The elaborate Christmas decorations and lights at Candy Cane Lane that have delighted holiday crowds for more than 60 years could be taken down for good, because some residents in the Woodland Hills neighborhood say that event has become too unruly.

The problem, they say, is an unchecked increase in street vendors hawking food and toys, as well as rudeness and littering by visitors.

Julia Karobkoff, who has lived on Candy Cane Lane for 40 years, said she’s weathered the naughty behavior for years, including the theft of her family’s $200 Christmas tree display and used diapers getting tossed out of car windows.

“Sometimes it gets bad, and sometimes we get disgruntled,” the 41-year-old mother said, but this year’s headaches reached new heights.

“Yesterday was my trash day, and I spent about 45 minutes laying on the ground pulling out dirty diapers, food wrappings, wrapping paper — people were probably exchanging gifts — and a lot of the light sticks from the vendors,” Karobkoff said.

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She and other residents blame the litter and a general decline in the event’s atmosphere on the vendors, who they say do not have permits to operate.

Gone are the charities and community groups selling hot chocolate or playing musical instruments for tips. Over the past three years, they’ve been replaced by street vendors selling light-up LED swords and princess wands, according to Karobkoff.

The commerce is the most intense on weekends, with vendors knocking on car windows to make a sale, Karobkoff explained.

Pam Morales, 70, moved to the neighborhood in the 1980s, knowing what she was walking into and welcoming it at the time. But now, because of the vendors and general bad behavior, she is thinking of moving her decorations from the front of the house to enjoy in her backyard instead.

“It’s not pleasant having those people here, and they block traffic,” Morales said of the vendors.

Morales said she spotted a woman selling shoes from the back of an SUV, and a stand where hot dogs were being sold.

“We had a lady frying up hot dogs — it smelled good, but still it’s stopping traffic,” she said.

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Generations of Valley residents have flocked each year to see Candy Cane Lane’s quirky setups, which often feature nostalgic decorations, some inherited from prior homeowners, with the event dating back to 1952, according to the local business chamber website.

But some visitors agree with Morales and Karobkoff that the vending is a problem.

“It kind of takes away from Christmas,” said 36-year-old Ozzie Arazm, a Woodland Hills resident who has been coming to Candy Cane Lane since he was child, and now visits with his own children. “Now these guys are yelling for light sticks and churros. I don’t want to buy them at the circus, and I don’t want to buy them here.”

Street vending has been a hot issue among members of the neighborhood watch group, which was started in July, according one member, Michael Murray.

The job of pushing out “illegal vendors” has been of low priority for the Los Angeles Police Department, residents say, while a proposal in the City Council to create a permitting program for the now illegal vending activity could spell doom for Candy Cane Lane.

Bess Gattuso, a member of the watch group, said she thinks it “will most likely be a slow progression” to shutter the tradition, but most of their members “are pretty upset and angry about the treatment of our neighborhood and lack of support from the community.”

LAPD Senior Lead Officer Jennifer Poepke of the Topanga division is aware of the complaints, but “there’s not a whole lot we can do, unless we go out there and kick everybody out,” she said, adding, “but then, as soon as we leave, they just come right back.”

Poepke said the extent of her enforcement on the night she visited the area — the Wednesday before Christmas — was to ask the vendors to leave, and she did not hand out any citations.

Not only is their division short-staffed, the issues are “very minor” in the grand scheme of other police work, Poepke noted.

Victor Narro, a street vending expert and UCLA Labor Center project director, said Candy Cane Lane residents could avoid shutting down their Christmas tradition by working with the vendors.

There are already existing laws to address littering and other illegal activity being reported by the residents, according to Narro. The vendors “still have to comply with the laws,” he said.

Narro also suggested residents reach a resolution “through effective dialogue,” pointing to successful compromises reached between day laborers and other neighborhoods as examples.

Residents say their city councilman, Bob Blumenfield, has not done enough to address their complaints, with Morales declaring “the city councilman is of no help,” despite having written to him “many times.”

Blumenfield said in a statement that he takes “seriously concerns that residents have,” and his office is working with “relevant city agencies to remedy” the issues.

Meanwhile, not all area residents have complaints about the vendors.

Byran Vela, 40, who was walking his Chihuahua with his girlfriend, sympathizes with the vendors. “Times are tough,” he said.

Like the others, Karobkoff is considering leaving her decorations in storage next year, but she also expressed reluctance for dropping the tradition.

“Sadly, my husband and I looked at each other this year and said, ‘Let’s go dark next year,’ and see how the community reacts to us saying ‘Bah humbug!’” she said.

On Thursday night, as residents braced for another weekend of crowds and vending activity, sales were going slowly for the parents of 12-year-old Luis Gonzalez.

His father launched an LED flier into the air to attract attention from potential buyers, while calling out his price: “Three for $5!”

Each night yields about $50, Gonzalez said.

“We come here to sell because we don’t have much money,” he explained.

Gonzalez points to a house with an old-fashioned, life-sized wooden cutout set of a sleigh and reindeer. That is his favorite, he said.

The memory of the last time he saw the display while accompanying his parents to Candy Cane Lane brings a smile to his face.

“There was a Santa there,” he said.