Upscale Santas : For Rodeo Drive Shoppers, Price Is Right at 11th Hour

Santa Claus was coming to town.

But first he had to stop off Christmas Eve in Beverly Hills to do some last-minute gift shopping. And wouldn’t you just know it: Parking along Rodeo Drive was at a premium, as usual.

So Eugene Jeter squeezed his sleigh-red Harley-Davidson into a space in front of a boutique called Alaia Chez Gallay and hurried off in search of Christmas presents for his mother, sister and brother.

“For their gifts, it’s not a matter of expense,” Jeter said, explaining why he rode his motorcycle from Inglewood on Tuesday to Christmas shop on America’s most expensive street.

Names such as Chanel, Giorgio and Gucci come with an aura of quality, Jeter said. Gifts from places like that aren’t likely to be casually tossed aside the day after Christmas.

Just as important on the last shopping day until Christmas, aisles are uncrowded. Sales clerks are plentiful and attentive. Shelves are stocked with merchandise that hasn’t been picked over by every holiday shopper in town.

And every store gift-wraps.

“I won’t buy it if they don’t wrap it,” said shopper Bill Schwartz, a video distributor from Santa Monica. He walked into the Hammacher Schlemmer store with a harried look on his face and gift list with 18 names in his hand.

Without hesitation, Schwartz picked out a $120 picnic basket. “We can wrap it in just a few minutes, sir,” sales clerk Elizabeth Vienneau promised him.

A few doors away, a helpful clerk at the Bardelli clothing store walked into the middle of Rodeo Drive to complete a sale. He escorted a young woman dressed in black leotards and a jacket out to the street, where a male companion sitting in a Rolls-Royce double-parked in traffic lanes signed for the purchase.

A block away, men’s store salesman Osher Ron showed a shopper a collection of $55 Christmas ties decorated with tiny Santas, sleighs and wreaths.

“People are extremely happy when we solve their gift problems,” said Ron, a salesman at Carroll and Co., a 42-year-old shop that calls itself the oldest on the street. The men’s store keeps detailed information on sizes, colors and styles favored by customers and celebrities.

“Some of them are very hyper when they come in this time of year. Some are not certain what they’re looking for.”

Hollywood personality Casey Kasem definitely did not fit that description Tuesday afternoon. That’s because Kasem was accompanied by his own personal gift consultant as he selected Christmas gifts for his wife, Jean Kasem.

“He’s got very good taste and he’s worked with Jean in the past,” Kasem, of Holmby Hills, said of Toluca Lake decorator-designer Jeff Rohr. “Jeff’s been very valuable. I should shop throughout the year, but I guess I’m just a last-minute shopper. I do it every year.”

Being a last-minute shopper Tuesday was not without risks, though. Even in Beverly Hills.

The Chanel store was temporarily out of one of the gifts that Kasem and Rohr selected. So a helpful clerk snipped a photograph of Jean Kasem from a local magazine and pasted it over the face of a model in an advertising photo of the item. Then she gift-wrapped the composite photo for Kasem and promised to deliver the real gift when it arrives.

Back in front of Alaia Chez Gallay, meantime, Eugene Jeter was loaded down with gift bags from Fred Hayman, MCM and Chanel when he returned to his motorcycle. His Rodeo Drive shopping spree had cost him $1,500.

Make that $1,530. A City of Beverly Hills parking ticket was tucked under his handlebars; he was cited for parking in a red zone.

“I’m off to downtown,” said Jeter, who owns an Inglewood video and record store. “I’m headed to the garment district on Los Angeles Street. The prices there are half of what they are here. It’s time for some heavy-duty shopping.”