What?! The 34.5th Occasional Pasadena Doo Dah Parade was in April?!
Maybe you missed the biggest party of the year, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it any time you like. The parade was taped and is now streaming at
Make your own big party by inviting your friends over, donning your wackiest outfit, setting out your favorite snacks and tuning in.
Enjoy!
Now carry on, as you were,
31st Queen Naughty Mickie
For those of you who can’t get enough of the Occasional Pasadena Doo Dah Parade or missed the 34.5th event, you can watch a recording online featuring me as your delightful commentator along with the ever-steady Dean.
Make some popcorn, settle in your favorite chair and enjoy!
Dear Royal Subjects,
If you are unable to make it out to the Biggest Party in East Pasadena or would rather stay home in your jammies sipping mimosas, you can still catch the fun.
The 34.5th Occasional Pasadena Doo Dah Parade will be broadcast live tomorrow, April 30, at
Listen and look close because you may hear and see some Royalty you know helping out with the announcing!
Now carry on, as you were,
Queen Naughty Mickie
Daring to go where no parade has gone before, this year’s Pasadena Doo Dah Parade will
again bring its own brand of raucous eccentricity East, after its successful relocation last year. The 2011 Parade takes place on Saturday, April 30th, stepping off at 11am in East Pasadena along Colorado Boulevard.
Last year, dozens of inventive, if zany, art cars and floats accompanied a legion of frolickers past the mom-n-pop shops along East Pasadena’s shady tree-lined streets. They will be joined this year by Grand Marshal Ron Stivers, of Poo Bah Records in Pasadena, and many first-time entries including the League of Steam, Conehead Rocket Sled, Hippie Cream, The Iceland Queen, Rancho Talavera, combined bands of the 35th Dragoon Guards, Mile High Bed, Cheesus Chrust Pizza Company, 2011 Doo Dah Queen Red Rosie of Sierra Madre, Flying Baby High Dive, and the Ladies Auxiliary for Cultural Enrichment, et.al.
Known as the twisted sister of the conventional Rose Parade, the Occasional Pasadena Doo Dah Parade began 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 Readers Digest as “America’s Best Parade,” and was recently featured in the book 50 Places You Must Visit Before You Die!
This year’s spectacle will see the return of such wildly diverse entries as a fleet of motorized Kinetic Pastry Science Mobile Muffins, Captain McHogwash’s Amazing Chundra, 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 crowd favorite Disco Drill Team, real American Bandstanders. Yes, another Doo Dah is here to help you forget your humdrum existence!
Last year’s Parade incorporated over1,000 marchers, including Dr. Steel’s Army of Toy Soldiers, Cheap Sax Addicted to Love, Her Royal Highness Queen Erica Valentine, 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 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.
WHEN: SATURDAY, APRIL 30TH, Stepping off at 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). City busses go directly to the area.
Come early! Bring a lawn chair! Visit the local eateries and shops, and attend the after parties all within walking distance.
Official Doo Dah After-Party: American Legion, 179 N. Vinedo St. (2 blks from Parade at Vinedo & Walnut), immediately following the event. Legendary Doo Dah House Band, Snotty Scotty and the Hankies, and Horses on Astroturf, and assorted Doo Dah Glitterati, cheap food and drinks, smoking patio, big screen TV, cash only!! (626) 792-9938. $5 cover
Unofficial After Parties:
Plate 38, 2361 E. Colorado Blvd. (near Sierra Madre Blvd.), Join Her Royal Majesty the Queen Red Rosie (right after the royals tie the knot!) for your post-parade lunch! American eats, including gourmet burgers, live music, $2.50 Coronas, family-friendly!
Poo Bah Records, 2636 E. Colorado Blvd. (nextdoor to The Colorado Bar) will have live bands all afternoon, records, coolness, and the Grand Marshal, owner Ron Stivers!!
The Colorado Bar, 2640 E. Colorado Blvd. Featuring cheap drinks, darts and pool, and the Infamous Drunk in the Garage band, immediately following the parade.
For more information go: www.pasadenadoodahparade.info
photographer/reporter Terry Miller. Here’s a couple of his photos to pique your interest and a link to his story and video: Pasadena Doo Dah Parade
Queen Tryouts Are Coming Up!
WHERE: The American Legion Bar, 179 N. Vinedo St., Pasadena, Crosstreet is Colorado Blvd. (626) 792-9938
WHEN: Saturday, April 2nd
2:00 pm – Doors Open and Live Music begins
4:00 pm – Queen Hopefuls Check-In
5:00 pm – Queen Tryouts Start
COST: $5 cover to Legion’s charity; 1st 20 queen hopefuls to arrive are free!
