Shopping: The call of the mall for holiday gift-buying and fun

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Maybe you’ve been avoiding the thought, but news flash: It will be Thanksgiving in just five more days. And that means -- besides turkey, stuffing, football and (possibly) bickering relatives -- the official start of the holiday shopping season.

We all have one or two annoying friends who are already finished shopping, who kept running lists of ideas all year and hit up every sale from Presidents’ Day on. Others, such as this All the Rage correspondent, will do as much gift-hunting as possible in cyberspace.

But probably the majority of folks will find themselves at a shopping mall sometime or another over the next few weeks. And not just for shopping -- malls are meccas of entertainment, dining and recreational opportunities too. The Image staff visited a sampling of malls in Los Angeles and Orange Counties to see what’s new, what the vibe is like and to figure out tips for having a fun shopping experience. We found that while there are, naturally, many similarities, each place offers something a little different (like ice skating at Irvine Spectrum or trolley rides at the Grove). So why not mix things up and check out someplace other than your local go-to shopping center so your gift-buying excursions turn into adventures?

Read about it here, then grab that shopping list and get started! That’s what I’ll be doing today.

And if it rains Sunday, maybe I’ll stay in and watch some movies. With shopping on my mind, I’ll look for something starring one of our local malls. Yes, as Adam Tschorn reports, many of our local malls have had their 15 minutes (or more) of fame in the movies.

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-- Susan Denley