Warming Up for the Parade in Pasadena

Pulling wool blankets and heavy overcoats around themselves, thousands of people undaunted by near-freezing temperatures camped out on the Rose Parade route overnight in a New Year’s street party that won’t end until the last float passes by today.

“What cold weather? It’s great,” Lois Hannig insisted on the eve of her 10th floral spectacular. “I love it. It’s one big, old block party. Everyone gives everybody a great big old hug, even people you don’t know.”

Her battery-operated TV still blaring strong and her navy-blue parka tightly fastened, the 58-year-old grandmother from Pasadena guarded her space on Colorado Boulevard across from the Norton Simon Museum--the spot her family has staked out every year. “We’ve got squatter’s rights,” boasted Hannig, who has been on Rose Parade sentry duty with friends since Monday.

They were among the throngs staking out choice Pasadena curb sides for a close-up view of the 99th Tournament of Roses Parade. The 60 floats, 22 marching bands and dozens of equestrian groups are expected to start moving along the 5 1/2-mile route from Orange Grove to Colorado Boulevard and on to Sierra Madre Boulevard at 8:20 a.m.

The weather forecast called for high clouds and low temperatures in the 30s today, rising in the late afternoon to about 60 degrees.

Picnic coolers, sacks of food and sleeping bags dotted stretches of Orange Grove and Colorado boulevards late Wednesday and Thursday as hard-core parade fans caught up on reading, listened to radios, watched portable TVs and consumed gallons of hot chocolate to temper the chill.

“I’ve done camping before and slept on the ground, but never on cement,” said Chris Gonzalez, a student at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena who has spent two nights on Colorado Boulevard to save sidewalk space for 12 friends. “Boy, it was cold out here. It’s an adventure. Everyone should experience it at least once in their life.”

Holding the Line

Near the intersection of Orange Grove and Colorado boulevards, where the floats make their first turn, Homer Boulin, a 43-year-old construction worker from Altadena, watched over a spot he was trying to hold for 150 of his friends and relatives. While such tactics are officially frowned upon, Boulin had used masking tape to mark off about 75 feet of curb side. He was doing it, he said early Thursday morning, “For the stupidity, for the craziness of it all.”

At the intersection, TV crews were frantically setting up cameras and lights. The parade will be televised by satellite to an estimated 350 million people around the world.

But San Bernardino resident Jose Brea, who also spent the night across from the Norton Simon Museum, prefers to view the procession from where “you can smell the flowers and feel the bands.”

“I stayed home to watch it on TV five or six years ago, and I never felt more miserable,” he said. “It was like looking through a peephole.”

Special Day

Lounging against a fence on Orange Grove Boulevard and munching on a take-out breakfast, Rose Harrera, who runs a Pasadena preschool, said the parade holds a special significance for her. Her daughter, Regina Noel, was born on Christmas Day 21 years ago. “We’ve brought her to the parade every year of her life,” Harrera said proudly. “It’s like a tradition.”

Yet another small tradition has flowered in Harrera’s years as a Rose Parade fan. Each New Year’s Eve for the last seven years a Pasadena attorney who once asked Harrera for room in her viewing area has left a case of champagne at the corner of Maylin Avenue. The attorney and his daughter will join the Harreras again this morning for the parade.

Over on Colorado Boulevard near Marengo Avenue, Joan Machin of Escondido and her sister, Pat Ludes, of Great Bend, Kan., were looking forward to sipping champagne at midnight. “I told my sister and my sister-in-law that you’ve got to see the Rose Parade once before you die,” Machin said.

“And now, we are going to die,” Ludes joked in the chill.

Mother Stayed Home

“Our 92-year-old mother will be watching from Kansas and she is going to be looking for us on TV,” said Machin. “She was going to come, but she had a cold.”

Ludes, Merk Ryan, of Salina, Kan., and their husbands drove for 2 1/2 days to get here in time for the parade. “It was snowing all the way,” Ludes said.

