Parade Organizers Hope Waterfront Revamp Sparks Revival
Yachts, boats, and tall ships decorated in festive holiday spirit, lights and all gliding through San Pedro’s Main Channel has been an annual tradition for the past six decades. That the parade has not become every bit of a citywide tradition as the Rose Parade on New Year’s Day strikes some of us weird if not downright aggravating.
The holiday afloat parade, however, is an event that brings everybody together along the waterfront. Organizers hope a renovated and revitalized waterfront can be the shot in the arm the LA Harbor Holiday Afloat Parade Committee needs.
Since 2000, Pacific Unicomm Corp, headed by Donna Jean Ethington, has led the organizing effort of the Afloat Parade under the aegis of the LA Harbor Holiday Afloat Parade Committee.
“I remember many years going to organized meetings at the Green Onion with Donna and just loved meeting and working with her on the parade.”
These days, it is Bob McKoy who is handling the day-to-day operations of Pacific Unicomm Corp. For nearly 30 years, McKoy worked alongside Ethington in helping connect Wilmington residents, and by extension, the rest of the Los Angeles harbor community connect with their waterfront.
McKoy noted that Pacific Unicomm has organized the parade for the past 26 years. He noted that Ethington was the energy and the muscle behind the nonprofit that organized the meeting with local yacht clubs to make the parade happen. In recent years, Ethington has had to step back a bit because of health challenges. Pacific Unicomm continues to work with local yacht clubs, boating organizations, and the parade.
There’s an expectation that this year’s crop of competing vessels in the parade will be light compared to the more than 50 vessels before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The last five or six years will probably end up with about 28 to 30 boats. We are used to typically having 50,” McKoy said. “I’m hoping we can create more enthusiasm and get more of the young participating.”
McKoy noted that there have been many chairpersons who’ve led the LA Harbor Afloat Parade Committee but he would like to see an embrace of more yacht clubs. The Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club has been the perpetual trophy winner for the most participants over the past 11 years.
“I’d like to see other yacht clubs challenge others to participate. I’d like to see this event become more comprehensive,” McKoy said. “I think with the development of the San Pedro Waterfront and Wilmington Waterfront it will be.”
McKoy’s love of sailing began with his father who owned a boat. When his parents separated when he was five years old, he participated in either the first or second afloat parade at the Port of Los Angeles and he participated in every afloat parade until his dad moved out of state. Then in 2002, he met Ethington. She started the nonprofit corporation, Pacific Unicomm, with a very broad charter allowing her to support many different organizations.
He thinks it’s just a matter of getting more boaters involved.
“It seems to be a challenge for Yacht Clubs to build membership,” McKoy said. “A lot of organizations have the same challenges. I think life just got too busy.”
McKoy noted that in the 1940s and 50s boaters had ships at anchor in the LA Harbor and we had carolers go around aboard ships caroling to them. I think 1962 was the very first harbor holiday afloat parade, we had 57 boats competing. None of that was sponsored writing by the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce and they operated the parade until 1978 or so. And then another group took over and ran it for a few years. Then Donna Ethington took it over about 30 years ago.
Bruce Heyman, a member of the Afloat Parade Committee and LAMI, said that the grand marshal of every parade has been hosted on one of LAMI’s tall ships, including former Councilmen Joe Buscaino, Tim McOsker, and Supervisor Janice Hahn. Amy Grat, the CEO of
International Trade Education Programs, Inc., now called EXP, was the grand marshal in 2019.
Heyman said he jammed himself into the holiday afloat committee this past year. He and his wife have a boat in front of Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club and have participated, for many years, in the Dana Point holiday parade. As an active Coast Guard in the auxiliary, he’s conducted patrols during the Newport holiday parades.
“The parades do a really good job of bringing thousands and thousands of people down to the water’s edge to watch the boats, all decorated going out, ” Heyman said. “San Pedro is going through a Renaissance here as we rebuild our waterfront and try activating so much of the Promenade along the water’s edge. My goal is to make ours every bit as envious as what they have at Newport Beach.”
The career electrical engineer pointed out that over the past couple of years, the Christmas tree lighting has taken place in front of the new Circle in front of the Los Angeles Maritime Museum instead of the former Pepper Tree Plaza next to San Pedro’s municipal building.
This year, Councilman Tim McOsker is bringing so many tons of snow for a winter wonderland at the water’s edge. Food trucks are going to be stationed at West Harbor and the port has asked LAMI to make one of the Tallships that isn’t in the parade available dockside just south of the Maritime Museum.
“We should have one of our tall ships there. As long as it’s not too windy we’ll have our sails up for the port to project either a movie or nice Christmas scenes on the sails of the boat, just to make it an even more, festive event,” Heyman said.
Heyman noted that elections aside, this is a really weird year, noting that normally the boat parade is right before the holiday parade but that this year it’s all “cattywampus” because the land parade is actually on Thanksgiving weekend.
At first, Mayor Karen Bass was going to be the Grand Marshal until she couldn’t. Former Harbor Commissioner Diane Middleton was asked to be the Grand Marshal in the mayor’s stead.
“I invited her to be the Grand Marshal, and she agreed,” Heyman said of the mayor. “It was on the calendar for months. And then she had a conflict and had the bow out,” Heyman explained.
The grand marshal boat in which Middleton and her guests will have a big banner. All of LAMI’s boats that are participating in the afloat parade were decorated by USC students.
By Heyman’s estimation, judging from all of the plaques for winning and participation plaques on their wall, LAMI has participated in the San Pedro Afloat parade since the founding of the organization in 1992.
Heyman believes West Harbor and its tenants will become really large supporters of the parade as they get open.
Recently the port staged a West Harbor project update. Boosters have largely praised the developments even if there’s dissatisfaction with the solutions to traffic and noise issues.
Even still, even boosters hope the roadblocks such as the coming shutdown of the Vincent Thomas Bridge.
I hope that they either punch the bridge work to after the Olympics or get it done before the Olympics.
“I’m an electrical engineer. I have done many mega-projects for Motorola and the start time is every bit as important as the final few days you’re trying to finalize it,” Heyman said.
So all of this talking about it and not ripping up roads, getting going w, we’re losing clock time and calendar time.
I think we’ve seen in the last week or so the nightmare of Harbor Boulevard and the Vincent Thomas Bridge… it’s just been a bloody nightmare 5-10 minute trips.
Discover the Los Angeles Harbor Boat Parade Magic
Moreover, the main body of decorated boats will stretch about one mile. The parade passes the designated Viewing and Judges’ Stations. Below are estimated viewing times for various locations along the parade route.
- 6:00 PM: START – E. Basin proceeding up Cerritos Channel, past Wilmington Marinas
- 6:15 -6:20 Up to Slip Number 5 Banning’s Landing
- 6:30 – 7:00 PM: Cruise Ship Plaza, Battleship Iowa (Judges Station), LA Maritime Museum, Port Police Dock proceeding towards West Harbor (Old Ports O’ Call Village)
- 7:15 – 7:30 PM: West Harbor (Old Ports O’ Call Village) Viewing Areas
- 7:45 – 7:50 PM: Warehouse 1, SS Lane Victory
- 8:00 PM: Cabrillo Way Marina (Last Judges Stations), Cabrillo Marina END.
