Safe House

For a couple of years now, the fate of the Herkimer Arms has been hotly debated. The only apartment building designed by the famed Greene and Greene architects, poor old Herkimer was destined to be either moved or demolished, and it sure looked like it was going to be the latter.

At the last minute, Heritage Housing Partners and saved the day. The building will be moved and converted to condos - expensive ones. According to some, that was the only way to pay for the project. Fine, I say. Better than tearing it down. I think plenty of folks around here will pay good money to own a piece of Greene & Greene.

Then again, we have yet to see what depths the California housing market can reach. But that's another story.

Kudos to Pasadena Heritage for keeping the spotlight on this and other endangered structures, and to Heritage Housing Partners for being the deus ex machina.

Thanks to Ben for asking in the comments section: for now, you can still see the Herkimer Arms at its original location, 527 Union Street.

Dog Imitates Art

The first time I posted one of these outdoor artworks, I left the sculptor anonymous. Now it can be told: it's Leo Snider of Coventry Landscape Company in La Crescenta. He's participated in the Showcase House of Design, had his work published in Sunset Magazine and even Better Homes and Gardens and he still doesn't have a website. He doesn't need one.

Like me, Leo walks his dog (Snoopy the beagle) at Hahamongna Watershed Park. Leo doesn't intend to landscape the wilderness, it's just that he's an artist. River rocks and driftwood suggest further shapes to him and he's one of those people who can't help being creative.

Plus he has to keep himself busy while Snoopy hunts lizards.

Boz is creative, too. I called and called, trying to get Boz to move out of the picture. But he insisted on completing the shot for me.

Pasadena Image Printing Image

I pulled into the parking lot behind the national chain copy shop, resigned to copy 100 resumes at an exorbitant fee. Then I spied it: two doors down, a banner flew above the rear door of a smaller shop, advertising copies at half the price of the chain.

So I gave Pasadena Image Printing a try. As it turns out, This "small" shop is not so small. They do a booming business in all things print: letterhead, billboards, posters, mounting and more. The staff is professional—you won't find pimpled goth kids here, earning their nose-piercing money. Joseph, the tireless owner, always wears a crisp shirt and tie (and seems to work a 24-hour day). Laura (kindred spirit and graphic designer supreme) created beauteous business cards for me. I'm handing them out by the handful.

And the glass on the self-serve machines is clean. The little things mean so much.

I've never gone back to the chain.

Page 94 Girl

This man is reading a magazine. Pasadena Magazine, to be specific.

A magazine is like a blog, except it's not backlit. That's why this man is sitting in the sun. (Actually, it's more like a whole website, except you can read it in a coffee shop even if you don't have a laptop and they don't have wifi.)

What is he reading about? Why, Pasadena Daily Photo, of course. He's riveted on Page 94 where there's a teeny weeny blurb about this here blog that even includes one of my photos.

Oh no, I'm not bursting with pride or anything.

The May issue of Pasadena Magazine is on the stands. It's absolutely gorgeous. I left a few copies out there for you, but you'd better hurry up because I'll be out today buying more. (Tip: the newsstand price is steep but the subscription price is very reasonable, so since every single issue is fabulous, go ahead and subscribe!)

Climb This

This is something you don't see every day in your neighborhood. Well, I don't. It's a climbing wall, delivered to your home for your party! The teen equivalent of a bounce house!

This one comes from Gold Rush Mobile Rock Climbing. (I couldn't load their website, www.goldrushmobilerockclimbing.com, but found info here. Head on over and get started with the liability paperwork!)

Many thanks to these nice fellas for letting me take pictures.

WeBlog!

The San Gabriel Valley blogosphere is alive and kickin'. Area bloggers got together Saturday for a picnic, organized by Miss Havisham (thank you, dear Miss H!). Once again, guest photographer John Sandel took the photo, because I wanted to be in it.

It was loads of fun. The group was diverse and by no means complete (there are hundreds of blogs around here). You can agree or disagree with them (I do both), but that's the beauty of the web: there's room for everyone. (Let's keep it that way.)

Not everyone wants to be identified, as you can guess by the picture, so I'll list their blogs alphabetically. Bloggers: out yourselves in the comments if you so desire, and if I'm missing your blog address, please let me know so I can add it here.

It was a great pleasure meeting you all. And to those who didn't make it, you were missed!

Altadenablog
Eye Level Pasadena
Frazgo Meanders
KCHBlog
LA Times Pressmens 20 year Club
Mickie's Zoo
Miss Havisham's Tea Party
Not Exactly Rocket Science
Palm Axis
The Adventures of Aaron Proctor
The Real Zajac
Up2DateRealEstate
West Coast Grrlie Blather

Devil's Playground

I don't think these guys saw me take their picture. I don't think they're supposed to skateboard inside the workings of the Devil's Gate Dam, either. But the photo doesn't give their identities away.

