Photos: Rain reprieve on Christmas Eve for last-minute gifts
Jesse Aguilar, 2 months old, catches some sleep while his father, Jesus Aguilar, and family take pictures on Christmas Eve at Universal City Walk. The family was visiting the Southland from Gilbert, Ariz.
Southern California residents got a brief Christmas Eve reprieve from a powerful winter storm that brought flash flooding, snarled traffic and prompted evacuations in some burn areas around the region.
The rain gave way to mostly sunny skies in the Los Angeles area early Friday, with scattered showers expected through the afternoon. Thursday’s storm dropped more than an inch and a half of rain in downtown Los Angeles and pummeled much of Southern California.
Shoppers were able to hit the malls, beachgoers enjoyed the sun breaking through the clouds, even the vice president made it to town, dodging the rain drops.
Vice President Kamala Harris greets firefighter Adam Corcuera with an elbow bump on Christmas Eve at Los Angeles Fire Department Station 94 in Crenshaw. Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff thanked the first responders for their service, bringing them holiday greetings along with two boxes of doughnuts.
(Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)
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Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff give their thanks to firefighters at Los Angeles Fire Department Station 94 on Christmas Eve.
(Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)
Rebecca and Michael Steele, from Washington, D.C., take a selfie against a sea of ornaments that decorate a Christmas tree at Universal City Walk on Christmas Eve.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Sid Lindenbaum, 78, blows bubbles on Christmas Eve on the Santa Monica Pier. He’s been dressing like Santa and blowing bubbles on the pier every Christmas Eve since 1995. He lives in Venice and is known as “The Venice Bubbleman.”
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Archbishop Jose H. Gomez presides over Christmas Eve Family Mass at Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles.
(Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)
The children’s choir sings during Christmas Eve Family Mass at Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles.
(Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)
Santa, a.k.a. Raymond Allen Greer, distributes backpacks filled with warm clothing and other items from Humanity Heroes during the Operation Feed Skid Row giveaway on Friday in Los Angeles.
(Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)
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Travelers just arrived at LAX wait for a ride on Christmas Eve. Thousands of flights worldwide were canceled due to the Omicron variant.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
LAX travelers get coronavirus tests at LAX on Friday.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
People play in the surf as a storm passes in Santa Monica on Christmas Eve.
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