As a van pulled into a metered parking space on Tejon Street on Saturday, a man dressed as an elf walked up to the driver’s side window and asked how long the couple planned to park there.

“About 30 minutes,” the driver said, confused.

“I’d like to pay for your parking,” the elf said, and the driver brightened.

“Oh!” he said. “Thank you!”

As the elf began feeding quarters into the meter, a woman exited from the passenger side and asked, “Uh, what’s going on?”

Richard Skorman, the Parking Meter Elf, is used to that kind of confused response.

“It usually takes people by surprise,” he said. “That’s part of the fun for me.”

Skorman, who own’s Poor Richard’s Restaurant, Little Richard’s Toy Store, Rico’s Café and Wine Bar, and Poor Richards’s Books and Gifts, has patrolled the parking meters in the 300 block of Tejon Street each December for the past eight years, he said.

“It’s a nice surprise for people,” Skorman said. “A lot of them act like I’m giving them this great gift, when really, all I’m doing is giving them a few quarters.”

This year, the city is providing free downtown parking, in the covered parking garages and on-street meters, on Christmas Day and the day after, as well as Jan. 1-2. In the days leading up to Christmas, Richard the Parking Elf will be doing his part to ease the burden for holiday shoppers.

If he’s not outside, shoppers who could use some meter money can ask for it in the bookstore/gift shop or toy store, said Skorman, a former City Council member.

“We appreciate people shopping on our block,” he said. “This is our small way of giving back.”

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