Christmas shopping in Woodland Hills, California in the 1980s


I lived in the San Fernando Valley for several years, and worked in Woodland Hills, but I don't recall shopping all that much. I know that I did, but I rarely went to malls. But one day I decided to go to one of the malls in Woodland Hills to do some Christmas shopping. I had probably gotten a Christmas bonus from work, and money was burning a hole in my pocket.

It must have been a weekend, and it's always crowded in the Los Angeles area, but I never gave it a second thought, I just got in my car and drove to the mall. And when I got there, I couldn't see a parking spot.

Not seeing a parking spot didn't worry me, I knew that the parking lots were huge, and I was young and strong and I could easily hike from places that other people wouldn't bother even looking at. So I drove to the outskirts of the parking lot. And I kept driving, looking for a spot. I really don't know how long I drove around, even looking to see if someone might be backing out. Nothing opened up, so after a while I simply went back home. No, there was no street parking, either. I might as well as tried to walk from my apartment, which was three miles away. Well, I didn't need anything, anyway.

The last time I visited this area, a few years ago, I saw that there were big parking garages at the malls. It made me wonder how long it took for them to realize that people simply needed a place to park their car, or if they really didn't care, because there were so many people, and so many cars. Still, as an old marketing guy, I figured that at some point they would decide to make the investment, and I guess they did.

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