Bill Lofthouse | 1939-2008
This Farmers Insurance float won the Animation Trophy in the 2003 Rose Parade. Bill Lofthouse, a primary builder of Rose Parade floats, helped expand the boundaries of the once-boxy creations through elaborate animation and the use of a wider variety of organic materials. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
A mother Tyrannosaurus rex rises from the Farmers Insurance Group float, “Protecting Your Family,” which won the Judges’ Special Trophy in 2006. The head and tail were animated. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)
Children peek from the beehive of the Ronald McDonald House Charities float, “Home Sweet Home” in 2006. Primitive animation in the 1960s two kids inside a float using sticks to make a characters eyelids flutter gave way to computers that could be programmed to elaborately animate a float. (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)
This year, the city of St. Louis showcased its frontier heritage with “The Lewis and Clark Expedition.” Float-builder Lofthouse help reinterpret what qualified as organic material. “Rice, beans, sesame seeds, seaweed, spices ... allowed him to get additional textures and details, said a spokesman for Lofthouse’s company. (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)
The “Imagination Express” by the city of Glendale makes its way down Colorado Boulevard for the 117th Rose Parade in 2006. Bill Lofthouse’s float-building firm often produces about half of the parades approximately 50 floats. (Karen Tapia-Andersen / Los Angeles Times)
People photograph the Kiwanis International float at the Showcase of Floats in Pasadena after this year’s Rose Parade. Noted float designer Raul Rodriguez said Bill Lofthouses quest was to be better than the year before, a goal he accomplished with a wonderful sense of humor and camaraderie. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
A fire-breathing, 50-foot dragon belches a ball of flame over American Honda’s “Once Upon a Time,” which won the Crown City Innovation trophy in 2006. Honda was a longtime client of Bill Lofthouse’s. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
American Honda’s float took an award in 2003. For the last of Bill Lofthouse’s 53 Rose Parades, he built a crowd-pleaser for American Honda. That 2008 float featured a pickup truck that transformed into a spacecraft complete with rocket engine with real fire. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
At 207 feet, the longest float in parade history, “Families Across America” from American Honda Motor Co., won the Craftsman Trophy in 2005. (Stephen Osman / Los Angeles Times)
