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LA, Where Are You?
Apparently I am the only one who hasn't finished her holiday shopping. I went to my three prime people watching spots this weekend, and they were dead. Here I am, armed with camera, bills for parking, extra batteries, a ton of memory cards, a notepad and my walking shoes, and I show up and no one's around. I felt so abandoned.
I paid $11 to park at Citywalk thinking I would see something truly amazing. Um, nothing. No one. Pathetic. The only place with any sort of line was whatever store the bus of Japanese tourists in black suits happened to be in and that was it. There was no one in the Dodger team store, so I picked up a few gifts, grabbed some food, and moved on.
The Grove was dead as well. It was 73 degrees outside, sunny, the air was clear, Santa was in his workshop and the tree was decorated. I expected the place to be jam packed with 4 year olds in Uggs and their overstressed, frazzled parents dragging them by the hand trying to beat everyone into the register line at Nordstrom. Not so.
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I've never seen the parking lot this empty on a Sunday. Ever. Especially not on a holiday weekend with the sun shining and the Christmas carol synchronized fountain blasting water. The only place remotely crowded was the line at the American Girl Doll store to have the dolls' hair styled for her next Christmas party (a $20 value) and the line to see Santa (1.5 hour wait at 2pm).
There wasn't even a line at the Coffee Bean, which is usually packed to the gills. WTF? I was terribly disappointed.
Third Street Promenade was dead as well. I was freaking out about finding parking and thinking I was a moron to even try to head over there and what do you know, I found a spot on the street and didn't even have to use a lot.
There was a bit of a line at Old Navy, but that was because everything was either $20 or 50% off and they already came in boxes so the wrapping is easy. Slap a used bow on there with some scotch tape and you're set.
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I picked up a few pre-wrapped gifts at Old Navy and went home. Where is the holiday spirit people? More pushing! More fighting over the last American Girl! More jousting with strollers! Where are you?
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This work is only possible with community support. Every investigation, service guide, and story is made possible by people like you who believe that local news is a public good and that everyone deserves access to trustworthy local information.
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