January 1, 2008 119th Rose Bowl Parade

Up and at it at 4 am to catch the bus at 6 am. We were very grateful to be driven into the parade area. Talk about congestion. The sidewalks were 10 deep with people who had slept there several nights to save their place. Some had even had a campfire in the gutters of the street. We had to walk a couple of blocks to our grandstand. This parade route is about 5 miles long and I think we were at mile 4. The parade started at 8 a.m. and the first float arrived at our location at 9:15. I think we could have stayed in bed longer....

Here are the Jacobs and the Logans in the bleachers with about 3 layers of clothing. It was cold at the beginning but warmed up quickly. The bench in front of us didn't stay empty long.
Here you can see Colorado Street and some of the crowds.
I took a lot of pictures but will only show you the better ones. Don't forget to click on it if you want to see it larger to get the details.
Italian float
The rose in the middle of this float opened and closed.
The Year of the Rat
The Sweepstakes winner.. the Rain Bird float.

Check out the tail on the white peacock.

Kaiser Permanente float, Hawaiian theme. The dolphins moved up and down.
The palm trees have orchids trailing down from the fronds.

This guy must be 60 feet tall. In order to get under the overpasses they have to lower the whole body down.

This float depicted the olympics in China
The clusters at the back of the Beijing float represent fireworks.
Some of the SKP people worked on the LA Dodger float. They cut blue straw flowers to apply to the blue areas.
McDonald's float with cancer fighters and survivors on it.

The Egyptian float

The Lutheran Hour float with the manger scene.

Of course our favorite horses pulling the St. Louis float.
It depicted the Lewis & Clark journey west.

Lion's Club float
Valentine's Day
The middle tube rotated around as it travelled.

The Mexican float. Be sure to look at the man by the orange skirt. That is Raoul Rodriguez who designs most of the Fiesta floats (the prize winners) and he is carrying his blue parrot.

Special Delivery. This is one of the floats we saw in process.

City of Hope float.
New Mexico float.

This is where we ate at the Farmer's Market. We toured the area after the parade. Unfortunately most of the shops were closed.

December 31, Happy New Year

The beginning of a New Year and what better way to start it, with new friends. We had a catered dinner and lots of laughs. We celebrated at 9 pm with New York as we had an early wake up the next morning (4am).

Jake Jacobs, Myrna, Don & Toni Mulert, Bob, Nancy Jacobs
Two of our HOP hosts, Jan Tenpenny and Brenda Keith
Jan & David Wilson from Livingston TX. They are members of our church and we hadn't met them before.
This is one way to get hair!!!
Happy New Year everyone and safe travels to all.

December 30, The Getty Center

In 1983 the J. Paul Getty Trust purchased about 750 acres in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains. The following year architect Richard Meier was chosen to design the Getty Center. He is famous for architectural Modernism and he wedded his signature style to more classical materials in order to express the Getty's roots in the past and belief in the future. The Getty Center opened to the public in Dec. 1997. We arrived there in our bus and parked in the parking garage, went up 1 level and boarded a tram. The tram takes you up the mountain, 3/4 mile at a top speed of 10mph to the center. The center is comprised of several levels and 11 buildings and numerous gardens. The gardens are modernistic in design and full of sculpture. The research institute has exhibitions, reading room and research library. One building is for the restaurant, cafe and snack bar on 3 different levels. We arrived on the arrival plaza.

The arrival plaza with a modernistic sculpture. The hill to the NW has a church on it and what looks like a convent or monastery.
There is downtown LA with smog.If it is clear you can even see the ocean from the other side of the complex.
The walkway leading down to the Central Garden.
Overlooking several levels below from one of the buildings.

At the bottom of the Central Garden, water cascades over a stepped stone wall into a reflecting pool with a maze of 400 azaleas. You can see some color developing on some of the plants.
The museum courtyard features a 120 foot linear fountain bordered on one side by a row of graceful Mexican cypress trees. The massive boulders are blue veined marble.

The current display in the buildings were Medieval Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Also displayed were paintings from Renaissance Rome by Taddeo and Federico Zuccaro. They also displayed tapestries, furniture etc from that period.

We had very little time and too much to see. One area of a building was given over to a hands on children's section. All in all a very interesting Center, but one that needs lots of time.

