Monday: St. Patricks Parade Heads Down Main Street
Ed Fuentes
The 2007 parade passes the LAPD HQ site. Just a year later the building stands at full height.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES —
Monday brings the St. Patrick's Day parade Downtown, with a route that runs from Main and Arcadia down to Pershing Square. According to a release on Councilman Tom LaBonge's website, "parade attractions include numerous celebrities, the Los Angeles Police Emerald Society bagpipes and drum band, high school and college marching bands, The Lakers Girls, Park Rangers, Police Choir Boys, LAFD Fire Hogs, color guards, LA City Councilmembers, historic LAPD and L.A. Fire Department trucks, cars, motorcycles, and much more."
After the 11:30am parade is a 12:30pm concert in Pershing Square featuring the Young Dubliners.
Angelenic recently ran through bars with St. Patricks celebrations, but if you're looking for something non-alcoholic a little earlier in the day, Arda's Cafe will be serving green bagels with cream cheese for $0.50. Is a green bagel truly a good idea? Only on St. Patricks Day.
Nancy-Jean Carlson on March 17, 2008, at 04:14PM – #1
Wow. This years' St. Patrick's Day Parade in Downtown Los Angeles was great!! A much bigger turnout than last year - I guess it really shows that our community is growing and becoming more supportive! Love it!!!
LAofAnaheim on March 17, 2008, at 04:42PM – #2
Yeah..I went as well. Great turnout and good event! Would have loved more performances instead of the dozens of celebrity appearances. Yes, we're LA, we get it.
brady westwater on March 18, 2008, at 01:17PM – #3
It also totally shut down Main, Spring and Broadway stopping all bus traffic on all those three streets for several hours - and Hill was bumper to bumper also with no buses in sight. I was out and about most of the morning but never saw the parade - just a lot of frustrated people trying to find a bus - any bus. Is there any reason why just one street can't be used for these parades - instead of shutting down four streets?
LAofAnaheim on March 18, 2008, at 04:31PM – #4
Brady --- that's the joys of living/working in a city. We don't want these festivals in Santa Clarita, West LA, Wilmington, etc... They should be in downtown and yes, they will block traffic.
Why didn't people consider using the Metro Red/Purple Line?
David Kennedy on March 18, 2008, at 05:58PM – #5
Anaheim, I think Brady's point is, could the impact be mitigated to keep the disruption to a minimum? Understand, there is a real economic impact to these events. If people can't get to work, productivity suffers. It costs companies business and the city suffers.
My mother-in-law was nailed in this traffic. Do you think her boss cares about St. Patty's? He's just angry that work is not getting done and deadlines are being missed. That affects his bottom-line and prospects for future business.
If this event happened on a weekend, fine. Parade away. But, it would be sensible and fair to all downtown stakeholders, not just those looking for a party, if their legitimate concerns -- like making a living -- were considered. I think the notion has considerable merit and would be pretty easy to implement.