I asked my mother once if I ever believed in Santa Claus as a child. She shook her head and replied, "You were always suspicious." It was probably the sign of a budding journalist.
Growing up, though, I knew quite a few people who did believe in the jolly red man — and I later came to wonder what it was like to play Santa, especially for a credulous audience. How did one respond to irrational gift requests? Were there any crisis situations that came up?
So when I heard that Huntington Beach resident Tim Robbins was returning for his second straight year playing Santa in the city's annual downtown Tree Lighting Ceremony, I arranged an interview. Robbins, who works as a gate guard in Laguna Beach, runs a seasonal business every December and sports his costume to private parties, charity promotions and other events.
When I called Robbins' son and assistant, Joshua, to set up the meeting by the pier, he warned me that we might draw a lot of attention, as Santa invariably does. That turned out to be true. Almost from the moment the elder Robbins showed up in costume on Pacific Coast Highway, he found himself besieged by kids with gift requests and adults wanting their pictures taken with him.
