Work Begins on City’s 5 New Year’s Party Sites

From San Pedro to the San Fernando Valley, organizers scrambled Tuesday to prepare for millennium parties at five sites scattered across Los Angeles and to alleviate any fears about security.

In preparation for the gospel singers, marching bands and laser light shows, armies of workers swung into action across the city Tuesday, laying cable, arranging lights, erecting fences and stages, building fireworks towers and decorating airport hangars.

At Van Nuys Airport, a field of white tents sprang up from the tarmac. In front of a cavernous hangar, a 40-foot stage was erected where 2,000 line dancers will perform a dance called the electric slide Friday at 3:30 p.m.

Downtown, at Grand Avenue and 2nd Street, the landscape looked like a construction site as a giant TV monitor and colorful lights were set in place.

Marc Cerrone, a producer for that celebration, said he and a crew of about 250 began working Sunday and were about 30% done.

The other party locations are Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, the plaza between Olvera Street and Union Station downtown and the World Cruise Terminal at San Pedro harbor, where the producer was so busy Tuesday that he could not be reached by cellular phone.

The events are scheduled between noon Friday and 1 a.m. Saturday.

“Never have we captured the whole imagination of the whole city all at once like this,” said Al Nodal, general manager of the city’s Cultural Affairs Department and executive producer of Celebrate L.A. 2000.

About half the estimated 456,000 tickets available for the free events had been claimed by Tuesday. Tickets are available at Ralphs and Food 4 Less stores and at some libraries--but in most cases only for the nearest regional event, organizers said. Some tickets will also be available at the door, organizers said.

Two years in the making, the New Year’s Eve parties will cost about $1.1 million in Los Angeles city funds and $500,000 in police and other municipal services. An additional $4 million will come from private donors.

Preparations continued even as Seattle canceled its New Year’s Eve bash Tuesday because of fears of terrorism and the lingering malaise from the violence during the recent World Trade Organization meeting.

Organizers in Los Angeles emphasized that they have been working closely with law enforcement agencies over the last year and that all five sites will be secure, as well as alcohol-free. They said revelers should be prepared to be patted down and searched. Metal detectors will be set up.

“We are determined to have safe events. We are not going to let terrorism scare us or close us down,” Nodal said. “We flinch and they’ve won.”

Los Angeles’ top law enforcement officials said Tuesday that they do not believe that the region will be the target of terrorists during the New Year’s weekend.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca and Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard C. Parks said at a joint news conference that they have no information indicating that any groups are targeting Los Angeles, or the Rose Parade in Pasadena, during the millennial weekend.

Nevertheless, Baca, Parks and nearly a dozen other Southern California law enforcement officials at the briefing said they will be ready for any situation. There will be 300 extra Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies on patrol, a record number of LAPD officers on the streets and the National Guard on standby, they said.

“We will have more LAPD officers on the streets of Los Angeles than at any time in our history,” Parks said, declining to provide a number.

The National Guard will be on regular maneuvers through the weekend and available to back up any local agencies. The California Highway Patrol will have 97% of its 1,600 officers in the area available.

Times staff writers Bobby Cuza and Edgar Sandoval contributed to this story.

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Millennium Party Plans

Los Angeles will celebrate the arrival of 2000 at a series of community events featuring music, dance and children’s programs, leading to the lighting of the Hollywood sign at midnight. The free events begin at noon on New Year’s Eve and last until 1 a.m., and are intended to showcase the city’s cultural diversity. Huge video screens at each location will link the events, which are all alcohol-free.

1. Plaza Olvera: Highlighting cultural traditions and performances of various countries. fEATURES 2,000 FOLK DANCERS.

2. Downtown Los Angeles: Grand Avenue between 1st and 5th streets. Music, dance. Features 2,000 marching band members.

3. Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza: Artists, musicians. Features 2,000 gospel singers

4. Van Nuys Airport: Sky show, music, dance. Features 2,000 line dancers.

5. San Pedro: Arts, crafts, music, dance. Features 2,000 drummers. Lighting of the Vincent Thomas Bridge at 9 p.m.

Hollywood: Telecast of lighting of the Hollywood sign and laser light show at midnight. Site not open to the public.

Citywide: Choirs, bells, cymbals, gongs, shofars and other religious horns heard four times between noon and midnight.

For more information call (213) 485-ARTS or visit the Web site: https://www.lacelebrate2000.org