Santa art sought from Del Mar to Oceanside

After seeing a window painting of Santa smoking a pipe and a snowman holding a water pipe at an Oceanside smoke shop, I decided to see if there were any other businesses that had pictures of silly Santas in their store windows.

I went from Del Mar to Oceanside on Highway 101, and although I was disappointed at the lack of Christmas decorations on the hundreds of stores I saw, I found nine shops that had weird pictures of Santa Claus.

Along the highway, only a few businesses had painted wreaths, candles, or Christmas trees. One business in Oceanside had a large Baby Jesus painted on its window. I found no Santas painted on the store windows in Del Mar or Cardiff.

My neighbor Dave Yant, who is a professional sign painter, is well known for his North County window artwork. Although I only saw one of his pieces, he says he’s painted about 20 business windows this holiday season. The average cost to paint a large pane of glass is around $75.