They weren't bothering anybody and they were having a good time.

Sidewalk Stamp

As I promised yesterday, here's a Pasadena sidewalk stamp. This one's from contractor J.E. Haddock in 1928. A closer view is below.

You find these around town, from different contractors. They're not everywhere, just the older neighborhoods. Further study would tell us when these were most commonly used. If you know, I'd love to get your comments. My guess would be this began after 1900 and stopped before World War II.

Sensuous Curves

Rarely do I feature photos from other photographers. It's not because I don't like other peoples' photos, it's more because I figure it's my challenge to post a new photo every day. But I'm charmed by this shot by guest photographer (and husband extraordinaire) John Sandel. John is my best teacher. He's always interested in how light works with shadow. Lately he's especially interested in shooting toward the light.

I love the late-day light and shadows he captured here. I also love the lazy walk you know he's having and the air you know he feels on his face. The best, though, is that curving sidewalk. Pasadena has several of them, in older neighborhoods.

In the early 20th Century, developers in Pasadena sometimes stamped their name and the date in the sidewalks. I'll see if I can find you a sidewalk stamp for tomorrow.

Other guest photos on the blog, by Dave Thomson, can be found here and here.

Monopoly

I'm extremely late posting today.

There's one thing I don't like about Pasadena: we have one cable company. A monopoly gets around to taking care of its customers whenever it feels like it.

When our cable isn't working, I have no online access. Satellite's an option, but it's much more expensive. I depend on the internet. Without it, I barely know what to do with myself.

Talk about a monopoly!

Shadowed Balcony

I used to walk a lot in Chicago. We don't do much walking in the LA metropolitan area. (Strange, when you think how blessed we are weather-wise, and how Chicago isn't.)

Pasadena's working on it, including Mayor Bogaard's Get Up & Moving program, "a brisk walk around the Rose bowl Stadium the first Wednesday of every month at 7:45 a.m." The Mayor invites the citizenry to join him along with a special guest. Not being an early riser, I've already missed big-shot Hollywood Producer and Pasadena resident Gale Ann Hurd, who walked with the Mayor this month. I could shoot for May, but I'm not guaranteeing anything.

The other day I walked along Colorado Blvd. at the east end of town. I found shops I'd never noticed before. I discovered a pretty balcony in the shadows. There's probably sun on it early in the morning.

I may never see it in the early morning, but hey—at least I got out of the car. When you walk, you discover things.

Showplace

"She was a showplace when I moved here back in 1955," said a man who spotted me taking pictures at the Food4Less parking lot. I wanted to get Cinema 21 from every angle.

The North Lake Village Business Assn. Website says Cinema 21 (originally the Washington Theater) was designed by Clarence Jay of Altadena & built in 1925 in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. They also say "the building is scheduled to be renovated."

Since it was the Washington Theater, Cinema 21 has gone through several incarnations. In its later years, according to this thread, it showed Spanish films and finally adult films. By 2003, along with the theatre and (apparently illegal) shops, the Cinema 21 building housed 34 families and some toxic mold in its upper apartments. The city evacuated and relocated the people. They weren't as kind to the mold.

At the Food4Less parking lot, a security guard told me people are always poking around Cinema 21. He said a guy last week was talking about buying it to fix it up as a theatre for neighborhood kids. I hope the building isn't too far gone. Someone has already tried but the graffiti, the broken windows and the "Stop Work" order posted in the box office window tell me progress to rescue this old "showplace" is slow. Or nonexistent.

Ben, over at The Sky is Big in Pasadena, posted a nice shot of the front of the theatre back in February. I've posted a few others at Overdog. I got a bit of spam there this morning so I've enabled comments moderation for now. I'll moderate and post as quickly as I can.

Personal Jesus

Everywhere you turn in Pasadena there's a church, temple or other place of worship. You can barely go two blocks before bumping into a place where people gather to send up messages to one god or another.

I'm all for going the non-traditional route, but I don't believe a tree deserves to suffer for our sins.

Eaton Canyon Path

What is it about a path that's so enticing? Why am I most interested in paths that lead to ends I can't see?

I'm also drawn to photos of pathways, and when I'm out with the camera I can't resist trying to get the shot. Eaton Canyon Natural Area's got a million of 'em, and their Earth Day Festival is today.

Snail Trails

I'm forever stopping to take pictures of things I spy on the ground. These photos don't usually make it to the blog, with good reason. Frankly the ground isn't always that interesting to other people.

You might have to click on this photo to get the effect of the delicate, silver trails on the sidewalk in the foreground. I know snails make them because I've seen them in action. I don't remember seeing snail trails anywhere else but in southern California.

