Cold Cuts Size of Crowd : Thrills and Chills at the 99th Rose Parade

The most famous New Year’s party in the world, the 99th Tournament of Roses Parade, thrilled hundreds of thousands who stood out in the cold in Pasadena on Friday to see a pink-carnation elephant the size of a house and Garfield the Cat blanketed in 20,000 marigolds.

Crowds wildly cheered the floats, draped with more than 15 million roses and other flowers, and yelled greetings to Grand Marshal Gregory Peck, former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali and former moonwalking astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

“We don’t have anything in Sweden like this,” said Eric Thimen, who first learned there was such a thing as a Rose Parade by accident Thursday and joined the throng at 2 a.m. Friday.

“It’s bad. It’s fun,” said 16-year-old Tracy Fontan of Pasadena, who showed up with 12 of her friends to see the spectacle whose theme this year was “Thanks to Communications.”

Less Than 1 Million

Police and Tournament of Roses officials estimated the crowds at less than 1 million due to the cold, rendering moot--at least this year--a controversy that has erupted in recent years over the mathematical likelihood that 1 million people actually line the route.

As always, the bigger crowd was at home, where an estimated foreign and national television audience of more than 300 million watched the event.

Amid the gaiety, two accidents resulted in injuries to six people. In the worst, a 21-year-old technician was run over by the La Canada-Flintridge float while he was working beneath it. Another man working with him was only slightly injured.

“You could barely see their sneakers, and then the float lurched back and forth,” said spectator Karl Hamson of Solana Beach. “The crowd was shouting for it to stop.”

The unidentified victim was in fair condition with chest and abdominal injuries at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, said event spokesman Richard Cline.

Earlier, four people received minor injuries when a horse from the Valley Hunt Club was startled by a blast from a horn and veered into a group of children on Colorado Boulevard at Los Robles Avenue, said parade spokesman Ken Veronda.

Despite those mishaps, the two-hour procession of 60 floats, 22 bands and 29 equestrian groups moved smoothly, filling the 5 1/2-mile parade route with a glittering display that left some breathless.

The coveted Sweepstakes Trophy, the top prize for the most beautiful float, went to Unocal Corp.’s “Kabuki: Communication Through the Arts,” featuring classic Japanese Kabuki characters.

Built by Fiesta Floats of Temple City, the characters’ costumes featured more than 100,000 chrysanthemums, carnations and gladioli. Their faces were detailed with cornmeal, paprika, pepper seeds and berries.

The Queen’s Trophy for the best float using roses went to Farmer’s Insurance Group’s “Say It With Roses,” an elegant vase that held a jumbo arrangement of 100,000 roses.

Searching for Superlatives

Midway through the morning, broadcasters offering live coverage of the event began to run out of superlatives to describe the extravaganza.

KTLA Channel 5’s Stephanie Edwards, a veteran commentator, opted for “shimmering” and “brilliant,” while Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President Bill Welsh on KTTV Channel 11 finally blurted out, “Totally tubular!”

Disc jockey Frazier Smith of KLSX-FM irreverently likened the rhinestone-and-silver-draped equestrian units to “horses wearing curtains.”

The crowds found humor as well, roaring their approval for a group of swashbuckling pirates--actually stunt men--who swung precariously from flexible masts and ropes 65 feet in the air on the CasaBlanca Fan Co.’s float depicting a tall ship.

Lawry’s Foods won the Humor Trophy for its giant Garfield the Cat, who appeared to be making a getaway on a huge, motorized, three-wheel fantasy vehicle hauling a booty of cookies, candy and ice cream.

Another crowd-pleaser was Fansteel Family of Employees’ entry, a two-legged spaceship standing 50 feet tall that swooped down and popped open to reveal a friendly extraterrestrial--a stunt woman who bounded down a gangplank.

One group of children from La Canada pronounced the animated spaceship as the best float, followed closely by Arco’s float of a dragon carrying a tiny girl reading a book and their own La Canada float of three pigs performing the hula.

“They usually don’t have those (floats) with the spaceships,” said Shannon Sullivan, 12, clearly a parade connoisseur who was making her third trip to the event.

Working the crowd, a Fuji film vendor tried to pitch a $10 disposable camera, telling spectators, “You’re going to weep when you don’t have enough pictures.”

Despite the festive mood, it was one of the coldest Rose Parades ever, with overnight temperatures in the 30s chilling the thousands who camped on Pasadena’s sidewalks to reserve choice spots.

Trying to Keep Warm

One Tournament of Roses official kept warm at his post near a float by using a portable barbecue, and members of the Pella (Iowa) High School Marching Band tried to keep warm before the parade by donning plastic garbage bags with holes poked out for their heads and arms.

Sleepy-eyed people swaddled in blankets and rugs walked around sipping coffee or hot chocolate sold by store owners who decided to cash in on the cold and the crowd.

Steve Toal, 23, and Robyn Neumann, 21, who flew in early in the week from New Jersey, were each wearing half of a Michigan State T-shirt and half of a USC T-shirt sewn into one.

“We couldn’t decide who to root for,” Toal said.

He said the Rose Parade is billed on the East Coast as the biggest parade “next to Macy’s,” but New Yorkers would never show up days ahead of time for a good spot.

“They think people in New York are sick? These people here are nuts,” he said.

By Thursday night, one entrepreneur was selling earplugs for $1 to sleepless spectators who had tired of the fireworks and continuous horn-honking along the parade route.

