Carnegie Observatories, I

Here's a familiar face.

Everybody knows Albert Einstein spent a good deal of time in Pasadena in the 1930's, lecturing at Caltech, visiting JPL and Mount Wilson, and generally being a science ambassador around Los Angeles.

Here's a center of astronomy that Einstein visited but many Pasadenans don't know about: the Carnegie Observatories. I don't think there are any telescopes in the building but even if there are, in the middle of a residential neighborhood on a residential street, most of the science here is being done on computers and in brains. A huge part of their work, however, comes from Carnegie Observatories' telescopes at Las Campanas in Chile.

Lovely little library, isn't it?

That's George Ellery Hale in the painted portrait. Hale was the idea man behind so much of what are now historical observatories, including Mount Wilson Observatory. He was even instrumental in the design of Pasadena's beautiful City Hall Plaza, where one of the buildings is named for him.

In the photograph you see, among others, Edwin Hubble (the tall guy, second from left). Hubble is most known for discovering and proving the expansion of the universe. He also figured out that a lot of what had been thought to be nebulae were, in fact, galaxies. Imagine how all those galaxies boggled minds when they hadn't been considered before.

I think you can pick out Professor Einstein in the picture.

J and I were invited to visit the Observatories by Dr. Cindy Hunt, a Caltech PhD and head of Carnegie's Social Media efforts. In the next couple of posts, Dr. Hunt's going to lead us to some places the public never sees.

We'll visit deep space via the deep, dark basement of the Carnegie Observatories. Stay with us.

In the mean time, mark your calendar for Sunday, October 18th from 2-5pm for the Carnegie Observatories open house. Click on the link and give them an RSVP, s'il vous plait.

Mount Wilson: Science in Transition

The Mount Wilson Observatory was founded in 1904 by George Ellery Hale, who encouraged the likes of Edwin Hubble and who also had a great deal to do with the way Pasadena looks today. Think the city center plaza and City Hall. Think Caltech. Thank you, Mr. Hale.

More than 100 years later, important astronomical research continues at Mount Wilson, especially the CHARA Array, operated by Georgia State University. Don't ask me what it does. I've had it explained to me twice, once by John and once by Craig Woods, and I still don't get it. But it looks cool from above.

Craig Woods, by the way, is the reason John and I got a behind-the-scenes tour. He's our friend and the superintendent at Mount Wilson, the guy with all the keys. He's up on all the experiments, the history, and the equipment at Mount Wilson. Plus he's willing to climb some precarious ladders.

I hope you'll take another look at my May 10th post about Mount Wilson. Here's a further explanation of those photos:

First, that big engine, and its rheostat, power the tool-making shed. 110 years ago, when you got up to Mount Wilson with your mule cart or your Model-T, you weren't about to run down to Flintridge if you forgot your screwdriver. If you needed a tool or a part, you made it. Many of those magnificent old things are still there. Some explain themselves, some don't. Unless you're Craig, then you know what they are.

Near the tool shed is another shed that's a treasure trove of maps, blueprints and files. There's a small library with early Scientific American magazines and other works. There's an ancient and dusty stand-up grand piano and a pool table that hasn't been used in, I would guess, 20 years.

Off the upper left of this map is the 100 inch telescope. You can see the circles indicating the 60" telescope and the smaller but taller Solar Telescope, which is still in use. The 60" has lately been used for a couple of Hollywood parties. Stars, stargazing. This is an old map so it doesn't show all the buildings you might be familiar with if you've toured Mount Wilson in recent years. Off the pathways to the right, beyond the "no entry" signs, there are some cabins that are not currently in use. Fixer-uppers.

Mount Wilson Observatory is old. Newer, larger telescopes dot the planet. The larger the telescope, the deeper into space an astronomer can study. Although Mount Wilson still has many uses, it's now in a transition phase, becoming a museum. Funding will be needed to preserve all those beautiful blueprints and plans, to maintain those telescopes and historic buildings, to keep it all available so the public can visit and learn about the early days of astronomy.

It's also a place of natural beauty, everywhere you turn, even on the steps climbing up the hillside to the tool shed.

More soon.

Camelot Where You Are, #12

There are castles all over Pasadena's City Hall, but I never noticed them until I toured the place with former Public Information Officer Ann Erdman. This castle tops the lantern in the front entry breezeway. I posted a photo of it the day after the tour. Sort of.

Mister Earl took the bait. But I'm telling you, there's more where that came from.

