People and Events

Los Angeles, known as a place that brings out the best and unusual in human nature, is no different during the holidays, and in fact, might be even a little more so.

Take, for example, the case of the guerrilla Santa Claus, which has yet to be solved. The generous culprit is still striking with regularity at the downtown Inglewood Fire Station 1, leaving edible Yule goodies on the doorstep a la “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”

On Dec. 13, the firefighters found a package containing a pound of chocolates. The pattern has continued, and so far they’ve collected 2 half-gallons of ice cream, 3 pies, 4 boxes of cookies, 5 baked deserts, 2 6-inch cakes, 7 bags of popcorn, 2 8-inch Danish desserts, 9 pretzels party snacks and 10 chocolate chip cookies. Firefighter Albert Williams speculates that a neighborhood block group is providing the repast, but they haven’t been able to catch anyone. Sometimes the gift-giver rings the doorbell or knocks. One time, they received a call from a small child telling them to look outside.

Tonight will be their last chance to find out who the phantom gift-giver is. Firefighters are hoping their benefactor will step forward for a “thank you.” But if past experience is any indication, they might be out of luck. Last year, Inglewood’s Fire Station 3 was the recipient of similar gifts. That mystery was never solved either, although the firefighters swear that they opened the door on the 12th day and saw someone in a red Santa suit driving away in a red pickup truck.

Dozens of other hospitable and charitable giveaways are also in progress around town. At Nickerson Gardens, members of the Beta Israeli Temple/Black Jewish Community on Crenshaw Boulevard provided Christmas foods for needy families. The Salvation Army served an early Christmas dinner to hundreds of the homeless and hungry at the Harbor Light Center downtown and in Compton. Residents of the Phoenix House drug rehabilitation center sang Christmas carols at the children’s ward at Daniel Freeman Hospital.

But one of the most unusual of the Yule gestures was that made by a group of gang and ex-gang members. Saying they were “sick and tired of senseless killings,” the group met at Bethel United Holy Church in South-Central Los Angeles with the family of David Polion, 11, who was gunned down in his home by a drive-by shooting in Willowbrook on Dec. 11. The boy was described by family and friends as a good student who did not belong to a gang. The victim’s stepfather, Renell Davis, who had just attended the funeral of his child Friday, was given gifts and food for his other two children. Said Davis: “I was very surprised to see these young guys come together here, and I appreciate what they are doing, getting the message out to other young people that this killing has got to end. And it will be stopped if we all work together.”

To the chagrin of LAPD Capt. Carley Mitchell, someone spilled the beans about his own charitable Christmas project. “It was no big deal,” he mumbled when asked about his giveaway of hundreds of Mylar blankets to the downtown homeless. Mitchell called county social services officials who gave him the name of a manufacturer of the blankets, which are made of a foil-like heat-retaining material. The manufacturer was at first reluctant to let him purchase the blankets because he wasn’t a retailer. But they relented when they heard what he wanted them for. Mitchell said he and several fellow officers and their family members walked around downtown between 3 and 5 a.m. Friday distributing the blankets.

“Sometimes we found people sleeping in doorways, and we just let them sleep and covered them up,” he said. “We get so used to having things in life. I mean I have an extra room at home I don’t even use, and here are these unfortunate people wearing their total net worth.”

Being Christmas and all, some might think the giant neon “Jesus Saves” signs seen from the intercharge of the Pasadena and Golden State freeways are merely signs of the times. But Frank Llewellyn, manager of the Heath and Co. sign storage yard, says, “To us, it’s junk. We’d just like to get it out of our way.”

The two neon signs are indeed the same ones that spent 53 years atop the Church of the Open Door in downtown Los Angeles, from 1935 to July 9 of this year. The erstwhile landmarks are owned by the American arm of the Japanese real estate concern that acquired and has since demolished the historic church building. A 27-story office building is planned for the site. The fate of the signs is uncertain. Some people have tried to buy them, Llewellyn said, including a man who rents out props for the movies. But the owner, Ohbayashi America Corp., hasn’t decided what to do with them.

One interested party is the former owner, the Church of the Open Door, which relocated to Glendora. “We’d very much like to get them back,” Pastor Dale Wolery said. The neon signs would either be “exhibited in a way that honors them” at the Glendora site or donated to a religious organization, perhaps the Salvation Army, for public display. The latter is unlikely, Wolery admits, building codes being more restrictive than they were in 1935.