In an era when cities are struggling with their homeless populations, a town in Arizona has come to celebrate the 68-year-old man sporting a long white beard and a Santa Claus hat. Santa James, as he’s come to be known, is embraced like a long-lost friend.
In Kingman, Ariz., residents have embraced an eccentric character who goes by the name James Zyla, even though most people call him Santa James. Longtime homeless and legally blind, he’s found a home in Kingman.or years, the white-bearded man in the red Santa Claus outfit has been a familiar sight around this isolated high-desert town, his habits so routine people take notice when he’s not there.
Slowly, in this town of 25,000 mostly retirees and blue-collar workers, where untethered wanderers roll off Interstate 40 like so many tumbleweeds, residents let down their guard for one peculiar 68-year-old man few call James or Zyla. Here, he’s Santa James.James Zyla takes a break on a bus bench in the historic district of Kingman, Ariz.
People offer him gift certificates to Starbucks and McDonald’s, hand him a cup of coffee or bottle of water, buy him new Santa-themed clothing, including a stylish red hat with sparkly sequins. After residents learned he’s legally blind, they keep watch when he negotiates four-lane roads by sound and memory, the vehicles whizzing past merely a blur.
Soon after they met, Pat learned Santa James walked the streets at night, so he parked a van in a Safeway parking on the homeless man’s route so he’d have a place to sleep. At first, Pat retrieved the vehicle each morning. Eventually, he left it there for more than a year, and gave Santa James the keys. He also took him to a truck stop for an occasional shower while Judy dutifully washed his clothes.
He can play anything on his keyboard, he says, from rock and blues to country and Broadway tunes, and writes songs he says are influenced by music he heard on the radio growing up in England. Before he landed in Kingman in 2014, a motorist in Bullhead City saw him walking along the road and handed him a Santa Claus outfit. He decided to adopt the look.
“This town really has adopted James as its community grandfather,” Police Chief Robert DeVries said. “Dispatchers will get a call about a man in a red suit lying down, and they’ll rush over to see if he’s OK. Whenever we hear of a vehicle-pedestrian mishap, somebody always says, ‘Hopefully, it’s not Santa James.’”
But afterward, before the class, he connected with the students in his own Santa James way. He played the Beatles’ “Let It Be” on his keyboard, along with an original instrumental inspired by a hard-living friend named Daphne, a bartender who died breaking up a knife fight.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
HBO to relocate its West Coast home from Santa Monica to Culver CityThe premium cable network plans to leave the beach city in 2021 and lease a 240,000-square foot office building at the Ivy Station mixed use complex under construction. Culver City increasingly is becoming production hub for television.
Read more »
Use of whips banned at Santa Anita, where 22 horses have diedIn a move that is sure to spur a national debate, the California Horse Racing Board adopted a proposal from the Stronach Group that would ban the use of whips at Santa Anita Park and Golden Gate Fields. The ban goes into effect on Friday when Santa Anita reopens after being closed since March 5.
Read more »
Santa Anita horse deaths spur state board to move to ban whips in most casesIn a move that is sure to spark a national debate, the California Horse Racing Board took the first step to abolishing the use of the whip in the state when it passed a rule that would restrict jockeys from using a riding crop except in cases when the safety of jockeys or horses is in question.
Read more »
Santa Anita racetrack reopening after the deaths of 22 horses
Read more »
The plan to turn Santa Monica Airport into a park is irresponsible. The Westside needs housingThe 227-acre Santa Monica Airport is in close proximity to jobs, good schools, and transit. Area residents wants it to become a park in 2028 — but housing has to be part of the mix.
Read more »
23rd horse dies Santa Anita racetrack, two days after racing resumedPark officials said they were working with state regulators to determine if there was anything that could have been done 'to prevent today’s tragedy.'
Read more »
23rd horse dies at Santa Anita after racing accident
Read more »
2 days after racing resumed, 23rd horse dies at Santa Anita ParkJust two days after racing resumed at Santa Anita Park, another horse died on the famed track on Sunday, becoming the 23rd horse death since late December
Read more »
Horse death toll hits 23 at Santa Anita two days after racetrack's reopeningSanta Anita enacted several changes to improve horse safety. It still only took two days for a horse to die.
Read more »