Andrews' Italian Cousin

Despite the striking tower (pictured yesterday), my favorite architectural feature of Saint Andrews Catholic Church is this rounded projection which (since I've never been inside) I presume to be at the back of the nave behind the chancel, where the altar might be. (Here's a church diagram.)

Sure enough, the Roman church said to have inspired this one has a feature very much like it. Not only does Santa Sabina have the same arched windows, but the stone is also of a similar hue. (Click on the Santa Sabina link to see a photo of the Roman basilica. The photo below is of the Pasadena church.) The Roman basilica, built in 432 AD, has some nice pock marks that ours doesn't have. I'd like to stay around a few hundred years and see ours do some graceful aging.

The only unfortunate thing about the local building I can see, architecturally speaking, is that the rear of it is crowded against the funeral home. You can't get a good look at the back. But I suppose that has a convenience all its own.

Saint Andrews Catholic Church: the Tower

The tower of Saint Andrews Catholic Church, built in 1927, is one of Pasadena's most-photographed landmarks. Ben has a very cool shot of it, which I hesitated to link to because I mentioned in the comments I thought it was part of the funeral home next door. Well, that was back in the days when I wasn't perfect.

Wikipedia's article about Saint Andrews says "The architect, Robert Montgomery, and the church's pastor, Msgr. McCarthy, both traveled to Italy studying early Byzantine architecture to find inspiration for the new church." They found inspiration in Saint Sabina's basilica in Rome, which was built in 432 A.D. A photo I'll show you tomorrow bears a good resemblance.

Looking Up

In yesterday's comments about smog, Lily Hydrangea said "when you are in it, you don't see it." Here's an example of the truth of that statement: a photo taken just south of the corner of Walnut and Hudson a few days ago.

Congratulations to Lily on her recent good press for Long Island Daily Photo!

Smog

A few days ago in the comments I bragged about Pasadena's natural beauty. Life Observer cautioned me not to be too proud, saying "we up here on the street are having a harder time seeing the mountains from Colorado Blvd., the last couple of yrs."

I took this photo from near the corner of Paloma and Sierra Madre Boulevards last Saturday. I've seen the smog worse lately, with the mountains barely visible from the same spot. I'd like to make excuses, like "it's the marine layer," or "stuff gets backed up against the mountains." The latter may even be true. But should that stuff be in our air in the first place?

We share air space with Los Angeles, after all. And, as Wikipedia says, "strict regulations by the Californian government have reduced the number of Stage 1 smog alerts from several hundred annually to just a few annually." When I moved to southern California twenty years ago it was two weeks before I realized I had a view of the mountains from the window of my studio apartment. Our air is much improved since then.

Obviously we still have smog, we're not perfect yet. I'll keep my bragging to a minimum and post an unattractive picture every once in a while.

Zen Monday: MacWoman

Mesmerized at the Apple store.

Bridge Night

One night each year, Pasadena Heritage invites everyone in town over for bridge. Colorado Street Bridge, that is. They shut down traffic and from dusk 'til long after dark, Pasadena parties all across its favorite icon.

There's food, entertainment, more food...John and I first walked from one end of the bridge to the other (as did many people) to case the joint first and see what our choices were. We settled on beer from the Craftsman Brewing Company, which was so delicious that—well, let's just say "settled" is absolutely the wrong word; and barbecued pork sandwiches from Big Mama's Rib Shack, which were so delicious that—well, let's just say now I know why Mama is so big.

Various local organizations were there to show off not only what they do but what they contribute to Pasadena. We visited the Pasadena Heritage booth to thank them for the party. They've been instrumental in helping to preserve much of Pasadena's heritage, including important structures such as the Herkimer Arms and the very bridge on which we were standing. We even stopped by to visit our favorite heroes at the Altadena Mountain Rescue Team booth, which was being personned by the very team member who experienced her first rappel while I photographed it July 10th.

I'm not sure who worked harder last night: the barbecue servers or the guys pouring the beer or the security guards or the musicians or the volunteers from various organizations. But they all made it a great evening for those of us who didn't do a darned thing but enjoy it.

Hey! There's a new blog in town. Check out Laurie Allee's Glimpses of South Pasadena. A beautiful addition to the SGV blog family.

Tear-Down

They're tearing down a building at the corner of Fair Oaks and Corson—or Fair Oaks and the 210 Freeway, same difference, since Corson parallels the freeway.

I found a gap in the fence and took a bunch of photos yesterday. For some reason this is the one that interests me most. Maybe it's the graffiti on the part of the building still standing, or the unscathed (albeit dusty) building across the street, or the dome of City Hall in the distance. But I think I like the vehicles. They remind me of farm machinery and growing up.

I stayed by the fence and watched for a while (wouldn't dare go into a hard-hat area without permission). It doesn't take a lot of humans to tear down a building. It takes a few patient drivers and some big, brute machines.

Toxic Wiz

Tell me honestly now: if you're going to Rule This Town, is "Toxic Wiz" quite the right, um, handle?

Buried Treasure Comes A C(r)opper

When I checked my email the other day, I found a message from Lieutenant Jones at the Pasadena Police Department. The subject line was "BOXES AT THE BRIDGE."

Immediately I knew why. Some commenters had hinted at it when I posted about buried treasure on Monday. At the time, the thought of real danger hadn't crossed my mind. But the police can't take chances with secret boxes buried under the Colorado Street Bridge—not with this weekend's celebration coming up.

