Float celebrates 100th anniversary of Chaplin’s iconic 1925 film, ‘The Gold Rush,’ to spotlight AHF’s work on affordable housing and homelessness crises
LOS ANGELES (December 24, 2024) – AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) continues its decade-long tradition of taking part in the Rose Parade® with a float celebrating Charlie Chaplin on the 100th anniversary of his classic 1925 film, “the Gold Rush.” AHF’s float both honors and celebrates Chaplin and his iconic “Little Tramp” character—arguably America’s most famous (albeit fictional) homeless person—and spotlights some of AHF’s innovative solutions to help address the affordable housing and homelessness crises in Los Angeles, throughout California, and across the nation.
AHF’s entry in the 136th Rose Parade® presented by Honda is titled “Home Sweet Home.” It is a lighthearted, animated float promoting AHF’s Healthy Housing Foundation.
Chaplin’s classic film lends well to AHF and its Healthy Housing Foundation messaging on affordable housing and homelessness. Set during the Alaska gold rush (but shot mainly on Hollywood sound stages), Chaplin gets the gold and the girl. After sending mixed signals, an initially reluctant Georgia (Georgia Hale) dances the night away with Chaplin, welcoming New Year 1925 by the end of the last reel.
The Chaplin family and the Charlie Chaplin rights-holding company Charlie Chaplin Bubbles Incorporated SA graciously authorized AHF’s use of its “The Gold Rush” imagery for no royalty fee.
AHF’s Healthy Housing Foundation is part of a larger community-based effort to address the exploding affordable housing and homelessness crises in Los Angeles and across the nation. Since 2017, AHF has purchased, refurbished, and repurposed 13 single-room occupancy (SRO) hotels and motels throughout Los Angeles and on Downtown’s Skid Row and created more than 1,400 housing units for formerly homeless and extremely-low-income individuals. Nationwide, AHF has created more than 1,900 housing units with an additional 1,100 already in the pipeline.
Many of Healthy Housing Foundation’s refurbished hotels in Downtown Los Angeles are as old as Chaplin’s 1925 film classic. Now, these majestic hotels have been reborn and repurposed, offering many a resident a first step toward living their own “Best Day Ever.”
As of the January 2024 point-in-time homeless count, there were more than 75,000 homeless individuals in the 88 cities that make up Los Angeles County. Nearly 186,000 individuals are homeless throughout California, accounting for fully one-quarter of the nation’s homeless population.
The concept of AHF’s “Home Sweet Home” float was initially designed by Jason Farmer, Vice President of Marketing for AHF, and finalized and executed by John Ramirez, designer of Artistic Entertainment Services, the company creating AHF’s float.
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Charlie Chaplin™ © Bubbles Incorporated SA 2025
