A Friendly Battle for Bragging Lights

Forget the red bow and the boughs of holly.

Nick Kobe is decking his yard with a leather-clad Santa riding an actual Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

In some neighborhoods, people might find such a flourish outrageous, perhaps even an eyesore. But in Valencia, it constitutes just a small fraction of the blinking, mechanized splurge that has turned tiny Rio Reyes Court just off Bouquet Canyon Road into the Santa Clarita Valley’s version of Candy Cane Lane.

Kobe and neighbor Michael Singh are the leaders of a small north Valencia enclave of decorating elves. The two began a friendly “Battle of the Bulbs” more than 10 years ago, mounting elaborate, light-wrapped displays ranging from traditional Nativity scenes to Disney characters and giant wooden toys.

As their electric bills climb--both report a yuletide spike of nearly $300 a month--so does their enthusiasm.

“It’s kind of like a fever,” the bearded, easygoing Kobe said during a break from preparations for Saturday’s opening night. “You put one up, you put two up and sooner or later you’ve got the whole place covered.”

Crowds usually begin flocking to the cul-de-sac within days of the opening, and by Christmas Eve the traffic is so heavy that cars can barely move.

“You can’t even drive. You just park somewhere and walk over here,” Kobe said.

Kobe, a 56-year-old retired sheriff’s deputy, says his obsession with decorating began in the early 1980s with a couple of simple strands of lights. Now he has more than 30,000 bulbs.

When his two sons and two daughters responded enthusiastically to that first display, Kobe said, “That did it.”

Within a few years, he had added a variety of moving animals, Santa and Mrs. Claus and the obligatory Rudolph and Co. pulling a rooftop sleigh.

After seeing Kobe’s setup, Singh decided to engage in what he calls a “friendly rivalry.”

Kobe’s boasting about his Harley-riding Santa this year fails to faze Singh, who is planning perhaps his most ambitious setting yet: a multitiered, 8-foot wooden lighthouse (with rotating light, of course) ringed by sled-riding child dolls and fake snow.

“He’s much more into the lights, but I make most of my big items at home,” said the amiable Singh, 66, a retired computer operator.

The competition has remained remarkably civil. One year, when Kobe’s Rudolph got battered by rain and high winds, Singh offered a replacement. Kobe has returned the favor, advising Singh on how to batten down the creches for the predicted El Nino deluge.

Last week’s rains made both decorators a little nervous.

“How’s it holding up?” Kobe asked.

“Not bad,” Singh responded, pointing to a less elaborately decorated house. “Did you see that guy across the street? He lost all of his reindeer!”

As protection against the elements, both take most of their decorations inside about 10:30 p.m. Singh uses his increasingly crowded garage and Kobe opts for two special storage units on either side of his house. He plans to build a third.

“For years now, around this time, we’ve been saying, ‘That’s it. No more,’ ” Singh sighed. “But then every year we decide we can’t let it go.”

The houses are usually bare by New Year’s Eve, when the two families have bonfires and toast each other’s efforts with champagne.

For Kobe, another task remains before the corks can be popped.

“I’m about to start on the inside,” he said, moving to his living room. “Check this out, man. It does everything but talk to you.”

With that, he plugged in the lights on a towering artificial Christmas tree, already adorned in dizzying fashion.

Among the tree’s many ornaments, one stood out: a golden Elvis.

The King definitely would have approved.