From here on in, as every Pasadenite knows, it's Rose Bowl, Rose Parade, Bowl Rose, Tournament of Roses, Parade the Bowl Rose Tournament of Posies and Parade Me Down and Bowl Me Over. And if you didn't get enough, well, how about some football?Every available inch of Colorado Blvd. property that doesn't have bleachers on it will have bleachers on it by Wednesday night. Either that or it's been condemned. And believe me, we expect this year to be just as well-attended as any other.
Some locals live and breathe the Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl Game, and have never missed either.
Some have been to several of each.
Some regale you with tales of partying all night in a tent on Colorado Blvd. in order to catch the parade with a hangover.
Or freezing in a camper at the Rose Bowl Stadium parking lot for a couple of days, just to watch their team play in the legendary game.
Some went to the parade once, as a rite of passage.
I would go if I had tickets. To the main bleachers. Over at the corner of Colorado and Orange Grove, where the media booths are. Where the sun shines. Where the parade goes by early and ends early. If it was warm.
I am not a fan of crowds or of cold, but I'm a fan of Pasadena. So I bless the Parade and the Game. As Tournament week unfolds and Pasadena welcomes thousands of parade and football fans, I welcome them, too. I hope they have a blast.
36 comments:
I just cannot drag my guys up there - I'd go see it. I love the bands & the routines are so much more creative nowdays. In the 70's, we had a family friend who lived right off of Colorado (down a ways on the parade route) & would see the parade every year. 2nd yr of college, my friend Annie & I spent the night on Colorado blvd. & then left right after the start cus we were too tired. Ah, such great fun!
I'd love to see that other parade, whazzit called, with the synchronized briefcase drill teams, etc. The San Gabriel Valley Bloggers ought to come up with something for that!
Doo Dah! Doo Dah!
I would like to see the Rose Parade take on more controversial themes. "Hats off to entertainment?" Come on that's too easy. How about "Shark Attacks," "America's Prisons," "Plastic Surgery Awareness," and other themes like that?
What a beautiful sky! No wonder Pasadena is the envy of the world for at least one day a year.
I've been to the parade twice - once in the bleachers near the corner and once on the street near the end of the route. The street was much more fun. I was so close, I could have reached out and tickled a marcher. Sitting in the bleachers is like viewing a game or concert from the luxury boxes - comfortable but removed from the action.
What could we do at the Doo Dah parade? Synchronized laptops?
Shark attacks, maybe you're on to something. Is it really hats of to entertainment? Sounds like a high school half time. In Blandinsville, Illinois.
Elaine, you are on the SGV women blogger wavelength. I don't know what we'd do, but the idea has been discussed. Maybe one of Mr. Earl's themes which, fortunately, are welcome in the DooDah Parade.
Yikes. "Hats off to Entertainment." I love the Parade but jeez. That's so 1970's Hollywood. Or what AH said.
I know very little about this whole thing. I gather it's a big parade with floats made of flowers. Is it at New Years Eve?
Vanda, I'm surprised you know little about this thing. It's an annual happening on New Yrs Day, in Hungary.
Yes, hundreds of thousands are gonna have a blast. A little at my expense. I'll survive this week.
Entertainment theme? Don't them entertainers get enuf PR - even from me!
Where have all my people gone, just the other day.
Who are all these other people, hope they're not gonna stay.
How about a Real Estate Meltdown, or Economy in Recession float? Or they could sum it up all in a giant doo-doo. I don't know where you'd get brown flowers though.
Nope, no floats in Hungary, unless you count tanks.
Oooh, this could get dark. And funny. (Vanda, you may not have had a parade in Hungary, but I'll bet you had a hats off to entertainment halftime in Miz-ooo-rah.
Vanda, how long have you been here? How could you avoid knowing about this Hats off to Doo Doo annual event?
I warn you, don't try to get in or out of Pasadena on the 31st or the 1st. Get your groceries now and hole up.
Next year's theme will be Economy in Depression, and we'll decorate our tanks with dead flowers.
jó napot, Vanda.A három kutya közül, a legfiatalabb van a legbutább.
Hmmm. Something about a boring bagatelle of bad taste...
I want the economy to do well. If this thing makes Pasadena's economy do well, then all I can say is I'm off to the grocery store.
Hey! If you want to see a delightfully fun bagatelle of bad taste, the Doo Dah Parade is slated for January 18th. We should pick a blogger meet-up spot.
Karin, did you use an online translation? It's understandable, but not quite right. The "van" is unnecessary. Hungarian often drops the copula (connecting word). It is sort of baked into inflection of verbs and nouns.
Petrea, what is this Doo Dah? My interest is piqued. Or is that "pickled"?
The Doo Dah Parade is underground Pasadena's answer to the Tournament of Roses Parade. It is a merry hoot, and you must come.
I wouldn't go, but I like your photo!
Translation Vanda? Why no; I guess my Hungarian is getting a little rusty.
P, if you need tickets to go to the Rose Parade, I find Pasadena's city Enforcement Trafikers usually have plenty of tix to hand out.
V, the DooDah is basically the respectable adult version of the ToR Parade.
