Gifts From Merchants : A Closed Street Opens Holidays to Poor Children

It was an unlikely setting for a children’s Christmas party.

At the end of the street, a disheveled young man claiming to be a Vietnam veteran hustled quarters from passers-by. Less than a block away, a gang of middle-aged men leaned against a parking lot barrier drinking from wine bottles in brown paper bags.

But for 5 1/2 hours Saturday, the traffic on Hill Street between 3rd and 4th streets in downtown Los Angeles was halted by police barriers. And for an estimated 600 to 800 mostly Latino onlookers and 50 children from Para Los Ninos--a child care center serving low-income and indigent downtown families--it was an afternoon of toys, fun and music.

Message in Song

Top billing went to a performance of “Feliz Navidad” by singer Jose Feliciano, who pulled up in a white limousine just long enough to belt his song through a public address system.

Leah Isaac, who with her husband, David, owns the Grand Bazar furniture and appliance store on Hill Street and was the inspiration for the event, said she organized it to show poor children in the community that somebody cares about them.

“I had never been around the downtown area so I never saw what poverty and pain is like,” said Isaac, a native of Israel who lives in West Los Angeles and has owned the downtown store for only two years. “When a child gets a toy he forgets his troubles, and these children have a lot of forgetting to do.”

Besides the selection of donated toys doled out by a Spanish-speaking Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus, the children--brought in by van--received two boxes of clothing, brightly colored candy canes, and various other holiday refreshments, all donated by area merchants. In addition, they were entertained by an array of entertainers and at one point even treated to a song by a would-be singer, age 9, who had come with them.

All in Their Honor

“It’s very important that these children be recognized as children,” said Gladys Cabrera, executive director of Para Los Ninos which, she said, serves 300 children between the ages of 6 weeks and 17 years each day. Although the children had been given Christmas parties before at the center, she said, this was the first time they had been invited out into the community for a party in their honor.

“They will each get a Christmas present that they wouldn’t get at home,” Cabrera said. “This will help their self-esteem: every child wants a toy at Christmas.”

Based on the generous response of downtown merchants, Isaac said, she plans to make the affair an annual event.

“There are so many children around here who don’t have anyplace to go,” said Olimpia Kaufman, 54, a Los Angeles resident who dropped by the fiesta. “This is a beautiful idea.”

Added Joe Cortez, 30, a truck driver at the party with his wife and five children: “We all should do something. This is fantastic.”