Easter Bonnet

So I was up in Altadena the other day. I stopped off at Steve's Pets to pick up a chew-bone for Boz. There was some construction going on and no place to park in front, so I drove around back down Marcheta Street to that parking lot behind the store and...

Was that a dress shop? Behind the pet store? I bought the dog his bone and grabbed my camera.

Well! At the back end of a parking lot you might expect—what, resale? Oh, no no no. Clear your mind and allow it to fill with all things fancy.

If you like to dress up—and I do mean UP—Winsome's Pretty Woman is your shop. In this hiding place, Charmaine Boyd stocks sequined suits, studded denim, sparkling purses, and hats, hats, hats. Mens clothing, too. And did I mention hats? Pretty enough to wear to the Royal Ascot races.

I hadn't even known the shop was there. When I said that, Charmaine said it with me. But she likes the quiet atmosphere of her location. She doesn't care to rush her customers. They come to browse through the catalogues over a cup of coffee, consider their purchases and place special orders for Donna Vinci and Lisa Rene dresses (at the best prices anywhere, says Charmaine, and I believe her). She can get them from petites to size 36, get you alterations if you need them, and find you a fabulous purse to go with it.

And did I mention hats?

First Amendment Rites

Yesterday, twice as many people as expected showed up at the corner of Orange Grove and Hill to protest five years of war in Iraq.

Grandparents came with adult children and grandchildren. Ronda (above) brought her sons. Everyone came to have their say, in hopes that we never have to attend another anti-war demonstration.

The atmosphere was more hopeful than angry. One reason might have been the overwhelming support from passing motorists; the cacophony of honking was at times almost too much.

I said "almost." This is a post I wish you could hear.

To see more photos from the event, click here. To check out Democracy for America's Pasadena Chapter ('cause they organized this shindig), click here.

Anniversary

On October 31, 2004, mere days before the presidential election, the Reverend Dr. George F. Regas, Rector Emeritus, gave a sermon at All Saints Episcopal Church entitled "If Jesus Debated Senator Kerry and President Bush." In it the Reverend declared such incendiary truths as, "Mr. President, your doctrine of pre-emptive war is a failed doctrine" and "...Jesus has been hijacked and turned into the guardian of privilege instead of a champion of the dispossessed." (These comments are necessarily taken out of context, so I encourage you to read the sermon. It's six pages, large type.)

Soon after the election, All Saints found itself in the international news when its tax-exempt status was threatened by the IRS on a charge of "campaign intervention." (Guess they couldn't charge 'em with "free speech.") It's a long story. To make it short: the IRS picked on the wrong church. As of this writing, the investigation's been dropped.

This garden near the cloisters at All Saints looks so serene, you'd never guess at the activism inside.

Today marks five years of war in Iraq. If you're looking for activism in Pasadena today, try the 5:30 vigil at Orange Grove Blvd. & N. Hill Ave. (wear white, bring a candle and a friend). Or if you're a desktop activist, how about checking out a blog from an unfamiliar place? Make a friend in Lahore. Or Iraq. or Iran. Something tells me this internet thingy has healing potential.

Filing Cabinet

I heard a story on the radio the other day about a town in the Inland Empire where the homeless live in an area designated for their use. But now the local government is kicking out people who can't show proof of their "connection" to the town--like a driver's license or a utility bill. The city can't handle everyone. They don't have the resources.

I know I paint Pasadena as perfect. I do that because I love it here. But like any town in SoCal, we have homeless citizens to care for. I knew about Pasadena's Union Station Foundation, an agency serving the poor and homeless. It's about a quarter mile from where I took this photo. With a bit of research I found Pasadena Social Services, which led me to this site about Pasadena's ten-year strategy to end homelessness.

To me that seems a better approach than getting rid of people by asking them into producing orderly paperwork from chaotic lives. A homeless person with a utility bill!

Galore

Clouds. Galore! Yesterday I went walking just to marvel at them. This sky is unusual for southern California; we normally don't have enough moisture to sustain much in the way of clouds. If not for the mountains, I might have thought I was in Illinois in the spring.

Then last night: wind. (Galore!) There's not a cloud in the sky today.

Apéritif

The Pasadena Symphony, conductor Jorge Mester and pianist Howard Shelley staged an "open, working rehearsal of music by Mozart" Friday night for Art Night.

