
Pasadena Daily Photo has had a lot of outside input lately. As long as people tell us interesting stories, you won't find me complaining.
This one's not so much a story as it is a question: What is, or was, Woodbury Creek?
On June 24th, I received an email from Stan Ellington of Pasadena, telling me about this "concrete stream bed that flows from under Mountain Street just east of El Molino Ave. (Gladys Ct. and Mountain St.). I think this is Woodbury Creek," he said, "that used to flow through
Washington Park but is now mostly underground. I can't find it on any map of Pasadena. Do you have any information on this stream?"
I didn't have any information, but that didn't stop Stan. He found
LA Creek Freak, a blog about LA's lost waterways, and asked them the same question. On June 29th they posted the outstanding entry,
Woodburied Creek. They even posted
maps. The one I've linked to shows a blue line through the area at the southeast corner of Washington and El Molino, where you'll find Washington Park. The line continues south between El Molino and Palm, meeting up with Mountain Avenue at Gladys Court where Stan had first noticed the creek.
In her post on LA Creek Freak, Jessica Hall said, "I suspect the City of Pasadena may also have stormdrains over the creek, as we all know it is encased in concrete today." Gee, ya think? From the same position where I took the above photo, I turned around 180 degrees and took this:

The framing's not perfect. I didn't realize at the time what I was taking a picture of. But sure enough, there you have a storm drain and a manhole cover.
Just yesterday Boz and I were walking along another street that crosses the creek path, and we passed a driveway with a manhole cover right in the middle of it. I'd never seen that before. I checked the map and it, too, is in the (concrete) path of Woodbury Creek.
Stan's question still feels unanswered. But I want to thank Stan for asking it and for turning all of us on to LA Creek Freak. They are a find. Maybe someday we'll find Woodbury Creek, too.