Christmas Window Displays
What do New Yorkers like best to do
during the Christmas season? One 'must' is to stroll along 5th
Avenue on a pleasant, brisk evening and take in the store windows
decorated for the holidays
Start at Macy's
on Herald Square, take a short jog over to Lord
& Taylor on 5th and amble up the Avenue to Saks,
maybe stopping for a bag of fresh-roasted chestnuts from a street
vendor along the way. Be sure to make a stop to see the tree
at Rockefeller Center. Then it's on up the Avenue to continue
your window shopping and a detour over to
Bloomingdale's on Lexington Avenue. And hey! If there's snow on the ground,
finish up with a buggy ride through Central Park. We usually take a stroll
Thanksgiving evening to walk off a bit of our holiday dinner. It's
a good night to see the holiday windows, not as many people as
when the stores are open and a great way to
get into the holiday spirit
Macy's
Herald Square
Broadway & 34th Street
 Call
it a bit of coincidence, but it was just back in 2004 that the
folks at Lord & Taylor celebrated the people at the US Postal
service with a look back at their history. This years Macy's
takes a whimsical look at how a letter to Santa travels. The
first window actually has three touch-screen computers with
which kids can compose letters to Santa. We couldn't get close
enough for a photo and no matter how hard he tried, the kids
wouldn't let Jim give one a spin
 As
you walk along you follow the path of your letter as it's sorted
and rated by all sorts of colorful people until it winds up in
Santa's hands
Hint You can still find our favorite
windows around the corner. On
the 34th Street side of the store are, appropriately, the Miracle on 34th
Street windows. These unpublicized windows charmingly depict
scenes from the ever-popular film and are always worth a visit
Lord
& Taylor
5th Avenue & 38th Street
 Things
were a bit surprising at Lord & Taylor this year. The theme was
something along the lines of "The Things We Love" or some such.
The display is basically put together using pieces recycled from
previous years. Not that it's so bad or wrong to do so -- they
did pick some striking scenes. It's just that we're used to the
tightly-focused, very detailed works with which they have
spoiled us
 A bit of trivia Do you know why these
windows are usually some of the nicest and most detailed? The building originally
housed an auto dealership on the first floor; the showcase windows
are mounted on hydraulic lift systems that lower into the basement
where cars could be driven on, then raised back into position.
Decorators work on the holiday windows in the basement while
above, the day-to-day window displays are mounted on temporary
flooring. Other department stores have to cover their windows
during installation and, remember, time is money
Saks
Fifth Avenue
5th Avenue & 49th Street
 The
star of this year's Sak's windows is Twinkle, a snowflake.
Twinkle falls out of cloud and into the engine of a 747 jet, off
for the ride of its young life
 Twinkle
doesn't know where he (or maybe its she) is going to wind up,
but is surprised that the "bear" he lands on turns out to be a
woman wrapped in a fur coat
It turns out that Twinkle landed in New York City, just where he
(or, again, maybe she) wants to be
Hint The Saks' location makes this area
very crowded. In 2002 it took us three tries to see the windows; finally
succeeded one morning when the wait in line was only
20 minutes -- and this was well before noon. (We have been a bit
smarter since then and now usually try to stroll by Thanksgiving evening.) The line to view the
windows starts on the 50th Street side of the store, often
wrapping around the corner and down the block
A Frequently Asked Question
"For how long do the
department stores keep the windows decorated?" is one almost
impossible to answer. The answer from one department store information lady
best sums it up: "They don't like us to know that, though I
think they will stay decorated until January 5th or 6th." The
windows basically stay decorated through the weekend after New
Year's Day, though if that falls early in the week, say on a
Sunday or Monday, the windows might be redecorated by for the
coming weekend |