December 30, Bandfest

Bandfest 2008 features the award-winning bands of the 2008 Rose Parade performing the field shows that made them famous. They have been doing this since 1969 in one format or another. This year they performed at the Robinson Field at PCC. There were 17 bands performing in 3 different performances. At all three the honor band played. The other bands were divided between the 3 times. We were privileged to hear the 2nd performance. As we went in we were handed a toy drum head and striker. They started by putting us through some drills of different drum patterns. I think it was to keep us busy while people were getting seated. Whatever, it was fun. I played a drum in high school and it brought back some memories.

Pasadena City College Tournament of Roses Honor Band. They had to try out to get into this band and they were great. They opened all three performances.
This majorette led the honor band and she was marvelous. On the field show she was throwing 3 batons at the same time.
The bands did their performances on the field and then did a march in review. This is just a portion of the band. You can see the drum major off to the left.
These are the flag bearers.
These are the long trumpets in the honor band. All I can say is WOW! They are so precise in all their movements and the sound was out of this world. You can see the next band assembling onto the field.
Needham Broughton Hish School Band from Raleigh, North Carolina
This is their parade review.

Notice the drum covers. All the bands were sent these rose bowl drum covers to put on their drums.

Akashikita High School Green Band from Hyogo, Japan. These kids are awesome. They practice 4 hours a day when in school and 8 hours a day on weekends and vacation days. They were the smallest band, but made up for it with their huge smiles and precise drills.
Here they are in review... all waving and smiling.
Their flag bearers.

Dec 27th Equestfest

On the edge of downtown Los Angeles is the Equestrian Center. People stable their horses here and are able to ride them around the perimeter as well as train them in jumping etc. The horses in the parade were stabled here and put on a program for the public Sat. before the parade. They performed drills, roping, trick riding etc. You could also tour the stables, meet the drivers and the horses. The Cowgirl Chicks from Texas performed.

The United States Marine Corps Mounted Color Guard was formed in 1967 and is the only mounted color guard in the Marine Corps. They presented the colors in a beautiful fashion.
California State Firefighter's Association present an antique fire wagon and the firefighters are dressed in period uniforms from around the world.
Well's Fargo Stage Coach
Arizona Mini Mystique is a miniature horse precision driving team. Eight drivers pulling two wheeled carts perform close order drills such as pinwheels, spins, suicide charges, and figure eight formations.

And of course the Budweiser clydesdales. Since 1933, the world famous, eight horse hitch has represented Budweiser. They stand 6 ft at the shoulders and weigh 2,000 lbs.
When this 8 horse hitch comes thundering into the ring, it makes the ground shudder.
Those beautiful white stockings are shampooed everyday. They have a team of 6 people for each horse. 3 for grooming and 3 for polishing harness. Even the dalmation standing on the wagon has brass harness on. This beautiful team is pulling the St Louis float in the parade.

Unhitched and relaxing.
Bob with one of the drivers and his friend. The main driver is from Manitoba and knew Gordon Church (Bob's great uncle). Gordon and his sons had the best Clydesdale hitch in Canada.

Olvera Street and El Pueblo De Los Angeles Historic Area

These are the wonderful buses that transported us around Los Angeles and Pasadena for 3 days. We were grateful that we didn't have to do the driving. After the float decorating tour we had some time to spare before the Equestfest, so our driver took us to Olvera Street. It is where Los Angeles was established in 1781 in a pueblo. The ethnic background and heritage of the diverse groups who settled here and contributed to the city's development are evident.

Old Plaza Church (Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles) is the oldest church in the city. Completed in 1822 and it still serves an active parish.
There is a courtyard at the side of the church where parishioners gather and there are food vendors there. In the middle is this beautiful creche.
Opposite the church is the Old Plaza. It contains an ornate kiosk.
The census of 1871. If you click on it and enlarge it you may be able to read it.

There are several of these Moreton Bay fig trees around the plaza that were planted in the 1870's.
This beautiful creche is inside the kiosk in the plaza.

The fire wagon ready to go. The horses stalls are behind. The wagon sits on a circular turntable, so they can turn it around and it is ready to go.

City Hall seen from Olvera St. You may recognize it as the Daily Planet building in Superman or on Dragnet etc.
And then there is the homeless... there is someone sleeping under that cardboard.