City Symmetry

There are more impressive buildings in the world than Pasadena's City Hall—the Taj Mahal, Versailles, and I could go on—but a small building can be an architectural gem.

I can't find a less-than-lovely view of City Hall. At each corner of the courtyard is a stairwell. All four are housed in towers identical to this one, with the same elaborate reliefs, wide open window and belvedere on top. I like climbing up inside (even the stairs are beautiful!) and looking out to the mountains. Looking up from below is nice, too.

The courtyard's a good place to take your book, but you probably won't read it. It's more fun to watch what's doing.

Superfluous Detail

Architectural details like this enchant me. Architecture went through a period in the mid- to late-20th Century where this type of detail was often thought unnecessary. But we're starting to see the return of art for art's sake. This edifice is probably from the early 20th Century. Do you know where it is? Plain sight, busy corner, but who makes a habit of looking up?

The function of this meticulous brickwork is to look good. Is that function enough?

Bungalow in a Box

It's legal to take photos from the street, but I feel awkward taking pictures of peoples' homes. I'd feel weird if I saw someone taking a picture of my house. Go to Google Maps, type in your your address and click on "street view," and you'll know what kind of weird I'm talking about. So I was lucky when I found the owner of this house pulling into his driveway, because I wanted a photo of his home and I wanted his permission to take it.

This house, in Pasadena's Bungalow Heaven, is special because it was made from a kit. Kit houses were popular in the 1920s, and Pasadena sports several good examples. (There's one on my block; according to the owner it was ordered from a Sears catalogue.) The one you see here is from Pacific Ready-Cut Homes. It was built in 1924 and first used as a model by the Gregg and Beaman Company, distributor of the kits in Pasadena.

Here's an article by Rosemary Thornton about kit houses. The first picture looks like the house above. Thornton co-authored a book about kit houses with Dale Patrick Wolicki. (You can try Pasadena Public Library, too.)

When ordering your kit, you could choose from among several home styles. The kit came with everything you needed: doors, windows, wood, cabinets— even light fixtures. And instructions, of course.

The homeowner I spoke to yesterday said he'd had his house bolted to the foundation, and he was going to do some work on the roof. Show me a southern California house where that never happens, kit or no kit.

Zen Monday

This one may be in the eye of the beholder.

Eclectic Avenue

Del Mar Blvd. between Lake Avenue and Arroyo Parkway is purple with the bloom of Jacarandas right now. Ben posted a pretty shot at the sky is big in pasadena. I tried to get the effect of the avenue of trees—bright purple along both sides of the road, as far as the eye can see. But you have to stand in the middle and I didn't want to get arrested. (Letty would call me a piker.)

If you're a local, you need to get on your bike or in your car and take a ride down Del Mar—maybe down and back—while the Jacarandas are in bloom.

I'm Not a Budget Cut

Friday I arrived at Longfellow School too late to see the full demonstration against Governor Schwarzenegger's proposed school budget cuts. Citizens, parents, teachers and children had been outside all day in the hot sun, waving signs and chanting. I'm told the protesters filled the lawn from one end to the other, while motorists passing on Washington Blvd. honked their agreement: "Don't Cut Our Kids Short."

Already, the kids in my neighborhood sell candy and magazines door-to-door just to go on a field trip. When I was a kid I was a student, not a salesman. How can we give them so much less than what we had?

The smiling man in the middle of the photo is our new Pasadena School Board President, Tom Selinske. He's only just been elected, and he's jumping in feet first. Which is good, because his hands are going to be full. The Governator's got his hands full, too. A budget's a complicated thing and California's in deep financial trouble.

Some might say what happens in Pasadena's schools doesn't affect me because I don't have kids. But good schools in my town raise my property value, and in the bigger picture they enhance my quality of life. When I become a demanding and feisty old lady, I don't want a bunch of drop-outs hanging around, looking for feisty old ladies to pester. I want educated people policing my streets, governing my city and especially managing my health care.

I sound selfish, don't I?

