Elvis House in Mahwah, NJ Christmas Lights
The view from the Corner - 154k
The Elvis House at Christmas. This may not look like a lot of traffic, but this is a dead end street in Mahwah!
Front of the Elvis House From Across The Street - 340k
Although I arrived early on a weeknight, there was a steady stream of traffic cruising the past the Elvis House in Mahwah. had to shoot each frame as many as 4 times in order to get one that wasn't blocked by a car or SUV. This panorama is 5 separate frames of the Elvis House.
The Side of the Elvis House - 330k
It took a lot of shots before I got frames clear of vehicles.
A Closer View of the Pond Area - 410k
This doesn't begin to convey the spectacle of the scene as it appears when you're there.
Rooftop View With Charlie, RCA Dog, The King, Marilyn, Laurel & Hardy
These are life sized mannequins perched upon the rooftop of the Elvis House in Mahwah. Marilyn's skirt is blown up and there is Christmas music coming from the speakers.
The real Elvis is in the UFO at upper right (no, I didn't add that to the photo. It turned up in 2 frames. It was probably lens flare but I couldn't figure out where it came from so there it stays).
This is in the middle of the pond with ducks swimming around it.
Really!
To get a sense of scale look at the 7" flood lamp to the right of the base and just above it in the background are 3 white ducks.
It's absolutely hilarious!
The Elvis House is located on
Victoria Lane in Mahwah, NJ (Right off Campgaw Rd). An
article in the Bergen Record 3 years ago mentioned it cost $200/night
to power the Christmas Lights and that there were 12 electrical substations on
the property to handle the load. The homeowner has a full time electrician
on call to maintain the display.
Be sure to head up to the end of the street as the homes at the end of the cu-de-sac are done up as well.
On weeknights it is busy. On weekends it's a zoo and the Mahwah police have to direct traffic in and out of the street.
As I was heading back to my car a steady stream of traffic began to flow into this dead end street.
The first night I went I didn't get a usable shot of the gazebo in the middle of the pond. So I went back another night at 5:15 and the lights were not on yet. They did not start lighting them till about 5:45 and the light in the cu de sac did not come on until 6. I'm really glad I did as that was the night I did the close up panorama of the pond which turned out to be my favorite shot.
Fall 2007 -The house was for sale in the winter of 07. An article in the paper mentioned the homeowner was leaving NJ for an acting gig in LA. But in the summer of 07 the for sale signs were down and the Elvis and other mannequins were still on the roof. Hopefully he'll light it up again. A LOT of people really look forward to it., and for someone to be doing something like this just for fun and the enjoyment of others these days is getting rarer around here. It's a nice diversion from all the bad stuff going on in the world these days. I'm glad he's still here and hope he stays.
Notable Nonsense:
Utility Bill: $200 per night... in 2001!
Infrastructure: 12 individual electrical substations on the property
Manpower: A full time electrician is on site during operating hours (there may be more than one as one night he seemed to have an assistant)
Driveway: A portrait of Michael Jackson's ex father in law is displayed using different colored and differently shaped paving blocks (this is hard to see at night)
Roof: Life sized statues of Charlie Chaplin, the RCA Dog, Mr. Presley (no hip motion on this one), Marilyn Monroe, and Laurel & Hardy
Gazebo: Located in the pond. There you will find Kris Kringle slowly turning and waving
Statue of Liberty: Lit up in the pond. Looks about 7 feet tall. Where the heck do you BUY this stuff?!!!
Wildlife: Ducks... In the pond. People... On the street
Santa: Santa is on the roof with the sleigh and reindeer. Another Nick resides in the gazebo and amazingly there is a third Santa stuck up in a tree. Apparently the enforcement of the US ban on cloning is somewhat lax
Music: Music? Of COURSE there is music! Blaring from speakers on the roof. Not recommended for heathens, atheists, or Led Zeppelin fans. Actually it is not very loud and you can only hear it on the driveway side of the house
Traffic: Slower than on Route 287. Except maybe at rush hour near Route 80. If the night is busy there may be a traffic cop at the intersection of Campgaw Road and Victoria Lane. If you've been naughty he won't let you in...
12/29/2007- OK, I made it there and I have to say it seems more spectacular than I remembered. Maybe it is that there are more blue lights, or that they are more intense. Chris Kringle is no longer there in the Gazebo in the pond, but the Statue of Liberty is really well done this year. The lights seem brighter, with more blue and white. Some bushes at the edge of the property were undecorated. If you look closely at the second Pond View Panorama, you can see the Gazebo. It looks as though it was torpedoed and lays on it's side. There is a helicopter on the roof which is kind of fun - OK, now that I've looked at the old photos again I realize it was there, I just didn't have a decent shot of it. The Santa in the swing on the corner is holding the remains of a sign. It looks like a sign he had on the corner with the dates and times the lights were lit. Apparently vandals (a neighbor?) had destroyed it. It's kind of cool he kept it up as a reminder of someone's bad behavior. I was there on a Saturday night and it WAS a zoo! But boy was it fun!
Various Elvis House Christmas Lights 2007 Photos
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11/28/2009 - I received an email today saying that the Elvis House won't be lit again. I'll take a swing up there when I get a chance and update this in case it looks like the lights are in place. Last Christmas the homeowner took the year off for doing up the Christmas lights. It was due partly to the economy and partly wanting to take a break from it. On a side note, The Learning Channel was asking this past summer how to contact the homeowner as they were filming a segment about home owners who went above and beyond in decorating and lighting their homes and yards for Christmas.
In the meantime on a bit lesser of a scale is the Packanack Yule Shack. OK, it isn't exactly a shack (It's a very cute house) and it isn't up to Elvis House in Mahwah standards, but it is pretty "Oh My Frigging God!!!"esque.
The photos do not do it justice. These photos were taken in 2008 and I rode past on 12/7/09 and there must be 50% or more lights and decorations. You can easily see it from the far side of the lake. Make your way to Packanack Lake in Wayne, NJ and drive COUNTER CLOCKWISE around the lake (you'll understand why when you get there). It is WAY better this year than last. It may not cover as much acreage as the Elvis House, but but it does exceed the Mahwah Christmas lights in density per square foot.
My good friend Ben Smith sent me a photo of some Christmas Lights that really pissed off his homeowner's association. I'll bet Elvis would be pissed off too!