Parades

Parades have been popular events in Hollywood.  Shortly after the turn of the twentieth century, the city of Hollywood held the Hollywood May Day Tilting and Floral Parade.  The entries included floral bedecked automobiles, horses and small floats.

In 1927, the community of Hollywood held an Old Settlers Day parade which included the participation of residents that had lived in the Cahuenga Valley for many years.  Charles E. Toberman, a successful real estate developer, had a couple of entries and Dr. Edwin O. Palmer drove an old car in the parade.

Unquestionably, the most popular Hollywood parade was the Santa Claus Lane Parade which was begun in 1928.  The first entry was a very simple wheeled platform on which a sleigh was placed.  A person, dressed as Santa Claus, sat in the sleigh while two reindeers dragged it down Hollywood Blvd.  After a while, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce began to promote the parade which, in time, had more than a million spectators each year.  The course of the parade was down Hollywood Blvd., Vine Street and a portion of Sunset Blvd.  The parades’ participants include many of Hollywood’s most popular entertainers, including Jayne Mansfield, Gene Autry, The Three Stooges and Francis X. Bushman.

Over the course of the last fifty years, several different parades have been held in Hollywood.  The first gay parade was held in 1975 when the participants walked and drove down Hollywood Blvd.  A dog parade was also held in the 1970s. Similar photographs are of the Hollywood Walk of Fame and hand and footprint ceremonies at the Chinese Theater