Here it is, as promised, I finally got around to writing about my "unique" experience seeing the Rose Parade in person. Do I have a story to tell you.
Here goes...
For those of you who don't live in California or who live in another
country and are not familiar with the Tournament of Roses Parade, it
is a big parade in Pasadena with a lot of floats decorated with flowers, equestrian groups, marching bands, famous grand marshals, fun, fun. It is broadcast live on TV on different stations and I believe in some countries it is broadcast via satellite, but I'm not sure of that. Pasadena is also not that far from Los Angeles. In fact, from the vantage point on the freeway, you can see the skyline of L.A. (when there's no smog!)
December 31st my aunt drove my mom and I out to the parade route. Colorado Boulevard is the main street that the parade route is on (5 1/2 miles), but we weren't able to go there because my aunt wanted to drop us off at a "safer" area than the main one downtown on Colorado. She dropped us off at the end of the parade route and I fretted about this because I was afraid that by the end of the parade they would get tired and not put on big show for us waiting down here like they would for the TV cameras. But my mom tried to reassure me that they would put on a good show. Still, I had my doubts (which came true, but I'll get to that later).
There were already lots of people lining the sidewalks, but where we were was on this grassy island right in the middle of the street. I underestimated the weather because it was almost five in the afternoon and it was already freezing. I had my gloves on and the cold was biting into my fingers. Still, I tried to keep warm by getting inside my sleeping bag. My mom and I had some chicken that she cooked the night before and it was delicious. We also had some apple oatmeal cookies and some juice. Actually, I was trying to lay off the fluids because there were no restrooms and the only restrooms open were the porta-potties on the Pasadena High School parking lot (we were right across the street from it). I also whiled away the time listening to some dope music (you PW fans out there know that I brought my Jam/TSC/Weller stuff - never leave home without it!) and observing the people.
There were these idiotic pre-teen bimbos next to us that kept shrieking and giggling about stupid things (they remind me of the girls I used to know back in junior high - and even recently in high school), but luckily I was able to drown them out with the Walkman my aunt let me borrow (it's a miracle that she did). Later on there was this Latino family that arrived and by a strange coincidence, they were from Ontario (California, that is), which is the city where I used to live (and I miss it there terribly! But that is another story). I didn't really care for them either, but my mom talked with the lady while her kids and some others threw marshmallows at the cars. They even got this one guy in the eye and you could hear him shout, "Ouch!" So who knew marshmallows could make such an impact! Actually, I thought they were acting rather stupid, even for New Year's Eve. By this time it was about seven or eight-ish and people were beginning to get rowdy. Some people twenty feet away from us were yelling at people to honk their horns. This one teenage couple behind us used ice to throw at the cars (which is even more dangerous, because they could seriously damage someone's car that way), and once they even accidentally threw ice at yours truly! Ouch! LOL!
Some people went around selling their wares, like hats, cotton candy, parade programs, etc. One Latino man came over to us asked if we could buy a battery-operated rose that lit up when the switch was pushed and it blinked. Kitsch, but cute! Unfortunately, we only had money for bus fare the next day, and we had no money to buy it. I guess he felt sorry for us and also because we were la raza (English translation: the race), so he gave me a flower for free! I picked a purple one (purple is my favorite color), and I was a very happy girl (temporarily).
One guy was walking around with a sign that had some kind of Biblical verse on it, and I thought, "Oh, no, one of those Biblethumpers talking about the world coming to and end." One of my big pet peeves are people who preach about religion. We were all out there just to have a good time. It was the last night of the year, a new beginning was coming up, why did it all have to be so negative? I have real problems with people who think like that. If he wanted to spoil our night, then he was dead wrong, I think.
Finally midnight came and there was a guy with a microphone a few feet away from me who announced the new year twenty seconds before I actually heard it on the radio (idiot), nevertheless, we all had our noisemakers and we rejoiced in the coming of 1999. U2's "New Year's Day" came on the radio, then the omnipresent "1999" (the long version, which I have on a 12" vinyl maxi-single at home!), hence the "Mommy, why does everybody have a bomb", which is a line from the long version of "1999". Then I decided I'd had enough and I decided to go to sleep (or at least attempt to go to sleep). I was freezing my butt off and I had to try and figure out a way to cover my head without suffocating. There was a lot of dew covering our sleeping bags, so everything got disgustingly wet. It was about forty-eight degrees outside (pretty cold for California). Plus two of those dumb bimbos were sitting right next to me while I was trying to get to sleep.
