By David Downey | Contributing Writer
Dressed in an instantly recognizable red-and-white suit, Myk Price spreads Christmas cheer across Southern California, bouncing from malls to homes and from offices to daycare centers.
Price also pops in at tree-lighting ceremonies, toy giveaways and pancake breakfasts — being careful not to spill maple syrup on his outfit. He loves playing the jolly bearded icon of the season so much that he sometimes makes impromptu stops at Christmas tree lots on his way to a gig.
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“I really do enjoy being Santa Claus,” Price said. “And I figure, ‘Hey, I’m in the suit anyway, why not?’”
Price, a 59-year-old African American man who lives in Los Angeles, is part of a small but growing group of Santa Claus entertainers — those who are people of color.
Though Santa Claus is overwhelmingly portrayed in pop culture and Hollywood as an older White man, these jolly elves offer children of color a Santa who looks like them and sometimes knows their native language. And that’s especially important in diverse Southern California, many say.
Mitch Allen, founder and head elf at Fort Worth, Texas-based HireSanta.com, said minority Santas are the organization’s fastest-growing segment. Still, their numbers are relatively small, comprising less than 2% to 3% of the total.
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“The diversity of Santa Claus entertainers is really great,” Allen said. “It allows children to identify and react with a Santa who looks and speaks like them.”
Because of their small numbers, however, Allen said the demand for minority Santas is greater than the supply. As a result, the company often isn’t able to fill a request for one.
Overall, Santa bookings at HireSanta.com are up 152% over last year for gigs that generally pay $25 to $50 an hour at malls and $100 to $200 an hour for home visits, he said.
Art Alcaraz, a professor at UC Riverside and past president of the Riverside Latino Network, said it’s healthy to have minority Santas alongside the far more common White Santas with white beards.
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It’s especially important in ethnically diverse Southern California, he said.
“It’s culturally relevant,” Alcaraz said. “It’s meaningful for the kids.”
Alcaraz believes such opportunities allow children of color to make stronger connections with Santa and ease their “fear of sitting on Santa’s lap.”
The Santa Claus tradition originated with St. Nicholas, a white-bearded fourth century Christian bishop who lived in the Mediterranean port city of Myra — in what today is Turkey — and was known for his generosity, The Associated Press reported.
Devotion to St. Nicholas spread across Europe in the Middle Ages, fading after the 16th Century Protestant Reformation but staying strong in the Netherlands, according to The Associated Press. In the 17th Century, Dutch immigrants brought their Sinterklaas legend with them to New York, and that eventually morphed into the secular Santa Claus we know today.
While finding minority Santa Clauses in Southern California isn’t easy, a few make the rounds. Some, like Price, are professionals. Others are volunteers.
On Wednesday, Dec. 20, Price — who gets gigs from agencies including HireSanta.com — welcomed children at Beverly Center in Los Angeles.
“Families all over the world celebrate the holidays with Santas of many different likenesses and heritages,” Beverly Center General Manager Brian Parent said via email. “We are thrilled that even more of our customers can see themselves in our celebration of the season.”
On Saturday, Dec. 16, in Riverside’s Casa Blanca neighborhood, a volunteer Latino Santa Claus chatted with kids at a December to Remember celebration.
Frank Rivera, 37, was scheduled to be the Santa. But he fell ill and had to cancel. So his 33-year-old cousin, David Rivera, stepped into the gap.
Born and raised in the Casa Blanca community, David Rivera, got the call from a friend who helped organize the outdoor community event just hours before about 200 children arrived.
“It’s one of the biggest favors I’ve ever asked of you,” David Rivera recalled the friend telling him. “I need you to be Santa Claus.”
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David Rivera climbed into the heavy outfit his cousin planned to wear. Then he spent five hours greeting children and passing out gifts.
David Rivera relished playing the part.
“I asked them what they wanted for Christmas, if they had been good,” he said.
“I was surprised,” he added. “I didn’t get too many criers.”
He’s not sure, he said, but it might have helped that the mostly Latino children were greeted by a Santa Claus to whom they could relate.
“I would have laughed if one of the kids had pulled down my beard and snapped it back,” David Rivera said, saying he would have been inclined to do that when he was their age.
Richer San, 60, a Cambodian American man who lives in Long Beach, recently volunteered to put on the red-and-white suit in his hometown.
It was at a photo-with-Santa event for about 20 children at the Pacific Asian Counseling Services office.
San welcomed Spanish-speaking parents and their children with “good morning” and “merry Christmas” greetings in Spanish.
“I tried very much to make them feel comfortable and give them love,” he said.
San said it was his first time portraying Santa. He plans to do it again.
The diversifying of Santas is also seen in actor Eddie Murphy’s latest film “Candy Cane Lane.”
The movie, which is streaming, has a mostly-Black cast that includes a cameo from an African American Santa Claus. The poster for the movie, which is based on an El Segundo neighborhood known for its Christmas decorations, depicts Murphy wearing a shirt with a Black Santa.
Black Santas were once more scarce than they are today.
Riverside resident Dell Roberts, who is Black, recalled the first — and last — time he played Santa.
It was a decade ago or so at a community center in Riverside’s Eastside neighborhood.
Not everyone believed in Santa then — at least not in his portrayal of the jolly old elf. Two African American boys glared at him, their arms folded in defiance.
“They said, ‘You’re not Santa. Santa’s White,’” Roberts said. “They just refused to believe that Santa Claus was Black.”
Rev. Ivan S. Pitts, senior pastor at Second Baptist Church in Santa Ana and a Long Beach resident, can relate.
In the 1970s, when he was 7 or 8 years old, he saw a minority Santa at a holiday event in a South Central Los Angeles park.
“I remember thinking, ‘Wow, a Black Santa Claus,’” Pitts said. “This can’t be real.”
Pitts said he was shocked because in “every commercial, every catalogue, every billboard, every mall, every store” all he saw were White Santas.
“I went up to sit up on his lap. He called me by my name. and I was like, ‘Whoa, it must be Santa,’” Pitts said.
He later found out why Santa knew his name.
His dad — who disguised his voice for the occasion — was the man inside the suit.
As time goes on, Price, the busy professional entertainer who makes daily appearances, said people are becoming accepting of minority Santa Clauses.
Traveling extensively around Los Angeles, Orange County and the Inland Empire, Price doesn’t run into many skeptics these days.
“The kids believe in Santa Claus no matter what,” he said. “And to me that means everything.”
