This shop was defintely open for business selling lanterns, party poppers, lucky bamboo and other fun stuff. Many of the little pieces of paper inside the poppers were tiny dollar bills.
The Golden Dragon parade held every year in Chinatown in L.A. is–well, appeared to be–a big money-making venture for merchants, as well as a celebration to Chinese culture.
Gold figurines in a window display must be symbols of good fortune.
Stores were open and the restaurants–especially the ones with take-out–were doing great business.
I attended the parade 4 years ago and noticed a young boy, accompanied by his father on one street corner, preaching to the crowd. Well, his preaching must have been effective because I saw quite a number of people wandering around this year with large yellow signs about Jesus and the Bible. And the young preacher is no longer a boy, but a young man. Still preaching.
The Boy Scouts are promoting parking. Behind them is one of the many Bible signs along the parade route. There were signs in Chinese and Spanish, too.
Then just before the parade began who should appear but that same young man and his father, walking along the parade route with a big sign and a speaker system.
Policeman telling two roving street preachers that they have to walk on the sidewalk, not on the parade route.
Then a cop on a bike pulled up next to them and asked them to step onto the sidewalk. I could not hear what the father answered, but the policeman then asked if they had a parade permit and, if not, they had to walk on the sidewalk. “We’re not infringing on your freedom of speech”, I heard the cop say. “You need to walk on the sidewalk.” This exchange continued with the policeman being polite and insistent that they had to move to the sidewalk. Eventually, the two roving preachers did step out of the parade route.
I’ll finish this post with a few random photos from this year’s Chinatown celebration. Be sure to read the captions.
Photos of the actual Chinese Lunar Year Parade here.
Dragon dancers and drummers outside Superior Poultry. Their noise and dancing is intended to bring good luck to this store. I’m pretty sure there is a fee involved with hiring these drummers and lion dancers.A small size golden dragon which went from store to store–including Superior Poultry–to bring good luck to the venue during the Year of the Ram.The LAPD Motorcycle Drill Team cleared the way to start the parade. Lots of flashing lights, coordinated sharp turns and sirens.I’m not sure what or who these giant figures represent, but it appears that one man is holding a boy on his shoulders to hold the figure upright. Notice the feet hanging down on the left figure. See more photos of the parade here.What would any parade or public gathering in Los Angeles be without the cotton candy and balloon sellers.The main plaza in Chinatown about an hour before the parade began. The statue in the center is of Sun Yat-Sen, who founded the Republic of China. (That’s before Mao and the Communist revolution.)Not everyone was eager to see the parade. This baby slept right through it. Well, no doubt he will see it when he is older.
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