Lakers Draw Thousands to Their Parade

Tens of thousands of Laker fans demonstrated their joy with boisterous enthusiasm this morning as the newly crowned National Basketball Assn. champions paraded up Broadway to Los Angeles City Hall.

Pennant-waving, horn-blowing, confetti-hurling supporters shouted their approval of the Lakers’ triumph over the archrival Boston Celtics as the victors, riding three decorated floats, inched forward through the pressing throng.

The parade, which included a color guard, Mayor Tom Bradley and the Morningside High School marching band from Inglewood--home of the Forum, where the Lakers play--began at 11 a.m. at 9th Street and Broadway. It progressed up Broadway to 1st Street, then east a block, arriving at the south lawn of City Hall at 11:45.

Gathered Early

The spectators--and vendors to prey on them--began staking out choice spots along the parade route about 7 a.m. For the fans, it was any place with a view, and preferably a little shade. For the vendors, who were hawking everything from Laker T-shirts at $10 to cotton candy for a dollar, it was any handy street corner.

Laker fans Joe Rodriguez, 40, his 15-year-old son, Danny, and family friend Bill Garbeck, 63--all from City Terrace--managed to find a parking spot for their van right on the parade route.

“We got chairs, soda, beer, sandwiches, potato chips, everything we need,” Garbeck said. “We got a real setup here--ringside seats.”

Most of the vendors reported brisk sales, but Lottie Hickman, 45, was an exception.

‘Shoot the Sky Hook’

She was trying to peddle some record albums called “Shoot the Sky Hook,” featuring performers Winston Ford and Cliff Jenkins, whom she described as “a couple of friends of mine.”

Her sign proclaimed the album a “smash hit,” but on the corner of 1st and Broadway, it was a flop. With the parade just a few minutes away and the crush of the crowd curbing her pitch, she had yet to make a sale.

Down the block, two representatives from the city clerk’s office were far busier--selling business licenses at $20.16 a pop to vendors who lacked them. One vendor, who identified himself only as Larry, packed up his wares and moved around the corner as the pair approached. “Hey, that would take all my profits,” he said.