For as long as he can remember, Joshua Lamont has loved attending the annual “Miracle on 34th Street” holiday lights display in Baltimore’s Hampden neighborhood.
So in 2017 when a house on 34th Street was listed for sale, Lamont, 32, jumped at the chance to buy it. A professional sign language interpreter and owner of Sluice Mine & Rock Shop, a Maryland Renaissance Festival attraction, Lamont couldn’t wait to be part of the holiday festivities. For the past six holiday seasons, he’s been bringing Chanukah lights and joy to Hampden.
Jmore spoke recently with Lamont about what it’s been like to create and operate the Hampden Hanukkah House.
Why did you want to participate in the Miracle on 34th Street?
I grew up seeing the Chanukkah House in Pikesville and the Christmas lights in Hampden. As kids, we would come see 34th Street during the holidays and it was stunning. As a kid, you look around and go, ‘Wow.’ But then again, as a Jewish kid you look around and go, “Oh, it’s all just Christmas.”
I really wanted to bring a different feel and kind of get some representation out there.
How has the Hampden Hanukkah House evolved over time?
The first year, I had just moved in and I was relying heavily on the lights that the previous owner had left me, which is that traditional, warm, yellow Christmas light that we’re all very accustomed to.
I bought a seven-foot inflatable bear and a little polar bear that holds a dreidel. [I also got] a five-foot menorah to go out front.
After that, I started getting a little bit more creative. I bought cotton batting and put down weed blocker all over my front lawn to make it look a snowy landscape. I have a mentsch-on-a-bench inflatable guy that’s about four-feet-tall and found these really cool gift boxes in blue-and-white with Stars of David.
The second year, I decided to lean into the white and blue. I bought all these bright white and blue LEDs and just blanketed the house with them.
The third year, I found these spinning dreidels that Bed Bath & Beyond used to make. I mounted those to my roof, to my front, right outside my front windows. And so, I’ve got little spinning dreidels that light up and spin up there. We also painted the whole house blue and white, and it’s just kind of changed the whole game.
How has the community received the Hampden Hanukkah House?
I would say 95% of the reception has been phenomenal — people coming up saying, ‘I love your house. Thank you so much.’ Last night, I was out on the block and a little Jewish girl came up to me and I was wearing my one of my many, many Chanukah sweaters. She goes, ‘I just want to say thank you so much. This means the world to me and my family to be able to come out here and take photos.’
But there have been some incidents. Graffiti, some defacing on the steps. I got my power washer out, cleaned it all up and it’s happened a couple of times.
Sometimes you get nasty comments. Last year, someone drove through, stopped in front of the house and screamed at me — ‘Christmas is for Christians.’ This year, my fiancée and I had some conversations because of everything that went down in Gaithersburg with the spray-painting [of antisemitic graffiti] and the threats, and especially with Kanye and Twitter and social media. ‘Are we going to do this? We’re going to be putting a target on our back.’
But after a couple of nights, we said, ‘We have to do it.’ If it’s that one family that comes out and gets to say thank-you for doing this, we feel represented.
Any special events related to the decorations?
On the first night of Chanukah, usually I invite the community to come out to light the menorah. We sing the blessings, and then I usually hand out latkes. And every year I have an open house on the opening night where we do brisket and latkes for anyone who wants to come.
We put props out for people to take photos with, and we have an Instagram frame that you can hold and take pictures in and it says, ‘Miracle on 34th Street: The Hanukkah House.’
Are Chanukah houses catching on?
I think the cool part about this is I’m starting to see more and more Chanukah houses pop up. There’s a whole bunch of us on Instagram now. There’s a guy out in Texas who does it, and then the new one in Pikesville. … I just think it’s great. Christmas and Chanukah are not the same type of holiday, and we get that. But we live in a modernized society where information is disseminated differently. It’s great that we, as a community and as a culture and as a group of people are able to participate in something that’s so joyous. I really hope it spreads more and more.
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