Thank you, Mister Earl!

**************

Get ready to vote this weekend for your favorite entry in this week's installment of the Camelot Where you Are photo contest! We've been having a blast and we've got more photos coming next week.

Each weekly winner receives a free copy of Camelot & Vine upon publication, which I plan/hope/expect will be in October. Publication day, whatever day it turns out to be, will be the final day for entries. 

Send in your pic now! It's easy to enter and anyone can do it.  

Entry details are here.

Pretty Hall

Just because Ann Erdman is no longer Pasadena's public information officer doesn't mean she's no longer a fountain of Pasadena information.

Yesterday, Ann led a group of local bloggers on a tour of City Hall. We got an earful of history and an eyeful of one of our city's most beautiful buildings, if not the most beautiful of all. In this photo I'm looking straight up at the lantern in the main entry breezeway. And I do mean breezeway. Ann says it gets windy in there, yet though sometimes this lantern sways quite a bit, it's original to the 1927 structure and has never come down. Yet.

There's something else about the lantern. I'm not going to tell you what. But if you went down to City Hall and took a closer look, you might see it.

Be sure and vote for your favorite Camelot Where You Are photo from this week. (The poll is at the upper left of the blog.) The winner will receive a free copy of Camelot & Vine upon publication. We'll have Zen Monday tomorrow, and follow that with more contest entries!

Shadow Courtyard

I've been waiting for just the right occasion to post this photo. There hasn't been one, so I'm posting it because it's Friday.

I took the picture last December when I was at City Hall with photographer Ibarionex Perello and his Digital Boot Camp workshop. (He's got another one coming up this month; I highly recommend it.) I don't know why the courtyard was so filled with people but it looked like perhaps a couple of school field trips were visiting. They sure had a nice day for it.

Merriment

That's me in the foyer of Pasadena City Hall, reflected in an ornament on the city's official Christmas tree.

John and I have each other, our home, work we love and a host of friends and neighbors we're grateful for. Boz is healing. All is well.

Happy holidays to you from the entire staff at Pasadena Daily Photo (me)!

Look Up

The Christmas tree in the foyer of Pasadena City Hall is a big one. We're looking up up up toward the ceiling. City Hall has an open plan; anyone can visit the tree any time. If you do, be sure to visit the inner courtyard, too. It's a nice place to sit and enjoy the fountain while you eat a sandwich or read your book or give someone a present.

Itchy

I don't know why I like to travel in the fall, but I do. All year long I'm fine right where I am, then November comes around and bam! I've just gotta get out of town. And stay out! You'd think the cops were after me or something.

Put me on a plane and send me someplace. I'm ready for an adventure.

The Particulars

Who: would be so negligent as to lose their library card? Uh, that would be me.

What: This is the dome of Pasadena's City Hall reflected in a window of the Central Library.

When: During the month of September, you can renew a lost library card for free. Usually it's $10.

Where: 285 E. Walnut St, Pasadena.

Why: Because I like it. Not the library card. I mean yes, I like the library card (or I will when I get it). But the picture. I like the picture. And the library. City Hall, too.

Sweet History

Our fair city was incorporated in 1886. That means this year is Pasadena's 125th birthday. The big birthday bash is this Saturday, June 11th, at the Pasadena Museum of History.

Last year, for the 124th, we had a cake in the shape of City Hall made by the students at the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts. This year the students are in the process of topping themselves, creating an edible history of Pasadena in sugar and cake.

Saturday's free event at the museum goes from noon to 7pm and features "nonstop entertainment, activities, and refreshments." Certainly those refreshments will include some of that history-making cake.

PDP/PPM Books Contest, week 7

Pasadena's City Hall is the centerpiece on our table, the hood ornament on our car, our Sunday hat. We like to flaunt it, take pictures of it, drive out of our way to go by it when we have out-of-towners in the car. "That? Oh, that's City Hall." I like to say there are no bad angles there.

We like it so much, in fact, that we kicked everyone out of it for nearly three years (2004-2007) while we spent a whole lot of money on a seismic retrofit. We aim to keep the place come hell or high water (the "big one" being most locals' definition of hell).

Who were the original architects of Pasadena City Hall?

That's this week's contest question. Once again, I've linked you to the answer. You might have to read a bit to find it, but it's an interesting article. Don't let it be said that I don't promote your erudition here at PDP.