This morning, Pasadena police estimate that as many as 1 million spectators will view the parade and the Rose Bowl football game that follows. And like last year--when there were no major incidents except for several hundred arrests, most for public drunkenness--police expect little trouble.

“It was a very, very nice parade last year,” said Pasadena Police Lt. Lynn Froistad. “As cold as it is, we would expect a much more subdued crowd than last year’s.”

A Few Arrests

By 9 p.m. Thursday, 31 people in the parade area had been arrested for public intoxication and two for narcotics violations, according to Pasadena police officials.

Public drinking will not be tolerated, said Froistad.

“We find that people who drink too much create a lot of problems for everybody else,” Froistad said, “and we will make a concerted effort to take them off the route as early as we can.”

Anyone with questions about the parade can call a special hot line at (818) 795-9311 until noon Friday.

ROSE PARADE BUS SERVICE

Special RTD service to the Rose Parade will run as follows:

- Lines 180 and 181 from Hollywood, Los Feliz, Atwater, Glendale and Eagle Rock will begin expanded service about 4 a.m., with runs every few minutes after 5:30 a.m.

- Line 260 from Long Beach up Atlantic Boulevard will begin service at 4:49 a.m., with runs every 20 minutes or less, until 7:23 a.m.

- Line 267 will run from the El Monte station in the San Gabriel Valley every half-hour from 5:30 a.m., through Temple City and Arcadia. The Foothill Boulevard route, Line 187 from Pomona, will begin service every 10 minutes at 6 a.m.

- Line 420 will begin at the Panorama Shopping Center in the San Fernando Valley, running along Van Nuys Boulevard toward downtown, then heading onto the Pasadena Freeway for an express leg of the trip. Runs every 20 to 30 minutes begin at 5 a.m.

- Line 401 from downtown will leave Venice Boulevard and Olive Street in downtown Los Angeles every 40 minutes with express service on the Pasadena Freeway.

- Line 483 from downtown will run along Olive Street, including City Hall, through Alhambra and South Pasadena. It begins service at 2:55 a.m., running continuously after 5 a.m.

- Line 485 from downtown, which takes viewers to the midway point of the parade route on Lake Street in Pasadena, begins service from Olive Street at 6:05 a.m.

- Late risers can still see the parade by taking Line 487 from downtown beginning at 7:15 a.m. It will drop riders off near the end of the parade route, where the floats will not arrive until about 10 a.m.

The RTD urged bus riders to bring plenty of change, because regular fares will not apply to some routes:

- Lines 420 and 424 from the San Fernando Valley will cost $3 each way, with passes not accepted.

- Lines 483 and 485 from downtown will cost $1.20 each way, and passes will be accepted.

- Line 401 express from downtown will cost $1.55 each way.

For the big game later in the day, a special Line 483 bus, labeled Rose Bowl, will also be running from numerous points along Olive Street downtown, with direct service to the Rose Bowl for $3.50 each way, beginning at 9:49 a.m. and running every four to eight minutes until 12:43 p.m.

ROSE PARADE ORDER OF MARCH

1. American Guild of English Handbell Ringers

2. “A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words,”Eastman Kodak Co.

3. Long Beach Mounted Police

4. “Tell Me a Story,” City of Torrance

5. U.S. Marine Corps Band

6. “Greetings Earthlings,” American Honda Co.

7. Gregory Peck, Grand Marshal

8. “Spring Training,” Security Pacific National Bank

9. Choctawhatchee High School Band

10. “Good Morning,” International House of Pancakes

11. American Bashkir Curley

12. “Pep Rally . . . Teamwork is the Message,” Transamerica

13. “Presenting the Royal Court,” Pasadena Tournament of Roses

14. Pasadena Area Community College District Band

15. “Air Mail,” South Pasadena

16. Arabian Group

17. “Sophisticated Rhythm,” First Interstate

18. Western Group

19. “Just Say Please,” Portland Rose Festival

20. Harriman L. Cronk, Tournament President

21. Pella Community High School Band

22. “School Days,” Kiwanis

23. “Follow the Leader,” Baskin-Robbins

24. Montie Montana

25. “Rhythm of the Caribbean,” Puerto Rico

26. John C. Crowley, Mayor of Pasadena

27. “It’s a Small World,” Bank of America

28. Pacific-10 Conference

29. USC Band

30. “Backyard Engineer,” Dr Pepper

31. Al Malaikah Temple Silver Mounted

32. “Let Us Entertain You,” Elks

33. White Horse Group

34. “Voices of Freedom,” Rand McNally

35. Valley Hunt Club

36. “Sent With Love,” F.T.D.

