#NoKings
Pasadena takes to the streets en masse
In thousands of locations around the country, everyday people turned out to protest the authoritarian overreach of the Trump administration. United under the banner of “No Kings,” the protests provided a potent counter to the disgusting display in D.C. for Trump’s birthday.
I attended the event in my hometown of Pasadena, and here are some images from the day. Overall, it was a wonderful moment, full of energy, and concern, and humor — entirely peaceful from start to finish.
The event officially began at 2:00 p.m., but this image is from 1:53 looking east on Colorado Boulevard toward Lake Avenue, the designated rallying point. Already a sizeable crowd has gathered on both sides of the street.
A constant throughout the day was the horn honking in support of the protesters.
As this video shows, the crowd was joyful and we even had a band on a moving stage…
This was taken at the corner of Colorado and Lake, right at 2:00 p.m., the official start time.
While most of the cars passing by just honked in support, many also had signs of their own! Given the recent deployments of ICE agents in SoCal, many of the signs were directed at them.
(It was pretty hot — and humid. Maybe from all that ice melting?)
The crowd kept gathering and soon the sidewalks could not contain it. This image is from Green street, one block south of Colorado, around 2:30 and the street is full of people.
To put this in perspective, here’s an aerial view of the area:
Colorado is at the top — it is “the main drag” of Pasadena, and Lake is the main shopping/dining street. Per Google maps, that is roughly 65,000 square feet, meaning that when it was filled full of people — and it really was a mosh pit in that rectangle by 3:00, that is somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 people!
The crowd was diverse — lots of young people (yay!), even babies in strollers — as well as old people on walkers and wheel chairs.
Lots of flags, too. Mostly American flags, but also Mexican and Gay Pride throughout the crowd.
By 3:15 the police had blocked off Colorado two blocks to the west, and Green street as the crowd filled the area.
That video is from the southwest corner of Colorado and Lake and the people are really packed in.
As was the case during the “Hands Off” protest in April, people really got creative with their signs. One favorite was a sign using the trademark scripts of the LA Kings and the LA Dodgers saying, “he’s not a King, he’s a draft Dodger!” Or how about, “if Kamala had won, we’d be having brunch!” But this young woman won the day in my opinion:
Her sign reads, “Super callous, fragile racist, sexist, Nazi, POTUS!” Gotta love that!
All and all, a great day of the People coming out, speaking out, and standing strong. We really are all in this together…
Thanks to Connie for remembering to take a selfie!
In community, forward!