Nick Roman
July 09, 2008
Listen
Funeral services are planned Thursday for Bill Lofthouse, the builder of some of the most spectacular floats in the Tournament of Roses. Lofthouse was 68 years old when he died Saturday of pancreatic cancer. If you've watched the Rose Parade, KPCC's Nick Roman says you've probably marveled at Bill Lofthouse's work.
Lofthouse pushed float design into movement and sound, and his creations grew bigger and flashier each year. Remember a giant float in the last Rose Parade that changed from a robot into a spaceship that blasted fiery exhaust? Bill Lofthouse's Phoenix Decorating built it, and won the parade's Innovation Award.
That award's been given out for only the last four years. Guess who's won it every time? Phoenix Decorating also won this year's award for best use of roses. That shows Lofthouse had an eye for pretty things, too. He used to say that 50 years ago, he followed a pretty girl into the shed where float builder and designer Isabella Coleman assembled her masterpieces.
He ended up with the girl, Gretchen, who married him, and with a job when Coleman hired him. Bill Lofthouse eventually became the most successful float builder in the Tournament of Roses. For five years now, his son Chris has run Phoenix Decorating. So a fella named Lofthouse still builds more floats, and more spectacular floats, than anyone else.
