Why: The Mission Inn, which dates to the 1870s, stands in the middle of Riverside the way Bruce Springsteen stands in the middle of the E Street band. And since the early 1990s, the hotel has been putting together an ever-more-lavish Festival of Lights. At last count, about 5 million lights. What: For six weeks at Christmastime, the landmark hotel switches on all those lights and invites visitors to stroll through the property, including a tunnel where faux snow falls. The line to walk the property can get very long — and the traffic and parking situation in the blocks around the hotel can seem downright devilish.

Source: Los Angeles Times December 25, 2017 14:03 UTC