Painting the Town Green : St. Patrick’s Day as Only Hollywood Can Parade It

Earthman was standing near the corner of Hollywood and Vine, a few paces up from Bronco Billy Anderson’s star on the Walk of Fame, watching the beginnings of the St. Patrick’s Day parade that would wend its way down the city’s most celebrated thoroughfare.

“I didn’t even know this was happening,” said Earth, using the only name he gives strangers who ask. “But this is OK. Everyone loves parades and everyone loves Hollywood. Therefore, Earthman loves parades.”

With that, the man called Earth, wearing black combat boots, a tie-dyed shirt and cutoff jeans, faded into a growing crowd along Hollywood Boulevard and vanished, just as the first bagpipe detail began to move down the street, followed by marching bands, drill teams, mounted horsemen and, of course, celebrities.

It was a St. Patrick’s Day parade ringing with music and good cheer, a bit offbeat, and so Hollywood .

Ed McMahon was the grand marshal. Actress Sharon Wyatt of “General Hospital” rode in a convertible and waved at the crowd. So did actor Larry Drake of “L.A. Law” and Brad Garrett, identified on the side of a parade car as “comedian/Star Search national champion.”

Mayor Tom Bradley was there, a TV weatherman was featured and, in a gesture to legitimacy, so was a former mayor of Dublin, Ben Briscoe. There were Irish fiddlers, Irish step dancers, a woman with a crown riding on a float called “the Rose of Tralee”--it was unclear if that stood for the woman or the float--and what was billed as the world’s largest leprechaun, a 35-foot balloon. Green, of course.

The children loved the horses and the marching bands. The adults saved their loudest cheers for Jay Thomas, KPWR (Power 106) morning deejay, and George Takei, the able Mr. Sulu of Star Trek fame.

Nobody ever said this was New York or Chicago, where the river runs green on St. Patrick’s Day. It was not even more upscale Century City, where there was a similar parade with comedian Milton Berle serving as grand marshal.

But for the thousands who lined the 1.8-mile parade route Saturday, it was the thought that counted.

“We drove from Bakersfield just to see this,” said Eleanor Hutchinson, wearing a green shirt and matching visor and proudly proclaiming her husband’s Irish ancestry.

“County Donegal,” she said. “That’s in Ireland, you know.”

It was the Hutchinsons’ first trip to the “O’Hollywood St. Patrick’s Day Parade” and, despite some initial reservations, they may be back next year.

“We got chased for two blocks by a woman who walked into our picture as we were taking a movie of the Hollywood and Vine sign. She didn’t like it,” she said. “(But) we love the St. Patrick’s Day parade. We used to live in Illinois and go to Chicago for their’s.”

Added her husband, Robert, a physical therapist: “I don’t remember this area being so seedy before.”

Down the boulevard past the leather shops and T-shirt vendors, Helen Mallen stood by the curb waiting for the parade to pass.

“Mallen is Irish as Paddy’s pig!” she said. “I had 15 children in 19 years. Catholic, you know. There was Tom and Pat and Tim, Molly, Danny, Margaret, John, Brigid, Matthew, Mary, Paul, Nora, Peter, Monica and Martha. Right now I have 27 grandchildren and I love them all.”

Around her neck was a leprechaun pendant and on her head she wore a plastic green derby with a gold shamrock.

Rosario Velasques and her 4-year-old daughter, Maria, claim no Irish ancestry but joined the crowd for a day in the sun.

“I don’t really understand the tradition,” said the East Los Angeles resident, “but my daughter enjoys it. She likes the horses and the music.”

In front of one McDonald’s outlet, Philip Rock and Donard O’Neill represented the real thing in their emerald green shirts and heavy brogue accents. They’re from Ireland, have been touring California for the last three months, and are on the verge of returning home.

“Oh, back home this is a big holiday,” said Rock, red-haired and 19 and in love with California. “They would love this. They’d be delighted that there’s a St. Paddy’s parade in Hollywood. This is Hollywood, you know. They’d be glued to the sets to see if they could spot any celebrities.”