Back to sleeping (which I got virtually none of). Neither did my mom. A few people didn't sleep all night, like this one group who were across the street playing an oldies station on their radio. There was a new family that set up camp behind us. They came by at about three a.m.. They were kind of like hillbillies. The father was a big know-it-all, a pompous jerk. There was one incident during the parade where the airplanes were flying overhead advertising the sponsors for the parade and he said, "Those people are stupid. Just because they put a sign up doesn't mean I'm going to buy their product." To which I replied, "They're sponsors for the parade, duh." Don't know if heard me, but he should have! Anyway, the mother was kind of cold and reserved, the girl was a little snobby, and she had a brother who was kind of nice. They also had a foreign exchange student with them who said and did very little. At least they were nice enough to give us some "smokies" (miniature hot dogs).
My Walkman was on the blink because I had wasted the batteries the previous night (so Paul Weller was sounding like he was on depressants - "I-I-I'm-m-m t-h-e-e C-h-h-a-a-n-n-g-i-i-n-n-g-m-m-a-a-n..."), you get the picture. So I had to put it away for a long time so that the juice in the batteries could get flowing again. My mom and I splashed out and bought a copy of the program, which was six dollars, but it was worth it, since I didn't get a chance to see most of the things listed in the program anyway! The parade started at eight at the beginning of the route. Since we were at the end, it would take them at least an hour and half to two hours for them to come down to where we were. Another Biblethumper came by and announced with a bullhorn about "the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and judgment day, repent now before it's too late", blah blah blah...not another one...arr...
Finally they got there and I was disappointed that all the equestrians went off to the side and the bands exited onto a side street, so we didn't even get to see those people. The first float was a huge figure of Neil Armstrong (the theme of the parade was "Echoes Of The Century") and the stereo system on it was amazing! There was the famous "one step for man" line and "Tranquility base has landed". Fantastic. The perfect opener for the parade. I think it was the only float I really, truly enjoyed out of the whole thing.
There were other floats as well. We missed the grand marshal (Shirley Temple Black - that really made me mad!). There was a cute British invasion float with the Beatles and Mick Jagger on it, one with Lucy and Ethel of I Love Lucy on it, a "War Of The Worlds" float (the famous Orson Welles broadcast), and a couple of Internet floats. What really made me mad were all these kids running out and grabbing flowers from off the floats! The hillbilly father kept shouting "Thief!" at them, which prompted one man across the street from us to yell, sarcastically, "Yeah, get 'em!" Parade personnel were on these little white scooters trying to get people in line, and I thought it was really disrespectful that the parents of these kids were letting them run out in the street and pick off the flowers. People worked hard to create those things. The girl next to me (from the Latino family) gave me a dirty look, but I didn't care. She was dumb anyway.
By this time (eleven) I was feeling surly, hot, and cranky. I complained that I wanted to go home, I had enough, I froze my butt off all night, and now I was sweating. One little brat kept stepping over my sleeping bag (and I suspected she even stole my pillow!). I went to the restroom (finally), and I waited in the line for the nearby one near the baseball field (which was open the night before). After that, we packed up, the father of the Latino family drove us to the bus stop, we took the Metro bus home, and that was the end of that.
All I can say was my main complaint was the parade not being like how it was when I saw on TV, clear, concise, entertaining, what awards the floats won, the celebrities (although we saw Patty Duke, Jack Hannah, and Gordon, Maria, and this other guy from Sesame Street - my childhood idols!). I decided for 2000, I wasn't going to go through that torture again. I also didn't like the behavior of most of the people, but that's expected in that kind of environment, I guess. I was disappointed, but at least I got to do something different for New Year's Eve.
Please visit the Tournament of Roses website. They have a great new look on their site - too bad the live parade didn't turn out as good!!!
This background set is entitled
"One Perfect Rose" courtesy of
