Rose Parade Brings Party Time to Tony Neighborhood

When Paul and Joan Stevens were negotiating to buy their South Orange Grove Boulevard condominium three years ago, they asked a longtime resident what the Pasadena neighborhood is like on New Year’s Eve. “We were expecting some kind of a negative response about the crowds and all,” recalled Paul Stevens. “But the lady just smiled and said, ‘It’s p-a-a-arty time.’ That about sums it up.”

Once more, it’s party time on South Orange Grove Boulevard. The Champagne is chilled, the deviled eggs are jiggling on their serving platters and those huge flower-blanketed floats are lined up outside, ready to roll in the 102nd Tournament of Roses Parade.

For 24 hours every year, the boulevard is transformed from affluent residential street to staging area for one of the world’s most beloved parades, a nationally televised event preceding the nation’s most prestigious football bowl game.

Sometimes the transition is a little rough.

“It’s a mess,” said 17-year resident Catherine Millar, with an irascible shake of the head. “A lot of people, a lot of confusion. I’d rather watch it on television.”

But most accept the changes with equanimity. “It’s something you look forward to all year long,” said Helen Posthuma. “So you can’t get in and out of your driveway. Who cares?”

Residents of the boulevard say that now’s the time when long-lost acquaintances and dimly remembered relatives come out of the woodwork, angling for invitations. “We’ve got the best seats in the house,” said Stevens, a retired department store manager.

It’s also a time when the elegant thoroughfare, with its broad magnolia trees and towering palms, becomes an epic crowd scene, with parade-watchers camping out on sidewalks and lawns and frisky teen-agers pelting each other with eggs and marshmallows.

About two hours before the parade steps off at 8:10, South Orange Grove Boulevard takes on something of the aspect of Atlanta after Sherman, with thousands of rumpled campers crawling out of sleeping bags and digging into cartons and baskets for sustenance. Then the crowd builds into a seething, purposeful mass.

“You can get claustrophobia real easy out here,” said Carol Van Pelt, who was walking her golden retriever on the almost-deserted boulevard the other day. “Sometimes it takes a half an hour just to go one block.”

But to live on Orange Grove Boulevard, where the parade originated in 1889, is to acquire a tolerance for the once-a-year revelry, old-timers say. “You can be miserable about it and go crazy, or you can go along with the program,” said Bob Thurlow, who lives across the street from Tournament House, the one-time Wrigley Mansion which serves as year-round operations center for the Tournament of Roses.

“Everybody knows when they move to Orange Grove Boulevard that it’s the parade route,” added Kathryn Nack, who represents the area on the Pasadena Board of Directors. “If that’s a problem for them, I’m sure they wouldn’t choose to live there.”

On Monday, thousands of early-risers staked out their spots for prime spectating. They came in campers and station wagons and were laden with warm clothes, blankets and bags of food for the overnight vigil.

A million fans were expected to line the 5 1/2-mile parade route. The New Year’s Day forecast called for temperatures in the low 70s.

The first Rose Parade was a romp by a bunch of transplanted Midwesterners--Pasadena’s own founding fathers--down Orange Grove Boulevard in flower-bedecked carriages.

The event has survived wars, economic hard times and the transformation of Orange Grove Boulevard in 1948 (with a zoning change) from “Millionaires’ Row,” with mansions, curving driveways and scrolled iron gates, to an area of elegant condominiums and garden apartments.

At noon on New Year’s Eve, police give the nod and parade watchers can grab their spots--with some conditions. The Pasadena Police Department has devised rules that attack all the excesses connected with reserving spaces.

“No roping off space, no marking it out in chalk,” said Lt. Robert Huff, head of support services. “One person per every five chairs. You can’t have one person lining up 200 chairs, saying they’re saving seats.”

The noise peaks around midnight. “You don’t plan on sleeping a whole lot because of fireworks and pots and pans and that sort of thing,” said Susan Lee, a local real estate agent.

“It can get unruly,” added Thurlow. “Last year, a bunch of kids got together in a band to see if they could knock down our fence. For a couple of nights, the noise level is something else.”

But even the unruliness is good-natured, most said. For one thing, the 120-member Pasadena Police Department (“None on vacation, none on days off and none sick,” said Huff) is bolstered by more than 800 sheriff’s deputies and California Highway Patrol officers.

The 875-member Tournament of Roses Assn., which runs the parade, also gets high marks from most residents, especially for the rapid cleanup.

“It’s amazing all the crap and corruption you find out here on New Year’s Eve,” said Thurlow. “But by the day after, you’d scarcely know there was a parade.”

TOURNAMENT OF ROSES PARADE ROUTE

Pasadena’s annual Tournament of Roses Parade, held today, draws hundreds of thousands of spectators. The two-hour parade begins at 8:10 a.m., followed by the Rose Bowl game at 2 p.m. The 5 1/2-mile parade route begins on South Orange Grove Boulevard, turning east on Colorado Boulevard and north on Sierra Madre Boulevard. It ends at Paloma Street, where post-parade viewing opens at 1:30 p.m. Grandstand seats can be reserved for the parade, but most viewers choose to claim a spot on the sidewalk. Police say those wishing to park within easy walking distance should arrive about 6:30 a.m. 1. Where parade units form. Closed to the public. 2. Public display of floats after the parade from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. and Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (For the handicapped 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. Wednesday.) Parking available, except where posted. Parade route.

