News Flash from the 2012 Rose Parade: Two Floats will Use California Grown Flowers

The Cal Poly float is one of only two floats in this year's Rose Parade to qualify as California Grown, meaning 85% of the flowers on the float are grown in California.

  The other 41 Rose Parade floats are mainly decorated with imported flowers.

 The Rose Parade goes back 1890 and was started by the prestigious Valley Hunt Club.  The notion was to showcase Pasadena and all its charms to easterners in hopes of enticing them to move West.   "The abundance of fresh flowers, even in the midst of winter" was part of the enticement.   As eminent club member Charles Holder said, "In New York, people are buried in snow," announced Professor Charles F. Holder at a Club meeting. "Here our flowers are blooming and our oranges are about to bear. Let's hold a festival to tell the world about our paradise."

Now, more than 120 years years after the Rose Parade began, southern California flowers still bloom in January and orange trees are loaded with fruit.  But today the Rose Parade floats carry flowers shipped in from South America.  Holder's notion of showing off our paradise has faded to oblivion.  As yesterday's LA Times pointed out, the floral paradise showcased on today's Rose Parade floats is imported.

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Though news to me, this importing flowers business has been accepted for decades.

In a Star-News piece from last year, longtime float builder Jim Hynd observed, "When I first started in this industry in the '70s, 90 percent of our flowers came from within 200 miles of us.... That's totally the absolute opposite now. Most everything we get comes in from South America or other parts of the world."


Turns out that most flowers used on floats are flown from South America to Miami and then trucked 4,000 miles across country in refrigerated trailers.   Parade floats use "an estimated 20 million flowers transported from around the world in aircraft and trucks:orchids from Asia; dried everlasts from Africa; roses from Colombia and other South American countries; and tulips from Holland."

Imports are so much the standard that the official Rose Bowl rose  now hails from South America.  Last year, the Tournament of Roses and Rose Bowl named Passion Growers, a Miami-based importer of flowers grown in Columbia and Ecuador, as their official flower.    As the Times reported, the news infuriated California flower growers.

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As strange as it seems, it is big news when a Rose Parade float actually uses locally grown flowers   Yesterday, the LA Times reported that floats from Cal Poly University and the California Clock Company.are using mainly California grown flowers with California Clock shooting for 100% California flowers..  The Tournament of Roses says California Clock is "the only entry to attempt that feat in many decades."   

The Cal Poly floats are always one of my favorites and I understand that the schools' floats have always used flowers grown at the SLO and Pomona campuses.  

The California Clock Company is a parade newcomer and recoiled at the notion of  buying imported flowers for its float.  The company is from Fountain Valley and is best known for its Kit Cat Clocks and its CEO, Woody Young, has distinguished himself as a star of this parade.  As related in the LA Times, "As the leader of a California company, Young said, he wanted to support locally grown ingredients.“All of the parts of our clocks are made in the U.S.,” he said. “We resisted the idea of going offshore for even part of our manufacturing, so it is just fitting that we should have California fresh-cut flowers and greens on our first Rose Parade entry.”

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I am a big parade fan.  No other city the size of Pasadena has anything like it.   And, I respect the Tournament folks -- they're a civic minded lot who devote a lot of volunteer time to make this thing happen. 

But, personally, I was stunned to learn the flowers on Rose Parade floats are imported.  To me, importing the flowers gives the Rose Parade a contrived, soulless quality.   Despite all its problems, I still have pride in California and still think of the state as a place where everything grows. 

I am disappointed that parade and bowl leaders don't stand up for California growers and buy local and I am disappointed for California growers who have to compete against overseas' operations that play by different rules.    I'm saddened to learn that yet another California industry has withered in the name of "save money, live better."   

What ever happened to California pride?   Well, it is alive and well down in Fountain Valley.  Maybe it takes a quirky clock maker from the OC to restore some of the parade's local luster.   I hope Woody Young's local pride spreads and I will certainly be watching his Kit Cat Clock float this morning.

Christmas 1878 at the Sierra Madre Villa Hotel

 

                                 Sierra Madre Villa Hotel ca. 1886
                                 By Carleton E. Watkins
                                 Courtesy of the California History Room
                                 California State Library, Sacramento, California


There is nothing like Christmas through a child's eyes.

