Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 3, No. 51 - December 23, 2021
Inside
This Issue
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.......................5
Classifieds............................2
Entertainment......................2
Hawthorne............................3
Huber’s Hiccups..................2
Lawndale..............................4
Inglewood.............................5
Legals.............................3,6-8
Pets........................................8
Weekend
Forecast
Friday
Rain
60˚/52˚
Saturday
Rain
58˚/48˚
Sunday
Mostly
Sunny
56˚/45˚
Lawndale Tribune
AND lAwNDAle News
Hawthorne Press Tribune
Featuring the Weekly Newspapers of Hawthorne, Inglewood and Lawndale
Santa and Mrs. Claus Return to
the South Bay Spreading Cheer
South Bay Cities Gets Exclusive
Interview with Santa Claus
By Kiersten Vannest
The El Segundo Herald has had the distinct
honor of interviewing many interesting, important,
and unique individuals over the years.
From backyard collectors to CEOs, the paper
has featured neighbors of all walks of life.
However, this year, writers got an exclusive
interview with the season’s biggest celebrity,
the man in red himself. Christmas icon Santa
Claus shares his thoughts on visiting El Segundo.
With Christmas Eve just a few nights away,
Claus’s busiest day of the year, he shares
his plans, hopes, and fears about visiting El
Segundo this year. “It’s been a tough year for
children all over the world, but I’m seeing
more names on my nice list this year than I
have in a long time,” says Claus. He goes on
to mention how much good he’s seen kids in
El Segundo do this year, from active listening
to donating to saying kind things to each other.
He mentions one boy who organized a food
drive for El Segundo families in need and a girl
who collected items to give to animal shelters.
He also noticed that kids all over town showed
great patience in transitioning between in-person
and at-home learning. “Change is difficult,
and El Segundo has done so well with it,”
he says. Students at Richmond Street, Center
Street, and all schools across the city had to be
brave again this year, dealing with an ongoing
pandemic and mixed learning methods and
mask-wearing. Claus says that it’s important
for them to know that it doesn’t go unnoticed
and that they’re doing a good job. That’s why
he’s especially excited for this year’s journey.
After reading millions of letters and listening
to children’s requests across the globe, Santa
Claus is fully packed and prepared for his trip
down the chimneys of town. This year, he says
many children asked for toys that were Paw
Patrol themed, fidget toys, putty and slime,
Legos, L.O.L. Surprise toys, slot cars, and
squishable plushes.
Some kids asked for a bike or roller skates;
others asked for a phone or a camera. Some
kids, he says, asked for more abstract gifts.
Wishes for loved ones to heal and hopes that
people and animals can be safe and happy,
sometimes even requests for other kids. Though
these presents are harder to bring, Claus tries
his best to answer everyone.
Claus stresses that each place is completely
different and that what he gifts one house has
nothing to do with the next. He is proud of
every child in El Segundo, and whether the
wrappings under the tree are many or few,
he wants to ensure that no one feels left out.
“The real magic of Christmas,” he says, “is
the love of those closest to you. No magic I can
bring could come close.” Outside the window,
one of his reindeer nods its head. That’s one
reason he loves El Segundo: the people here
love each other, and it makes his sleigh fly
faster and higher.
Claus mentions that some of his favorite milk
and cookie combos can be found here in El
Segundo. “I love Smallcakes, and the Gelato
shop,” he says. But more than anything, he
See Santa Claus, page 5
The Thing about French
Article and photos
by Ben & Glinda Shipley
One edifice you’ll almost never hear mentioned
by travelers (although it gives great
photo op from the rear along Rue Mazarine)
is the domed and resplendent Institut de
France. This is odd, because this particular
Left Bank bastion goes farther to explaining
France, the French, and indeed the Parisians
than any other pile of ancient stones in town.
The Institut (in its Académie française)
was founded in 1635 and has been run
by some of the greatest thinkers in Western
history—from Richelieu and Voltaire
to Victor Hugo and Raymond Poincaré,
to Léopold Sédar Senghor. And the organization’s
primary function from the
beginning has been the preservation of
the French language.
Think about that for a second. No other
country boasts an official body responsible for
the stability and purity of the words and
syntax in which its citizens communicate.
We Anglophones go to the opposite extreme.
When a President as clumsy as Warren
Harding invents a word like “normalcy,”
politicians leap on board and insert it into
every speech for the next hundred years.
We communicate on the fly and entrust the
precision of our language to unintelligible
rock stars and the manglings of millennial
cell phone users. To even suggest a desire
for clarity or consistency gets the complainer
labeled as some form of cultural
supremacist—or worse.
But not in France. In France, no word enters
the French language unless a committee
See Travel, page 4
Santa and Mrs. Claus made a special visit to the City of Hawthorne last weekend bringing with them snow and toys for all. Photo courtesy City of Hawthorne.