[instrumental music]
- People from China, from the southern part of China,
they came to America during the mid 1800s.
Of course, people know that
the Chinese helped to build the railroad
from this coast to the middle of the country.
San Francisco Chinese New Year parade
started as a way for people
to keep connected with their culture back in China.
When they came over here,
there was no Chinese culture yet.
So one of the things that they did
was to start this parade,
which has grown and grown and grown.
And now it's not just lion dancing
and dragon dancing anymore.
[gentle music]
[saw buzzing]
- David Thomas: You know, the way I got started
in this business was I was a martial arts instructor.
That came out really good...
I wanted to be in Chinese New Year's parade.
They wouldn't let me in because I wasn't Chinese
or from Chinatown.
So we used to sneak in through the parade.
So we wouldn't be recognized, we took a gold mask
and we would wear these gold Chinese masks,
do our kung fu in the street, and at the end of the parade,
we'd pulled the mask off and yell
"It's the white guys," and run away.
And we got away with that for about three or four years.
And then the parade committee started coming down
and saying, "We wanna talk to you."
I thought to kick me out.
And when they started talking, they said,
"Well, we're looking for really good talent we can nurture."
And after a while, it suddenly dawned on me,
"Are you guys offering me a job?"
And they said, "Yes.
"We want you to keep doing what you're doing.
"We're gonna pay you
and you don't need the mask anymore."
Learning the culture of the Chinese New Year,
especially symbolism, that is a full-time job.
And that's what I did.
In our early days, they gave us one float.
Then the next year, they gave us three.
And the year after that, they gave us five.
And after that, we've been building every one since.
But as the company grew and expanded,
I maybe could do two or three floats by myself,
I could not do 25.
This time next Friday,
we should all be going home
with a major parade the next day.
Over 1 million people are gonna come
and gridlock this city, and you're responsible for it.
I do remember, Stephanie didn't like me.
I was too demanding.
I guess the moon gets mounted and we get that up.
But she has tremendous capabilities.
- My first day on the job, he said, "What do you do?"
I said, "I'm a painter."
He said, "Okay," and he put a screw gun in my hand
and told me to go screw something
to something else. [laughs]
And I went over and I was struggling with it
'cause it was not my area of experience.
And he yelled at me [laughs]
and made me feel really stupid.
And then he said, "Well, what are you doing?"
I said, "I'm a painter."
And then he said, "Fine, go paint that thing."
And I got to keep my job
because it turns out I actually could paint.
So this is going to be a multi-layered version
of this guy.
It's for the Lions Club International float.
I graduated from art school and I was determined
that however I was gonna make my money,
it was going to be through creative work.
And I remember thinking,
"Oh, I'm not gonna do this for very long.
This is just a stop on the road."
But I ended up really getting into it
and really enjoying it.
And then I learned how to use the power tools
and learned how to do everything else.
And now I run the whole thing.
- Okay, Stephanie, this is the overlayment
of the parade as I see it today.
I know you have to interpret this one.
This is going to be our best customer.
And I call it "An Explosion of New Year's."
It's a very complicated float.
So it just overwhelms you.
It's like walking down Chinatown on its most crowded day.
Does that work for it? - That sounds good.
- Okay, and then I saw this one.
When I think about a float,
many times, I'll walk through Chinatown
or toy stores and I'll look at little tiny things
in a great big way.
And you know, I'll look at a robot and go,
"Okay, gosh, what if that robot were nine feet tall?
"What if the head was just nine feet tall?
"And it talked to you, or blew soap bubbles at you
or something?"
- You know, we try to tie in
elements of traditional Chinese culture that also
somehow relates to each sponsor.
For supermarket, we use the kitchen god.
For a bank, we'll do the money trees.
- So you got to take that chicken scratch that I do
and make it real art like you do now.
I'm sorry about it; that's the way I draw.
You know it.
At least it wasn't on a napkin this time.
- Yes, thank you.
- We're gonna get a bunch of the statutes
that are back there.
So what we need to do is start unloading all of it
so we can get to the ones that we need.
Okay, stop, push.
- David: Floats are just moving stages.
You know, what can we do here to really get the emotions
that I want on the street?
You know, the ooohs and the aaahs.
- Okay; here we go.
- David: And make it an entertaining
and illustrious thing.
[dramatic music]
Two, we're gonna move this big ram's head
and try to get it up on the float.
Oh, we've got it, just go.
[group yelling]
- Man: Hold it, hold it.
- The parade is always celebrating
whatever the upcoming year is for the zodiac animals.
Of course, this year is Year of the Ram.
You're going to see all different styles of ram.
There's always a lot of pop culture references
that we pull from modern China,
references to Chinese paper cuts.
One of our most important people here is Yumei.
