Previewing the Rose Parade floats . . . or even pitching in Bulging forms of chicken wire, color coded with paint and festoonedwith papier-mache, await their final adornment of fresh flowers.Jersey-wearing teen-agers paste dry flowers into place, while othervolunteers measure letter spaces, sort out colors, and string wreaths.All seem calmly oblivious to the stream of visitors on the catwalk abovethem.
Such is the scene in Rosemont Pavilion a few days beforePasadena’a annual Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’sDay. Similar activity occurs at three other commercial float-decoratingsites in Pasadena and Temple City, and at six noncommercial sites. Atall of them, you can see final touches being added to dozens of floatsfor the 96th annual parade. At a warehouse in Downey, you can do somepetal-pushing yourself. On December 15 from 10 to 2, you can get a close-up preview of ahalf-dozen floats during their requisite road tests at Jubilee Floats,120 N. Aspan Avenue in Azusa.
You stand curbside while float-builderstest-drive mostly undecorated creations. For times, call (818)681-3724. Here are commercial sites, west to east: Rosemont Pavilion, 700Seco Street (at Rosemont Avenue), Pasadena. December 28 through 31 from9 to 9. See 14 floats. Heading west on the Ventura Freeway (State134), take the Holly Street turnoff to Linda Vista Avenue; go north 1/2mile to Seco. Heading east on State 134, take the Colorado Boulevardturnoff; turn north onto Orange Grove Boulevard, then west on Holly toLinda Vista.
Serrurier & Associates, 61 W. Mountain Street, Pasadena.December 27 to 31 from 10 to 10. Three floats.
From State 134, gonorth on Fair Oaks Avenue past Orange Grove Boulevard to MountainStreet; turn west and look for the sign on your left. Rose Palace, 835 S. Raymond Avenue, Pasadena. December 28 through31 from 10 to 10.
Catwalk views of 12 floats. From the north end ofthe Pasadena Freeway (State 110), go west on Glenarm Street, then northon Raymond; it’s on your left. Fiesta Floats, 9362 Lower Azusa Road, Temple City. December 26through 30: 1 to 9 Wednesday and Thursday, 1 to 10 Friday, 10 to 10Saturday and Sunday. Cost: $1 per person, free for ages 12 and under.See 14 floats. Group tours upon request.
From the San BernardinoFreeway (Interstate 10), take Rosemead Boulevard north 1 1/4 miles pastMission Drive; turn east on Lower Azusa; it’s on the right. Other floats are sponsored and built by individual towns andorganizations. Here are six locations you can visit, including onewhere you can help apply flowers. Burbank. December 29, 30, and 31, from 10 to 10. Stop by the cityyard of Burbank Electric Company, 320 N.
Lake Street, to view thatcity’s float. Enter from Lake and drive to the gate behind themain building; a guard will let you in. Cal Poly Pomona. From December 8 through December 23, you can seethe construction of the Cal Poly float 24 hours a day at the Rose FloatLab, 3801 W.
Temple Avenue, Pomona. It’s in the southeastern quadof the college near the agriculture and engineering facility. AfterDecember 23, the float will be in the Rosemont Pavilion (see firstlisting) for flower application. Downey. If you want to help decorate a float, go to the DarnellCorporation warehouse, 12001 Regentview Avenue, from 9 A.
M. to 10 P.M.December 27 through 30. At 7 P.M.
on December 31, the completed floatleaves for Pasadena. The public is invited to take part in the flowerapplication and to view the sendoff. La Canada Flintridge. Watch float decorating in the parking lot ofFlintridge Prep School, corner of Foothill Boulevard and Hampton Road,December 26 through 30 from 8 A.M. to 10 P.M.
, and on December 31 from 8to 6. Sierra Madre. You can see this town’s float being built inthe big yellow building at Sierra Vista Park, 587 E.
Sierra MadreBoulevard; look for signs to the city yard and reclamation center. Fromnow through Christmas Day, you can visit on weekday evenings from 7 to10, weekends from 9 to 5; during the last week of December, hours are 8A.M. to 11 P.M. South Pasadena.
Now through Christmas Day, watch the building ofthis town’s float weekday evenings from 7:30 to 10:30, weekends 10to 4. From December 26 to December 31, you can see the application offlowers 24 hours a day. It’s being built in a huge tent on the ElCentro school grounds, 1100 block of El Centro Street. Photo: Overseen by catwalk visitors, Rose Parade floats awaitfinishing touches from volunteers in Pasadena’s Rosemont Pavilion.Below, youthful “petal pushers’ paste dry flowers andpapier-mache details onto chicken wire
