Hey, just wondering if any of the Outsports buddies are hitting the Rose Bowl next week. Me and a couple of buds are flying out from Florida early on 12/31 and staying though Friday. Not real familiar with LA / Pasadena area. . . where is it cool to hang, eat, be seen, party on New Years Eve? How early do we have to be in the parade route early new years day to be able to see any of the floats and stuff? What do you wear in California (just joking on that one). Peace - BigBucBoy

Buc,
I am going with a bunch of buddies we are leaving on the 31st and coming back on the 4th. I am not sure what we are doing, but one of my buddies is a doctor and one of his patients is DJ'ing at one of the big discos there so being on the guest list I am sure that is where we will be on NewYearsEve. The parade starts at 8AM on the first and they start camping out at 10AM on the 31st. It is 5.5 miles long so I am sure there are places where we can see the parade. Go Canes...

Just a few weeks ago the NYTimes Travel section ran one of their "What's Doing" columns on Pasadena. This part might be very germane:

Tickets to the parade route's 125,000 grandstand seats are on sale through Sharp Seating, (626) 795-4171 ($35 to $80), and Marsden Brothers, (310) 454-3511 ($58 and $62). But it's also possible to claim a curbside spot on the parade route, which runs east along Colorado Boulevard from Orange Grove Boulevard through Old Pasadena to Sierra Madre Boulevard, where it veers north for a few blocks to its terminus at Villa Street. The trick is that city law prohibits staking a claim to a piece of the curb until noon on New Year's Eve (folding chairs and sleeping bags only), and some stretches fill up almost immediately. The Pasadena police operate a hot line, (626) 744-4598, about the rules and best tactics. From Dec. 28 to Jan. 3, information will also be available at (626) 793-9911. The theme of the 2002 parade will be "Good Times," with Regis Philbin as grand marshal.

So why not Jimmie Walker or Esther Rolle as grand marshalls too??

=> NYT Travel Story (in full)

damn boy, u are a good.

Thanks guys. . . MiamiDr., I bet your group might be the same group I'm hooking up with out there. . . a dr friend of mine in SoBe and his boyfriend Mark are guys that I'm meeting out there and hanging with. Perhaps we'll meet. I'm MIchael. Peace out. . . and yes, go Canes. BigBucBoy

Hints for Rose Parade viewing...Don't spend the money to buy bleacher tickets...if you get there early in the am...5am to 6am you can find some spaces..Best place to park is north of the 210 freeway off Lake...park in a residential area and walk down to the parade route (maybe eight blocks)...Bar stools are wonderful to take..can sit above and behind others...
Another option is to go to the end of the parade route where you can get curbside seats...but by then some of the floats are being towed...the bands are all over the place...but if you do go and are near the end the floats start to drop flowers and all the kids and parents run into the street to pick them up....

Most embarrassing Rose Parade moment...
After the Los Angeles Olympic games...there was a float honoring some Olymipians...One of the honorees was gymnast Peter Vidmar, who I had gone to school with and who I had a serious crush on...Anyway Parade day comes and after a night of drinking and no sleeping, the float comes by and I push to the front stepping over the curb sitters to take pictures and I YELL back to my friends that "I am taking a picture of my honey, Peter Vidmar".......I silenced a large part of the crowd in the area by the Norton Simon Museum and my friends proceeded to ditch me.