Seasonal Parades a Big Draw : Southland: Holiday weekend crowds are out in force at three longstanding events that have almost nothing in common but a festive air.

In the crisp chill of autumn, hundreds of thousands of Southern Californians ushered in the holiday season with marching bands, poetry-reading brides and even a few impassioned doses of politics Sunday at three annual parades held in the Los Angeles area.

In Hollywood, celebrity and glitz marked the night at the city’s 63rd annual Christmas Parade. In Pasadena, irreverence was the rule at the Doo Dah Parade, a two-decade-old ritual that was reconfigured this year after a wave of bad reviews. And on the Eastside, a decidedly Latino flavor characterized the 20th annual East L.A. Christmas Fantasy Parade.

For thousands, the parades set off a headlong rush into the holidays.

“This is the beginning of Christmas as far as I’m concerned,” a beaming Louis Gossett Jr., grand marshal of the Hollywood parade, told reporters before heading out with his son and a bodyguard in a 1956 Buick convertible.

Even with some three-quarters of a million people lining Hollywood streets, not everyone could be there, of course.

Zsa Zsa Gabor said she wanted to ride in the parade on her show horse, Silver Fox, but the horse--and Zsa Zsa, for that matter--just weren’t up to the trek. “The poor thing was tired, and I just got back from Europe, dah-ling,” Gabor explained.

Zsa Zsa had to settle for being driven along the route in a 1935 Auburn boat-tail speedster--not her notorious Rolls Royce from a cop-slapping traffic stop.

By evening, temperatures in Hollywood had dipped into the low 50s. But police estimated that more than 750,000 people--a possible record for the event, organizers said--braved the windy chill to see more than four dozen floats and vintage cars, carrying a cavalcade of actors, athletes and celebrities, make their way west along Sunset to Highland, up to Hollywood Boulevard, and then, east again, 3.2 miles in all.

Martha Illingston of Los Angeles, who bundled her three children in scarves, gloves and hats for the event, said she hasn’t missed a Hollywood parade in five years. “Too cold? Never, not for this. I would never miss this parade . . . even if it were snowing.”

“I really like this parade,” said Olympic gold medalist boxer Oscar de la Hoya, riding in a radio station’s van and waving to fans, “because most of all, kids from all over come to see it. That’s a good feeling.”

At the Eastside and Pasadena events, opponents of Proposition 187 who were part of the parade took time out from the festivities to call for unity in the wake of passage of the state ballot measure that would deny many public services to illegal immigrants. The measure, approved overwhelmingly by voters earlier this month, is now being contested in the courts.

“We have a lot of work to do. We will continue the fight,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina said at the Eastside parade. “We are all going to move forward.”

The Eastside event sought to offered a bit of culture for everyone--from traditional floats and drill teams to Aztec dancers and stars from Spanish-language “telenovelas, “ or soap operas.

“I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year,” said Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Los Angeles), decked out in a bright red blazer as she waved to the crowd from a 1950s-era classic sky-blue Thunderbird convertible.

Under an azure sky, the throngs lined the sidewalks in rows up to five people deep as the procession moved down Whittier Boulevard through the heart of the East Los Angeles commercial district.

Children held colorful balloons and toddlers perched on their fathers’ shoulders to catch a glimpse of the passing show. Street vendors did a lively business hawking everything from ice cream to pupusas , a Salvadoran turnover.

About 157,000 people flocked to the 1.5-mile parade route, according to Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies.

“Everything went really nice. The weather was beautiful, and the crowds were really enjoying the parade,” said Lt. Lynda Castro of the East Los Angeles sheriff’s station.

The bands, floats and drill teams came from areas ranging from Wilmington in the Los Angeles Harbor area to Rubidoux in Riverside County. Participants included the Brooklyn Elementary School drill team, the Banning High School Band and the U.S. Vietnam Veterans of Southern California.

In Pasadena, meanwhile, the Doo Dah Parade returned to Colorado Boulevard on Sunday as a scaled-down but still irreverent celebration of wackiness.

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The latest version was more like its early years, before the bizarre spoof of the annual Rose Parade became an institution itself.

The shortened Doo Dah included such entries as the BBQ and Hibachi Grill Team, a group of marching human billiard balls and a flock of fluttering brides reciting poetry.

The parade began in 1978 as a sendup of the city’s stately Tournament of Roses, mimicked by one group of Doo Dah participants as the “Torment of Roses.” The annual spoof proved popular, but that in turn brought crowd-control headaches, especially after onlookers started a tradition of tossing tortillas.

A year ago, organizers tried to cut down on the rowdiness by charging a $10 admission fee and enclosing the parade in a gated area around City Hall.

But that brought small crowds and complaints that the spoof had lost its spunk, so organizers on Sunday returned the event to Old Pasadena and once again made it free to the public. Hoping to add more of a family atmosphere, they also threw out some of the more risque elements--like a display of pregnant nuns and a Macho Dog exposing himself.

Judging by attendance, the changes may have worked. Pasadena police estimated the crowd at up to 20,000 people--a tenfold increase over last year.

Times staff writer Eric Lichtblau contributed to this story.