Trying out? please call us at 626-590-1134 and we will answer your questions and give you tips. Open to everyone and we mean it! All are encouraged to dress randomly even if you are coming to watch.
HOW? The first 20 Queen Hopefuls to arrive get in FREE (1 admission per Queen’s entourage). Each Queen Hopeful will have a few minutes to WOW the Judges. Microphone and boom box, even drumroll, provided. Be ready to show us and tell us why YOU should be Queen! Bring Loyal Followers and HUMOR!
Featuring: The Legendary, Snotty Scotty and the Hankies, Horses on Astroturf, Many former Queens, including Erica, Skittles, Mickie, Tequila, Sue the Ref, Goofball Judges, Andrew, Duke of Doo Dah, Prizes, Cheap drinks, Smoking Patio, Pool and Big Screen TV! and Lots of Dancing!
34th Occasional Pasadena Doo Dah Parade!
Saturday, April 30, 11:00am
Entry Forms and information to be found on the website: www.pasadenadoodahparade.info
More about the Tryouts: Individuals of all genders, shapes, ages, and persuasions tested their fate to become queen. Contestants are usually outnumbered by equally-costumed judges, who include many former queens, and another hundred or so parade entrants, tryout supporters, Legion members, and the curious public. The town-hall setting with long tables in beer-fest style, crock pot chili, and legendary Doo Dah House Band, Snotty Scotty and the Hankies on stage, set the mood for the lively caucus.
Among those who have perennially tried out are, Count Smokula, Santa’s Bad Elf, belly dancer, Narayana, a smoking Amy Winehouse, Queen Mother Teresa Kennedy, the Swami from El Monte, Sabrina the Stimulus Package, Second-Hand Rose Queen, Crystal, Gopher Girl, Buffy the Dog, Ms. Laurel, Pinball Lizard, Mama “J”, and Miss Boy Frances. Last year’s Quuen Eric(a) Valentine, of Glendale, was a show stopper with his searing guitar licks.
Other favorites have included Roobie Breastnut, former burlesque star, as Sarah Palin, Crystal Lightner, local diva of Altadena, and Jezzelynn on stilts.
Even More Info: Organizers staged the first public tryouts in 1998 at a Gothic house on stilts. It then moved to the famed Zorthian Ranch, in Altadena. This and other parodies of Pasadena’s ‘Other Parade’ have fueled Doo Dah’s colorful and controversial life on Colorado Boulevard. The 34th Occasional Pasadena Doo Dah Parade will be held on Saturday, April 30th stepping off at 11:00am on the streets of East Pasadena.
To enter the parade simply go to the website and fill out a form, or call for more information (626) 590-1134.
On April 2 at the American Legion in East Pasadena, a new queen will be crowned by the esteemed judges of the Occasional Pasadena Doo Dah Parade.
Follow this link and learn from photographer/reporter extraordinaire and Official Doo Dah Knight Terry Miller why you should throw your hat in the ring for your chance to be the royal belle of the biggest party in Pasadena:
http://pasadenaindependent.com/arts/”never-on-a-friday”-doo-dah-queen-tryouts-slated-for-april-2/
Begin practicing your talent and
Carry on, as you were!
We are excited to announce that the
2011 Pasadena
Doo Dah Parade
is Saturday,
April 30th,
stepping off at 11:00am,
in East Pasadena!
As always, we will need volunteers in the morning hours to help us with staging, set up, street monitoring, entry handling, parking, equipment, check in area, crowd control, and clean up!
Be behind the scenes at the master controls of one of the most colorful and unique experiences around! There will be music, floats, zombies and disco dancers, schmaltzy shtick, furry things, cosmic people, crazy people, exotic animals, and anything the imagination dictates!
Email us and sign up now!
For more on the parade, please visit
www.pasadenadoodahparade.info.
Patricia Hurley, Light Bringer Project
626.590.1134 or email me here or at hurleypanne@yahoo.com
LIGHT BRINGER PROJECT IS ON FACEBOOK
Come one, come all~
just don’t miss the biggest party in Pasadena!!
Entries are now being accepted for the Occasional Pasadena Doo Dah Parade. It’s set for April 30 in East Pasadena. Put on your most creative thinking cap and design the wildest, wackiest float, marching group or whatever ever!
Also, all queen wannabes should start practicing their talent and etiquette, as the tryouts will be held in East Pasadena on April 2. You should prepare a short (3 minutes tops!) display of your best talent and be ready for any question. Wow the judges by proving you have the true spirit of Doo Dah.
For more information, visit
