Happy New Year to you all; today is a little bit of a departure in honor of today’s holiday. Here’s Joan Culver, the 1956 Queen of the Tournament of Roses Parade. Shot #2 is Joan with her Royal Court:
The Tournament of Roses is an annual tradition that dates back to 1890, with the football part being added in 1902. Back in January 1980, I actually marched in the parade itself. My high school rehearsed endless hours the one turn that we would have to make right where the TV cameras would be rolling. Our director expected nothing less than precision from us, and for the 3-5 seconds that our band was on TV, we looked great! What a rush...of course the next 2 hours of marching was not so fun. Here’s a shot from that morning, including a detail of me on the saxophone:
Our band was staying at the Marriott in Newport Beach; after the parade was over, everyone was back at the hotel flipping on the TVs to watch the rebroadcast of the parade; when our band was on, you could hear the shouts roar throughout the hotel (we were obnoxious high school students...what do you expect). We traveled many miles from Philadelphia to Los Angeles; our trip also included a day at Disneyland, which unfortunately I only have a few horrible Polaroid One-Step photos as remembrances. Back to the Blog Topic...last time we saw Liz Taylor at Daveland, she was munching popcorn. Today, she’s flying in a pack of helicopters and eating at Club 33. Here’s Liz and her children at the posh Club 33:
Could they be any more excited?!? This photo is from July 18, 1973. Peter Lawford was with Liz and family, but apparently didn’t want to be in the photo. Here is a current photo of the room that Liz was in:
Here’s to a fantastic 2008; may all your resolutions come true.
See more vintage and contemporary Disneyland photos at my main website.
Liz must have liked Disneyland quite a bit, since she rented the park out for one of her birthdays (I have a pinback button from that occasion somewhere).
ReplyDeleteI would like to wish you and yours a very Happy New Year. Looking forward to all the great 2008 posts and appreciating them all.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on being in the parade!
ReplyDeleteAlthough, you probably have more fans now than way back then.
Did you see the Rose Parade this morning? The paint Bashkir Curly Horse in the right rear was raised by us, and sold to them in 1999. It was good to see that Bobby was doing so well.
ReplyDeleteHAPPY NEW YEAR Dave,
ReplyDeleteYour off to a great start with these pics. Why don't people dress like that any more? My resolution is to is to enjoy all the good stuff on you web pages and blog.