A Taste of Luxury : Christmas Party Gives Skid Row Kids a Day for Dreams

Other Los Angeles kids believe what they really need from Santa this Christmas is a bike or an electric train or a computerized arcade game.

Jesus Saravia, a 3-year-old who participated Thursday at a Yule party for Skid Row children, has a more basic need--a roof over his head.

“Something big,” was how he put it to Santa, raising his little hands into the air.

The energetic toddler is one of the poorest of Los Angeles’ poor. He was one of 41 children who attended an annual holiday luncheon hosted by employees of the downtown Biltmore Hotel.

I was asked to sit in as St. Nick for the party. The guests were clients of Para Los Ninos, a nonprofit children’s day-care center. They are kids who rarely make their way to shopping malls where Santas are usually found this time of year.

Many of them are like Jesus, living week-to-week in cheap Skid Row hotels while their mothers scramble for $40-a-week sewing jobs in downtown lofts. In fact, he and his mother face eviction this weekend from their one-room home because they are behind in their rent, Para Los Ninos leaders said.

But kids are kids, and Christmas is a time for wondrous dreams.

And so the children’s eyes lit up like Christmas tree lights when they were led into the Biltmore’s ornate Gold Ballroom, where lunch was to be followed by a presentation of the “Nutcracker Suite” by the Westside Ballet Company and the arrival of Santa.

The lavish spread enthralled them. Robert Gaona, 3, grabbed as many almonds and cashews from a silver bowl on the table as his tiny hands would hold and then sat down to eat them one by one. Eduardo Solis, 4, explored an elegant serving table laden with fresh cut fruit and vegetable strips. Kevin Chamo, 3, commandeered a lift by hotel executive Katie Schulenberg so he could touch a giant reindeer carved from ice that decorated the table. Samantha Wilson, 3, carefully carried a crystal cup of pink punch to the table she shared with three other youngsters.

And Cindy Rodriguez, 2 1/2, climbed atop a cloth-covered downtown L.A. phone book placed on an adult-sized banquet chair when it came time for white-coated waiters to serve a luncheon of fried chicken, mashed potatoes and Santa Claus-shaped Jello salad. Cindy picked out a seat next to Biltmore switchboard operator Cecilia Alva.

My moment came late in the feast. When I stepped into the ballroom to distribute gaily wrapped presents donated by the hotel workers, the children excitedly hugged me and grabbed for my hand.

“Clothing is the preferred gift,” Biltmore General Manager Randall Vallereal whispered. “But the staff always sneaks in a few toys. Kids are kids. And people here are kids at heart.”

Indeed. When it came time for 2-year-old Piero Causillas to claim his gift, it turned out to be a pedal car so huge that hotel waiters Abel Cervantes and Manuel Machuca had to help him carry it off.

Several children, such as Bryan Crosbie, 4, raced across the ballroom when Santa called their names. Others, like 3-year-old Brenda Reyes, had to be coaxed to St. Nick’s knee.

“Sadly, this is the only nice place most of these kids will ever set foot into unless their cycle of homelessness and poverty is broken,” Manuel Garcia, a director of Para Los Ninos, said of the glittery ballroom setting.

All too soon, the party was over and Santa waved goodby.

As the kids waited noisily outside the lobby for hotel vans to carry them back to Skid Row, 5-year-old Orlando Terry excitedly held his shiny new fire truck up for Biltmore guests Janice Malofsky and Linda Black to see.

“Listen! It has a siren!” Orlando exclaimed.

Jesus Saravia left carrying two small push-car toys, a new sweat suit and a package of new underwear. He was beaming.

“Feliz Navidad,” he shouted over and over. Merry Christmas.