PARADE LINEUP: THE ORDER OF MARCH

1) Pasadena Area Community College District (band).

2) Long Beach Mounted Police (equestrian).

3) General Motors / United Auto Workers (float).

4) Medieval Times (equestrian).

5) Dr Pepper Co. (float).

6) Caltech (float).

7) Swirling Sands Mounted Drill Team (equestrian).

8) Grand Marshal.

9) Norwalk High School (band).

10) Portland Rose Festival (float).

11) Florists Transworld Delivery (float).

12) George Putnam Group (equestrian)

13) International House of Pancakes Restaurants (float).

14) Olathe North High School (band).

15) Bank of America (float).

16) Pasadena City College Herald Trumpeters (band).

17) Tournament of Roses Queen and Royal Court.

18) Pacific 10 Conference (float).

19) Pacific 10 Conference (band).

20) American Morgan Horse Assn. (equestrian).

21) Elks (float).

22) Shinagawa High School (band).

23) Torrance, Calif. (float).

24) Zembo Mounted Patrol (equestrian).

25) South Pasadena, Calif. (float).

26) U.S. Marine Corps Color Guard (equestrian).

27) Tournament of Roses President.

28) West Coast Marine Corps (band.)

29) Security Pacific National Bank (float).

30) American Riding Club for the Handicapped (equestrian).

31) Transamerica Life Companies (float).

32) Big 10 Conference (float).

33) Big 10 Conference (band).

34) Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream (float).

35) Valley Hunt Club (equestrian).

36) Kiwanis--California, Nevada and Hawaii District (float).

37) Rand McNally & Co. (float).

38) Mayor of Pasadena.

39) First Interstate Bank (float).

40) Montie Montana Group (equestrian).

41) La-Z-Boy (float).

42) Otmar Band St. Gallen (band).

43) 700 Years Switzerland (float).

44) Lutheran Laymen’s League (float).

45) Wyoming High School All-State Centennial (band).

46) Rotary International (float).

47) Ebony Horsewomen Inc. (equestrian).

48) Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel (float).

49) Eastman Kodak Co. (float).

50) Shorecrest High School (band).

51) Downey Rose Float Assn. (float).

52) Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Service (float).

53) U.S. Ceremonial Unit, B Troop, 4th Cavalry (equestrian).

54) Republik Indonesia (float).

55) Sampoema Band Indonesia (band).

56) Farmers Insurance Group (float).

57) Indian Group (equestrian).

58) Unocal Corp. (float).

59) Wee Wheelers (equestrian).

60) Carnation Co. (float).

61) Vero Beach High School (band).

62) ITT Sheraton (float).

63) Sierra Madre, Calif. (float).

64) National Exchange Club (equestrian).

65) St. Louis, Mo. (float).

66) Ben Davis High School (band).

67) Delta Air Lines Inc. (float).

68) Tanner Appaloosa Group (equestrian).

69) Century 21 (float).

70) Shogun Mayeda (equestrian).

71) Alhambra, Calif. (float).

72) Clovis High School (band).

73) China Airlines Ltd. (float).

74) Carson, Calif. (float).

75) Martinez Family (equestrian).

76) Long Beach, Calif. (float).

77) Wells Fargo Bank (float).

78) Patriots of Northern Virginia (band).

79) Pasadena, Tex. (float).

80) U.S.D.A. Forest Service (equestrian).

81) Bakery, Confectionery and Tobacco Workers’ Union (float).

82) Upland High School (band).

83) American Honda Motor Co. Inc. (float).

84) D. O. Rogers Western Group (equestrian).

85) Mobile, Ala. (float).

86) Cal Poly Universities (float).

87) Normal Community High School (band).

88) Seventh-day Adventist Church (float).

89) American Donkey and Mule Society (equestrian).

90) Arco (float).

91) International Andalusian Horse Assn. (equestrian).

92) Duarte / City of Hope National Medical Center (float).

93) Mt. Miguel High School (band).

94) K mart Corp. (float).

95) Camarillo White Horse Group (equestrian).

96) La Canada Flintridge Tournament of Roses Assn. (float).

97) Richard Saukko Arabian Group (equestrian).

98) Sea World (float).

99) The Salvation Army (band).

100) Glendale, Calif. (float).

101) Stuart Hamblen Family (equestrian).

102) Tourist Development Corp. of Malaysia / Malaysia Airlines (float).

103) American Bashkir Curly Registry (equestrians).

104) Burbank Tournament of Roses Assn. (float.)

105) Aloha High School (band).

106) Mississippi (float).

107) Belles and Beaus of the 1800s (equestrian).

108) Arcadia Tournament of Roses Assn. (float).

109) Galloping Gossips (equestrian).

110) Odd Fellows and Rebekahs (float).

111) Vallejo High School (band).

112) California Ridesharing Coalition (float).

113) John Suttill Arabian Group (equestrian).

114) Los Angeles, Calif. (float).

115) Los Angeles Unified School District (band).