The Old Settlers Parade in Hollywood

By 1920, Hollywood residents felt a twinge of regret over the loss of Hollywood’s Gentility and culture.  G.G. Greenwood, who had worked in Hollywood since Dr. Edwin O. Palmer opened the Hollywood National Bank, did not want the new Hollywood residents to forget Hollywood’s past. Greenwood, then the head of the Security Bank branch at Cahuenga Ave. joined the Hollywood Citizen newspaper to organize a yearly celebration of the early settlers with a parade down Hollywood Blvd. and a picnic in Plummer Park. The noontime parade in August, 1927, was the pinnacle of this short-lived tradition.  The procession included buggies, family surreys, wagons, and horseless carriages with citizens who were “young when Hollywood was young”.  Some of the entries included dentist, Dr. Edwin O. Palmer driving an old car, Frank Muller and his Muller Bros. Ice Co. wagon,  Earl Gilmore, whose family owned Gilmore Oil, drove six mules hauling an old “oil” wagon, and C. E. Toberman driving a horse drawn surrey which he used to use when selling real estate.

The Old Settlers Parade continued until G.G. Greenwood passed away, in 1933, and the interest in the old settlers began to wane. The largest collection of Old Settlers Day Parade are on the hollywoodphotographs.com web site.