Los Altos Village Lighting of the Letters

Los Altos Village Lighting of the Letters: 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

The annual Los Altos Village Lighting of the Letters event like the rest of the 2020 holiday season will be a very different affair this year.  

Gone this year is the community event gathering of  neighbors with music, food and photo’s with Santa.

The official “Lighting”  will still happen at dusk on December 6th as will the opportunity to give to those less fortunate during these difficult holidays with food and hygiene donations to the Long Beach Rescue Mission.   Donation bins will be located  along the letters route at 5609 Los Santos Drive.

The Los Altos Village Whaley Park Christmas display dates back to the 20^th  mid-century. In the 1950's during the holidays, residents living around the Whaley Park each displayed one giant letter that combined spelled out the holiday message of Merry Christmas and Happy New Year around the perimeter of the park.

One of the original 1950's Whaley Park letters

Why the tradition was lost and what happened to most of the old letters remains a mystery, but enough people still remembered the tradition as the occasional random letter was found as the homes changed hands over the years, keeping the story alive.

Fast forward to the 21st Century. In 2015 former LB Airport Commissioner and now Long Beach City Prosecutor Doug Haubert (and long-time 4th District resident) had Kalitta Charters consent to settle 13 LB Noise Ordinance violations for $54,000. Separate from the first Consent Degree fines that go to the Long Beach Library Foundation, the new Kalitta agreement funds went to the Long Beach Community Foundation to establish and administer two community funds that would directly benefit  the airport impacted neighborhoods in the 4th and 8th Council Districts. 

For more information click on Kalitta Settlement

In the 4th District, the fund created is called the Los Altos Charitable Giving Fund (LACGF).

In 2015, a kick-off  event at Whaley Park took place announcing the plans to bring back the holiday letters. Supported by the Long Beach Area Council of Boy Scouts to produce the new letters, the LACGF,  Councilman Supernaw's office and the Los Altos Neighbors group.

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