Litfest Pasadena 2015

Come on down and join us in the Playhouse District on May 9th. We're going to have ourselves a Litfest!

Litfest is Pasadena's annual celebration of literature. Starting in the late morning and continuing into the night, there will be panels about everything from poetry to mystery, memoir to YA. I'll be on the "Adventures in Self-Publishing" panel at 4pm at Vroman's upstairs. PLEASE NOTE, THIS IS A TIME CHANGE.

Or spend the whole day in the District. Check out the area restaurants and shops. Listen to all the panels you can get to. Meet the authors and buy their books at Vroman's. As for my books, Vroman's already has Act As If in stock, and for the weekend of Litfest they'll have Camelot & Vine as well.

Just so's you know: if you can't come to Litfest there's always Amazon, but let's buy local when we can. You can buy both of my books at Hoopla! in Altadena and the Flintridge Bookstore in La Canada, and you can get Act As If at the Pasadena Museum of History Store. 

Hot Jazz

I'm one of those people who almost always needs a sweater in the evening, so I treasure these summer nights when I can be sleeveless outside. It's hot during the day, but to me it's worth it to have evenings when I don't shiver.

Here's a good way to spend a couple of hours on warm a Sunday evening: the Playhouse District's 6th Annual Free Jazz Summer Concert Series, Sunday nights, 5-7 pm in the courtyard at Vroman's.

I took this photo last Sunday, July 12th. Nick Mancini's Quartet was scheduled, but this was definitely a trio. So if you're particular about which group you're going to see I recommend you give a call first (there's a number listed at the link). Otherwise, just go. The music's going to be good, and you'll get to sit outside without a sweater.

Belvedere of the West

I'll get to pictures of the Pasadena Professional Building itself, but first I'd like to show you a few more shots I took from the roof. And I ought to tell you how I got up there.

The building in today's picture is Bank of the West, at the corner of Madison Ave. and Colorado Blvd. I've long admired the belvedere atop this building, which the PlayhouseDistrict tour says is on the National Register of Historic Places. See the bottom of page 2 of this .pdf for info, then print out the .pdf and keep it! No, no, no, don't thank me, thank Pasadena Heritage. The tour doesn't say what the building was originally called or who the architect was, but it does say it's a 1927-28 Italian Renaissance Revival, and there's lots of other great info in there.

I intend to get up to that belvedere some day, but in the meantime I was photographing it from the roof of the Professional Building. It started when the dashing Dr. Ferrante was examining my petite peds. (Well, okay, my pedestrian peds.) I mentioned I like the Professional Building and its 1920's style, but I'd been unable to learn much about it on the web. He said, "Go see Amelia. She knows everything."

Amelia turns out to be the building manager. I don't suppose she knows everything, but she knows everything about the Professional Building, and she's happy to tell it. While she sent for her archive file she recruited security man Ernie to guide me to the roof for a Pasadena photographer's dream. Ernie was patient, and I snapped away.

Do you recognize what's in the lower right corner of the shot? More on that, and Amelia's stories, tomorrow.

Zona Rosa Caffe (#8 in a Quest)

Zona Rosa is a charmer of a coffee shop on El Molino just south of Colorado Blvd. The sidewalk tables with an eclectic selection of patrons attract you to stop. From there you might think it looks European, but step inside and you'll know: Zona Rosa has a Mexican flair.

I've enjoyed Zona Rosa before and even posted about it. The other day for the first time I took my laptop there to work. On the ground floor there's a small bar and just the one table in this photo. But head up a little flight of stairs and you'll find couches, more tables and always some interesting artwork on the walls (right now some pieces are more interesting than others). The upstairs room is intimate but bright, with two large windows overlooking El Molino Blvd.

I'd love to find a coffee shop with a library hush, but such a shop would likely be patronless besides me. No, no, a shop with an unhurried atmosphere is the best one can expect, and that's Zona Rosa. It even says so on their website. The Latin music is pleasant background. The patrons all seem to get it: we're not loud here, we're respectful. We're here to chill.

I set up my laptop at one of the window tables, which turned out to be too high for typing comfortably for very long. Upstairs at Zona Rosa the other choices are coffee tables, which have the opposite problem. The outside tables are the right height but it was too cold to sit outside that day.

I'm starting to sound like Goldilocks.

Don't expect to order a meal; it's strictly coffees, teas and baked thingies, with a decent variety. My cookie and juice were fine fuel, and I can recommend the coffee from past experience.

There are great coffee places for flirting, meeting a friend or even having a cup of coffee. Zona Rosa is all three. My quest is to discover the perfect coffee shop in which to write. If you click on my previous Zona Rosa post you'll see others obviously find it a good place to work. I'll stop back and try a sidewalk table there on a warmer day.

Update: In today's comments Cafe Observer reminds us there's no wifi at Zona Rosa. Altadenahiker reminds us that can be a good thing.

Zona Rosa Caffe

The website of Zona Rosa Caffe boasts "a relaxing, unhurried and intimate experience." They mean it.

Have you ever sat at a coffee shop with your book or laptop, and soon felt like the staff (ahem) needed the table? At Zona Rosa you're welcome to linger over your coffee (imported from Mexico or Latin America, most likely). If you sit upstairs you can listen to music and examine the artwork. Outside, enjoy your conversation or the breeze.

The other day we drank iced lattes and watched a limousine wait outside the Pasadena Playhouse next door. If we'd lingered a while longer we might have seen someone get in it. It didn't matter. The weather was lovely and the lattes were perfect.