Escorted by TV icon Bob Barker and the youthful cast of "High School Musical," Santa Claus is coming to town after all this year, Hollywood leaders said Friday.
A hastily organized Hollywood Santa Parade will replace the 79-year-old Hollywood Christmas Parade, which was canceled seven months ago for financial reasons by its former sponsor, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.
This year's parade will begin at 5 p.m. Nov. 25. It will follow the same route as in recent years -- east on Hollywood Boulevard between La Brea and Highland avenues and then west along Sunset Boulevard between Highland and La Brea.
Thirty-five bands, floats and equestrian units have been booked so far by a private producer hired by Los Angeles officials, who last month authorized the expenditure of $175,000 for the event.
In ending their involvement last March, Chamber of Commerce leaders blamed the high cost of producing the parade, which in 2006 cost $1 million. The Hollywood business group was left with a $100,000 deficit.
"This was something I couldn't in good conscience let die," said City Council President Eric Garcetti, who represents the Hollywood area surrounding the parade route. "This parade is one of the last free things families can do."
Garcetti said the aim in hastily organizing this year's scaled-down parade was to keep it alive long enough to regain some of its past momentum. That could take years, he said.
In the past, broadcast fees from televising the parade helped defray its cost. But broadcasters started losing interest when A-list actors began deserting the event and the shows' ratings began to wither.
This year's parade will be videotaped by cable TV staff from CityView Channel 35. The tape will be aired at noon, Dec. 16, by KTLA-TV Channel 5 and possibly later on WGN-TV in Chicago, Garcetti said. Both stations are owned by Tribune Co., as is The Times.
The city's decision to save the parade followed a months-long lobbying effort by a private group that sprang up days after the event's demise was announced. Organizer Greg Durfee, a production-company operator who lives in Hollywood, wore a Santa suit and led an impromptu protest parade down Hollywood Boulevard's Walk of Fame.
"When we took the rally to City Hall, both Eric Garcetti and Tom LaBonge stepped up to the plate," Durfee said Friday. LaBonge is the councilman whose district includes the east side of Hollywood.
