Hollywood Christmas Parade

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The Hollywood Christmas Parade, formerly the Hollywood Santa Parade or Santa Claus Lane Parade, is an annual parade that takes place on the weekend after Thanksgiving in the Hollywood community in Los Angeles, California, United States. The parade's 3.5-mile route follows Hollywood Boulevard and features various celebrities among its participants.

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[edit] History

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce created the Hollywood Christmas Parade in 1928 to boost shopping. Originally called the Santa Claus Lane Parade, the inaugural event featured only Santa Claus and the actress Jeanette Loff.

The parade continued to grow in scale with the help of local businesses and the community. In 1931 Santa Claus rode a truck-pulled float instead of the reindeer-pulled carriage of previous years. American Legion Post 43 marched with a color guard, drum line and bugle corps.

The Parade was suspended from 1942 to 1944 due to World War II, but the parade reopened in 1945 with record attendance.

In 1946 Gene Autry rode his horse in the parade and was inspired by the children yelling "Here comes Santa Claus, Here comes Santa Claus," to write the song "Here Comes Santa Claus" along with Oakley Haldeman.

The parade continued to grow throughout the 1950s, '60s, and '70s, adding floats, animals, bands and celebrities.

By 1978, the parade had been renamed the Hollywood Christmas Parade in order to attract more celebrities, and was broadcast locally on KTLA-TV with the help of Johnny Grant. But in 2004, an attempt to present the parade as a primetime special on NBC proved disastrous. Executive produced by Bob Bain, the hour-long "Blockbuster Hollywood Christmas Spectacular" aired on December 1 on NBC, and was a ratings flop. The following year, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced it would discontinue airing the parade on KTLA and other Tribune Broadcasting stations due to rising production costs. In March 2007, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce decided to end the parade's run due to lack of celebrities and a loss of $100,000 for the 2006 production, which The Associated Press said cost about $1 million to mount.

In 2007, the City of Los Angeles created a new parade to replace the Hollywood Christmas Parade, entitled the Hollywood Santa Parade and staged on the weekend after Thanksgiving (the original parade had traditionally been held on the Wednesday evening before the holiday). Participation in the new parade became by invitation only, and Bob Barker, fresh from his farewell tapings as host of The Price is Right, was that year's Parade Grand Marshal. Until 2008, KTLA aired the new parade on a tape-delayed basis.

Two years later, it was announced that MyNetworkTV would telecast the 2009 parade (with the Hollywood Christmas Parade name restored) in two consecutive prime-time showings: the first scheduled for December 10, the second for Christmas Eve night. The 2010 and 2011 parades were carried on The Hallmark Channel, and then later airing in syndication throughout the United States.

[edit] Grand Marshals

[edit] See also

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