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Event Information:
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 Sunset
Boulevard and has many celebrities
among its participants. The 2011
parade will be held on Sunday,
November 27, at 6:00 PM Pacific
Time. The 2010 parade was held on
Sunday, November 28, at 6:00 PM,
Pacific Time (9:00 PM, Eastern
Time).
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.
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-owned
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. It last aired
December 16, 2007 due to KTLA's 60th
Anniversary celebration which
occurred on the weekend of the
Parade. The 2008 parade was never
shown on television, and was instead
made available on DVD and online. It
was announced, however, 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 parade was carried on The
Hallmark Channel.
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