John and Boz usually move on if I take too long shooting. I could post an entire series of photos of the ground, with my two guys moseying off into the distance.

Wealth and Convenience

Pasadena's big on walking tours. Yesterday my friend and I strolled through one of the mansion districts in San Marino, our sunny neighbor to the south. Even a fierce look from a palace guard couldn't have soured our fun.

O! San Marino! Home of the Huntington Library and Gardens! Need I say more? Well, maybe a little.

When I have a mansion it'll be in San Marino, because there I'll have more room and more privacy than in Beverly Hills. I'll have access to the Old Mill, the new library and Lacy Park. And did I mention the Huntington?

And the height of all mansion conveniences: I'll have Pasadena right next door.

Intimate Opera

Okay, right off: no ghosts. Nor did I sneak a photo last night (because, as Letty from Ararat mentioned in yesterday's comments, I'm a piker). This is the salon at the Fenyes Mansion where, 100 years ago, Eva Scott Fenyes held entertainments, and where last night a more modern group of Pasadenans (Pasadenyites?) were entertained by the outstanding Repertory Opera Company.

I'm not a qualified opera critic, but I'm qualified to know when I've enjoyed myself, and I had a wonderful time at Music in the Mansion. I've seen/heard the LA Opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, which is truly grand. But to hear Puccini's "Chi il bel sogno di Doretta" sung in the intimacy of a room like the Fenyes salon is a rare experience. A powerful voice quickly fills a room like that, then it has to go somewhere. So it fills the listener, brimming up through the body and pushing out through the tear ducts.

And if the Puccini doesn't get you, Rossini's Cat Duet will.

They're going to have two more concerts: May 6th (take your mom for Mother's Day) and June 3rd (what the heck? take Dad).

At intermission, we ate chocolates and sipped champagne while mingling with the performers and other audience members in the dining room. The chandeliers glowed. The mansion was briefly ours.

Update: per Jeannette Bovard, Media Consultant at Pasadena Museum of History: "Information from the Collections Department at the Museum states that the owl was stuffed by Dr. Adalbert Fenyes. One of his many hobbies was ornithology."

Ghost Photos

I posted the other day about the Fenyes Mansion at the Pasadena Museum of History. I liked the idea of "Music in the Mansion," a series of opera concerts performed in the Victorian rooms of this 102-year-old Pasadena treasure. It's the type of entertainment the mansion's first owner, Eva Scott Fenyes, enjoyed. I find the idea haunting. In a good way.

Letty from Ararat Daily Photo (that's Ararat, Australia) entered a comment on that post: "Can you sneak in and take some secret photos? Go on - I dare ya!" From what I know about Letty she wasn't kidding. But I'm too chicken, plus my cat burglar outfit's at the dry cleaners'. But the Museum staff were nice enough to invite me to tonight's kick-off concert, so I'm gonna go hear me some opera singin' and I don't have to sneak!

If they let me take a photo (and if it's good enough) I'll post it tomorrow. And there will be photos of the mansion's interior in the future, that much I can promise. I'm told there are ghosts in the mansion. I don't believe in ghosts, but I'd love to capture one on film anyway.

Ubiquitous, Too

An article in Pasadena Weekly last fall recounted complaints of Pasadenans plagued by helicopter noise. Indeed, sometimes I think the only thing more ubiquitous here than helicopters is river rocks. Yet the police only admit to 7 copters in the local fleet. It just seems like more because they're LOUD.

Those airborne officers have a job to do, and they've got the stats to prove the copters help them do it. We could get quieter helicopters, but the price tag's pretty hefty.

And even then, there'd still be traffic copters, and the Altadena Mountain Rescue copters (I think those are the orange ones), and the copters that land at the Jet Propulsion Lab from time to time (bringing dignitaries or scientists or whoever gets flown privately to JPL), and the water-dropping copters in fire season, and...

Gold for a Gray Day

It's natural to love green when you live in a dry climate. We gorge on it when we can. We had rain this spring so it's very green around Pasadena right now, and I've posted a lot of green photos lately. But I mustn't overindulge.

Today it's cool outside, and the sky is gray. A little shopping might be in order.

I like Antiques on Fair Oaks: great selection and no snobs. They answer your questions but don't hover. And last time we were there they gave me a cup of coffee to sip while I shopped. (Imagine! I could've spilled on grandmother's velvet!)

When you're finished at Antiques on Fair Oaks you have only to step out the door to continue shopping. The strip along Fair Oaks south of Del Mar has several wonderful antique shops with a wide range of prices. We've seen everything from authentic Craftsman chairs in perfect condition, to smaller items one could call mere second-hand junk. All of it we wanted, some of it we bought (guess which).