Nora’s Dickens Village is bustling with holiday activity.
Children skate figure eights around the ice rink in front of Big Ben as Christmas trees sparkle on ground blanketed in snow. Salvation Army bell ringers collect donations outside the offices of the City Globe newspaper. A young suitor holds up mistletoe and hopes for a kiss from a pretty lass, while a train rolls into town carrying a load of fir trees ready for ornaments.
Over at the carnival, the carousel and Ferris wheel go round and round, all lit up and playing lively music. There’s a circus sideshow, with a knife thrower and a damsel spinning on a target, and “Twice Head Fred” – yep, a man with two heads – holds court nearby.
But at Tiny Tim’s house and Scrooge’s place up the street, all is quiet. After all, it’s not quite Christmas Eve yet.
Laguna Woods resident Nora Morimoto looks over Nora’s Dickens Village, a miniature cityscape made of hundreds of tiny figurines, in her home inside Gate 11. (Photo by Mark Rabinowitch, Contributing Photographer)
London’s Victoria Station, at left, and houses all aglow are part of Laguna Woods residents Ed and Nora Morimoto’s miniature cityscape made of hundreds of tiny figurines, in their home inside Gate 11. (Photo by Mark Rabinowitch, Contributing Photographer)
Ice skaters have fun on the rink beneath Big Ben in Laguna Woods residents Ed and Nora Morimoto’s miniature cityscape made of hundreds of tiny figurines, in their home inside Gate 11. (Photo by Mark Rabinowitch, Contributing Photographer)
Salvation Army bell ringers hope for donations outside the offices of the City Globe newspaper in Laguna Woods residents Ed and Nora Morimoto’s miniature cityscape made of hundreds of tiny figurines, in their home inside Gate 11. (Photo by Mark Rabinowitch, Contributing Photographer)
A train carries a load of Christmas trees in Nora’s Dickens Vilalge, Laguna Woods residents Ed and Nora Morimoto’s miniature cityscape made of hundreds of tiny figurines, in their home inside Gate 11. (Photo by Mark Rabinowitch, Contributing Photographer)
Windows are all aglow as night falls over Nora’s Dickens Village, created by Laguna Woods residents Ed and Nora Morimoto. (Photo by Mark Rabinowitch, Contributing Photographer)
Nora’s Dickens Village, created by Laguna Woods residents Ed and Nora Morimoto, bustles with holiday activity. (Photo by Mark Rabinowitch, Contributing Photographer)
A woman spins on a target as a knife thrower takes aim in the carnival section of Nora’s Dickens Village, Laguna Woods residents Ed and Nora Morimoto’s a miniature cityscape made of hundreds of tiny figurines, in their home inside Gate 11. (Photo by Mark Rabinowitch, Contributing Photographer)
A man holds up mistletoe and hopes for a kiss from a young lady in Nora’s Dickens Village, Laguna Woods residents Ed and Nora Morimoto’s miniature cityscape made of hundreds of tiny figurines, in their home inside Gate 11. (Photo by Mark Rabinowitch, Contributing Photographer)
Four women play mahjong in the Chinatown district of Nora’s Dickens Village, a giant miniature cityscape put together by Laguna Woods residents Ed and Nora Morimoto in their home inside Gate 11. (Photo by Mark Rabinowitch, Contributing Photographer)
A fireman in a horse-drawn fire engine rushes to a scene in Nora’s Dickens Village, created by Laguna Woods residents Ed and Nora Morimoto. (Photo by Mark Rabinowitch, Contributing Photographer)
A church in Nora’s Dickens Village, created by Laguna Woods residents Ed and Nora Morimoto. (Photo by Mark Rabinowitch, Contributing Photographer)
An overturned rowboat has been made into a cottage in Nora’s Dickens Village, created by Laguna Woods residents Ed and Nora Morimoto. (Photo by Mark Rabinowitch, Contributing Photographer)
Holiday activity in Nora’s Dickens Village, created by Laguna Woods residents Ed and Nora Morimoto. (Photo by Mark Rabinowitch, Contributing Photographer)
The harbor area of Nora’s Dickens Village, created by Laguna Woods residents Ed and Nora Morimoto. (Photo by Mark Rabinowitch, Contributing Photographer)
A panoramic view Nora’s Dickens Village, created by Laguna Woods residents Ed and Nora Morimoto out of hundreds of tiny buildings, trees and figurines. (Photo by Mark Rabinowitch, Contributing Photographer)
Laguna Woods residents Ed and Nora Morimoto stand next to Nora’s Dickens Village, a miniature cityscape made of hundreds of tiny figurines, in their home. (Photo by Mark Rabinowitch, Contributing Photographer)
Show Caption1 of 17Laguna Woods resident Nora Morimoto looks over Nora’s Dickens Village, a miniature cityscape made of hundreds of tiny figurines, in her home inside Gate 11. (Photo by Mark Rabinowitch, Contributing Photographer)
ExpandNora’s Dickens Village is a giant miniature community caught in the spirit of the season, a creation of Laguna Woods residents Ed and Nora Morimoto. Each year in the living room of their home, they painstakingly put together the mini townscape depicting London from around 1860 to 1890, the Victorian era, when Charles Dickens was all the rage.
Along with Big Ben, there’s Victoria Station, the Old Royal Observatory, the Old Curiosity Shop, the East India Trading Company and more London landmarks, even Chinatown, plus hundreds of other buildings and boats and tiny people and animals and sparkly Christmas trees.
Ed Morimoto guesses the display is about 20 feet long and 10 feet at its widest point.
The couple have never really counted the individual pieces. All they know is that the figurines fill 22 large plastic storage bins – the kind with wheels – which they keep stacked in the garage during the off season.
The Morimotos, Laguna Woods Village residents for six years, start setting up the display in late October, each working together on the project two hours a day for 10 days. They take it down usually in February.
Ed is “in construction,” he says: “I’m the master builder and designer,” setting up the foundation and handling the electrical work for the lighting and motorized features.
Nora lays out the village – the buildings, boats, rivers, trees, the people and the animals. She even sprinkles the “snow” in just the right places.
Nora got hooked on miniatures 35 years ago, she says, when a colleague introduced her to them. She picked up two pieces – an overturned rowboat that was converted into a home and a regular mini cottage.
“Then she got crazy,” her husband says.
She started buying pieces on eBay – she prefers the older models from miniature figurine retailer Department 56. She picked up pieces on the couple’s travels, and, of course, friends and family would bring them as gifts.
In the mid-90s, “everybody was collecting this stuff,” she says, “but nobody has kept it up to the extent that I have.”
Nora didn’t play with dolls or dollhouses or really any toys when she was growing up, she says, “so this makes up for that.” Also, her mother was a “pack rat,” she says, so there’s “probably” a connection there.
Her favorite section of Nora’s Dickens Village is Chinatown, which brings fond memories of growing up near the San Francisco neighborhood. She points to the four women playing mahjong, the lion dancers, the woman in a rickshaw – all pieces made out of pewter that she picked up in Hong Kong.
Looking ahead, the Morimotos say they have “no clue” what will eventually become of the collection.
They have one son who lives in Ed’s home state of Hawaii. He thinks “it’s crazy,” they say, and will “probably auction it off on Craigslist.”
Though the display is not open for public viewing, just for friends and family, the Morimotos have a blast putting it together each year.
“It’s kind of cute,” Nora says. “It’s fun, and it satisfies my creative side.
“Ed calls me a hoarder,” she adds, “but I think of myself as a collector.”
“I call it as I see it,” Ed says with a wink and a smile.
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