Folks lining up along Rose Parade route

Hundreds of people have been lining up along Colorado Boulevard and the rest of the Rose Parade route since noon today.

With their mattresses, sleeping bags and portable barbecues, they're preparing to camp out for the night -- and claim a curbside spot for the New Year's Day parade. The Fenton family of four and one friend got there at noon and by 1:30 p.m. they were comfortable with tarps and blankets laid out, lounging in folding chairs with their feet propped up on rolled sleeping bags.

"I just like the camping out," said Brian Fenton, 40, of Azusa.

"That's pretty much it," said Ashley Hale, 19, a friend of Fenton's 19-year-old daughter, Darlene.

"Sitting doing nothing, " Fenton concurred.

This is the Fentons' fifth year of camping out for the parade, and they have learned to bring extra warm clothes and snacks. This year they also brought a kettle barbecue for chicken and a propane heater for hot chocolate and coffee.

A few spots away, members of the Tamargo family were already half an hour into a Monopoly game, which they were playing on a cot. In their truck parked two blocks away, they had brought an air mattress and snacks. Mike Tamargo, 51, said the family drove two hours from Bakersfield.

"It's worth it just for the excitement," he said.

-- Raja Abdulrahim

Comments

[zango]

These people take stupidity to a new level. Why would you sleep on a sidewalk in LA. ? All for a chance to see a bunch of high school marching bands and some inflatable Snoopy ? Gosh, maybe i should sleep on my sidewalk so i have a front row seat for the garbage truck tomorrow morning.