Inside An UES Garage, A Winter Wonderland Takes Shape Each Year

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — For more than a decade, buried below a high-rise condo tower on the Upper East Side, one man has spent each winter crafting holiday displays that could rival the flashiest windows on Fifth Avenue.

"It brings you to a happy place, a perfect place — it takes you back to your childhood," said Javier Sanchez, manager of the Continental Towers parking garage on East 79th Street.

In each of the 12 years that he has worked there, Sanchez, 52, has built ornate Christmas displays inside the subterranean garage, to the delight of neighborhood kids and the people who populate the more than 500 apartments in the building above him.

This year's is his most ambitious effort yet, featuring four moving trains, warmly lit miniature homes, tiny carnival rides, a "flying Santa" and a snow-dusted mountainous landscape, which Sanchez has dubbed "Frosty's Village."

It took him at least 100 hours to build, dealing with setbacks like hot-glue burns to his fingers and an ankle sprain that sidelined him for two months. As in past years, Sanchez and his half dozen coworkers paid for the display out of their own pockets, with each man contributing around $20 to cover Sanchez's frequent trips to Home Depot.

The tradition began in Sanchez's first year at Continental, when a coworker suggested building "a little train around the garage," he recalled. Snaking the tracks around the garage lobby proved infeasible, but Sanchez managed to set up a battery-operated train and run it along a sheet of plywood, feeling pleased with the result.

"We said, 'Wow, this looks great,'" he said.

The following year, inspired by the wintry Alps, Sanchez built a mountain with a tunnel for the train to pass through. Visits to the animatronic displays at the New York Botanical Garden, Stew Leonard's supermarkets and Yankee Candle shops influenced other aspects, he said.

"We like to try to make it different every year so it doesn't look the same," Sanchez said. This year's display is both taller and deeper than ever before, with "100-percent new" elements inside, he said.

Also new this year is a special challenge: kids age 12 or under can search for a sasquatch hidden somewhere within the display, and will receive a lollipop if they win.

"I had a kid here for 40 minutes looking for it," he laughed. "Just to see those guys' faces — it has no price to see the happiness and joy of those kids."

Sanchez takes pride in the fact that the display is interactive, allowing kids to push its toy cars and manipulate the human figurines.

"I have no restrictions," he said. "Nothing has ever been broken there."

The garage at 301 East 79th St. is open 24-7, but Sanchez keeps the display lit up from around 7:30 a.m to 9 p.m. each day. It will be on view until Dec. 31 — and "ideas are always welcome," he says.

To reach the display, visitors must walk down a ramp from the garage entrance between First and Second avenues. But Sanchez wants to give people a taste of what's to come: before reaching the Christmas array, you'll encounter a menorah display for Hanukkah, a mini fireplace, and a nativity village that Sanchez hand-crafted.

Sanchez's fans include State Sen. Liz Krueger, who lives nearby and praised the "incredible work" that goes into his annual displays.

"The kids go crazy for it - just like the windows on 5th Avenue," Krueger told Patch. "It's a wonderful holiday tradition, and I definitely encourage families to go over and take a look. Thank you to Mr. Sanchez for working so hard to bring this bit of holiday cheer to the Upper East Side."

Sanchez was born in Los Angeles but raised mostly in Colombia, then returned to the U.S. as a young man, serving for years in the Army Reserves.

Kids may be his primary audience, but adults benefit from the displays too, he said — by regaining a bit of childlike wonder, and breaking up the monotony of their daily routines.

"Life is not just work, work, and work, to be like a little machine every day," he said. "There's things out there that make a difference."

To visit the display, stop by the Continental Towers garage at 301 East 79th St.