Santa’s Secret Hideout

Think you have a hard time storing all your Christmas decorations? Just imagine having to stash the 21-foot tall Santa of Honolulu City Lights. The city and county of Honolulu keeps Mr. and Mrs. Claus in a Sand Island warehouse, shown here. According to Carol Costa, with the Mayor’s Office of Information, Santa was shaped in 1989 from Styrofoam blocks by the late Kurt Nelson. Santa is covered with a cement and polymer mixture imbedded with fiberglass, and weighs two tons. Mrs. Claus—dubbed “Mele” by the city—was added in 1994, created by City employee Mike Smith.

Honolulu City Lights runs from Dec. 6 through New Year’s Eve at Honolulu Hale.
 

Photo: Courtesy of Ron Slauson