I can help by voting to allocate money to schools, when given the opportunity on a ballot. What else can one person do? Your thoughts?

Blair Witch Exercise Project

Just south of Devil's Gate Dam is a military-looking exercise area. I've never seen the "Blair Witch Project" because I don't like scary movies, but my husband John said this looked like something out of the movie. It looks like climbing this device would require serious muscle.

I call this an exercise area, but I've never seen anyone using it. I'm kind of interested in trying the swings, though.

Clean for Now

They do a brisk business at the Fair Oaks Car Wash. But you never have to wait too long, even when they're busy.

I had finally pushed my car to the filth limit. It's not really my car, it's Boz's car. He'd been to the beach, and on several hikes in gloriously grungy places. He'd even brought along friends. They had nosed the windows. Then there's my neighbor's tree, in love with my (Boz's) car. Then there's smoke and ash from another brush fire on Mount Baldy above Rancho Cucamonga.

We're trying to conserve water around here, and I do my part (for example, by pushing my car to the filth limit). When you do wash you car, though, did you know it's more water-conserving to take it to a car wash than to do it yourself?

When they finished with my car at the Fair Oaks Car Wash, it smelled of lemon instead of beach dog.

Uncommon

This might be a tourist photo one would take in London. These red telephone boxes stand inside The Commons shopping plaza off of South Lake Avenue. It's mildly interesting for a couple of reasons: first, you don't typically see this type of phone booth in America; second, you don't typically see phone booths at all anymore.

Then I looked them up on Wikipedia. Check out the first photo! It's our Pasadena phone boxes, right there next to Williams-Sonoma in the Commons. The very ones. How veddy British.

Rialto

Doesn't look like a door you want to enter without high boots and a flashlight. Though it's pretty, in its way.

This is the side door to the Rialto Theatre in South Pasadena. The Theatre, which opened in 1925, has been closed since last December, when it showed "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" for the last time (after a thirty-year run).

Fortunately, the Rialto's on the National Register of Historic Places, so it's not a tear-down. While awaiting funds for its new function, there's a bit of elegant entropy going on.

A few extra shots on Overdog.

Buster's

I stopped in at Buster's in South Pasadena the other day. Buster's is great for coffee, tea, cookies, brownies and ice cream (they also have sandwiches, but I've never tried those).

The place was busy. A bona fide South Pas hangout. It was noisy downstairs and completely quiet upstairs. I wonder if it's always that way.

Hey, who left their wallet on the counter?

Now You See It...

There's no sign on the building on the left. From the front, it looks like a school. There's some graffiti, not much. It's abandoned.

Across the parking lot a mirrored building reflects the school-type building. The mirrored building seems to be closed as well. The sign out front says "Nanostream." A web announcement says Nanostream ceased operations March 14th, 2008. I don't know why. They specialized in a chemical process called chromatography. (Chromawhat? Yeah, me too.) It has to do with the separation of chemicals, and in Nanostream's case that was pharmaceutical drugs. You could try the Wikipedia article. It's a start.

Like any other American town, we have more closed businesses these days than we used to.

Three Graces

"Three Graces," by artist Peter Fink, perches atop the Trio Apartments at the corner of Colorado and El Molino Blvds. downtown. Fink created the piece specifically for this building, although he apparently designed another "Three Graces" for Birmingham, England. It's only fair, as the artist is British.

The Brits are accustomed to public art—at least Londoners are. Take a stroll around London and you're practically tripping over art, bumping into it at every turn: gorgeous architecture, well-tended parks, grand statues, innovative sculptures. Sure, American cities have great architecture and parks. But other public art is only beginning to become more common.

In Pasadena, art decorates the streets, yards and parks from CalTech to the Art Center College of Design. Pasadena Cultural Affairs has put together eight public art walking tours you can take in the downtown area. ("Three Graces" is on tour #5.) There's more art beyond downtown; here's a map of other sites.

