Inner Light

The Pasadena Presbyterian Church is at the corner of Colorado Blvd. and Madison Avenue, a prime Tournament of Roses Parade viewing spot. For the parade, the church had bleachers in its front yard. All along Colorado Blvd. every year, every space that can fit more than two super-deluxe adult derrieres gets bleachers.

I took the photo December 30th, two days before the parade. I like it, hate to waste it, so here it is. The cyclone fence is there to protect the church grounds from revelers. The revelers are not bad people, they don't come here to destroy, but there are just so many of them. So businesses along the parade route put up cyclone fencing or plywood to protect windows and landscaping from super-deluxe revelry.

We're facing south in this photo. The Pasadena sun is always in the southern part of the sky, and it hangs especially low in winter.

Here's another view of the church, taken from the roof of the Pasadena Professional Building at the north end of the same block. This part of the church is at the lower left of that photo.

Pasadena's quiet now. John and I went out last night and--without having to wait for it--got a table at a restaurant less than a block from Colorado Blvd. That's impossible between Christmas and New Year's Day, but a normal Pasadena Monday.

The post title: I like it, hate to waste it, so here it is. It may be relevant to the photo, but it has nothing to do with the prose.

Presbyterian from on High

I snapped this shot of Pasadena Presbyterian Church on Colorado Blvd. from atop the Pasadena Professional Building at the corner of Madison and Union. If you click on this picture to enlarge it, you can get a better view of the cloisters to the right. You can also see the bells mounted in the slim, modern bell tower. These bells survived the 1971 Sylmar earthquake, but the original bell tower didn't. (Thanks to Elizabeth for sharing this info in yesterday's comments.)

Pasadena Heritage says the church began in 1875 in a private home; this site was purchased in 1908. But this view wasn't available until 1925 when the Pasadena Professional Building came into being.

I took several more shots, but I knew security man Ernie had other things to do, and though he was too kind to rush me I thought it best to head back downstairs to see Amelia.

Amelia's the building manager, and a fountain of facts about the Pasadena Professional Building. In order to build the eight story structure, a group of 57 doctors, surgeons and dentists formed a corporation. For a cost of nearly a half million dollars, Los Angeles architects Dodd & Richards and LA's Schofield Construction Company built to the corporation's specifications. Each office suite is different due to the arrangements made for the original occupants. Where are you gonna find that today?

Just walk into the lobby and you'll know you're in a special place.

We'll take a three-day weekend to bring home the bacon and do some other blog business, and I'll finish the tale of the Pasadena Professional Building on Tuesday.