Originally Posted By DlandDug The Hollywood Christmas Parade, anyway. After more than 75 years, the annual parade has been cancelled, due to, basically, lack of interest. I mean, how many of you realized there was an annual Hollywood Christmas Parade? The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce claims it was declining revenue. I say it was declining promotion. Oh well. Here's the story, as covered in Canada.com. (Even at the end, promotion is less than stellar.) <a href="http://www.canada.com/topics/entertainment/story.html?id=cc272797-52f6-4fa0-aeae-202578a8ce18&k=33396" target="_blank">http://www.canada.com/topics/e ntertainment/story.html?id=cc272797-52f6-4fa0-aeae-202578a8ce18&k=33396</a> And here's the official site: <a href="http://hollywoodchamber.net/icons/parade.asp" target="_blank">http://hollywoodchamber.net/ic ons/parade.asp</a> I have no idea why a parade that started in 1928 celebrated their 75th anniversary in 2006. They must have had a studio accountant figure that one out. And what's with the second sentence on the home page: "Yes, before you know it, the 75th Annual Hollywood Christmas Parade spectacular wowed the crowd along Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards."
Originally Posted By Ursula Well, the "stars" they got over the last few years have been less than stellar. And the parking got really, really bad. If they had it better coordinated and advertised, I bet it could really be something.
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb I just read about this a couple of hours ago. I's sad to see the old traditions die. But, I never watched it and won't really notice it's not around anymore. I wonder if it was the 75th running of the parade, they said it didn't run in 1930 or WWII.
Originally Posted By knightnfrees I lost interest in the parade for a multitude of reasons. 1) they switched the route a few years back 2) they went to another station. 3) The "talent" was no where near the caliber of 20-30 yrs ago. 4) I lived 5 blocks from from the beginning / end of the parade, so road closures were a pain. ( I ended up at DL on those nights, so I wouldn't have to worry about it ) I miss the spectacular the parade brought to Hollywood. It's a shame they couldn't bring new blood in to renew the interest.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder Another tradition gone. I can remember watching these in TV in Chicago when I was a kid, thinking how neat it all was. The decision was made because they couldn't get enough stations around the country to carry it anymore, thus bringing in the needed advertising revenue. And THAT happened because the parade hasn't been able to draw enough big name stars for the last several years. Hollywood just isn't "Hollywood" anymore, in the sense that it has always been romanticized, not for quite some time now. The person I feel sorry for the most is Johnny Grant. The parade and the stars on the Walk of Fame are pretty much his reason for living now, well into his late 80's. He's been on a literal one man crusade for keep some of these traditions, and it looks like he'll out-live them, which is sad in a way. Now that the parade is gone, he's only got the one thing. IIRC, he lives in a room at the Roosevelt Hotel.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder Also, IIRC, they missed a few parades on account of various wars, making for 75 parades.
Originally Posted By 999HAUNTS Wow, can this week get any worse? First, I get a speeding ticket. Then, I get a letter from the IRS that the well known company I used to do my taxes in 2005 screwed up, and I now owe another $2K by April 18th. Now I find out that there's no more Xmas parade???? Where is the nearest cliff? I might be the only person in the world that will be sad about this, but the Hollywood Xmas Parade has been a tradition in my family for years and years. I have pictures of baby Piratebrittany sitting in her little lawn chair at 2:30 in the afternoon, with her little reindeer hat on, sitting next to grampa, waiting for the first marching band. I also have a picture of my aunt almost getting run over by Rick Dees and the KIIS FM morning show players. What will we now do on each Sunday after Thanksgiving from now on? It was always a given that we would pack up a small cooler with drinks and sandwiches, make our way up to our bleacher seats (or the curb on those years we couldn't afford $40 a pop) to wait for the festivities. Granted, the talent that they've booked for the last 3-4 years or so has been minimal. But who doesn't enjoy seeing a larger-than-life Spongebob Squarepants attempt to keep his balance in the back of a convertable Sebring, or a Homer Simpson portrayer struggle to keep his 3-ft tall head on straight with his big blow up arms and fingers? And let's not forget Mr. Smithysmith Politician wanna-be, who at the moment is the 4th city council district bookkeeper's assistant, (but longs to be more,) being carted around in a big stagecoach. And don't we all remember when Little Richard performed at the start of the parade? The sound went out, but he was still mouthing the words and pretending to bang on the piano keyboards. All the while this was happening, Piratebrittany and I were cracking up - so funny!! That's the same year that we had had it with the entertainment and decided to make our own fun by hanging over the brick wall and waving to all of the parade talent loading into their vehicles. This is the only time in my life that I had a one-on-one experience with Dick Van Dyke and Lonnie Anderson within the same hour. Whoo hoo! The HCP was also the first time we saw Rosanne sport her new smaller figure in a tiny Red evening gown that was ready to bust at the seams. We also got to see her chest tattoos for the first time as well. How about Rip Taylor and that darned confetti? No parade was complete without that. And William Shatner on a horse, trying to wave and steer the animal at the same time? How about Santa Claus? What will he do on his vacation now? Ah, the memories.
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 Yeah, I'll miss it, but then I've missed it ever since I moved to NYC and they don't carry it out here. Oh well. At least they show the Rose Parade. The Macy's Thankgiving Parade seems to be going the route of the Hollywood one though...it was extremely boring this last year.
Originally Posted By jdub I used to really enjoy watching this one on TV. I enjoyed the hosts, who seemed so familiar & comfortable together after years of doing it. I don't even watch the Macy's or the Rose Parade anymore, because of the wall-to-wall commercials, the overly (and inanely) scripted banter, and the lip-synched "performances" shoved in here & there. Unfortunately, it's gotten harder & harder for me to even find the H'wood parade on TV over the years--I figured the local stations had stopped carrying it.
Originally Posted By ecdc Curse those Hollywood liberals and their lousy War on Christmas! Oh wait, this isn't WEs...
Originally Posted By alexbook I never understood why they had the Christmas parade at Thanksgiving, anyway. Shouldn't it have been called the Hollywood Thanksgiving Parade?
Originally Posted By Ursula Well, the parade was shot the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Then, they would either broadcast it that night as a kick-off to Christmas, or, in other markets, it was held a week or two to go closer to Christmas season.