Persist

I heard on the radio that Congressman Adam Schiff of the 29th U.S. District—that is, our Congressman—is responsible for a bill signed by President Bush yesterday. The "Rim of the Valley bill authorizes a study of adding 490,000 acres of public and private land along the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys to the 153,000-acre Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area," according to the Fresno Bee.

I got myself on Adam Schiff's mailing list. He sends emails with questionnaires, asking how I want him to vote on things. It takes about a second so I fill them out. Then I can see results on how other constituents responded (am I in the minority? the majority?). In the follow-up, he tells me how he voted.

I like the guy. He's accountable. And he usually votes the way I tell him to, so what's not to like?

In the radio interview, Representative Schiff said he's been working for years to get this bill passed. It'll be another two or three years before the study's finished, then it'll take more time before any of the lands studied will actually be added to the National Recreation Area. But he's willing to persist.

Thanks, Mr. Schiff. You keep it up and I'll keep voting for you. Heck, maybe I'll vote for you twice next time, just for good measure.

SAD

We've been having gray days.

I looked up Seasonal Affective Disorder. I don't have it, but I can still complain. When the sun ceases to shine, the only symptom they list that I regularly exhibit is lethargy. A good hike would cure me, and a cool day is perfect for hiking.

Alas, not today. A person's gotta make a living. I suppose there are people in the world who get paid for hiking, but I'm not one of them.

Red Wedding

This picture is a stolen moment, pure and simple. You can even see the window frame of my car on the right. I had just enough time to snap it before the traffic moved.

Not everyone knew their picture was being taken. Not everyone wanted their picture taken. Not everyone who's smiling is smiling at my camera. The guy who's frowning is frowning at me.

I wonder about photos like this. You don't know when I took it so unless you recognize the people, you don't know whose wedding it is. We were all on the public street, therefore I was within my legal rights to take the photo. Was it fair of me to do so? Is it ethical of me to post it?

Inside the Cinema

I posted about Cinema 21 April 14th. Here's an additional photo I took that day, as I tried to see into the depths of the building with my camera.

Ancient ruins transport my imagination; I fantasize about the people who built, lived and worked in them thousands of years ago. When I look at a ruin like Cinema 21, which isn't ancient but merely old and tired, my imagination works in a different way. I don't think so much of those who once went there, but of what it would be like to fix it up if I could.

More photos here.

Craft Store Cowboy

Pasadena's Old Town is busy on Sundays. Stores and restaurants are packed. Traffic is thick. It's hard to find a parking space.

To me, this looks more like the Old West of yesteryear than the Old Town of today. The man in the wheelchair naps in the sun on Raymond Avenue outside of Stats, a crafts and floral supply store the size of a football field. I'll tell you more about Stats some other time. It's a marvelous store that deserves its own post. Right now, I'd rather wonder about the man.

Pretty Parasite

This orange, stringy stuff shows up all over Pasadena's wild places this time of year. It's a plant with a stretchy, rubbery texture. If you enlarge this photo you can see what it's doing: strangling its host plant.

The orange parasite is called Cuscuta, or "Dodder." My friend, the landscaper Leo Snider (who's very knowledgeable about southern California native plants), says Orange Dodder's favorite host is sumach. Sumac recovers from the parasite over the winter, according to Leo, and from what I can tell so do the other plants it invades. "One nice thing," says Leo, "is that Dodder usually localizes. That is to say, it hasn't taken over the world."

Just a few defenseless locals.

Sfumato

From dictionary.com:
"sfu·ma·to: the subtle and minute gradation of tone and color used to blur or veil the contours of a form in painting." The word originates from the Italian, sfumare, "to gradate tone or color," which itself originates from fumare, "to smoke."

The fire in Sierra Madre, officially known as the Santa Anita Wildland Fire, is now 100% contained. But you can't contain the smoke.

We don't smell it anymore, and when we're in it we don't see it. But when you drive in to Pasadena you see it hanging over the San Gabriel Valley, backed up against the mountains, waiting for wind or rain to clear it out. I don't think we're going to have much wind soon, and surely we won't have rain. But time will take it away. Meanwhile, it softens the views on the Sunset Fire Road.