PRESS

For Immediate Release

CONTACT: Patricia Hurley
Parade Organizer
(626) 590-1134

April 18, 2010

Doo Dah Parade Romps Through East Pasadena On May Day!

After 33 years in the Old Pasadena retail and entertainment district, the Doo Dah Parade will bring its notorious brand of wackiness across town on Saturday, May 1st, stepping off at 11:00am. The relocation to East Colorado Boulevard places the parade in an older, retro neighborhood reminiscent of its long-ago ‘Old Town’ roots. In fact, this year’s Grand Marshal is Corky Peterson, former proprietor of Chromo’s Tavern where the Doo Dah Parade was actually born. This year the ever-present element of surprise and hilarity will again run full throttle when inventive, if zany, art cars and floats accompany a legion of frolickers past the mom-n-pop shops along their shady tree-lined streets.

Comprising this year’s visual fare will be such wildly diverse entries as a fleet of motorized “Kinetic Pastry Science Mobile Muffins,” “Songbird & His Ocarinas,” a humungous robotic spitting cat named “Boo-Boo Kitty,” oddly-attired sound inventors known as “The Highland Park Thursday Evening Gentlemen’s Society Circuit Bending Marching Band & Ladies’ Auxiliary,” and the “Pasadena Zombies,” who execute a move-for-move true zombie send-up of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Yes, another Doo Dah is here to help you forget your humdrum existence.

Known as the twisted sister of its counterpart Rose Parade, the Occasional Pasadena Doo Dah Parade begun as a grassroots event in 1978 to gain national attention for its eccentric and, often, irreverent satire. The parade which has spawned numerous off-beat replicants across the country was named by

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Readers Digest as “America’s Best Parade,” and was recently featured in the book 50 Places You Must Visit Before You Die!

Also featured among the 1,000 marchers at this year’s Doo Dah will be Dr. Steel’s Army of Toy Soldiers, A REAL Doo Dah Wedding, Her Royal Highness Queen Erica Valentine, Captain McHogwash’s Amazing Chundra, Cheap Sax Addicted to Love, The Martini Kings & Swing-o-matic, Linoleum Bonaparte, the World Champion Whistling Diva, Goddess of Democracy, The Pink-Slipped Pissed off Teachers, Friends and their Pissed-off Kids, Million Marijuana March, FireBrain, Evotrope, Motorized Couch, The Bra-Ettes Dancing Bras, ArtStorm, Thwop!, What Happened in Vegas Should Have Stayed, Gallery at the End of the World, Girls Who Draw Girls on Roller Skates, Classic and scary clowns, and such perennial favorites as the Men of Leisure, BBQ & Hibachi Marching Grill Team, the Bastard Sons of Lee Marvin, the immortal Doo Dah house band Snotty Scotty & the Hankies, and many more!

WHAT: The 34TH OCCASIONAL PASADENA DOO DAH PARADE

WHERE: Colorado Boulevard (between Altadena and San Gabriel Boulevards) in East Pasadena. Start: Nina St./Vinedo St., and S. on Vinedo. W. on Colorado, circles again, back up Vinedo.

WHEN: SATURDAY, MAY 1ST, 11:00AM!

COST: Always free-of-charge!

Plenty of street parking is available ~ Parade route is also just west of the Sierra Madre Villa Gold Line Station (at Colorado Blvd. and Sierra Madre Villa).

Come early! Come early! Bring a lawn chair! Visit the local eateries and shops.

Official Doo Dah After-Party: held at the American Legion, walking distance from parade, also on Vinedo (Xst. Walnut), immediately following the parade. Bands. Cheap food and drink. $5 cover to a Legion charity. Cash only please.

For more information go to: www.pasadenadoodahparade.info

Photos by Brian Biery

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33rd Occasional Doo Dah Parade hits Colorado Boulevard ~ but this time in East Pasadena!

For Immediate Release

Contact: Patricia Hurley
Parade Organizer (626) 590-1134

February 11, 2010

Daring to go where no parade has gone before, this year’s May 1st Pasadena Doo Dah Parade will venture eastward for the first time in its colorful history. While the alternative event has enjoyed much popular success in the Old Pasadena retail and entertainment district, organizers are excited to bring the eclectic parade to the town-like setting of East Pasadena. “Old Pasadena has been a terrific backdrop and host for the Doo Dah Parade,” says organizer Tom Coston. “But with Doo Dah we see an opportunity to keep it fresh and interesting. We fondly leave Old Pasadena on the cusp of predictability. We look upon East Pasadena as an exciting frontier with its own local character and possibilities.”

The Pasadena Doo Dah Parade originated in Old Pasadena, then “Old Town,” in 1978 as a spontaneous grassroots event. Known as the “Other Parade,” it soon gained national attention as the eccentric alter-ego to the Tournament of Roses. East Pasadena, which boasts many small businesses and shops, is part of the Lamada Park District. Lamanda has a unique niche in Pasadena as it attracts more of a pioneer type of business. These businesses are what created the modern identity of the creative industrial arts that are located here. And who knew that at one time, this area had the largest winery in Southern California!

Pasadena resident Joe Colletti, Executive Director of the nonprofit, Mama’s Small Business Kitchen Incubator in the area says, “What we like to see is people venturing to a different part of Pasadena. There’s no doubt Doo Dah will bring more people to our neighborhood and that’s only going to be good for us.” Poo Bah Records, which started in Old Pasadena on Fair Oaks in 1971, is now settled on Colorado Blvd. in East Pasadena. Owner Ron Stivers says he is thrilled with the news, “I’ve been here for 6 years now, and have enjoyed plenty of parking, twice the space and have quadrupled my collection of music. It’s great to have Guitar Center next door, and the Colorado Bar after work. Doo Dah Parade moving here, with the mom and pop stores feels right, it’s like the Old, Old Town.”

The MayDay Doo Dah Parade will take place on Colorado Boulevard between Sierra Madre and San Gabriel. The exact route will soon be announced.

WHAT: Over 1000 revelers will be led by Snotty Scotty and the Hankies at this year’s Doo Dah, featuring entries like the Electric Squirrels, Martinis in the Morning, Howdy Krishna, Stupidiotic Evolution, Mystik Krewe d’Dieux Dah, Zombies of Debt, Flying Baby Street Racing and Stroller Cross, LA Derby Dolls, Dead Robert Palmer Girls, Drunk in the Garage, and classics like the Benzedrine Monks, BBQ & Hibachi Marching Grill Team, Amnesty International, Raelian Religion, Doo Dah Random Dancers, Wicked Tinkers, Bastard Sons of Lee Marvin, Caesar’s Circus, Fabulous Sons of Ed Wood, Horses on Astroturf, and AND MANY, MANY MORE!!!

For public information and to sign up for the Parade call (626) 590-1134 or visit our event website at www.pasadenadoodahparade.info