Here are the rules we play by:

1. Email the answer to the contest question to me. There's a link to my email in my profile at the upper left. You have until midnight tonight, Pasadena (Pacific) time. Answers in the comments section will be rudely ignored but probably not deleted unless they're incorrect.

2. That's all you have to do.

3. I'll put all the correct answers into a hat and tomorrow I'll find a willing neighbor/stranger/sucker to draw the winning name. I'll announce the winner in Sunday's post.

4. PRIZES!
What is this, Week 7? Gawd, how many books have I got here? Let's see...five plus one minus two, carry the twelve...Eight. I have (had) eight books I've given away six, so it's this week and next week and we're finished. Let's make it snappy!

The books I'm giving away today and next Friday in the PDP/PPM Books Contest are copies of At Home Pasadena, a beautiful, hardbound, coffee-table book for your drooling pleasure. Designed by James Barkley and written by Jill Allison Ganon and Sandy Gillis, with photos by Jennifer Cheung and Steven Nilsson, the book is loaded with eye candy with sections on gardening, working, collecting--and an out-of-this-world section on bathing--all "at home."

Play to win today and come back next Friday, because I'll have one last copy of At Home Pasadena to give away.

Big thanks to Colleen Dunn Bates and Prospect Park Media for providing us with all these fabulous books!

All Smiles

Some of our City Council members had a long night on Monday. Not only did they have a Council meeting that lasted until past midnight, but it was preceded by the swearing in of Pasadena's new Chief of Police, Phillip L. Sanchez.

I have a feeling they preferred the earlier event.

I won't go over the details of Chief Sanchez's career--feel free to click the link and read about him. I'll just tell you the atmosphere in the City Hall courtyard was festive Monday night. As I walked through on my way to the Council chamber, I watched Sanchez float from group to group, lifted by the high spirits around him. Everyone wanted to talk to him. Everyone wanted their picture taken with him. And everyone--everyone--was smiling.

On the second floor balcony I stopped to grab this shot of the Chief posing with a group of very young people--cadets? recruits?--too young to be officers yet, but well trained and excited to be in the man's presence.

A lot of hope greets Chief Sanchez. May he continue to sail on the buoyancy that surrounded him Monday night.

Update from Janet Pope Givens, Public Information Officer of the Pasadena Police Department:
"Today’s photo in the City Hall courtyard is with Pasadena Police Explorer Post 19. Indeed, too young to be officers, but very enthusiastic learners and workers. We have a total of 32 of these young people who attend an academy, and after graduating, volunteer and continue police tactical and operational training. They work hard and they play hard. Our lobby has a case of numerous trophies they’ve won over the years in interagency competitions. But in between the training and the working they, along with their police advisors, go on lots of group trips for enrichment, education and fun!"

Thanks to Ann Erdman, Pasadena PIO, for the Explorer link.

The Icing on the Cake

left to right: Berlin Mercado, Jeanne Nelson, Crystal Mazzarella, Tracy Latimer

Pasadena's having a birthday party (it's 124th) this Saturday, June 12th at the Pasadena Museum of History. Yesterday I had a chance to see the birthday cake in progress at the Pasadena west campus of Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts.

Under the guidance of Chef Instructor (and the cake's designer) Alicia Boada, fourteen student pastry chefs are making a three-foot tall, six-tiered replica of the top of City Hall, complete with tiny tiles on a sugar dome, a sugar cupola and gorgeous sugar flowers. More photos on Overdog.

In a separate kitchen, these pastry chefs-in-training were working on the layers. Some layers will make up the base of the cake and some will be eaten at the (free, open to the public) birthday party on Saturday.

I took a series of shots of the student pastry chefs at work and they gave me a taste of the cake and frosting. There are two kinds of each. I should have written them down because they have fancy names and I've forgotten them but they are de-damn-licious and you have to go to the party Saturday and eat some.

I hadn't planned to use this photo. I asked the chefs to pose for a reference for the other shots, and I wrote down their names in the order in which they stood. But just look at them. I had just had a piece of cake with frosting. They had just seen and heard my ecstatic reaction. They'd been working hard for nearly two weeks. Can you see the pride on their faces?

Update 6/13/10: You can see more photos and the finished cake at Pasadena PIO.

Still Want to Work There?

Okay so it wasn't a church. It was a mortuary.

I thought I'd show you a few more pictures from the building at Holly St. and Marengo Ave. that we talked about on Monday.

Behind these gates is the courtyard section of Eden Garden Bar & Grill, formerly Holly St. Bar & Grill. (I had to mess with the picture a little.) The restaurant has indoor seating as well.

