I found the perfect spot to watch the parade that began today’s 20th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration–me and a few hundred other folks who were there when I arrived, at the northeast corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and Nineteenth Street.

That’s where every parade entry had to make a hard right to turn onto Nineteenth, and so they slowed to a near-crawl. Plus, announcers Errol Parker and Angel Macias were in full voice–so if you couldn’t follow the huge banners on almost every vehicle, and their windshield numbers, they told you who you were looking at.

Also, I had the good luck to be standing right in front of a couple of boulevardiers who lent the scene their own commentary–which was usually priceless.

“Martin Luther King would have been so proud of the crowd that’s here today,” Macias said as the first parade entries rounded the corner–police motorcycles circling–and really, it was a gorgeous Southern California winter’s day. Nice and hot, the way you like winter in Southern California.

Said one of the raconteurs behind me: “Those police just love to ride in circles.”

Four or five entries into the parade came Mickey Mouse, making his first parade appearance sitting on the back of a lifted, metalflake ‘66 Impala convertible, next to one of Disneyland’s emissaries. That got them going.

“Dang, Mickey Mouse doin’ it!” one of the men exclaimed. “Mickey Mouse is gangsta,” the other man said. Classic cars–and lowriders–were the order of the day.

When Mayor Bob Foster made the parade scene, he was sitting on the back of a ‘47 Chevy convertible (I know the year because of the announcer) driven by Orange County Viejitos car club president Ray “Rainbow” Vasquez.

Vasquez stopped, so Foster could say a few words–and obligingly lowered the car to the pavement as Hizzoner took the mike.

Congresswoman Laura Richardson–and staffers including Daysha Austin–were entry No. 29 in the parade, right behind the Lousiana to Los Angeles entry, with splendidly-suited Mardi Gras dancers and awesome New Orleans jazz. And, true to form, Richardson was cutting a rug herself: doing a Second Line in a jazzy black-and-white pants suit.

The best, though was when the equestrian units turned the corner–wearing western shirts that would have made Hank Thompson and His Brazos Valley Boys proud. They rode high-stepping palomino stallions that the announcer immediately remarked on–and the guys behind me picked up on it too.

“Those stallions,” one of the men noted, “are as big as horses.” He was right about that.

Tags: 20th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration, Angel Macias, California, Congresswoman Laura Richardson, Daysha Austin, disneyland, Errol Parker, Hank Thompson and His Brazos Valley Boys, Long Beach, Louisiana to Los Angeles, Mardi Gras, Mayor Bob Foster, Mickey Mouse, palomino stallions, Ray "Rainbow" Vasquez, Second Line, Southern California, The District Weekly, Theo Douglas, Viejitos