Champagne and Crossbows

Some prepared for unforgettable celebrations. Others prepared for calamity. Many geared up for both at once.

Across the San Fernando Valley on Friday, residents made last-minute runs to stock up on everything they deemed necessary to meet the year 2000--from champagne and cash to bullets and crossbows.

Merchants reported unprecedented business as cautious customers loaded up on propane, gasoline, nonperishable foods and water.

Specialty stores and food and drink retailers sold booze, food and favors for parties large and small.

Automated teller machines were popular as people continued to brace for the prospect of a computer-challenged new year, despite widespread reports of a trouble-free changeover from other corners of the world. Pharmacies were busy as well, with customers careful to obtain additional supplies of vital medicines.

Authorities prepared for the worst and hoped for the best, mobilizing huge numbers of police and fire personnel for emergency service from the Antelope Valley to Glendale.

And city officials buckled down to entertain what they hoped would be 75,000 revelers at the San Fernando Valley Spectacular, a government-sponsored party scheduled to run 13 hours at Van Nuys Airport. But early crowds numbered only about 2,000, as rain and cold kept the turnout low.

“We’re the only city in the nation where people don’t have to go to the millennium,” said Mayor Richard Riordan, seeking refuge from the rain in the airport’s main hangar. “The millennium has come to them, in San Pedro, Crenshaw, the Valley and other parts of the city. We’re going to celebrate our great ethnic heritage. When we light the Hollywood sign, people will be justly very proud of their city.”

Airport party organizers had hoped that 2,000 people would join a late-afternoon line dance, but only about 500 took part after rain forced dancers into the hangar.

Elsewhere, one of the hottest commodities leading up to midnight was perhaps the most essential--water--as people prepared for possible Y2K problems with memories of a local disaster--the 1994 Northridge earthquake--still fresh.

At No. 1 Drinking Water in Canoga Park, business was three times its usual Friday level as customers filled bottles with water filtered by reverse osmosis.

“This is the busiest I’ve ever seen it,” said Yen Pham, whose family started the business shortly after the quake. “We might run out of water, depending on how many people come in.”

From Burbank to Chatsworth, grocery store workers saw their stocks depleted of basic survival goods such as toilet tissue. At Home Base in Van Nuys, a beefed-up stock of flashlights and batteries was down to fewer than 10 lanterns.

Shoppers such as David Post were taking no chances on lost prescriptions. He stood in line with a dozen others at Sav-on Drugs on Reseda Boulevard in Northridge.

“Lights, telephone and a computer won’t help me if something happens and I don’t get my medicine,” Post said.

Sales of propane gas rose sharply. At U-Haul in Northridge, general manager Randy Groves said he probably went through about 600 gallons on Thursday alone.

“It’s been crazy. We’ve probably sold as much propane today as we have in the past three or four weeks combined,” Groves said. “It’s great--business is good. Too bad we can’t have a millennium more often.”

Y2K-conscious drivers kept gas stations busy. Sam Lufti, manager of a Mobil station in Reseda, said he’d seen business grow as much as 80% over the past few days.

“They don’t take that much gasoline,” Lufti said. “They just want to make sure their tanks are full.”

Patience was in order at gas stations, as lines sometimes extended into traffic lanes.

Kevin Bird had been waiting more than five minutes to get to the pumps at an Arco station on Reseda Boulevard in Northridge when a Miata squeezed in front of him.

“On any other day, I would smack him,” Bird said. “But I know everybody trying to get in here at the last minute. I guess the only thing that matters is that I got in here.”

People also lined up for cash.

A handful of customers at a Granada Hills branch of Washington Mutual Bank arrived to make withdrawals by 10 a.m. By noon, a line snaked throughout the branch and out the front door. Another line formed at cash machines outside.

“I had to come to the bank now,” said Larnel Harris in the ATM line. “I am worried about what will happen at the bank with Y2K--and I only had one buck in my pocket.”

Many customers went shopping Friday for more traditional New Year’s items too, of course. Business was brisk at Let’s Party in Northridge, where Silly String and balloons labeled “2000” were the most popular items.

Tom Amundsen’s 7-year-old son, Barney Jake, insisted on the purchase of some party supplies, including hats, noisemakers and streamers, for a small gathering at their home.

“This is a big one for him, bigger than it is for us,” Amundsen said. “The adults will be taking bets to see if the kids can stay up. Also, we’ll be waiting to see if we need to light candles after midnight.”

Others prepared themselves for darker, more “Road Warrior”-esque possibilities.

At Recon-1, a Tarzana retailer specializing in survival supplies, store employees have had trouble closing the store on time in recent days, often staying open until 8 or 9 p.m. to handle the swell of last-minute Y2K shoppers.

Thursday afternoon, a Van Nuys man who gave only his first name, Emmenuel, browsed the store for self-defense items such as crossbows and pepper spray.

“I wanted to buy a gun, but I waited too long,” he said, referring to the mandatory waiting period on gun purchases.

Emmenuel said he had already stocked up on food, water, flashlights and propane gas. “I don’t believe anything’s going to happen, but I saw the L.A. riots. If something happens and there are problems for two weeks, three weeks, I think there’s a good chance people will lose their minds.”

Times staff writers Miguel Bustillo, Bobby Cuza, and Karima A. Haynes contributed to this story.