Pasadena Prepares for the Parade

Having the unique opportunity to live and work on the very street which the world famous Rose Parade passes along has granted me a unique opportunity to see the many many preparations that the city and vendors go through, both to profit, and to protect their property.

The first sign that the rose parade was coming were the large (one might say huge) sets of bleachers that went up in an open grass field along Orange Grove Blvd.  After that I was surprised to see them popping up like mushroom at just about any available space along Colorado Blvd.  First it was in front of an AT&T corporate building, then a parking lot, then the mall.  If it was wide enough and the trees were short enough, a bleacher can be put in.

The next bit of Pasadena magic was the hauling away of covered bus stops.  One would have thought, looking at them that there were a more or less permanent fixture.  I guess that isn't entirely true because over the course of Monday, the 29th, every covered bus stop I see on my walk to work disappeared.

And the final bit of protection from the masses who will line the streets of Pasadena were the stores and homes that put up fences, I presume because there is no other reasonable means of protecting your yard/property.  The entire mall along Colorado (the Paseo Colorado) appears as if it will be fenced off.  Several stores with large windows have put fences along their store front.

Along Orange Grove Blvd. they put large wooden beams in the ground so they could rope off people from walking into the street and fences behind so that they wouldn't spill into people's yard.  And they just repeat this process every year, digging the holes for the beams and filling them right after like it never existed.  Quite a lot of effort overall, and I saw it all first hand happening around me.