Happy Holidays Kansas City

I took this photo. What follows was transcribed from the placard.

1962 POSTCARD OF DOWNTOWN KANSAS CITY WITH CHRISTMAS CROWN DECORATIONS

"Starting in the mid 1950'the bustling streets of Downtown Kansas City were brightly decorated for the Christmas season with holiday lights and gigantic crowns.

This postcard depicts Petticoat Lane near the intersection of 11th and Walnut in 1962. Shimmering gold crowns, located in nine key intersections, were constructed in steel and filled with lights. The crowns were copies of those used on Regency Street in London, with permission of the English architect who designed them.

Each crown was approximately 18 feet in diameter, 15 feet tall, weighed over 3,500 pounds, and included 621 colored lights. The early crowns were very bright and demanded their own KCPL transformer, but they were later replaced with more energy-efficient models. The Kansas City crown decorations tradition continued through the 1960's

The replica installed in the Commerce Bank Building is approximately 13 feet in diameter, 5 1/2 feet tall, weighs approximately 392 pounds and uses a combination of LED lamps and rope lighting. It was built by Manneco, Inc., (the same fabricator as the original crowns) to revisit a celebrated tradition from our City's past."

Found this image with a Google search.