Here's a doorway off another courtyard. Nice way to enter your office each morning.

Just steps away from City Hall!

State of the Blog

In PDP news:

Editor Colleen Dunn Bates of Hometown Pasadena has named Pasadena Daily Photo on her list of Top Ten Experiences in Pasadena for 2009. PDP proudly shares the #9 slot with Timothy Rutt's powerhouse Altadenablog.

The San Gabriel Valley blogging community is a thriving, generous, positive place where I've been encouraged and buoyed by my fellow bloggers from the very beginning. I'm grateful to Colleen for her recognition, and to all the bloggers I've met for being such cool people.

In PB news:

Each year Pasadena's mayor gives a State of the City address. This year's theme is "Charting a New Course." A video will be presented to go along with the theme of Mayor Bogaard's speech. I auditioned and was chosen to do the voice-over for the video! It was a fun experience and a real departure from my usual :30 second and one minute spots. Linda Centell, Pasadena's assistant Public Information Officer, edited the video.

If you're in town, you can attend this free event on January 28th at 6:30 p.m. at LaSalle High School, 3880 East Sierra Madre Blvd. For more information call (626) 744-4311 or email Inagahiro (at) cityofpasadena.net.

Oh, sort of frazzled. You?

Christmas is in less than a week. I'm not ready. That's why I'm posting a photo of the swings at Washington Park instead of the Christmas tree at City Hall or the decorations at Christmas Tree Lane or the Balian Mansion in Altadena.

I'm notorious for this, but at least I'll have gifts in the mail to my family before New Year's this time.

Are you ready?

Well, Almost Every Day

Sometimes I'll take a picture of something I like, and it's not until I post it that I go Googling to figure out what it is. I just like it, is all. Then it's late, and I'm tired, and I think "Oh, I'll just post this." And wait just a minute there, fella! I uncover something. Or I almost do.

There's a lot of public art in Pasadena--sculptures, mosaics, etc. At Plaza Las Fuentes just east of City Hall you'll find fountains, sculptures and brightly colored tile walls across a wide plaza connecting All Saints Church, the Hotel Maryland apartments, McCormick & Schmick's, California Pizza Kitchen and the Westin Hotel. So, you get it: big plaza. Lots of fountains, lots and lots of tiles, very colorful.

The City of Pasadena website provides fantastic walking tour maps of the public art. The one for this area shows three different possibilities for what we're seeing right here: items 4, 5 and 6 on the map. Item 4, "Dreamer with Fish" fountain by Michael Lucaro (can't find him online but I find a Michael Lucero. Typo, or I'm giving you the wrong link.) In the foreground we have a fountain, and it looks like a dreamy kind of fish. The background must be Item 5, "Pasadena, the City of Roses" tile wall by Joyce Kozloff. Yes indeed, a tile wall with roses on it. That's gotta be it.

Now take a look at item 6. "Tile Fireplace," mantle water fountain, by Ernest A. Batchelder. If you don't know Batchelder, well, he was a Pasadena townie who made such beautiful tiles for which we are so nostalgic that if your home has a Batchelder fireplace the price goes up. The City's website doesn't say when the piece was made, but Batchelder was born in 1875 and died in 1957, so--before that.

Well dang, I don't know what a Tile Fireplace mantle water fountain is, but I'm pretty sure I don't see that in my pitcher. I gotta go back and uncover that particular hidden treasure.

Last Night, Fountain, City Hall

I've said it so many times I sound like a broken record: you can't take an ugly picture at Pasadena City Hall. You can take a blurry picture there or an amateurish one, or one that's poorly framed. But no matter what you do it won't be ugly because City Hall has no bad angles.

What's a generation? Twenty years? Twenty-five? By either definition, Pasadena City Hall has served the citizens of Pasadena for more than three generations. I bet those early generations were as puffed-up and proud of City Hall as we are.

City Hall will be here for generations to come, still beautiful long after people have no idea what a broken record sounds like.

Bikes and the City

When I saw one of these bike racks at City Hall without a bike in it, I didn't know what it was. Then I turned a corner and saw this and my mental CFL went on. Somebody's commuting to work the environmentally correct way.

Pasadena's into bikes. There's a bicycling Master Plan, there was Bike Week in May, people are always biking around the Rose Bowl and there are countless bike trails in the San Gabriel Valley. Yet I hear a lot of talk about accidents and the dangers of biking. I'd love to get a bike and I admire bicyclists, but I'm chicken to ride in the street. What do you think?