William Lauren Rhoades grew  up in the 1870's and 80's at the Sierra Madre Villa Hotel.  His dad, William Porter Rhoades, was the proprietor of the Villa and co-owned the Villa along with his father in law, artist William Cogswell.  As an old man, William Lauren recounted the history of the Sierra Madre Villa and wrote about the Christmas of his childhood.   The story includes a donkey named after his mom, a giant Christmas tree, and a gift exchange between the two cultures that lived full time at the Villa -- that of the Rhoades and Cogswell families, who had migrated west from New York, and that of a group of Chinese men, who had originally migrated east to work on the railroads and then staffed the Villa.    .    

I enjoy Rhoades' account and post it every year.   So, without further adieu, let's travel with Mr. Rhoades back to East Pasadena in the late '70's.......    

From The History of the Famous Sierra Madre Villa Hotel by William Lauren Rhoades:

When Christmas time rolled around the real fun began. I will describe a typical Christmas day in the late seventies. The day before Christmas was one of excitement for all were preparing the gifts, some driving into Los Angeles, a thirty mile drive, to get the last few gifts needed and to shop for all the rest and only about two dry goods stores, two book stores and a few other places to purchase but that made it all the more exciting. There was a tree to sit up fully nineteen feet high, that was the height of the ceiling, and a spread of branches in proportion. Then the trimmings, popping the corn and putting on the cornucopias, hanging the glass balls and the angel on the top. That day the Chinese boy, Sam, made mysterious trips to Mother's room with packages coming from the servants and Chinese on the ranch.

Christmas morning was always the opening of an eventful day. I well recall Christmas of 1878. After breakfast I was taken out to the front of the house and there stood my donkey, which was given me two years before to ride and I named her after my Mother, Jennie, and there she was hitched up to a two wheeled cart made to order with a swell leather seat, the running gear was painted red and the body black, the harness was black with shining brass buckles. The guests all stood round enjoying my delight. I took Mother in at once and we drove off in style and many were the happy days I had with the children at the Villa in that turnout.

Christmas morning the coach that ran to the San Gabriel Southern Pacific Railroad Station daily for the mail and passengers, was ready to take any who might wish to go to the Episcopal Church in San Gabriel, as was the custom on Sundays. Then the day passed and all were in readiness for the big event in the evening with the Christmas tree.


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Rhoades goes on to describe the evening festivities that took place in the hotel parlor with the Rhoades family and hotel guests attending. Christmas carols were sung and the tree was "stripped." There was a gift exchange with Villa's many Chinese workers. Rhoades reports that, to the delight of hotel guests, the workers would enter the parlor with a flourish. Dressed in fine silks, the workers had "their heads freshly shaved with their cues hanging down their backs with red ribbons braided into their hair." They came bearing gifts of sweet lichi nuts, ginger and dainty cakes. In turn, the workers were given a fattened pig for roasting.

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The Sierra Madre Villa Hotel was a famous West Coast resort located in the foothills of what is now East Pasadena.   The Hotel is the namesake of Pasadena's Villa Street and Sierra Madre Villa Avenue, which served as the access to the old hotel.   If you're interested to know more, I've a dozen or so posts on the Villa that are categorized under the Labels heading on the right side of this blog.  

Hastings Ranch Christmas Lights 2011

Organized Christmas displays in the Upper Hastings Ranch neighborhood have been a tradition since 1957.   Last year I spoke with the "mayor" of Hastings Ranch and my 2010 Christmas post has some interesting history of this great annual event.

We drive Hastings Ranch several times during the Christmas season and I always enjoy it.  One of my favorite houses has relatively little in the light category, but shows the old Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer TV special from the 60's.   There is a large screen set up on the front lawn the show plays continually with sound.  Seems whenever I drive by there are cars parked in front of the house and sometimes kids sitting on the grass watching the show.   The house in on Daveric just south of Alegria.     

 

Of course, when in Hastings Ranch you can also see the lights of the valley below.   Upper Hastings Ranch is on a mesa in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and affords some wonderful views.  

Windstorm Damage

No kidding.

Eucalyptus trees blew down on Sierra Madre Villa.  Six trees all probably more than 100 yeas old.  As you can tell from the trunks, these were very big trees.   

