Gladys Hampton stood by the door of Macy’s at the Del Amo Fashion Center, staring at the rain, puddles and the line of drivers looking for a parking spot.
Somewhere out there was his car, and he would have to go fast to avoid getting too wet.
But unlike other shoppers at the mall in Torrance, Hampton didn’t care.
“My opinion would be different if I had children,” she said. “You have to pack them up, roll them up.”
He said shopping on a rainy day has its pros and cons.
“One good thing, the mall is not that busy,” she said. “It feels Christmas-y – the weather.”
Hampton couldn’t think of a con, another positive side to the rain.
“It might upset me because I like dark weather.”
Inside the mall, Christmas music was playing, sneakers were squealing, families were waiting to take pictures with Santa Claus.
Sitting down on a bench, 59-year-old Trini Johnson took a break from the store with her 14-year-old niece.
Johnson was recovering from a knee injury and would have liked to stay home in bed before his work shift, but his nephew needed to go shopping at the last minute.
“Everywhere we go, I want a seat,” she said.
He said getting out of the car in the rain was “bad” and “awful.”
Johnson said he is not a fan of cold, wet, and dark weather.
“I hate wearing jackets,” she said.
Johnson and his nephew were coming from Mid-City and pulled into the side streets because he refused to drive on the freeway. He said the last time he drove in the rain, he was in the fast lane when a car on the other side of the highway poured water on the windshield, temporarily blocking his vision.
“I didn’t know whether to hit the brakes or not,” he said. “It really scared me.”
Despite these frightening moments, the year was difficult for Johnson. It will be her first holiday without her husband, who died earlier this year.
He said they were separated but still married and very close.
He said it was a change.
“I have to call a regular plumber and people to help me around the house,” he said, “and I used to call him and it would be fixed.”
He said that the dark weather is not helpful. Anyway, he said, everything will be fine.
“I will see him again with my parents, one day,” he said.
Elsewhere in the mall, Ana Leon, 37, and her mother, Socorro Diaz, 63, had just wandered inside the mall and headed for a coffee shop.
“Cafecito primero,” said Leon. “Coffee first.”
While drinking coffee, Leon said that his shoes and socks were wet.
Mother and daughter had not traveled far. They live in Lawndale and weren’t planning on shopping, not on a rainy day.
“Many people drive too fast or too slow,” said Leon. “Then there are big lakes.”
So what made them take a trip to the mall on one of the wettest days of the year?
“We forgot other people’s gifts,” said Leon, laughing. Her mother, holding her cup with both hands, laughed. “But we don’t have to tell them that.”
Asked how she feels about walking around with wet socks and shoes shopping, she said coffee helps and she only needs to buy three gifts.
“Maybe new sneakers and socks,” said Leon, smiling.
