Holidays

Downtown Culver City Will Host a Virtual Tree Lighting

Check out the cheer, from a cozy spot at home, as this annual tradition shines on from afar.

Stoelt Productions

What to Know

  • 2020 Annual Downtown Culver City Holiday Tree Lighting Celebration (Presented by Amazon Studios)
  • An appearance by Santa, a dance film, and other treats await
  • Thursday, Dec. 10 at 6 p.m. PST (free to watch)

Sparkle seen on a screen still has sheen, and twinkle that's enjoyed across the miles?

Such sights may produce smiles, even if a person isn't actually "there in person" to experience the twinkly to-do firsthand.

And no one, and we mean no one, would dare stop you if you wanted to wave at your computer while watching a livestream of Santa Claus waving at you.

It's an unusual holiday season, the 2020 yuletide, but communities across Southern California are finding festive ways to connect with locals, including the setting up of livestreams that spotlight lovely and enduring traditions.

The sorts of traditions that people once traveled to attend, and will again down the road.

Look to Culver City, which has placed a stately artificial Rocky Mountain pine, standing at some 22 feet, near the as-stately Culver Hotel.

The tree will be illuminated on Dec. 10, and while we'll need to "ooh" and "aah" from home, "ooh" and "aah" we shall.

For the 2020 Annual Downtown Culver City Holiday Tree Lighting Celebration (Presented by Amazon Studios) is still happening, even if it isn't open to the public.

Make that the visiting public; anyone can watch from home, for free, at 6 p.m. on the 10th.

A dance film, a hello from Tim Robbins, the Artistic Director for The Actors' Gang, a Santa stop-by, and Christmas music are all on the roster, in addition to the big switch-flipping.

If your own tree is already up, you may want to turn it off, and then switch it on at the very moment the Culver City shrub goes sparkly.

Kind of a timing thing, but figure that this may be the only year you'll ever be able to simultaneously do that during a city tree lighting.

It's all free, it's got plenty of community heart, and it serves to bolster spirits in a time that such bolstering is needed and welcome.

Many of our traditions have changed, temporarily, but they're still going, even if they look a bit different in 2020.

So, yes, we'll wave at Santa when we see him on our screen, and feel the festiveness from afar, all while we keep close to home.

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