Results tagged “parade”

                     

The most happening family-fun party at the Hollywood Bowl every year is the Sound of Music Sing-A-Along. If you've never been, it probably sounds a bit tame, but when you've got over 17,000 people singing do-re-me, waving cellphones during Edelweiss, popping those firework-like poppers during Maria's first kiss, hissing and booing at the Baroness and Nazis (complimented by laser pointers making red eyes), among other home-made sound effects, it's a time not to forget (don't forget the wine and cheese, it makes it all that much better).

There might have been a pornstar (or just some naked chick) fingering herself in front of photographers behind the walls of Sunset Junction (link is a video taken from afar), but over in Venice Beach, there was a parade of topless Raëlians protesting the 14th Amendment. Xeni Jardin at boingboing captured some video and describes the group as "a religious cult that basically gets you in the door with promises of free sex, then brainwashes you with a bunch of garbage about UFOs and cloning and giving all your money to the church, hosted a 'topless rights' parade in Venice Beach [on Sunday]."

       

He may have been the King of Pop, and his public memorial service at Staples Center an unprecedented spectacle featuring live tributes from Motown stars, pro athletes, and celebs, but a set of parading pachyderms aren't on the guest list.

              

Even before the parade got underway news agencies in Los Angeles reported that the Coliseum was at max capacity, and traffic from most parts of the city headed towards Downtown was backed up before and all through the a.m. commute. People bedecked in purple and gold lined the streets, shouting and waving as any reporter and camera crew passed by. After the players boarded the bus and greeted the adoring fans at the Staples Center, the parade made its way just over 2 miles southbound on Figueroa, where those assembled were first greeted to performances from the Lakers Girls and had lots of opportunities to shout their devotion to our winning team.

    

Around 6 a.m. this morning, driving to the Coliseum was no big deal. The trouble for people, we're hearing, was when you arrived to the immediate area that traffic just was just a parking lot.

It's 6 a.m. and beginning right now, you can park at the Coliseum for the noon rally that will last until 1 p.m. The later it gets, the more street and freeway onramp closures you'll face. Gates open at 9:30 a.m. and space is limited to 95,000 (it could definitely fill up). When the parade begins, Coliseum attendees will be able to watch it on big screen TVs.

Under pressure not to spend nearly a million dollars in city money for the Lakers parade tomorrow, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa raised $850,000 from private donors to offset costs. "If we hadn't had a parade, you've have had a whole bevy of other people criticizing," he said.

Blue Line trains will run every 6 minutes from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. tomorrow to help move the hundreds of thousands of people expected at tomorrow's Lakers victory parade. Additionally, the Red and Purple Lines will carry extra train cars and Gold and Green Lines are prepared to add more trains to service if needed. "Metro Bus services will be significantly impacted in the event area, especially bus lines that either run on or cross Figueroa, Flower or Grand streets, between Olympic and Martin Luther King boulevards," the agency said in a statement. "Delays can be expected beginning about 10 a.m. and will continue until the end of the parade for all passengers riding in the Metro Bus lines: 28, 30, 31, 35, 37, 38, 40, 42, 55, 70, 71, 76, 78, 79, 81, 96, 102, 200, 204, 335, 355, 378, 439, 442, 444, 445, 446, 447, 450x, 460, 484, 485, 550, 714, 728, 730, 740, 754, 770."

The official Lakers parade on Wednesday will cost $2 million, split evenly between the city and the Lakers. Of course, with the city scrapping every nickel and dime to save the city budget, the politicians are coming under fire. The LA Police Protective League is not happy and rightfully so considering employees citywide are being forced on furloughs and some will be laid off. "At a time of financial crisis, when the public expects -- and quite frankly should demand -- city leaders to be good stewards of every tax dollar, it is foolish for elected officials to favor spending 1 million tax dollars on a three-hour parade," the union's president said in a statement. Now Mayor Villariagosa is reportedly getting private donations and has raised a several hundred thousand dollars. While we're at it, can we change the route, too, Mr. Mayor?

                     

If you were in the Southpark area of downtown last night, it smelled of things burning. After the isolated incidents of chaos, a survey of the area found light damage just about everywhere with pockets of small businesses unfortunately hit by looters and those Fakers fans running amok for no reason than just doing that (CurbedLA has photos of a ransacked Lexus and blogdowntown has shots during and after, too).

Talk of a victory parade for the NBA's Lakers began before the team had even cinched the victory itself, which, if you're in LA and live under a rock, happened last night in Orlando in game 5 of the championship.

       

Around 700 people gathered outside the Staples Center tonight to celebrate the Lakers' win in Orlando. Mostly peaceful, but it only took a small group of fools to ruin it for everyone. Small fires, fireworks, thrown rocks, bottles and flares, street signs torn down, attempts at turning over police cars cued the LAPD to try to end festivities sooner than anyone had hoped. As Larry Welk said on KCAL9, "they're sort of leaving a path of destruction."