I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside the Pasadena Civic Auditorium but it was okay to shoot in the lobby, where this video presentation showed the rehearsal going on inside. I was disappointed, but I contented myself to photograph a particular lamp above the stairwell twenty or thirty times when I discovered I could hear the orchestra especially well while standing beneath it.

If that was a rehearsal, surely a performance will transport me higher than the stairs.

Art's Big Night Out

Everybody was out last night for Art Night. Pasadena was lit up and showing off with free museum entry, art exhibits and performances all over town. At Paseo Colorado (above), folks turned out to hear Carl "Sonny" Leyland and his swinging trio at the Pasadena Jazz Institute.

Art Night is part of Pasadena Art Weekend, sponsored by the Arts & Culture Commission. Events continue today with Art Talk at the Boston Court Performing Arts Complex and Sunday with Art Market at One Colorado. It's a biannual event, so if you missed it you get another shot at it this fall.

(Goodness. There's a link for everything, isn't there? I'm exhausted.)

As Palm Axis predicted in yesterday's comments, I had trouble getting folks to let me take pictures of the art itself. But I got a couple of good (legal) ones. I'm loading new software today and hope to have those up soon.

Nobody Coming

This little shack stands at the intersection of Green Street and Chester Avenue. From this angle, it looks like not much goes on there. Then you come around the front and see this:

I couldn't find much about it on the web except this, which is fascinating enough for me. The Karmann Ghia's gone and now they're selling an SUV. The place is still "maintained, but not used," as Mr. Wray says. And he's right; the place looks like a designer has fixed it up to be a painting--or a movie set.

Waiting

This old beauty has been sitting behind Robin's BBQ restaurant on Rosemead Blvd. for quite a while.

I don't think it's going anywhere. I think it's waiting, like an old wolf who knows its time is up, and this is the spot it has chosen for dying.

The Long View

This is the view of downtown Los Angeles from the Sam Merrill Trail yesterday. When you're down in the smog and you look directly up, the sky looks clear blue. You have to get some distance on it to see it.

Our air is markedly better now than it was when I moved to southern California 20 years ago, but there's still room for improvement. California tends to lead the nation in environmental protection and air quality legislation. Maybe this (undoctored) photo tells you why we keep trying so hard.

North Lake Avenue

I'm in Pasadena, facing south. The mirror looks north on Lake Avenue. It's about three miles to the foothills in Altadena. I took the photo for fun, messing around. Later I realized the dominant feature in the reflection is the swath of land laid bare by last August's brush fire in the Angeles National Forest.

Click on the photo to enlarge it and you get an idea of what the locals see passing through on the freeway, or heading north on local roads. You can see the scar from everywhere.

It was a minor fire of 12 acres. Firefighters got to it immediately and put it out fast. Since the area is mere yards from homes, that's a fine thing.

Zen One

This building at the corner of Foothill and Daisy is for sale. I'd guess it was built in the early- to mid-20th century, despite the 19th century look. The fact that the builders took the trouble to make a mundane thing such as a vent into an attractive detail may speak about the rest of the building. It may not. I didn't notice the missing flashing until I blew up the photo. That just makes me like it more.

Pasadena Chines

Pasadenans (Pasadenites?) indulge in the Rose Bowl Flea Market the second Sunday of every month. People from miles around come to pick through acres of stuff. The tradition, pastime or strange habit of rummaging through stuff is called chiner in French. (I learned that at Paris Daily Photo, the inspiration for this blog.)

Ah, but Pasadana is doubly blessed with opportunity to chine. On the first Sunday of each month, the PCC Flea Market is held at Pasadena City College. I hear it's pretty good, too. If I'm going to practice what I preach, I'd better check it out soon.

A Day For Exploring

A confession of sorts: I lived in Pasadena for two years before I took a walk in Lower Arroyo Park and saw this view of the San Rafael Bridge. I walked in other parks, my regular places.

We have routines, the roads we always take. But the search for unique photos has gotten me out of that particular rut, at least. If you always walk in the Arroyo, I suggest you walk in Eaton Canyon today, or Hahamongna Watershed Park. Or get ambitions and try the Sam Merrill Trail.

If you can't tear yourself away from the computer (and I know how that is), I have another suggestion. Click on Pasadena Heritage and follow their instructions to send a letter to the City Council and the State Historical Resources Commission. (The deadline is March 15th.) Help put the Arroyo on the National Register of Historic Places and secure its future.

