Gladys Hampton stood by the Macy’s entrance at the Del Amo Fashion Center staring at the rain, the puddles and the line of drivers in search of a parking space.
Somewhere out there was her car, and she would have to speed-walk to avoid getting too wet.
But unlike some shoppers at the mall in Torrance, Hampton didn’t mind any of this one bit.
“My opinion would be different if I had children,” she said. “You have to pack ’em up, wrap ’em up.”
She said shopping on a rainy day had its pros and cons.
“On the plus side, the mall is not that busy,” she said. “It feels Christmas-y — the weather.”
Hampton could not think of a con, just another positive side to the rain.
“It may be subjective to me because I like the gloomy weather.”
Inside the mall, the Christmas music was playing, sneakers were squeaking, and families were waiting to take photos with Santa Claus.
Sitting down on a bench, 59-year-old Trini Johnson took a break from shopping with her 14-year-old niece.
Johnson was recovering from a knee injury and would have preferred to stay home in bed sleeping before her work shift , but her niece needed to do some last-minute shopping.
“Everywhere we go, I’m looking for a chair,” she said.
She said getting out of the car in the rain was “horrible” and “awful.”
Johnson said she was not a fan of cold, wet, gloomy weather.
“I hate wearing jackets,” she said.
Johnson and her niece were coming from Mid-City and took side streets because she refuses to drive on the freeway. She said the last time she drove in the rain, she was in the fast lane when a car on the opposite side of the freeway splashed water on her windshield, temporarily blocking her view.
“I didn’t know whether to press on the brakes or not,” she said. “It scared the hell out of me.”
Outside of such frightening moments, the year has been a tough one for Johnson. It will be the first holiday without her husband, who died earlier this year.
She said they were separated but were still married and extremely close.
She said it had been an adjustment.
“I have to call a regular plumber and people to help me around the house,” she said, “whereas I used to call him and it would get fixed.”
She said the gloomy weather wasn’t helping. Still, she said, everything would be OK.
“I’ll see him again and my parents, one day,” she said.
Elsewhere in the mall, Ana Leon, 37, and her mother, Socorro Diaz, 63, had just wandered inside the mall and headed to a coffee shop.
“Un cafecito primero,” Leon said. “A coffee first.”
As she sipped on a coffee, Leon said her shoes and socks were wet.
The mother and daughter hadn’t traveled far. They live in Lawndale and hadn’t planned on shopping, not on a rainy day.
“A lot of people drive too fast or too slow,” Leon said. “And then there’s the large puddles.”
So what made them take the trip to the mall on one of the year’s rainiest days?
“We forgot some people’s presents,” Leon said, chuckling. Her mom, holding her cup with two hands, laughed. “But we don’t have to tell them that.”
Asked how she felt about having to walk with wet socks and shoes while shopping, she said the coffee was helping and she only needed to purchase three gifts.
“Maybe some new sneakers and socks,” Leon said, smiling.
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