She came from China
and she was a well-known paper cut artist in China.
- David: Friend of mine introduced me to Yumei and said,
"Can you give her a shot?"
Well, she didn't speak a word of English.
But we learned we had a common language, and that was art.
- [speaking Mandarin]
David Thomas, [speaking Mandarin]
- David: We're gonna carve these sheep.
Now here's front, side, rear. - Yes.
- I need it done in two days. - No problem.
- Are you sure? - Yeah, I can make.
- Okay, all right.
So we're gonna turn you loose on it, all right?
- Okay. - Good.
Make 'em beautiful. - Don't worry.
[hammering]
- Stephanie: I've never seen anybody work like her.
She'll take a block of foam
and by the end of the day, have created a masterpiece,
and it really is just amazing to watch.
I know a lot of sculptors,
and she's definitely something else.
[foam scraping]
- [speaking Mandarin]
[speaking Mandarin]
[upbeat music]
- I taught her how to carve styrofoam,
but I never told her the biggest secret:
that she is 15 times better
than I will ever be on my best day.
Don't tell her.
How are we doing on this? - Hi, boss, hi, Stephanie!
- Hello, Yumei.
- Okay, I see the ears.
I like those.
And you did a good, tight glue job.
I'm glad to see that.
And you've got to get down here and look up at it
and see what we think.
- How does it look?
- It's a little choppy here.
And then what about, so nobody's gonna know
if it's a boy or a girl, that's good.
- That's good. - That's a girl?
- No, we don't care, okay? [all laugh]
Great job.
We are juggling so many things.
So in order to make our schedules,
every second is accounted for, you know,
there is no waste in the shop.
- Well, my family's gotten very used to
not hearing from me much,
the closer and closer the parade gets.
As we're wrapping up all the artwork
and we've kind of finished the painting process
and we're getting everything installed
and everything's getting put together,
then it becomes a frantic party
where everyone's just wiring and lighting and you know,
just making sure that everything's ready to go.
[upbeat traditional music]
- David: The day of the parade,
we start moving our floats early in the morning.
- Stephanie: So we ended up lining up
all of the parade floats along the pier,
just one after another.
Okay, slow down.
- David: Each float weighs 2,000 pounds.
This is a proper float.
- Okay, guys, I have to make three-point turn,
please come here.
- David: Slow.
Cut, full cut.
Go all the way you can go.
Okay, easy.
God, that was a squeaker.
This float, I just want it to go,
"Wow, it's Chinese New Year's."
To me, it's an explosion.
They're so much fun.
All the happy greeting cards to the animals, to the year.
You know, Yumei, I want to give you a little surprise here.
I got into some of the old storage
and look at the little boy I found,
do you remember this one? - Yeah.
- We made this in my garage.
[laughs] - Yeah, your garage.
- We got, you know, a statue from about 10 years ago,
and then one of your latest statues.
This is just a wonderful bookend.
I love that float.
[upbeat music]
- So everybody needs to be with your float at around 4:45.
You're making sure everything's okay with it.
You're the person that they're gonna come to
if your lights suddenly didn't turn on,
even though they turned on an hour ago.
This is actual work.
If something happens on that float,
you need to be able to fix it.
- You stay invisible.
When we get in the telecast zone,
I don't want to see any of our float builders
going on "Hi, Mom," like that.
[teammates laughing] Love you all.
This is showtime.
You practice the game.
Now we're gonna play it.
The parade starts at 6 o'clock.
And as the day progresses,
bands are practicing, you know, 100-piece band.
The little kids are singing their songs.
The dragon dancers, they're ready.
[traditional music]
You can smell the adrenaline in the air.
And then the first float moves and it's electric.
- Hi, baby, have a good time!
[upbeat traditional music]
[crowd cheering]
[firecrackers bursting]
- Stephanie: Chinese New Year is one of the only night parades
left in the United States.
Once it's really rolling and all the lights are on
and the firecrackers are going
and there's thousands and thousands of people
lining the streets of San Francisco.
And yeah, there's dragon dancers and the lion dancers.
There's just music and sound
and the floats and the flashing lights.
And it's really, it's spectacular.
- I never thought I would be building
thousands of floats, ever.
Never saw that coming, but that's what happened.
And it's been a wonderful trip.
[firecrackers bursting]
[crowd cheering]
Now I would like to leave a career for somebody
that really wants it.
Stephanie has it.
- Dave's been very gracious in letting me make it my own.
He's giving the parade company to me.
He said, "Well, do you want it?" [laughs]
I said, "Yeah, absolutely."
- Hey! - I definitely feel like
I was in the right time at the right place
or right place at the right time.
[firecrackers bursting]
- Man: Happy New Year.
Gong hei fat choy.
[upbeat music]