A Something-for-Everyone Day

Nature couldn’t decide what kind of day it was supposed to be Sunday.

So naturally those spending the last day of the long holiday season around Los Angeles couldn’t seem to agree, either.

It was pleasantly warm for Marty Lipstein. Far too cold for Chelsea Hernandez. Not rainy enough for Jeff Simpson. Way too wet for Pat Corner.

What else would you expect from a day that couldn’t settle on sunny or stormy--so it served up a little of both.

The sun was shining shortly before noon when Marty Lipstein peeled off his shirt and shoes and dove into the ocean at Santa Monica Beach.

“This is a perfect day for a swim,” said the 77-year-old retired Santa Monica teacher.

On the sand nearby, shorts-clad Thom Wedge looked up from a book to watch Lipstein practice his breaststroke. “This is warm,” said the 25-year-old actor from Hollywood. “I just got back from spending a week in Indiana. Now that was cold.”

But rain was pouring two hours later as Chelsea Hernandez glanced out a Los Angeles International Airport terminal window and shivered one last time before heading home to Hawaii.

“It’s too cold here. I like heat. I want my 80-degree weather--none of this 50s and 60s stuff for me,” said Chelsea, a 17-year-old Mililani, Hawaii, student who came with her high school band to march in last week’s Rose Parade.

Chelsea went skiing at Big Bear during her 10-day visit and wore a shirt, two sweaters, two jackets, two pairs of socks, two sets of thermal underwear and jeans. “But I still froze to death,” she said.

It was drizzling as Jeff Simpson turned in his pair of rental snow skis at a Westchester ski shop. The 36-year-old Playa del Rey aerospace consultant was returning them because there wasn’t enough snow Sunday to lure him to local mountain ski resorts.

“If it had been raining this morning I’d definitely be up there right now, absolutely,” Simpson said. “It would have been snowing up there. I’d have been headed up to Snow Summit behind the first snowplow of the day.”

The skies were overcast when Pat Corner paused next to a 25-foot-high stack of wood at his Venice firewood lot. His neatly cut piles of oak, pine, eucalyptus and walnut were damp from the last shower to pass through.

“I’d like to see a cold front come through here--but one without rain,” said Corner, who has operated his lot for 34 years. “The weather makes or breaks you in this business. People want a fire when it’s cold. But they holler about wet wood.”

Corner might get at least part of his wish, said John Sherwin, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times.

Storm clouds should be gone by this afternoon, but temperatures will be somewhat chilly: the upper 50s and low 60s-- “not warm by California standards,” Sherwin said.

Naturally, travelers returning to Los Angeles after holiday visits to wintry Chicago couldn’t agree Sunday whether that kind of forecast sounds good or bad.

Kevin Manning, a Manhattan Beach financial broker, was hoping for warmth. “Chicago weather was nicer than this, quite frankly. I was looking forward to coming back to warm weather,” he said.

But Kay Anderson, a La Verne secretary, was wishing for a cold snap. “It’s only 10 degrees warmer here than it was in Chicago. I’ve lived here 42 years and I still miss cold winters.

“Stormy weather is fine for me,” Anderson said. “I get enough sun.”