The trees just fell over and were strewn along the road nearly end to end..  It was sad, strange and fascinating all at the same time to walk the length of these giant trees, from roots to the tree tops.  And, standing in the middle of these trees there was this powerful scent of Eucalyptus.  

Tree fell knocking down power lines and a power pole on Sierra Madre Blvd.  There was a Channel 2 news van parked on the median while I drove past. 

Oak tree uprooted and fallen on van.

Wind Damage -- Flyng Oak Tree Misses Santa Lands on Van

Happy Thanksgiving

Brown Pelicans at Bolsa Chica Wetlands

 

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!  In past years' Thanksgiving posts, I've included photos of wild turkeys that I took near Auburn in Northern Cal.   This year, I'm going with the pelicans.  And a little story.    

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November 6 was going to be a big day.   That was the day of Marcia's first Patchwork Indie Arts and Crafts show.  Set in Long Beach, it would be her first outdoor show and we hoped for big things.

Now, small businesses are a labor of love.   Marcia's HomeBody Botanicals is no exception.  And, as small business owners know, their ventures have a way of becoming family affairs.   So, her labor of love has spilled over to the whole family, and, in a way, all four of us have been working the business since it started more than a year ago at the Altadena Urban Farmer's Market.   

So, after a late night doing the final touches, early November 6, we all got up loaded the van and headed south to Long Beach.    Our expectations were high.   But, while driving on the 605, it started to rain.  By the time we reached the Marine Stadium in Long Beach, it was pouring.   The storm had arrived and showed no signs of letting up.

We found our assigned 10 x 10 space -- next to a boat storage area and under a couple of inches of water.  Marcia and I hauled out the deceptively-named "e-z up"  and with our 13 and 8 year olds, we started the set up.  There is simply no way to raise an e-z up in the rain without getting soaked and soon we were all cold and wet from head to toe.   The kids were great -- both helping and game as could be.  Still, midway through set up, our 8 year old broke.   She just stood in the rain and cried.   I could hardly blame her.   

So, that's how our much anticipated big day started.  

But, eventually, things got better.  By afternoon, the sun was out and crowds of people slogged through the fair.  There was music, great food and dozens of vendors, like us, offering homemade crafts and goods.    Really, the Patchworks shows are interesting places and if you haven't gone, you should.

Anyway, when things settled down and dried out, the kids and I spent the afternoon exploring.  We made our way down PCH to Bolsa Chica and walked the trails through.the wetlands.   The variety of birds there is  amazing and, after the rain, the wetlands were teaming with activity.   In particular, it was fun to watch the pelicans as they fished by diving beak first into the water.  

As it happened, we were at the wetlands about an hour before sundown and the light was perfect for photography.   As we walked the foot bridges and trails, we passed many photographers outfitted with big time equipment and scanning the wetlands for pictures.    

I stopped on the footbridge and took my place among a line of folks poised with their tripods and telescopic lenses.  I reached into my sweatshirt pocket and pulled out my little Canon Power Shot.   So there I stood among the tripods. But, you know, this pair of pelicans rose up from the water and soared right by me.  I barely had time to raise my camera and never saw the birds in my viewfinder.   I pointed and clicked and this photo is what I got.   Not a professional shot, but good enough to give me a big smile.

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Marcia's show got better and she made a little money.  In the dark, under clear skies, we packed up, then drove home to Pasadena.       

It had been a long and trying day.   But, we all pulled together and, except for a few hours of cold and wet, had fun doing it.   The kids had jumped in with both feet to help.   We made it home safely where we all slept well.  

Now a few weeks later, the wet and cold is nearly forgotten and only memories of a family adventure remain.  Even the worst of the cold and wet is now somehow funny -- strangely even crying in the rain can get to be funny.   

And, if that's not enough, on top of it all, I have my pelican picture.

Waiting for Black Friday - Two Days to Go

People are already lining up in anticipation of Black Friday sales.   This morning (Wednesday) we saw seven hardy souls camped out in front of the Best Buy on Foothill Blvd.  I was told that the first in line was there last Saturday.

Best Buy opens its doors at 12 am Friday for Black Friday sales.  These folks have today, tonight, then Thanksgiving Day and half the night until they get their prize.   If I'm out, I'll check back later today to see if the line has grown.