Hollywood Christmas Parade: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

The Hollywood Christmas Parade (formerly the Hollywood Santa Parade or Santa Claus Lane Parade) is an annual parade that takes place on the Sunday after Thanksgiving in the Hollywood community in Los Angeles, California, United States. The parade follows a 3.5-mile route along Sunset Boulevard and features various celebrities among its participants. Beginning in 1928, Hollywood merchants transformed a one-mile stretch of Hollywood Boulevard into "Santa Claus Lane" to boost shopping. Part of the promotion was a daily parade featuring Santa Claus and a film star. Originally called the Santa Claus Lane Parade, the inaugural event featured only Santa Claus and the actress Jeanette Loff.

The parade continued to grow in scale with the help of local businesses and the community. In 1931 Santa Claus rode a truck-pulled float instead of the reindeer-pulled carriage of previous years. American LegionPost 43 marched with a color guard, drum line and bugle corps. The Parade was suspended from 1942 to 1944 due to World War II, but reopened in 1945 with record attendance. In 1946 Gene Autry rode his horse in the parade and was inspired by the children yelling "Here comes Santa Claus, Here comes Santa Claus," to write the song "Here Comes Santa Claus" along with Oakley Haldeman. Autry would become a perennial Grand Marshal of the parade.

The parade continued to grow throughout the 1950s, '60s, and '70s, adding floats, animals, bands and celebrities. By 1978, the parade had been renamed the Hollywood Christmas Parade in order to attract more celebrities, and was broadcast locally on KTLA-TV with the help of Autry and Johnny Grant. This change also coincided with a shift in the parade's scheduling from Thanksgiving Eve to the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

Series details

• Title: Hollywood Christmas Parade
• Format: Reality
• Language: English
• Premiere date: 2002-12-08
• Status in TVmaze: Running
• Network listed by TVmaze: The CW
• Network country: United States
• Typical episode runtime: 120 minutes
• TVMaze ID: 8934

Cast and credited roles

• Dean Cain — Host
• Erik Estrada — Host
• Elizabeth Stanton — Host
• Montel Williams — Host
• Laura McKenzie — Host

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 2002: premiered 2002-12-08; final listed air date 2002-12-08; episode order: 1.
• Season 2015: premiered 2015-12-11; final listed air date 2015-12-11; episode order: 1.
• Season 2016: premiered 2016-12-16; final listed air date 2016-12-16; episode order: 1.
• Season 2017: premiered 2017-12-15; final listed air date 2017-12-15; episode order: 1.
• Season 2019: premiered 2019-12-13; final listed air date 2019-12-13; episode order: 1.
• Season 2021: premiered 2021-12-17; final listed air date 2021-12-17; episode order: 1.
• Season 2022: premiered 2022-12-16; final listed air date 2022-12-16; episode order: 1.
• Season 2023: premiered 2023-12-15; final listed air date 2023-12-15; episode order: 1.
• Season 2024: premiered 2024-12-14; final listed air date 2024-12-14.
• Season 2025: premiered 2025-12-12; final listed air date 2025-12-12; episode order: 1.

Source and licence

Adapted from Hollywood Christmas Parade on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.