Advertisement

Parade Fans Brave Overnight Chill for Choicest Spots : Pasadena: Toting sleeping bags and barbecue grills, hardy revelers stake out their turf along Colorado Boulevard.

Share
TIMES STAFF WRITERS

Like swallows returning to Capistrano, the early birds flocked to Pasadena’s Colorado Boulevard on Friday for their annual rite: staking out the finest curbside viewing spots for today’s 105th annual Tournament of Roses Parade.

The crowd began forming along the parade route by 8 a.m.

“I’ve got my sweat suit in the bag, my hot chocolate in the thermos and my propane heater here on the curb,” said 21-year-old JJ Lewandowski as she stretched out in a patio chaise lounge and pulled the top of her sleeping bag around her neck. “I’m ready.”

Lewandowski, a clothing sales clerk from Simi Valley, arrived shortly after noon with a friend, Tom Iavello, 26, to stake out space at the northeast corner of Colorado Boulevard and Hudson Avenue.

Advertisement

She wasn’t planning on getting much sleep before today’s parade.

In fact, as passersby stuck in slow-moving boulevard traffic honked their horns and other early arrivals set up folding chairs and barbecue grills around her, the parade seemed almost like an afterthought.

“The people-watching is the best part,” Lewandowski said. “This is my third year here in a row, so I knew what to bring. People who come out here and spend the night are friendly. It’s just plain fun.”

Down the street, Leticia Cabezas and Erin Jackson, both 22, relaxed on a blanket as they played a slow-moving game of Monopoly. The two college students live in Pasadena and were hoping to reserve space for a dozen others coming today.

Panhandler Rich Roy Bizzle, 54, stopped to watch the game’s progress. He told the pair that he spends every night on the boulevard.

“I’ve been on the street for five years, ever since I got to California,” he said. When he asked for spare change, he went away empty-handed, however. All Cabezas and Jackson had was play money.

Around the corner, businessman Jeff Oronzo was standing guard at his record shop parking lot, shooing away parade parkers. Cars left there would be towed, he warned.

“I never go to the parade. I deal with this for 48 hours every New Year’s, so that’s enough,” said Oronzo, manager of Canterbury Records.

Advertisement

After the parade comes the football. UCLA will play the University of Wisconsin, which is making its first Rose Bowl appearance in 31 years.

Parade-watchers spending the night on the boulevard were in for a cold time. But once again this year, the forecast for parade day was good--mostly sunny skies, light winds, highs in the 70s.

Bill Flynn, a spokesman for the Tournament of Roses, said it was possible that this year’s crowd would exceed 1993’s 750,000.

“We certainly have a lot of people in town from Wisconsin,” Flynn said. “They’ve brought as many people as any other team. I think the (parade) crowd would be at least as large as the past. The fact that the weather is good could mean an even larger crowd. Warm weather brings a lot of people out.”

The 5 1/2-mile parade, themed “Fantastic Adventure,” will boast 56 floats, 21 marching bands and 30 equestrian units. William Shatner of “Star Trek” fame is grand marshal for the extravaganza.

By late afternoon, work on most of the floats had been completed, Flynn said. He said about 20 floats that were constructed in Azusa were headed to Pasadena in midafternoon.

Advertisement

The remaining floats, which were built in Pasadena, were to be brought to the parade route starting at 6 p.m. Friday.

He said the decoration of a few floats that feature particularly delicate flowers will be finished this morning.

Tournament of Roses Parade Route

Pasadena’s annual Tournament of Roses Parade, to be held today, draws hundreds of thousands of spectators. The two-hour parade begins at 8:05 a.m., followed by the Rose Bowl game at 1:50 p.m. The 5.5-mile parade route begins on South Orange Grove Boulevard, turning east on Colorado Boulevard and north on Sierra Madre Boulevard. It ends near Victory Park, 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. Spectators should be seated in the grandstands by 7 a.m.

1. Where parade units form. Closed to the public.

2. Public display of floats after the parade from 1:30 to 4 p.m. today and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. (For the handicapped and senior citizens, 7 to 9 a.m., Sunday.)

Freeway off-ramp closures:

* Orange Grove exit on 210 Freeway closed until noon today.

* East and west Sierra Madre closed until 4 p.m. today.

* Linda Vista / San Rafael exit from 134 Freeway closed until 8 p.m. today.

1994 Rose Parade Order of March

Here is a look at the participating groups in today’s Tournament of Roses Parade and their order of appearance:

1. Willowridge High School

2. Eastman Kodak

3. Montie Montana Group

4. Lions Clubs International

5. Iron Eyes Cody

6. Dr Pepper/7UP

7. Long Beach Mounted Police

8. IBM

9. Grand Marshal

10. Portland Rose Festival

11. U.S. Marine Corps Mounted Color Guard

12. U.S. Marine Corps Composite Band

13. Cal Poly Universities

14. Wee Wheelers Group

15. FTD

16. PCC Herald Trumpets

17. Queen’s Float

18. PCC District Honor Band

19. Elks

20. B Troop, 4th U.S. Calvary

21. Arco

22. Canadian Massed Pipes & Drums

23. IHOP

24. Big Ten Conference

25. Big Ten Band

26. Kiwanis

27. George Putnam Group

28. Nestle USA

29. Comeaux High School

30. Baskin-Robbins Banner

31. Del Beckhart Family

32. Torrance

33. Walterboro High School

34. Southern California Edison

35. Mahogany Cowgirls

36. Odd Fellows and Rebekahs

37. Martinez Family

38. Alhambra Banner

39. Mayor of Pasadena

40. Pacific 10 Conference

41. Pacific 10 Band

42. South Pasadena

43. John Suttill’s Parading Arabians

44. Republic of Indonesia

45. Northrop High School

46. Downey

47. Camarillo White Horse Group

48. Wells Fargo Bank

49. Easton Area High School

50. Sierra Madre Rose Float Assn.

51. East High Sierra & National Forest

52. Delta Air Lines

53. Salvation Army Band

54. Rotary International

55. Icelandic Horses

56. Disneyland

57. Stuart Hamblen Family

58. Lutheran Laymen’s League

59. Lincoln Northeast

60. Countrywide Credit

61. Renaissance Pleasure Faire Riders

62. Family of Freemasonry

63. The Valley Hunt Club

64. 20th Century Insurance

65. Pipestone High School

66. Long Beach

67. Shady Ladies of the Mother Lode

68. China Airlines

69. Port Washington High School

70. St. Louis

71. American Bashkir Curly Registry

72. American Honda

73. Haukerod Skolekorps

74. Republic of El Salvador

75. Gene Autry Western Heritage

76. Automobile Club

77. American Morgan Horse Assn.

78. Rand McNally

79. Kahuku High School

80. State of Hawaii

81. Hawaii Pa’u Riders

82. Unocal

83. Fancy Prancers

84. IDS Financial Services

85. Swirling Sands Drill Team

86. B, C & T Workers’ Union

87. Al Malakah Silver Mounted Patrol

88. Sunkist Growers

89. Herniston High School

90. 1928 Jewelry Co.

91. Tanner Appaloosas Group

92. Duarte/City of Hope

93. Fairfield High School

94. Farmers Insurance Group

95. National Park Service

96. Jaycees

97. Cacique Inc.

98. Express Riders-Buffalo Soldiers

99. K mart

100. Rancho Bernardo

101. Glendale

102. Medieval Times

103. Burbank

104. Norco Desperadoes

105. Cal Spas

106. Deer Valley High School

107. La Canada Flintridge

108. Western Group

109. Arcadia

110. Los Angeles

111. L.A. Unified All-District Band

Advertisement