Holiday Inn-Sanity

On the day before the day before Christmas, holiday revelers rushed all over Los Angeles on Wednesday, snapping up last-minute gifts and preparing for mad dashes to airports or freeways while bundling up against chilly winds.

Travelers trying to get out of town for Christmas and New Year’s can expect lots of company on the road.

According to the Automobile Club of Southern California, about 9.2 million people in 13 western states will drive at least 100 miles each during the holiday season, up from 5 million travelers during Thanksgiving weekend.

Air passengers can expect delays at Los Angeles International Airport, where the number of people passing through the terminal is projected to swell from the usual 165,000 per day to 186,000 during the holiday period, airport officials said. To cope with the crush, officials said passengers should arrive at LAX three hours before international flights and two hours before domestic flights; park in remote lots; ride shuttle buses into the terminal, and call airlines to make sure flights are on time.

Passengers should also put wrapped gifts in their checked luggage, officials said, to avoid the possibility of being asked to open them by security officers.

“We want to remind people . . . not to make jokes about bombs or guns in the airport,” said Scott Read, an LAX spokesman. “Also, do not attempt to carry on guns, knives or anything that could be a weapon or appear to be weapon, such as a [toy] gun or a cigarette lighter that is a firearm replica.”

The frantic seasonal race was also being experienced on Wednesday by officials at Burbank Airport, who asked travelers to anticipate rubbing elbows with their fellow passengers.

“We are in a 68-year-old building that was built for about one-third of the passengers we have now, and is way too small,” said airport spokesman Shawn McCarthy.

And Van Nuys Airport officials reported that the parking lot for the FlyAway shuttle bus service to LAX was already filled by Tuesday. Passengers also can be dropped off at the terminal, said Pat Freudenberg, an airport spokeswoman. The shuttle makes 98 round-trips to LAX daily and fares are $6 for adults and $3.50 for children 2 through 12.

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For those heading for freeway onramps, the California Highway Patrol will have stepped-up patrols beginning at 6 p.m. Christmas Eve and continuing through midnight on Sunday to look out for drunk drivers.

“Apprehending the driver who is under the influence is our foremost priority during the holiday weekend,” said Chief Ed Gomez, commander of the CHP’s Southern Division.

CHP officers arrested 1,312 drunk drivers--including 329 in Los Angeles County--during the maximum enforcement period in 1997, Gomez said. During that same period, 32 highway deaths occurred, including four in the county.

Down-to-the-wire shoppers were also out in force in the San Fernando Valley as shoppers from Panorama City to Sherman Oaks to Woodland Hills searched shelves for gifts ranging from children’s clothing to glittering gems.

Shoppers jammed the nation’s only two-story Wal-Mart discount store at Panorama Mall, hunting for popular Furby plush toys and yo-yos.

“People are aggressively shopping,” said store co-manager Aaron Rios. “It usually looks pretty rough by the end of the night.”

Grace Dampha of Canoga Park used her lunch hour Wednesday to pick up her last gift in Panorama City, but she still planned to return to the mayhem of the mall later in the evening with her four children. “I would rather stay home if I could, but I promised,” she said.

Another last-minute shopper, Greg Austin of Panorama City, said he was having little luck finding the right gifts. “I’m kind of striking out,” he said.

Jose Gonzales of Van Nuys was helping a friend shop at a toy store in the mall, but was not planning to begin his own shopping until Christmas Eve. “It’s more exciting like that,” he said. Although he has not bought gifts for the 10 people on his list, he said he has bought the wrapping paper.

At Fashion Square Sherman Oaks, Jerry, Carol and David Burr were taking a coffee break during their morning shopping.

Jerry and Carol, of Clifton, N.Y., and their son, David, of Toulouse, France, were in town to visit a relative in Studio City. The elder Burrs arrived in Los Angeles on Tuesday expecting a sunny, warm break from chilly upstate New York.

“It wasn’t supposed to be cold,” said Carol Burr, pointing to some sweater purchases. But the unexpected weather really didn’t matter. “Our Christmas is seeing each other,” she said.

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Diane Reyes of Valencia munched a cinnamon bun as she waited for Artistic Wear to finish screening 23 designs onto a gift T-shirt for her mother, Helen.

“I heard I broke the record for the amount of designs on a T-shirt,” Reyes said, explaining that the shirt features a stick-figure design for each of Helen’s 17 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, along with their names.

Peter Hayes of South Pasadena, a self-confessed last-minute shopper, said he was proud he got all his shopping done Wednesday. Usually, he said, he starts shopping around noon on Christmas Eve day.

“I tend to do better under pressure. There are fewer choices and you tend to grab what you can. It makes it simpler for me.”

Then there were shoppers like Kristine Amerson of Granada Hills who hadn’t planned to go to the mall--that is until her neighbor asked her for a ride to Topanga Plaza in Canoga Park.

Even though she had finished shopping weeks ago, Amerson said she wound up buying hats and gloves for her kids to wear when the family goes for a ride in her convertible with the top down to look at Christmas lights. Said Amerson: “We’re pretending my car is a sleigh.”

The Amersons, like most people in greater Los Angeles, will be wearing heavy jackets today through Sunday as temperatures range between the mid-40s and mid-60s, according to the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

Downtown Los Angeles’ Broadway shopping district bustled with last-minute gift-buyers in pursuit of the perfect present.

Genoveva Rebilla, 18, of South Los Angeles, trudged down the sidewalk, plastic bags hanging from her arms, pushing her infant daughter in a baby carriage. The restaurant cook planned to spend her day off buying 15 presents for relatives and friends.

“The stores were crowded,” Rebilla said. “Next year I’m starting earlier.”

Lincoln Heights resident Martha Diaz, 33, and her cousin, Edgar Molina, 43, rested their heavy plastic shopping bags on the ground while they waited for the bus home.

“We tried Glendale Galleria yesterday and it was absurd,” Molina said. “There was no parking and we had to wait 45 minutes in line to pay.”

Still in search of last-minute gifts for relatives Wednesday, Molina and Diaz decided to take the bus downtown, hoping to find some bargains.

Diaz struck gold: A Teletubby character children’s backpack for $25, five dollars cheaper than the one at the mall.

“Now we’re done, but we still have wrapping and cooking to do,” Diaz said.

Times staff writers Matea Gold, Seema Mehta and Nancy Trejos contributed to this story.