37. Oak Grove High School Band

38. “Mysterious Alien Creatures,” Golden State Foods

39. George Putnam

40. “Sharing the Joy of the Holidays,” City of San Bernardino

41. Big Ten Conference

42. Michigan State Band

43. “Fantasy on Film,” City of Culver City

44. Medieval Times

45. “Cultural Exchange,” Malaysia

46. Stuart Hamblen Family

47. “Party Time,” Lawry’s

48. Jefferson City Senior High School Band

49. “Say It With Roses,” Farmers Insurance

50. Fetterman & Tanner

51. “Hello, Hello!” Downey Rose Float Assn.

52. Overland High School Band

53. “Poseidon,” City of Carson

54. Santa Barbara County Silver Mounted Sheriffs

55. “The Ten Commandments,” Lutheran Laymen’s League

56. Blackstone-Millville High School Band

57. “It’s For You!” Fansteel

58. Indian Group

59. “Keeping In Touch,” Sierra Madre

60. Toms River (N.J.) High School South Band

61. “Full Speed Ahead,” City of Long Beach

62. Edward Bohlin Group

63. “Kabuki: Communication Through the Arts,” Unocal

64. “A Charles Dickens’ Christmas,” City of St. Louis

65. O’Fallon Township High School Band

66. “Building for the Future,” Huntington Sheraton

67. B Troop, Ft. Huachuca

68. “Look Whoo’s Talking,” Rotary

69. All-Ohio State Fair Youth Choir

70. “Call 911,” Alhambra

71. International Andalusian Group

72. “So Far and Yet So Near,” China Airlines

73. American Morgan Horse Assn.

74. “The Language of Laughter,” Pacific Financial

75. International Side-Saddle Assn.

76. “Communication Through the Arts,” City of Santa Ana

77. Northrop High School Band

78. “Scary Tales,” ARCO

79. American Saddlebreds

80. “You Can Always Call Home,” GTE

81. Martinez Family

82. “Proclaiming a New World,” Odd Fellows & Rebekahs

83. Lassiter High School Band

84. “British Columbia Is Calling,” British Columbia

85. National Exchange Club

86. “Be Mine,” BC & T

87. Castle High School Band

88. “Images of Hope,” American Red Cross

89. Galloping Gossips

90. “We’ve Got the Climate for Business,”City of Los Angeles

91. Tulare Union High School Band

92. “Singapore, Where the World Comes Together,” Singapore Airlines

93. Los Angeles Equestrian Center

94. “To Your Health,” Duarte/City of Hope

95. The Salvation Army Band

96. “Gift of Gab,” Carnation

97. American Miniature Horse Unit

98. “Message in a Bottle,” Oceanside

99. Vallejo High School Band

100. “The Constitution: 200 Years of Communicating Liberty,” CaliforniaBicentennial Foundation

101. Freddie Lee Mill Arabian Group

102. “Smiling Faces Going Places,” Good Sam Club

103. Mt. Carmel High School Band

104. “The World Is Not Flat,” CasaBlanca Fan

105. Palos Verdes Peninsula Peruvian Paso Club

106. Lovely Hula Hams, La Canada Flintridge

107. “Welcome to the Games of the XXIV Olympiad,” Korean-American Community

108. American Donkey & Mule

109. “Imagine That,” Cal Poly

110. Miller/Werner Arabian Group

111. “Messenger of Peace,” Glendale

112. Los Angeles All-City Band

113. “Beam Me Up, Scotty,” Arcadia Tournament of Roses

114. “The First Hello,” Burbank Tournament of Roses