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The dragons descended down upon Chinatown yesterday and drove out all the bad spirits. Saturday January, 31st marked the 110th annual Golden Dragon Parade. It is held every year in celebration of the Chinese New Year and draws over 100,000 people. This year was no different.

Okay okay we know we’re supposed to be out there volunteering for MLK Day or prepping for Barack’s big day tomorrow, but if you just want to sit back and watch, here’s what’s going on around town:

For the first time in U.S. history, a marching band comprised of Americans identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer, will perform in the Presidential Inaugural Parade. Of the 177 musicians from twenty six states representing the Lesbian and Gay Bands Association (LGBA), four will represent Los Angeles.

                            

Yesterday, the 32nd Occasional Doo Dah Parade--the anti-Rose Parade--took over the streets of Old Town Pasadena. Over 1,500 revelers were led by 2009 Grand Marshal Charles Phoenix (LAist Interview), who soaked in the glory in his hot pink suit and his Mickey Mouse ears. It was a 2-hour long "celebration of all things ridiculous in Old Pasadena, under blue skies and plentiful sunshine," according to the Pasadena Star-News.

For some, this it not even a holiday where you get the day off, but to the normal world (government, banks, etc), this is a holiday. And if you want to take that seriously and honor the man it is named after, Obama has made that possible with his huge Renew America Together program. The LA Neighborhood Cleanup Project is getting together in Silver Lake at 10 a.m. to clean up the neighborhood an there are plenty of other events around town.

There's still time to see the parade floats without the whole parade part. The post parade Showcase of the Floats runs today and tomorrow at the end of the parade route on Sierra Madre Blvd. An estimated 150,000 people are going to attend just this part, so there are shuttles to and from the Sierra Madre Gold Line station and a few park and ride lots. And if you want to be super fancy, download the audio tour from iTunes before you go.

There are 90 entries in the 120th Tournament of Roses Parade, for which the theme this year is "Hats Off to Entertainment." The floats, as usual, promise to blend hokey with interesting, all bedecked in all manner and sort of flora. The Pasadena Star-News has a full listing and description of every float and act; they seem to generally stick with the theme of entertainment, although many drift into the community and family themes.

Banned for a little over a month now, Pasadena police will be out making sure smokers don't light up along the parade route at next week's Tournament of the Roses. They plan to educate people rather than enforce, but if someone refuses to put out their cigarette, the first ticket is $100 and further violations go up to $500.

       

Sunday's annual Hollywood Santa Parade wasn't that well attended. The LA Times was correct to be skeptical about this year's show: "The parade almost died because of declining attendance, a lack of TV syndication money and a dearth of stars. We'll see how many people show up tonight." One TV news report said 10,000 people attended. That's nearly 40,000 less than last year, albeit 5,000 less than in 2006.

It's no Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, but Los Angeles' Winterfest and Santa Parade takes place tomorrow in Hollywood.

Pumpkin, the turkey pardoned by President Bush on Wednesday in Washington DC, was honored as the grand marshal at Disneyland's Thanksgiving Day Parade today in Anaheim. He, along with Pecan--the backup turkey--will now be part of the park's holiday display of live reindeer. After that, the two will retire to Disneyland's Big Thunder Ranch in Frontierland.

           

There were all sorts of costumes on display last night at the annual West Hollywood Halloween event, from the inventive to the obscene and from the politically charged to the politically incorrect. Of course, there's always room for the traditional, and often lots of naughtiness. Here are a few pics from the festivities as found on Flickr and in our inbox.

Were you one of the many, many, many people in the crowds on Santa Monica Boulevard last night taking part of the annual Halloween Parade and festivities? If you made it there like these revelers and took some photos, drop them in our LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr--we'd love to see and share them. Make sure to include a description and give us your take on the yearly event. Who had the best costume? How was the parking? Do you go every year? Tell us all!

              

The annual Haute Dog Howl'oween Parade in Long Beach's Belmont Shore was held this past Sunday drawing more than 600 costumed dogs and thousands of onlookers. Event organizers say it is the world's largest Halloween pet event, but whatever it is, one thing rings true: these dogs are damn cute. Here are some of the cute dogs LAist photographer Tom Andrews saw...

A little slice of life in Los Angeles. Here's the well-known Attorney Gloria Allred, left, yelling at anti-gay protesters at the gay pride parade on Sunday. Moments later, she realized LAist Featured Photos contributor discarted and his hefty camera pointed at her...

                     

Thousands poured onto West Hollywood and Los Angeles streets this weekend for LA Pride. From the parade to the two Dyke Marches (photos forthcoming), there was much to celebrate as next week is the beginning of recognized same-sex marriage in California.

Today, the Office of Vital records told all California counties can start issuing same-sex marriage licenses the minute after the California Supreme Court's order goes into effect, which is June 16, 5:01 p.m.