Power

These power poles line up alongside the 134 Freeway as you head into (or out of) Eagle Rock. It's a bad idea to stop on the freeway, so I pulled off to take this photo. The poles are actually a creamy color, but the shadows were just right, or just wrong, when I took this.

More on Eagle Rock one of these days. It's Pasadena's neighbor to the immediate west, and it's got a lot goin' on.

House Proud

When real estate agent Jeremy Hardy and his family bought the "Dayholme" it was in sad shape. Over time they've nursed it to health—repairing plumbing, replacing fixtures and remodeling. Once that was done you'd think they'd take a rest. But they followed up with the process of turning their home into a Pasadena Historic Landmark, which may have taken as much work as remodeling.

The Dayholme was built in 1921 for Clarence P. Day, a landscape engineer and contractor who developed the area around it as Eldora Park (now Eldora Road). Later, in the late 1960's and early 1970's, it became the home of Henry T. Wilfong, the first African American to sit on Pasadena's Board of City Directors.

Is discovering your home's history enough reason to go through the Landmark Process? Well, Landmark Designation could increase the home's value. And there's the Mills Act, which might help reduce property taxes. And a historic home deserves to thrive.

Plus, when you understand that the Hardy's efforts have put their home on the same list as the Colorado Street Bridge, Pasadena City Hall and the Gamble House, you realize there may be another reason for all that work: pride. And you begin to understand why people care so much about fixing up their bungalows, Craftsman homes, Victorians and what-have-you, all across the historical spectrum.

My house was built in 1924. By California standards, it's an antique. I love the woodwork, the Batchelder fireplace, the old fixtures. I also love my neighborhood, my neighbors, my town... Hey! I love my home! That's another reason for going to the trouble of the Landmark Process! I wonder if anyone important ever lived here...

It's All LA

Yesterday my friend mentioned the weather's been especially nice because the air is clear. I said, "I wish Pasadena was better than LA when it comes to smog, but we do get some." He said, "It's all LA."

He's right. Pasadena is part of Los Angeles. It's a separate municipality, but a Los Angeles suburb nonetheless, only a few minutes from downtown. Many Pasadenans, myself included, work in the entertainment industry or commute to other Los Angeles area jobs.

Hollywood comes here, too. Pasadena, Altadena and South Pas are often busy with TV and movie shoots. Indications in this photo are not just the advertisement for Acting Camp at the 210 Lake Avenue offramp, but also the yellow GW sign. Its function is to direct a film crew to a location. We see this type of sign here all the time.

GW might be a TV show, or maybe a new film. Any guesses?

Zinke's Drive In

Zinke's, at the corner of Colorado and Madison, is one of those businesses everyone knows. Like the sign shows, it's a shoe repair place (as opposed to a drive-in movie or burger joint). And as the online reviews will tell you, they'll also fix your purse or even add a notch to your belt. And they do it very well.

I think Zinke's has been in business for about sixty years. The neon sign, at least, was made in 1948. The other sign in the picture is newer.

According to this February 14th article about the demise of Bungalow News in Pasadena Weekly, "Plans to build a parking garage nearby at the southeast corner of Colorado and Madison Avenue fizzled several years ago...and would have destroyed two other Pasadena institutions - Zinke's Shoe Repair and The White Hut."

So the parking garage thing didn't work out, and the lot these businesses stand on is for sale. Which could mean Zinke's and the White Hut aren't yet out of danger. For now, you can still drive in and get a new notch in your belt, if your belly justifies such tightening.

Monday Off

You're right. I'm dreaming.

A good place to dream might be a bench overlooking the "ball field" at Hahamongna Watershed Park. I walk Boz there often but we've never seen anyone playing ball, unless you include throwing a ball for a dog.

Hahamongna was a chief of the Tongva Indians who were living here when Gaspar de Portola showed up in the late 18th Century. As his tribe became Christianized (and indentured), Hahamongna changed his name to Pascual, which means "born on Easter," or "child of Easter." I couldn't find "Hahamongna" on any of the baby names websites.

Cathedral

This shot was taken underneath the onramp to the 134 Freeway that runs alongside the Colorado Street Bridge. Basically you're still in the Arroyo Seco here, but it's a secluded spot. Please do click on this one. It's better in larger format.