Verdugo Views:

“Peacocks have been good to Glendale,” he said. “We won our first sweepstakes in Pasadena in 1923 with a peacock [designed by L.W. Chobe]. It’s our city bird. Gentlemen, I say, let’s go with the peacock,” according to the Los Angeles Times on Jan. 9, 1977.

Indeed the peacock-themed “Life is Beautiful,” decorated by more than 150 Hoover High School students and finished just 15 minutes before judging, won the city’s 11th Sweepstakes. Miss Glendale Julie Love and Princess Barbara Magarachi were on the float. That March, the Tournament of Roses Assn. president presented the award, a framed photograph of the float, to City Council, remarking that it was Glendale’s 57th entry since 1911.

“During this time, Glendale has won more Sweepstakes awards than any other city,” he added, according to the Glendale News-Press, March 23, 1966. The float cost $18,500.

The next year, 1978, the city budgeted $18,000 and Herrin-Preston again presented two designs. Parcher reminded the council that he had been right the previous year and recommended a float resembling a massive carriage, as reported by the Ledger, Oct. 5, 1977.

The float, reflecting the early days of the parade when private carriages were decorated with flowers, was 50 feet long and covered with 160,000 flowers.

Miss Glendale Erin Veling stood on the float, wearing an elaborate — and heavy — floral headdress. The float won the coveted Mayor’s Trophy.

But all these prize-winning floats came to a halt when Proposition 13 put a major crimp in float funds. No city funds were budgeted for the 1979 parade.

Instead, the ledger reported on Dec. 2, 1978, that $15,000 was raised by the Days of the Verdugos Assn.’s Rose Parade Committee, led by Charles Briley and Marlene Hamilton. The “Superstar,” float, incorporating five cones, was decorated by volunteers.

Miss Glendale Misty Schmidt was accompanied by princesses Diane MacDonald, Amara DeOca, Linda Bersach and Charlene Richardson.

The down-sized Herrin-Preston design garnered a second place in its class.

TO THE READERS

In preparation for the centennial of the city of Glendale’s first Tournament of Roses float, the library is seeking photos, newspaper articles, memorabilia, movies or written memories from those who were involved in the city’s floats.

If you have information or items to share, contact Pat Zeider at (818) 548-3752.

 Katherine Yamada can be contacted by leaving a message with features editor Joyce Rudolph at (818) 637-3241. For more information on Glendale’s history, visit the Glendale Historical Society’s web page www.glendalehistorical.org; call the reference desk at the Central Library at (818) 548-2027; or call (818) 548-2037 for an appointment to visit the Special Collections Room at Central from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays.