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 History of the Hollywood Christmas Parade
 The Hollywood Christmas Parade is rich in history.
Today, the Holiday Season is kicked off with a
star-studded extravaganza with nearly 100
celebrities offering their holiday cheer to the
people of Southern California and the world. The
very first parade, however, in 1928, consisted of
only one actress, Jeanette Loff, and Santa Claus.
In an effort to attract shoppers and their families
to Hollywood Boulevard during the holiday season,
the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce came up with the
idea of the parade. The Chamber started out by
decorating Hollywood Boulevard with live Christmas
trees and other Christmas decorations. Then, to add
excitement to the event, a live reindeer-pulled
sleigh carrying Santa Claus and Ms. Loff made its
way down the Boulevard.
 Since the main attraction seemed to be Santa Claus,
the Chamber appropriately named it the “Santa Claus
Lane Parade.”
 Each year, with the help of local businesses and the
community, the parade grew. In 1931, a truck-pulled
float replaced the live reindeer-pulled sleigh.
Santa’s carriage was now pulled by model reindeer
that soared through the clouds and over a miniature
village while a machine made artificial snow. Santa
was able to greet the shoppers through a public
address system that also broadcast Christmas carols.
 But Santa and the celebrities weren’t the only ones
in the parade that year. The American Legion Post 43
marched with their color guard and drum and bugle
corps. That year also marked the change of live
Christmas trees aligning Hollywood Boulevard to 16
foot, 750 pound metal Christmas trees with strings
of lights. A new standing tradition began with the
making of the first Grand Marshal, Comedian Joe E.
Brown in 1932.
Thereafter, throughout the ‘30s and into the ‘50s,
many well-known celebrities, including Bette Davis,
Evelyn Venable and Mary Pickford, all flipped the
switch lighting the Christmas trees, thereby
officially beginning the Holiday Season.
During World War II, in the true spirit of the
season, the metal Christmas trees were donated to
the war effort and the parade was suspended from
1942 to 1944. However, the first Christmas Parade
after the war had a record number of people coming
out to celebrate.
  In 1946, nobody could have known that a favorite
Christmas song would come out of the Parade. But
that’s exactly what happened. When Gene Autry rode
his horse, Champion, down Hollywood Boulevard (or
Santa Claus Lane) and heard all the children yelling
“Here comes Santa Claus. Here comes Santa Claus,” he
couldn’t help but come up with the idea for the song
he co-wrote with Oakley Haldeman. Two years later,
Bill Welsh and two cameramen broadcast the first
local televised parade to the people of Los Angeles.
 The 1950s through the 1970s found the parade growing
with the addition of floats, animals, bands, clowns
and lots of celebrities. In 1978 Jack Foreman, the
president of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce,
asked John Golden of the Western Costume Company to
offer ideas that would increase the excitement and
glamour of the parade.
To start with, the parade was officially renamed
“The Hollywood Christmas Parade” in an effort to
increase celebrity involvement. With the help of
Johnny Grant, vice president of public affairs for
KTLA, the parade was broadcast locally, for the
first time, on KTLA. In 1979, fifty years since the
first parade, the route was lengthened to 3.5 miles
and now includes Sunset Boulevard.
  Today spectators line the streets of Hollywood to
see the beautiful stars, classic cars, equestrians,
bands, floats, and don’t forget, Santa Claus, and to
ring in the Holiday Season to the world.
The Hollywood Christmas Parade is produced for the
sole purpose of entertaining and educating the
people of the United States and the world on the
glamour of Hollywood and is dedicated to bringing
together all the entertainment principals of this
re-born community to speak as one voice, to
acknowledge that Hollywood is
The Entertainment Capital of the World! |
