Lighting up the holidays

June Casagrande

No place takes its holiday decorations more seriously than Balboa

Island. No place. In a community surrounded by competitors in the

Ring of Lights home-decorating contest of the annual Christmas Boat

Parade, Balboa Island continues to up the ante for the entire city.

At 802 S. Bayfront, a snowman on the yard appears to melt,

accompanied by reindeer and a Santa Claus. The home at 120 Opal Ave.

is known as the Train House because of a toy train that circles the

yard and runs into a tunnel through the house. And that’s just the

beginning.

Homeowners’ styles here range from the elegant to the absurd, but

they share the same commitment to creating dazzling and unforgettable

effects.

“We’re a real friendly community. We’re just like a little

village. This area has more of hometown touch about it, so that’s

part of the reason why we go all out here,” said Joanie Cooper,

chairwoman of the Home Decorating Committee for the Balboa Island

Improvement Assn. “It’s a way of life.”

The homes here are close, and so are the neighbors, which helps

make the area even more pedestrian friendly. People walk around

enjoying the sites of extravagantly decorated homes such as John

Pearson’s.

At 300 Ruby Ave., passersby get treated to a trip to an era of

Balboa when even Christmas had a surfer feel to it.

Dominating Pearson’s front yard is a 10-foot woody automobile

driven by elves. Riding atop is none other than Santa himself. The

Beach Boys and other surfer music play in the background, seeming to

emanate from the plywood cutout figures of a surf-rock band also on

the lawn.

“I started doing it a couple years ago because it’s just fun,”

Pearson said. A retired scientist, Pearson has lived on Balboa Island

for about eight years, but his history with the island dates back to

the 1950s, when his parents first bought a house here.

“This surfer theme is kind of like the old Balboa Island in the

‘50s,” he said. “A lot of people now are going for a look that’s more

formal, conservative, correct. But what I’m going for is fun.”

The island is so enthusiastic about its holiday decorations that

every year there is a contest for the best-decorated home in any of

nine categories, including traditional, most original and best

lighting. And the island is so proud of its residents’ efforts that

many of its dazzlingly decked houses are part of the holiday home

tour.

Christmas isn’t the only time when people go all out in adorning

their homes.

“Halloween is big here, too,” Cooper said. “Huge.”

But nothing outdoes the sights to be enjoyed on Balboa Island at

Christmastime.

“People just really get in the holiday spirit here,” Pearson said.