Friday, June 27, 2008

Crown City Mattress Works

Walking south of yesterday's post in Mills Place, you'll pass three restaurants, a bar and a couple of clothing and accessory boutiques. Then you'll come upon this building. A bit of web searching tells me it's about a hundred years old. The most recent tenant was a gallery that seems to have moved on to eBay sales. With the exception of a broken window, the building looks to be in pretty good shape.

My web searches don't tell me why Pasadena is called "the Crown City." I'll bet someone out there knows. Anybody?

A couple of extra shots: dead vines on the upper corner (it's a two-story building), and detail of the door.


18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Petrea, I can give you an answer 2 your Crown City origin question but I'd rather it come from a more official source. So, please ck out this webpage:
www.cityofpasadena.net/facts.asp

Ken Mac said...

enjoying your pics of old buildings and such. My kinda thing!

Pascal Jim said...

The Crown City..Early day promotions of Pasadena stated "Crown of the Valley"..San Gabriel that is...Glendale was called a "Jewel in the Crown", hence early day Glendale promotions had many Jewel City Stores., The Jewel City Cafe was a hi-end food joint(tablecloths and napkins, silver on the table).
In Pasadena Crown City Mattress, Glass, Hotel and others. North Lake at Washington, now the Arthur Murray Dance studio, on the roof is an example, a Crown. The late-lamented Raymond Theater, was once know as The Crown Theater and had a giant lightbulb sign pointing North from the Southeast corner of Colorado. The Crown Hotel, where Vromans now sits had the most beautiful representation of the Crown, sat on the 3rd story of the building.
Some folks now joke about the letter R in Crown being replaced by an L.

Pascal Jim said...
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Pascal Jim said...
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Pascal Jim said...
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Pascal Jim said...

Oops!!

Jilly said...

Love this old building. Such a beautiful washed out colour too. Love the extra shots as well.

Christie said...

Nice to know some of the history of Pasadena, other than the Rose Parade.

USelaine said...

Ah, I love the graphic elements, and very worthwhile extra shots. Looks like it could be a cool eatery, in a converted loft sort of way.

Petrea Burchard said...

Thank you, Mike. I was on the City website, but obviously not that part of it. Very helpful link.

Ken Mac--So Greenwich Village has its own Daily Photo! Very nice.

Pascal Jim, I've taken a couple of shots of that crown at Lake and Washington. Not good enough to post, though. Didn't know Vroman's was once a hotel! You're a fountain of information. As for stores, Crown City Hardware's one of my favorites.

Oh. I get it. I'm going to fix those duplicates, don't you worry. You can do it too. Just click on the little trash can, lower left.

Thank you, Jilly. Still in Ohio? I hope you're enjoying yourself.

Ha! Christie, I know what you mean. There was a survey recently--that's the only thing most people know about Pasadena. I've never been to a Rose Parade. Not a fan of crowds.

Thanks Elaine.

John Sandel said...

Jim, Jim, Jim, Jim, Jim …

Petrea Burchard said...

Look out, Bernie K, I can delete you, too. Mwahahahaha!

Katie said...

Your photos really capture the charm of this building. I love brick buildings; especially ones with ivy or vines on them (ok, so these vines look a little dry). How awesome would it be to have a home in a former mattress factory! I love the faded paint signage and the red door too.

Patrizzi Intergarlictica said...

Is this what is known as a "flop house"?

Petrea Burchard said...

Neither you nor I would know, would we, miss H?

Lindsey said...

Those dead vines made me shudder.

Petrea Burchard said...

Today I received this email from Mike:
"A quick trivia note on your photo of Crown City Mattreess.

I was watching an episode of the show Thirtysomething (season 1, episode 19... yes, i researched it) where two of the characters walk right by a Crown City Mattress storefront. I searched the internet looking for a reference to where the building might be... because I thought it should be in Philadelphia (where the series is supposed to take place). The scene actually looks a little like some streets in Philly, but I wasn't sure. I live in Philly, so I was very curious. Then I stumbled upon your picture, and it's exactly the same building, and in Pasadena no less.

This episode was from 1988, presumably filmed in 1988. The video shows two characters walking right in front of the storefront, which is filled with artists easels, giving the store the appearance of being an art supply store at that time.

Anyway, thought you might find that bit of historical trivia interesting."