OC company Dekra-Lite is magic behind major holiday displays in SoCal

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- Amazing holiday displays are being put up all over Southern California, and many of those magnificent light shows are due to the work of a local Orange County company.

Most shopping centers, cities and amusement parks across are gearing up for the holidays with massive decorations.

At the Market Place in Tustin and Irvine, 30-foot Anaheim Duck themed Christmas trees and giant ornament stacks line the property. At the Irvine Spectrum Center, a 50-foot LED tree is set to twinkle and twirl to music nightly.

"Properly introduces the holiday season to the shopper and makes you feel special and magical and important, as the holiday season is," said Christine Duvall, the senior director of marketing for the Irvine Company.

What many people don't know is that all of these decorations come from the same warehouse in Santa Ana. Dekra-Lite Industries designs and decorates a long list of properties all over the United States.

"Ten to 20 theme parks throughout the country, about 1,000 different cities," said Dekra-Lite CEO Jeff Lopez. "We'll install about 400 different projects just here in California."

They're popular places like L.A. Live, Citadel Outlets and Angel Stadium, just to name a few.

Lopez started the company in a garage, decorating homes. Now, his 120 employees pull from a warehouse that rivals Santa's workshop to get clients holiday ready.

"We're doing Christmas every day," said Lopez. "So, we're either designing or developing or laying out different properties."

Even though he's surrounded by wreaths, reindeer, nutcrackers and snowflakes year round, Lopez said seeing people's reactions never gets old.

"See how they make kids smile and families reap with excitement," he added.