Holiday Accents Joy, Sorrow in Southland

Christmas Day in Southern California was celebrated joyously on sunny beaches and windy hilltops, in warm kitchens that were free from power blackouts and in living rooms unexpectedly filled with donated toys.

But it was also marked with some sadness, as lonely people in immigrant neighborhoods struggled on public telephones to exchange a few loving holiday words with relatives in their homelands.

The brilliant weather, with temperatures hitting the 70s, brought people outdoors in a way that the rest of the nation envied.

In Manhattan Beach, 43-year-old Vince “Surfing Santa” Ray was thankful for the big waves, a chance to spread Christmas cheer one more time in what has become an annual South Bay tradition.

On Christmas morning, as a dense, milky white veil of fog slowly lifted from the beach, Ray pulled a cherry red, 9-foot, 6-inch surfboard from his Chevrolet station wagon. He coated it with wax. “Ho! Ho! Ho!” Ray belted out to skaters who passed by.

He pulled on his red neoprene Santa wetsuit--complete with a black belt, red hat and black boots--and, finally, strapped on a flowing white beard. Striding past the volleyball nets, he headed for the emerald green waves.

“It’s fun. It’s all about giving. To me, Christmas is giving your time, yourself,” said Ray, enjoying the smiles as people saw him in the surf.

“Santa! Can I ask you for something?” one surfer shouted to Ray between 10-foot swells as dolphins frolicked nearby. “Of course,” said Ray, a surfing instructor from Redondo Beach who last year took on the mantle of Surfing Santa after his predecessor retired from the volunteer appearances.

The man asked for a trip to Hawaii. So did another surfer. Others asked for new surfboards. Art Krispin, 27, an electrical engineering graduate student and surfer, wanted warmer water. Anything above 60 degrees, please.

This Surfing Santa spreads good cheer and not any promises or presents. But, he stresses that Californians have a year-round gift: the weather.

“My friends in Michigan have so much snow they can’t leave the house now,” said Ray. “They can’t go to work, or send their kids to school. Here we are, surfing.”

What did folks in Chicago have to say about Southern California basking in 70-degree sunshine? “I don’t want to hear about it,” Jim Ramsey, weatherman at the Windy City’s WGN-TV, moaned in a telephone interview. “We actually had a good day today. It got up to about 10 or 12 degrees.”

In the San Fernando Valley, far from the beach, Brooke Ballenberg was thankful for wind, which kicked up to 35 mph and higher in some Valley areas. As Santa Ana winds whipped Santa statues on front lawns, her yellow kite seemed a perfect gift.

“Kite!” giggled the girl, who is almost 2 years old. Shuffling up her West Hills street in pajamas and frilly pink slippers, she grabbed the teddy-bear kite’s blue and red tails as her dad ran backward to lift her new toy.

The Martinezes in Garden Grove were thankful for a functioning stove.

Like the Grinch that stole Christmas, those strong winds raced as fast as 80 mph in northern Orange County, knocking out power in more than 25,000 homes. Many families were relying on that electricity to roast Christmas turkeys and unwrap presents beneath twinkling tree lights.

The Martinez family managed to make Christmas work without power.

Esteban Martinez had made menudo, a traditional soup made of tripe and chile, to serve to visiting relatives for Christmas breakfast.

But the dish didn’t go over well cold, so the family piled into the car and drove to Martinez’s son’s home a few miles away in Santa Ana. There, the stove was working.

“It’s a good thing the relatives came late, because we had no way to heat the soup,” Martinez said.

Southern California Edison spokesman Paul Klein said Edison had managed to restore power to all but 5,000 homes by 10:30 a.m., and only 500 homes were without power by late afternoon.

In South Los Angeles, Lynn Dupree was thankful when members of the Stentorians, an organization of African American city and county firefighters, came to her door in their red fire engine with free toys. Thousands of dollars worth of toys were piled high on the engine and in the van.

“I really appreciate this. Thank you,” Dupree said as she watched the Stentorians hand dolls, a basketball and backpacks to her three children, ages 9 through 14.

She said she has been out of work since February, when she lost her job as an electronics assembly worker.

“It’s been kind of tight lately,” she added. The surprise visit put a shy smile on the faces of her two daughters and son.

But in MacArthur Park, Christmas was a day of depression for some immigrants from Latin America. It is a painful reminder of how far away they are from family.

On Monday, many were clustered around public phones, trying to connect with relatives back home.

Daisy Salgado, a 40-year-old baby-sitter, said Christmas is now the worst day of the year for her. She looked downcast as she walked through the park with her 2-year-old son, Raul Jerez. “Christmas is a sad time,” she said. “We don’t have joy. It’s mainly sorrow.”

Salgado left San Miguel, El Salvador, 12 years ago. She was never able to return. Her father died 11 years ago. Her mother died two years ago. She remembers the traditions of Christmas Eve in El Salvador, when her entire family would go to Mass, then have a midnight meal.

Salgado bought a $5 calling card and tried to call a brother and sister five times Sunday to tell them she loved them. Like many immigrants in similar situations, she found phone lines were jammed. She didn’t have any better luck Monday.

At the Midnight Mission in downtown Los Angeles, about 2,200 people showed up for a free Christmas dinner. The menu included turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, asparagus, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, pies and cake, all served up by celebrity volunteers, including Dick Van Dyke, Debbie Reynolds and Marla Gibbs.

The staff began preparing the meal--the 40 turkeys and 600 pounds of potatoes--a week earlier. Broderick R. Smith, a cook at the mission and recovering addict, said Christians have no better way to spend Christmas or any other day than doing the work of Jesus Christ.

“He came to serve. So how much more are we expected to serve? Today is an opportunity to live and to do what I’m expected to do.”

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Times staff writers and correspondents Jessica Garrison, Grace E. Jang, Mitchell Landsberg, Jennifer Mena, Massie Ritsch and David Rosenzweig contributed to this article.