Noblesse Oblige

Pasadena's City Hall has no bad angles, even if I can't always flatten myself far enough behind my camera to get them. I've enjoyed our tour this past week.

Now a little order of business, then onto whatever else I can find to take pictures of. Tomorrow is the first of the month, which is City Daily Photo Blog theme day. Here at PDP that means we'll have Zen Monday on Tuesday. There's a thought.

Lynn of Cheltenham Daily Photo has honored me with an award. Did you know there are two Cheltenham Daily Photos? Say hi to Marley.

Anyway, the award is called the Noblesse Oblige Award. It looks like this:
Dictionary.com defines noblesse oblige as "the moral obligation of those of high birth, powerful social position, etc., to act with honor, kindliness, generosity, etc."

It means those of the nobility are obligated to be kind to others, including and especially "the little people." It's why the royals are always going to charity functions.

Thank you, Lynn! I'm crazy about Lynn. She was one of the first people to welcome me to blogland when I began commenting on Paris Daily Photo. She's almost of the nobility, living so close to the Royals and all. But there are a couple of things I haven't told Lynn about me: one is that I'm not always a rule-follower, and the other is that I'm not of the nobility.

Here are the qualifications to win the Noblesse Oblige Award:

1) The Blogger manifests exemplary attitude, respecting the nuances that pervade amongst different cultures and beliefs.
2) The Blog contents inspire; strives to encourage and offers solutions.
3) There is a clear purpose at the Blog; one that fosters a better understanding on Social, Political, Economic, the Arts, Culture and Sciences and Beliefs.
4) The Blog is refreshing and creative.
5) The Blogger promotes friendship and positive thinking.

Hmm. I try to be respectful, encouraging, creative and positive. But I wouldn't recommend any blogger split focus as described in #3.

The Blogger who receives this award will need to perform the following steps:

1) Create a post with a mention and link to the person who presented the Noblesse Oblige Award.
2) The Award Conditions must be displayed at the post.
3) Write a short article about what the Blog has thus far achieved – preferably citing one or more older posts to support.
4) The Blogger must present the Noblesse Oblige Award in concurrence with the Award conditions.
5) Blogger must display the Award at any location at the Blog.

Jeez Louise, it's a tall order, innit?

#1, check. #2, check. #3... well I don't think I have any posts to support this. I don't wish to seem ungrateful. I'm very grateful to be acknowledged by my fellow blogger, Lynn. But see now, I'm not sure PDP qualifies for this award. My purpose here is for us to discover things about Pasadena and have a good time doing it. My intent is not to "foster a better understanding on Social, Political, Economic, the Arts, Culture and Sciences and Beliefs," though if that happens, okay. But I'm lucky if I foster understanding of my captions and map directions.

I'm hesitant to pass on blog awards because I've come across bloggers who don't want the obligation. So what I'd like to do here is acknowledge some blogs that, in my opinion, "foster a better understanding on Social, Political, Economic, the Arts, Culture and Sciences and Beliefs," or at least come close. Then if they want to post the award and pass it on, they may do so.

The winners, should they decide to accept the award, are these:

1. Jerusalem Hills Daily Photo: Dina has a big following and has probably already won this award several times. Dina is one open-minded, fair, generous, warm-hearted, funny, smart, terrrific--uh, have I given you a noun yet?--blogger.
2. Portland (OR) Daily Photo: Dina and her (our) friend Meead are exemplary of my theory that when we talk to each other, we prove our governments don't represent us as well as we represent ourselves. Meead is an exchange student from Mashaad, Iran. He left Mashhad (IRAN) Daily Photo in the capable hands of Sara, a student of architecture. Sara's taking a blogging break right now (presumably for exams), but keep checking. It's worth it just to see how much the same we all are.
3. Finnegan Begin Again: I don't know if Margaret's blog qualifies and I don't care. Everyone needs a fiesty goddess to watch their back. (Mine is Bast.) Everyone needs bacon. Wait. No one needs bacon. Bacon is for fun.
4. Izmir: Selim's is perhaps one of the most beautiful photo blogs you'll ever see. Another is Diederick's Arona Every Day. These photographer/bloggers foster international understanding through the art of of visual communication. Their styles are very different. Through their blogs, the Turk and the Italian have become friends.
5. Altadena Hiker: Karin's banana plant post alone meets all the requirements of the award.

Have fun exploring.