‘It’s nice being back.’ Rose Parade returns to smaller but enthusiastic crowd amid omicron surge
LOS ANGELES — After many childhood years spent camping overnight along the Rose Parade route to score a front-row view, Leslie Lemus was stunned when she arrived in Pasadena just before sunrise Saturday and found two things practically unheard of in years past: nearby parking and plenty of sidewalk space.
“You get, like, VIP views!” Lemus, 29, of Downey, told her 8-year-old daughter as they plopped camping chairs along Colorado Boulevard in the Pasadena Playhouse District.
“I’m surprised there aren’t more people,” said Lemus, who wore a black surgical mask as she peered at sidewalks that typically would be jam-packed long before the parade began.
Blame the coronavirus.
The Rose Parade returned Saturday after the pandemic forced its first cancellation since World War II last year.
And while it was seen by many as a whimsical respite from two painful pandemic years, the return
