EAST OF ALLEN

An absolutely beautiful day for the parade. The kind of day when at 8 in the morning you can’t decide to whether or not you’ll need a sweater. This is Sierra Madre Blvd., kind of a lonely place early parade day morning and it was fun to walk right down the middle of a usually busy street. But, this is where the floats go for post parade and in a few hours, this area will be overflowing with people looking at the floats.

On our way down Sierra Madre Blvd. we said hello to friends already in place for the parade or wandering around the street. Some school friends had slept overnight. We got hit up by scouts for Krispe Kremes. Then, further down Sierra Madre Blvd. we met up with another Pasadena family to watch the parade. Most of the people around us were locals (or relatives from out of town) — people who year after year watch the parade at the same spot. One of the many Trojan fans was next to us. Oh, nice mountain views too.

The Penn State band was fantastic. Five miles into the parade and the band still had great energy dancing their way to the finish line. Their baton twirler was juggling batons! Here she is waiting for one of her batons to come back to earth. Penn State got huge cheers from the crowd around us. And their band was so good I almost switched my football team allegiance from the Trojans to the Nittany Lions.

It’s the Emerald City! But, the poppies, the poppies will put our heroes to sleep. Good thing Glenda the Good Witch is there to save the day.

Sometimes you can get flowers when the parade and post parade are done and the floats are being towed back to storage. But, I’d never seen anyone run out during the parade and pick a flower off of a passing float. Actually this was for a good cause. The flower filcher presented the rose to a lady celebrating her 50th birthday on the curb watching the Rose Parade.

It’s an international parade. But, it’s also a local parade. Actually that’s one of the things I really like about Pasadena. In many ways, we’re a world class and world renowned city. But, in significant ways we’re also a small town. This highly decorated girl scout just marched five miles in the world’s best known parade and was plainly happy to hear a chorus of friends calling her name from Sierra Madre Blvd. 

Wile E. Coyote is after the Roadrunner on Sierra Madre Blvd. Looks like he’s still using those ACME rockets. Some coyotes never learn. 

The good news is that, out of hundreds of beautiful contestants, we’ve selected you for the honor of riding in the 120th Tournament of Roses Parade where you’ll be seen on television by millions of people world wide.

 

The bad news is, well, you’ve got to wear this hair….

Gotta like band directors who engage the crowd. This guy from the LAUSD All District Band was shaking hands, waving and clapping.

Notice the helicopter flying just out of the surfer’s grasp. I waited for this shot.
My favorite float by the way. Surf City USA — the real one in the OC. 

La Canada’s entry. I like the fact that many of our surrounding cities have floats in the parade. 

What float will Raul and his parrot ride on this year? Answer: China Airlines. Spectacular float. This guy knows how to do it. 

The Liberty High Grenadiers were really good. But, the hats…. Even the band director had one. Leadership by example.

Great float from Alaska. These guys did a hunting dance and charged the crowd. Lots of fun. 

It’s the Age of Aquarius. Lots of activity here: dancing, drums, juggling, wild colors. I’ll pass on the Jumbo Jack. But a wonderful float. 

Donate Life. Huge cheers from the crowd. And with good reason.

The City of Hope and Duarte float. We like City of Hope. It’s an inspiring and world class place much befitting its name. My mom is there now, but soon to be released. She was watching the parade on TV when I called her from the parade route.

Here are the good folks from the Valley Hunt Club, which club founded the Tournament of Roses 120 years ago. With the Hunt Club’s history, the horse driven carriage and all, I thought I’d try some fancy photo work and go black and white. Great idea; terrible photo. Also, while I was thinking 1890s, I didn’t notice the tow truck in the background. Oh, well. 

Cal Poly makes fun floats. Like them every year.

Roseville float from NoCal. The engineer has both arms and half his body out of the window. This was a fun float with lots of energetic riders. 

The Sierra Madre float broke down and was towed to the finish. The guy in the white jumpsuit is not part of the Bollywood thing, but just a really dejected float driver. 

Burbank. Great job. I thought the drive-in with the mountains in the backdrop was a nice touch. 

One of the directors of the Band of America. Five miles in and still engaging the crowd.

You know times are tough when realtors can’t afford shoes. 

Another wonderful parade is over. Time to load up the chairs, wander on back home and wait for the football game.