I dropped a copula in college once, and they kicked me out of the dorm …
Vanda, "Doo-Dah" is the remnant of a decades-old countercultural parody-cum-insult, aimed at fusty Pasadena regimes of yore (though not out of place today). Once performed by hippies, the soused and the generally malcontent, it's considered the de rigeur coda to the greater show.
(Post scriptum: Some Americans—Altadena Hiker among them, I suspect—recognize October 23rd, even if we don't remember 1956. May those floats drive off the edge of the earth, straight to Hell.)
Now, to brass tacks: are you blogpeople saying you're actually going to march in said Doo-Dah do, or merely attend? I plan to be in the area, on or about the day, and may reveal myself if the latter's the plan. Pls advise,
Yrs,
Brn
I have been both on the ground and in the stands (exactly where you speak of as your dream tickets). I had a relative who worked for the City and obtained them.
As a child, my godparents & family would drop scaffolding off as close as possible and we'd "set up shop" behind the Big Turn, when one could still do that because the temporary seating was small and easy to deconstruct after the parade was through. Now, not so much. Every time I get really bundled up, hat and mittens on and smell hot chocolate, I am taken back to those days.
There is nothing quite like attending in person. FEELING the drums (in your chest) come up the street pounding away. Amazing.
I have to admit, being hungover and watching the parade, whether on the ground, in the stands or at home covered in a blanket---is not the ideal!
Have been to plenty of SC games at the Rose Bowl too. Would be happy to see plenty more, at home or in the Bowl.
All around, an amazing day!
Doo Dah Parade!!! Yippie! I went first when I was a skosh younger. It amazed me and I lol'd the entire time. I'm thinking synchronized laptops are in order...not sure if I'll be in town or not this year tho. I wanna see pictures if it happens!
Wait, don't know where to get brown flowers? In Pasadena a few weeks after TOR? lol, ok. Am sure any of the float builders could suggest how to get brown flowers---they use them on floats as everything MUST be unaltered organic material (i.e. they cannot paint a daisy to be brown, it must be grown that color or not used).
Karin, I didn't know you knew Hungarian. For that it's pretty damn good. Not many people speak it.
Bernie, I can do both soused and the generally malcontent, but not concurrently. Being soused always makes me not only content, but overflowing with love towards humanity. Very embarrassing.
I think we're just attending, Bernie. Probably too late to organize a float. Care to join us and reveal yourself? Uh, reveal who you are, I mean.
I do not get this 10/23 reference. I Googled and I got nothin'.
Pls advise.
By the way, Vanda, the parade is still performed by but not limited to hippies, the soused and the generally malcontent.
Trish, I read an article in the Quarterly (Pasadena/South Pasadena magazine) by a woman who grew up in a family that has always participated in the parade. It's a way of life for her and for many in Pasadena. Once I have my tickets in the sun I may change my tune, like I did when I had my Disneyland pass.
Bernie K, in the flesh? How exciting. I'll bring the MD 20-20 if that's what it takes. I plan to be trying on a whole new set of virtues for '09; hope they fit.
(10/23 is the birthdate of my best friend. But that can't be what you mean.)
Vanda, I cannot tell a lie. So I cannot say anything.
Hey Gang: This is a lot of fun. No one knows whose serious and whose kidding, and everyone's responding to what they think is happening when it may not be. Wonderful!
Re: Alternative themes for the Rose Parade: I don't think they still do this, but years ago DJ/ comedian Frazier Smith and a sidekick or two used to do an alternative parade broadcast. They told you to turn your TV to Channel 5 and then your radio to 95.5 or whatever station Frazier was on. Then he would describe the parade in terms of whatever his theme was for that year. One year it was drugs, another year it was OJ Simpson... I don't remember all the others. But every float, band, or equestrian unit would be described in terms of the theme. It was hysterical. Some of the things he said about the Peruvian womens' equestrian unit... just off the chart.
I was invited 2 join the DDParade just de other day. No funnin' or kiddin you.
Although tempted, I declined. I rather document the event in pic - as further proof of the superiority of our canine species over the homo sapien.
Instead of "Hats Off to Entertainment!" how about a theme, "Entertainment Sucks!" Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears could be the Grand Marshallesses.
Vanda said “ …no floats in Hungary, unless you count tanks.”
Petrea said “I do not get this 10/23 reference. I Googled and I got nothin'.”
It’s not just October 23rd, it’s that day in 1956. See
here.
Hence my imprecation.
Actually, when I mentioned tanks I was thinking of the 20th of August parade (Hungarian 4th of July), but Bernie's reference makes it all the more interesting. I like this free association stuff.
all places will be covered by roses, nice!
Wow! I need to check in more often! I used to be able to speak some Hungarian, but it was sort of Neanderthal style. What I got out of AH was good day, the number three, and the most something, and, uh, the most something. I think in the present tense. I'm telling you, I sucked as a Peace Corps Volunteer.
Have fun watching it on TV though--(btw, what cold?)
Enjoy all the flowers as well!
New virtues for '09, AH? I'm tryin' on new vices.
Mr. Earl I used to love Frazier Smith. Where'd he go? He was hilarious.
Christie, it was freezing here until yesterday. Today it was toasty! I hope it stays that way for parade day. A freezing, rainy parade is no fun.
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