‘Wonderland’ drives home holiday spirit
BUS BARN — The Big Blue Bus is inviting riders to Giddy Up, Giddy Up, Let’s Go.
The local transportation company is putting the wraps on the holiday season this year with “Winter Wonderland,” the latest version of its much-anticipated winter-themed rides. “Winter Wonderland,” which will operate until Jan. 1, is “wrapped” in a special periwinkle blue vinyl. Its design of snowmen, snowflakes and the revised words to the popular holiday song “Sleigh Ride” (with “bus” inserted for “sleigh”) was created by the Big Blue Bus.
Decorating buses during the holidays has become a tradition at the bus company, which unveiled the popular “Candy Cane” bus several years ago. That edition, where the bus was painted red and white, with red leather seats inside, became explosively popular, said Dan Dawson, a Big Blue Bus spokesman.
“People went berserk over it,” he said. “The response was unbelievable.”
After a few years in operation, the Candy Cane bus was eventually retired because of its age. Last year’s holiday bus was created in response to the looming war in Iraq. Entitled “Love, Peace and Joy,” it was painted gold with adhesive white doves along the side.
“It didn’t get that great of a response,” Dawson admits, adding this year’s theme was designed to evoke the memories of childhood. “This year, we wanted to do something different.”
The Hollywood-based company “Imagic,” which specializes in bus wraps, slapped on the digitally printed sticky plastic in one day. Imagic representative Julian Swain, who added that most of the company’s business is in movie promotions on buses, said it took two weeks to process and print the image into four-foot wide strips.
Bus wrapping has become more popular over the years, particularly because it costs more to paint them, Swain said. The wrap job for the Big Blue Bus this year cost $6,400, but because of budget constraints, bus officials found an advertiser to underwrite part of the cost. Radio station KOST 103.5 paid for more than 50 percent of the cost in exchange for advertising along the side of the bus.
And while city officials are cautious of letting the operation become too commercial, they were willing to allow a small logo to be put on the side of the bus, Dawson said.
The “Winter Wonderland” bus will operate all routes within the Big Blue Bus’ 51-mile service area. Call customer service at (310) 541-5444 to find out when and where bus riders can find the “Winter Wonderland.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 5, 2003. Read the original PDF.