Erik Estrada is helping people get in the holiday spirit, Hollywood style.
The 74-year-old Puerto Rican actor and former CHiPs star is serving as the co-host of this year’s Hollywood Christmas Parade, a grand Hollywood tradition will kick off at 6:00 pm on Sunday and winds through the streets of the movie capital.
Estrada, co-hosting the parade with Dean Cain, will be joined by Montel Williams, Laura McKenzie and Elizabeth Stanton.
Pre-parade entertainment will include the Village People, pop-opera singer Anna Azerli, and The Grinch. Parade performers will include the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles and California Springs Rhythmic Gymnastics.
Joining them are Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, dancer-singer Paula Abdul, singer Dwight Yoakum, radio host Kerri Kasem, pop duo Aly & AJ and actors Chris Kattan, Craig Robinson, Ernie Hudson, Brandon Routh, Ming-Na Wen, Denise Richards and Tatyana Ali.
Overall, the 3.2-mile route will showcase 90 celebrities and VIPs, 14 pre-parade and parade performers, 10 bands, six four-story-high character balloons, three floats, 39 movie cars and eight novelty vehicles. The show ends with an appearance by Santa Claus and his reindeer.
The parade supports Marine Toys for Tots. The event starts at Orange Street and Hollywood Boulevard, traveling east on Hollywood Boulevard to Vine Street, south on Vine Street to Sunset Boulevard and then west on Sunset, back to Orange.
Retired U.S. Army Col. Paris D. Davis, who was awarded the Medal of Honor in March, nearly 60 years after being nominated for his heroism during the Vietnam War, will be the grand marshal. The 84-year-old Davis was one of the first Black officers to serve in the Army’s elite Green Berets, recognized for the rescue of two severely injured soldiers during an intense battle in the Vietnam War.
Local marching bands taking part will include the Los Angeles Police Emerald Society Pipe and Drums; the Oaxaca Philharmonic Band of Los Angeles; the Golden Valley High School Band of San Clarita; the PAVA World Traditional Korean Band of Los Angeles; the Compton High School Band; and the Los Angeles Catholic Schools Band of Torrance.
The parade has been held every year since 1928, except from 1942 to 1944, when World War II broke out, and in 2020, when it was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. It was first held in 1928, then known as the “Santa Claus Lane Parade.” Comedian Joe E. Brown was the first grand marshal in 1932, a role later filled by Bob Hope, Gene Autry, Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne, among others.
The parade will be rebroadcast on December 15 at 8:00 pm on The CW Network.
