativity scene! The angel pic at the top is Condi (and I thought I was angelic!)


Here's the rest of the nativity. Rummy (looks good in orange, yes?) and Cheney with his gun. We were walking past this later and a boy (young teenager) picked up Cheney's toy rifle and pretended to fire it point-blank right at the manger baby's head. I was so stunned I didn't even get a picture of it!
EDIT Dec. 28: Here's an Austin Chronicle link on the display and the spectacle in general.

Here's another display at the same house. The sign says "Kinky '06 for Santa. HHO HHO HHOY VEY" That's fine, at least he's not the gov. That would have been as bad as... it still is with Perry. Oh well...

Here's one that's been there awhile. It's a peace angel made from auto parts and other metallic salvage.

Dinosaurs were another theme I saw. Here's a big foil T-Rex or Godzilla or something.

Another little dino group that was part of a huge display representing oceans and islands and not sure what all. Blue light beds for water and Nemo lights and mermaids and sea monsters.

There's an antique stove that's always decorated with different action figure themes (like Harry Potter or Star Wars) and this year it was Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest. My picture didn't turn out. :-(

This one was easier to see with the flash on, even though you can't see the effect of the lights. It's a Free Tibet major theme with lots of other elements. This yard was absolutely full of different creations.

Looks like Father Time is taking a break. The 37th Street experience was a bit different this year. The "major" house is gone, but it's still really great to see what people have done, plus it growing down into the other streets. It's nothing short of amazing, and of course it's absolutely free for the viewers (unless you feel like tipping the homeowners, and many of them do have tip jars. This much electricity ain't cheap.)

Here's one taken right in our neighborhood. What embodies the Xmas Spirit more than Old Homer J.? D'oh! D'oh! D'oh!

Dear Jeebus, please take away Dick Cheney's gun.

Tags: Austin - Xmas