Double Serving of Magic : Parade Lovers Feast With Christmas Processions on Eastside, in Hollywood

It was a day--and night--for parade lovers to savor Sunday as two familiar Yuletide processions lighted up the streets of Hollywood and the Eastside.

The 62nd annual Hollywood Christmas Parade attracted hundreds of thousands of spectators beneath a soon-to-eclipse full moon. Earlier in the day, the 19th annual East L.A. Christmas Fantasy Parade had mixed the brass of marching bands with the brass of mariachis.

Organizers estimated that between 750,000 and 1 million people lined the 3.2-mile Hollywood parade route, which ranged over parts of Sunset and Hollywood boulevards and Highland Avenue on an almost balmy evening.

“It was great. . . . I’ve never seen so many people,” said entertainer Bob Hope, who served as grand marshal with his wife, Dolores.

While the Hopes led the parade, other celebrities--including actors Mickey Rooney, Beau Bridges and Lorna Luft, singer Lou Rawls, comedian Rich Little and many popular young TV performers--helped usher in the holiday season.

Among the crowd-pleasers was Al Lewis, the irascible Grandpa of the vintage TV series “The Munsters.” For him, the cavalcade was a kind of homecoming.

“I was in this parade 24 years ago, and I never remembered having so much fun,” said Lewis, decked out in comic vampire attire that looked more like Halloween than Christmas. “They (the spectators) still love me.”

But the real stars of the night were the firefighters. City and county fire officials and firefighters injured in Southern California’s recent devastating blazes waved to cheering crowds from atop a restored 1931 red fire engine.

Mayor Richard Riordan turned up on the back of a convertible with companion Nancy Daly, holding his beloved Yorkshire terrier, Albertine--one of two canines to earn a spot in the procession.

The other dog was Beethoven, the St. Bernard of recent movie fame. He seemed pleased to be part of the event, slobbering contentedly between two child actors in an open car.

Although the crowd at the East L.A. Christmas Fantasy Parade was much smaller, parade-goers did not lack for enthusiasm.

The Eastside parade offered a few surprises, including one for Olympic champion Paul Gonzales, an Eastside native who won a gold medal in the 1984 Olympic boxing competition. Gonzales found out that he would be riding atop an 8,000-pound elephant named Tai.

“I was supposed to ride in a car, then they told me I was going to ride an elephant,” a worried-looking Gonzales said moments before the parade began. “I thought they were kidding, but I guess they’re not. This will be my first time on an elephant.”

Nevertheless, once the parade started, Gonzales managed to smile convincingly as he lurched along Whittier Boulevard, waving to the crowds with one hand and clutching--seemingly for dear life--the elephant’s howdah , or saddle, with the other.

Parade organizers estimated the crowds along the 1 1/2-mile parade route at more than 200,000, although Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies put the number at about 50,000. Several veteran street vendors said the crowds were smaller than in the past.

“Business is not too good this year,” said Pedro Gomez, who has been selling plastic bugles, inflatable candy canes and other items from a sidewalk cart for the last 10 parades. “There’s not as many people, and people who want to buy something can’t, because they don’t have any money.”

Although the crowds were smaller and money scarcer, spectators and parade participants seemed to have a good time.

“It’s exciting,” said Dee Garcia of Culver City, who was waiting, camera in hand, for her 8-year-old niece, Highland Park Youth Center drill team member Jamie Ann Anderson, to march by with pom-poms waving.

“This is my first time,” said Roger Gomez of City of Commerce, who brought his two children and two nephews to the parade. “The kids seem to like it.”

“I’ve been here at least 10 times, and it’s always great,” said Jaime Riojas of the Eastside. “I think it’s getting better because they’re getting more personalities.”

Celebrities in the event included Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, Sheriff Sherman Block, and cast members from the “Culture Clash” television show. The grand marshals were G. M. Jimmy Espinoza and the Midniters, whose 1965 hit, “Let’s Take a Trip Down Whittier Boulevard,” became a pop anthem celebrating the joys of cruising.

By the end, some participants were suffering from an occupational hazard of paraders: “My feet hurt,” said Annbartha Escobedo, a flutist with the Bell High School marching band. “It seemed like a really long parade.”

Others were unfazed by the trek, made even more arduous by frequent march-in-place stops. “It doesn’t bother me,” said color guard member Tom Roque of VFW Post 7245 in the city of Orange.

“Of course, I’m a mailman by trade.”