Tony’s home for the holidays
A Brooklyn local delights in showing off the sights of the lights, writes Beth J Harpaz
Tony Muia was born and raised in Brooklyn and always loved the Christmas lights of Dyker Heights, an Italian-American neighbourhood where proud locals cover their homes in twinkling bulbs and fill their front yards with life-size Santas and nativity scenes.
Now he makes his living taking busloads of tourists from around the world to see these over-thetop holiday displays.
“The Rockefeller Centre, fuggedaboudit! Because I’m taking you deep in the heart of Brooklyn,” he told our bus departing from Manhattan’s Union Square.
For many tourists, Christmas in New York means the tree at Rockefeller Centre, Macy’s holiday windows and Radio City’s Christmas Spectacular show. But those who booked Muia’s tour — most of whom came across him online — said they were excited about going to Brooklyn.
“We’ve done Manhattan,” said Robin Green, from Florida. “We wanted to see something different.”
“We have a few houses like this but not so many in one strip. It’s incredible,” said Sydney’s Julie Morgan. “I’ve been to Brooklyn before but I would never have found this on my own.” Since Muia started his tour company, A Slice of Brooklyn, 11 years ago, the borough has become a trendy destination for out-of-towners, with Michelin-starred restaurants, boutique hotels and hipster neighbourhoods such as Williamsburg. But you won’t encounter hipsters on Muia’s tour: This is old-school Brooklyn. Muia, 48, grew up in an Italian-American family in the Bensonhurst section of the borough, and spent 20 years working in hospitals as a respiratory therapist before switching to the tour business in 2005. He introduces himself by say- ing: “I’m Tony. I got two younger brothers named Vinnie and Joey. You can’t make this stuff up! I’m as authentic as it gets.”
A Slice of Brooklyn started with a pizza tour and added the Christmas lights tour in 2006. These days, he runs three to four buses a night, bringing thousands of tourists from Manhattan each season to see the lights.
How do homeowners feel about Muia as he tosses out comments like “You can probably see that house from space!” and “That house looks like a dessert!”? Judging from the affectionate hug from one resident as he passed her deckedout house, they like the attention.