The Rose Bowl

Theres a stadium in America that the two top collegiate football teams meet at every year. There’s a stadium in the United States of America that has hosted five super bowls. There’s a stadium in the United States of America that seats 91,136 UCLA Bruin fans every other Saturday for football games. This particular stadium is the Rose Bowl. Although many of the events held at the Rose Bowl are football related, this magnificent bowl holds more meaning than a game of pigskin. The Rose Bowl has hosted high school athletics, events for the 1984 summer Olympics, and a series of FIFA World Cups. Those are only a few listed athletic events. There have also been television shows, concerts, auditions for bands, musical performances and competitions, and an assortment of other events people can enjoy in their spare time. The Rose Bowl isn’t only a place for UCLA Bruin football; it is a place for memory and culture.

When people think of roses, people think of beauty. That is what the city of Pasadena, California is — beautiful. As a citizen of Pasadena, you can enjoy a quality of life that is second to none — natural scenic beauty, a vibrant cultural and academic environment, and lively nightlife in an architecturally rich setting (Visitor’s Corner). The soothing Southern California weather creates the ideal image for Pasadena.

The orange, yellow, and pink glow covers the sky in the

evening when the sun sets over the horizon. The clouds hover above the city in what appears to be a jigsaw puzzle type of shape. The blinding yellow star arises above the San Gabriel Valley Mountains to start the perfect day,

every day. Above all the magnificence that Pasadena provides, the glory is held within the Rose Bowl. The Rose Bowl is Pasadena’s main attraction. The culture, beauty, and lifestyle of the Rose Bowl strongly reflect upon the city.

Since Pasadena is an attractive place in itself, the Rose Bowl can be simply defined as a beauty within beauty. Visitors often have some traveling to do before they reach the Rose Bowl, but it is enjoyable since Southern California is considered to have “perfect weather” (Rose Bowl Stadium). With the sun set high above all of the visitors, the golf trail to the Rose Bowl is dry and easy to walk through. The Rose Bowl is located next to grassy Brookside Golf Club. The park is usually a magnificent leprechaun green sight, but due to most of the events held at the Rose Bowl, it can often become messy. The golf course is where tailgate parties are held for games, a parking lot for vehicles, and a long trail to reach the Rose Bowl. After you get through the golf course, the Rose Bowl approaches you. The bowl is that big! The closer you get to the stadium, the smaller you feel.

I remember the way I felt when I first visited the Rose Bowl. The closer I got to my destination, the more I felt like the bowl was actually getting closer to me. Depending on which side of the Bowl one may enter, the historical Rose Bowl stadium sign is what you will see first. That is what catches the attention of many people who attend the Rose Bowl. The large green, cursive, italicized art of the title, “Rose Bowl”, is a memory that one will cherish before they even enter the stadium. The elegant red rose in the middle of the two words signifies The Tournament of Roses Parade that is hosted every year in Pasadena.

The Tournament of Roses Parade, also known as the Rose Parade, is one of the many events hosted around the Rose Bowl. It is the premiere event held in Pasadena every year. It is a cultural event of floats, bands, honor to service and authority, families, and most importantly the annual Rose Bowl football game.

Some parade goers may attend the parade to create a memory for themselves and their family. Other fans may come to the parade just to be a part of the excitement surrounding the football game that weekend. The parade only lasts a few hours, but the memories

you can make are endless. This city has an obvious attraction if people from all over the United States travel here every year just to see a parade and football game. The Rose Parade is held on New Year’s Day. “From my experience, Pasadena’s Rose Parade is better known as “America’s New Year Celebration” because the streets are swarmed with people from everywhere (Rose Bowl Memories). Some people come just for the parade, and have no intentions to attend the Rose Bowl. That is how spectacular Pasadena is; people choose to start their New Year off there.

After attending one of the many events that isn’t only UCLA Bruin football, one can clearly see that the Rose Bowl is not just a place to watch college football. Although football is the highlight of the Rose Bowl, there are plenty of other events that can occupy a visitor. In 2007, the Rose Bowl hosted the Drum Corps International World Championships. It also hosted auditions for America’s television show, American Idol, and was used for an episode of the CBS reality television show, The Amazing Race. U2, Pink Floyd, and Guns N’ Roses have held concerts at the Rose Bowl and high school bands have competed there for regional titles.

Another annual event held at the Rose Bowl is the 4^th of July firework show. I attended this show every year until I was 13 and I can easily admit that the show is a memory I will never forget. The finale is amazing because it is unexpected. The abstract fireworks start shooting in the sky at a moderate pace, and just when you feel like they shouldn’t have any more to shoot, they speed up the process, the colors, and the variety of their show. The conductors know what the people want and they do a great job in leaving their audience in awe. People who desire a magical 4^th of July will come to the Rose Bowl to witness the bright, colorful, smoke-filled sky.

Above all the amenities that the Rose Bowl provides, one detail is the most vivid to me – the inside of the stadium. It is important to know that the stadium is so remarkable that a visitor may lose focus in watching an event and find themselves examining the history of the stadium. The stadium is built closer to the field so fans can be closer to the action of any event. Whether it is a football game or a dance competition, all fans are closer to the field in order to embrace a more interactive experience. The seats of the stadium do not incline too high so visitors can never be too far from what is going on. Everyone inside the stadium is comfortably close to one another and it makes people feel as though everyone enjoying the event is family. As you look to your left and your right, the smiles and frowns on people’s faces remind you to enjoy the event for yourself and to develop your own memories. The only time it doesn’t feel that way is when the University of Southern California fans step inside UCLA Bruin territory on game day. The Bowl, then, becomes segregated due to rivalry. Nonetheless, visitors who are not avid UCLA Bruin followers still manage to cheer the Bruins on during the game. That is the culture that the Rose Bowl provides; it puts you in a state of mind to enjoy yourself because it has such a vibrant environment.

In conclusion, the Rose Bowl is a place that brings people to a magnificent city. As stated, it has been used and accommodated for various types of events for visitors to enjoy. It is also correlated to the annual Rose Parade that people attend to celebrate their New Year. Most football venues in the United States of America are called stadiums. The Rose Bowl is called a bowl because it is not only utilized to stage football games, but it is used for an assortment of activities and events for people of all ages across the world to attend. In sunny side Southern California, in the enchanting city of Pasadena, The Rose bowl is more than a place for UCLA football; it is a place to build cherished memories for all.

References:

Herbstreit, Kirk. Rose Bowl Memories. Rose Bowl; America’s Stadium, 2010. Web. 3 Oct. 2011.

Rose Bowl Stadium. Tripadvisor, 2010. Web. 3 Oct. 2011.

Visitor’s Corner. The City of Pasadena, 2011. Web. 3 Oct. 2011.