Indeed, in some areas where unusually rowdy crowds began doing human waves and booed or screamed at every float, early-bird spectators who had waited days to see the parade got fed up and went home before the last float passed.

Taylor Ohlsen, 20, of Los Angeles, who had camped out for two days, said that after an hour of dealing with “pushy and rude” parade-goers, he was leaving.

Sporting a two-day beard and uncombed hair, Ohlsen said, “I had some beer spilled on me, and the people next to me kept yelling at each float. I suffered last night in the cold weather to get this spot, but it’s not worth staying.”

Police arrested 457 people, including 401 for public drunkenness. Eleven people were arrested on drug charges and 10 were held on assault or weapons charges. About 100 cars were towed out of the parade area. More than 1,100 police patrolled the route, but no serious problems were reported.

“It was a very nice parade,” said Pasadena Police Lt. Lynn Froistad. “There were not a lot of people out because of the cold. I think it scared them off, which is fine.”

Temperatures finally warmed to the high 40s and mid-50s for the parade, and the entire USC marching band donned dark glasses as the sun rose high over Colorado Boulevard.

Grinning out over the crowds, Tournament of Roses Queen Julie Jeanne Myers, 17, of Arcadia High School said riding in the parade was the fulfillment of a childhood dream.

“It’s wonderful,” she said. “I’ve wanted to be queen ever since I can remember.”

Spectators shouted “Happy New Year!” to Academy Award-winning actor Peck, who rode with his wife Veronique in a rare 1931 Bugatti Royale valued at $8.1 million.

One of the most appreciative audiences was at Wheelchair Haven, where almost 200 handicapped people, including several autistic children, were given curb seating in a block-long area traditionally reserved for them.

“I came all the way from Michigan,” said Susan Peters, who is confined to a wheelchair. “I didn’t think I was going to get a seat.”

One foursome wearing tuxedos, pink bow ties and evening gowns videotaped the entire event--and their own carefully staged reactions to it. Other groups paid thousands of dollars to rent high-rise office space for private candlelight parties above the throngs.

But amid the glamour, there were many everyday people, some with more somber messages for the New Year.

The Kiwanis International Float, “School Days,” carried a 9-year-old boy from Los Angeles, identified only as Michael, who has lived in a foster home for four years and whose single wish for 1988 is “to get a father,” officials said.

Catherine Tracy, chief deputy for the Los Angeles County Department of Children’s Services, said Michael joined the parade to represent the 200 older children--mostly minority boys--who are without parents in Los Angeles County and 12,000 other orphans nationwide.

‘Michael’s Dream’

Tracy said a boy riding the Kiwanis float last year was adopted by a man who saw him in the parade “and that’s Michael’s dream too--to get a father who can take him fishing and give him a home.”

And, as in past years, the parade sparked a few controversies.

A handful of conservative groups protested Peck’s selection as grand marshal because of his liberal politics and his commercials opposing Robert Bork’s bid for the U.S. Supreme Court.

“This is the Tournament of Roses. That dispute and debate is over with,” Peck responded before the parade.

In addition, an Indian group protested Burbank’s float, “The First Hello,” depicting an Indian sending smoke signals. A spokeswoman for the Indian Connection, which represents Indian issues, said the float inaccurately depicted Indian culture.

Superpower politics found its way into the parade as well. The White House agreed to release New Year’s messages from President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev early in order to avoid upstaging television coverage of the parade.

But NBC-TV cut away from the last 12 minutes of the parade to show the two leaders’ prerecorded messages.

As the parade wound down, bedraggled marchers and a few crippled floats crawled toward the route’s end.

“Keep smiling. You only got two more miles,” shouted a man sitting in a lawn chair as an exhausted marching band trudged by.

“Not much longer now,” hollered another. “Come on! Keep smiling!”

But the O’Fallon Township High School Band from Illinois brought cheers from crowds near the end of the route as the group perked up its step and sounded out a tune.

“That’s great!” one man called out.

Some of the floats, however, did not fare as well.

Malfunctions on Floats

A malfunction in the Transamerica Co. float left its three gigantic cheerleaders bent forward with their pompons dragging on the ground.

“Daddy, I think the cheerleaders are broken,” said one youngster.

Another mechanical malfunction caused one Kabuki character’s head to hang down from the Sweepstakes Award float, and several sections of the Red Cross float entitled “Images of Hope” broke off and dropped to the ground or were left dangling.

As the thousands of spectators began streaming toward their cars and bus lines, a mess of confetti, streamers and bottles littered the streets.

In the midst of it all stood two people who could not wait for the parade to end.

As soon as the crowds had dispersed, Kit Dawes and her friend, Ron, began scanning the area with metal detectors searching for coins, jewelry and other treasure.

After the parade, thousands of people thronged the Victory Park area at the parade’s terminus, where the floats went on display for the weekend. Police Sgt. Corrie Long said the post-parade crowds “were very orderly” and the Rose Bowl football game crowds cleared that area “in record time and without any problems.”

The floats will be on display today and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. for the handicapped, at the end of the parade route at Sierra Madre Boulevard and Washington Boulevard. Visitors can park at Pasadena City College and take a shuttle bus, scheduled to run every 10 minutes, to the viewing area.

Contributing to this article were Times staff writers Siok-Hian Tay, Curtis Taylor, Hugo Martin, Carlos Lozano, Raymond L. Sanchez and Marilyn Garateix.