Waterproof Shoes in Los Angeles?
Dateline: 11/17/97
Seems it never rains in Southern California,
Seems I've often heard that kind of talk before.
It never rains in California, but girl, don't they warn you
it pours, man it pours
- lyrics to "It Never Rains in Southern California" by Albert Hammond, 1972
Last Monday, there was a downpour of rain in Los Angeles. This had been predicted by the National Weather Service so I went to campus, CSU Northridge, fully prepared with raincoat, jeans, and most importantly my Eddie Bauer rain shoes.
I've had my waterproof plasticized shoe-boot type things for several years. They were very popular in Northern California and especially at UC Davis. Davis received about 20 inches of rain a year and had an excellent storm drain system which handled the rain quite well so there usually weren't too many deep puddles that required the Eddie Bauer shoes, but they sure helped keep my feet dry and kept my other shoes from getting ruined by the water.
Monday I wore my shoes while on campus in the rain and quickly noticed that no one else was wearing waterproof shoes. Everyone was wearing tennis shoes or leather shoes and I even saw a few pairs of sandals and high-heels. But no waterproof shoes.
I asked around. The most common response to why one doesn't wear waterproof shoes in L.A. is that "It doesn't rain enough in L.A."
Well, this statement seems quite strange to me because L.A., being a concrete desert, seems to have a storm drain problem. All around campus, water pooled and in some places was several inches deep. Everyone at CSU Northridge should know that it floods every time it rains. In fact, a recent campus newspaper published a map showing common flooding locations as part of a special feature on how the campus was gearing up for El Niño!
Then, on my commute home after GIS lab, I could not believe how flooded the streets were from just a few hours of rain. I had never seen anything like it. The news in Northern California showed footage of cars moving slowly through flooded street but now I was actually experiencing it down south.
I passed by a local high school on the way home just as the students were leaving and while I was waiting at a stop light, noticed no waterproof shoes there either. "How bizarre," I thought to myself.
As a geographer, I tend to think of things spatially and thus wondered what the difference was in shoe choice between Northern and Southern California. I was told by a friend who had managed a major chain sporting goods store in LA that he just could not get rid of many pairs of waterproof shoes similar to those which I wore. "We even tried putting them on sale" he said. Ultimately, they had to ship them up to Washington state where they sold quite well.
I spoke to managers of two Southern California Eddie Bauer retail stores found out that many people are going to the mall to try and buy waterproof shoes. Unfortunately, the stores no longer stock these shoes anymore; they're only available through the catalog.
I think there's a geographic point here somewhere...
It was interesting that while it really didn't flood at UC Davis, people wore waterproof shoes but at CSUN, where it floods and people know it's going to flood, they don't wear waterproof shoes because "This is L.A." and everyone's perception of their region is that it "Seems it never rains in Southern California."