I called the PD but Lieutenant Jones had gone for the day. So I responded to his email with as much detail as I could. Secretly, though, I hoped the police would call me the next morning so I could lead them to the boxes. Maybe they'd even let me take a picture.

YAY!

Above, Officers Mark Abare (left) and Bill Shipman (right) examine one of the boxes we found. The box from my photo was gone, but we found two still buried. From my photo, the police had expected bigger boxes. These little things didn't scare them.

It was a thrill. I felt like Miss Marple, allowed to come along on a big investigation. I cannot thank these gentlemen enough. They were as nice as could be.

But I'm sorry, guys. The boxes were empty.

Why would someone bury empty boxes?

NEWS FLASH, 9:25PM: I was in the Arroyo again late today. (Okay, that's not exactly a news flash.) The photo below was taken from where the officers stood, looking up toward where I took the photo from yesterday morning. The hillside's all torn and trampled. Hmm. I wonder if geocachers read Pasadena Daily Photo. Or maybe someone came looking for that Zeppelin CD.

Flat-Cat

This kitty lives at the Curtin House on the grounds of the Pasadena Museum of History. She's very friendly. Don't worry about her ear. It's there, it's just a little flat. I've had this photo for a while. Been wanting to use it and finally decided to put it up this morning.

My timing's good. I checked the Museum's website and tomorrow (Thursday) is Family Free Day from 4-7PM. Click on the link to see what they've got planned. Then if it looks like fun give them a call at (626) 577-1660, ext. 10, because reservations are recommended.

I can't promise kitty close-ups, but there'll be plenty of other photo ops. That I can guarantee.

The Dragon(fly)'s Lair

Pasadena Daily Photo was born on January first of this year. In an early post I talked about the Central Arroyo Stream Restoration project, spearheaded by the Arroyo Seco Foundation. To quote their website, "the Central Arroyo Seco subwatershed begins immediately below Devil’s Gate Dam and terminates at the Colorado Street Bridge crossing."

I took a walk through there and I can tell you, they're making fine progress. It's positively sylvan down there. I'd expect to see hobbits or trolls or even Minnipins. Yeah, you can still see the earth movers under the bridge. You can also see the progress those earth movers have made.

And I don't know where they got those dragonflies. They're magnificent. It's just hard to get a picture of one.

Zen Monday: Buried Treasure

I found this box hidden in brush beneath the Colorado Street Bridge. I had to climb to get a look at it. More boxes were buried near it. You can see the corner of one in the foreground of this photo.

I didn't touch them.

Escapee

On our neighborhood walks, Boz and I often pass by the North Pasadena Church of Christ, and I admire this tree on the church property. Long ago someone built a wall around it, but a tree can't be bound by such insignificance. I'm pleased no one has attempted to imprison it in again now that it has busted free. Stone walls do not a prison make.

While I was taking this photo I heard the choir practicing. They sounded good. Richard Lovelace might have enjoyed the music.

IndyMaxed

When I heard the FDIC was taking over IndyMac bank my first thought was, "What happens in Pasadena?" The bank is headquartered here with 3,000 employees, 500 of whom presumably received pink slips last Monday. They got 30-60 days' notice.

I like to look on the bright side if there is one. I watched the video linked in the FDIC article above. In it the spokesperson says the FDIC has taken over IndyMac and is going to continue to run it as a full service bank, and to do that they'll need employees. I wonder if they'll need all 3,000. Maybe those 500 with the pink slips just got a reprieve. Maybe that's wishful thinking.

Of course this has larger implications than just for Pasadena, and I'm not qualified to discuss them—well, we're all qualified to discuss them, but you're better off reading this or this if you want the facts. But although the banking and housing industries are in lousy shape right now I know certain sectors of our economy are doing fine: retail, fashion, restaurants, and don't get me started on oil. Some folks are still making money in this country.

Dam Rappelling

It's not every day I find the Altadena Mountain Rescue Rescue Team rappelling from the Devil's Gate Dam. But there they were Wednesday as twilight was coming on.

I let them rappel (wasn't that nice of me?) and they let me take photos. When they were finished, they answered my questions. I hadn't known before that to become a member of the Altadena Mountain Rescue Team you must first become a Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy as well as an EMT.

Wow. I'd heard it was an all-volunteer organization, but let's be clear: these guys are volunteer heroes.

And not just guys. The deputy leaning over the dam is a woman, and so is the trainee in this photo. It was her first rappel ever, and she was already a pro.

The Altadena Mountain Rescue Team has its own website at amrt.org, but I couldn't get it to load. How much does that matter? Do they have to be techies when they've got so much else going for them?

You can see a cool rappel from a helicopter in this video of the Rescue Team.
I shot the trainee's full rappel, and those photos are at Overdog.

Goodbye, Church of the Angels

Behind the Church of the Angels a crypt is built into the hillside beneath the rectory. Kelly, who guided me through the church last week, wasn't quite sure of the crypt's history. No mention is made of it on the church's website. Someone out there may know.
The story goes that Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Robert Campbell-Johnston were buried there together, at least for a time. But Pasadena zoning laws don't allow burials, so the bodies were eventually moved. This may or may not be the case.**
Web research turned up very little, except an intriguing bit from Brompton Cemetery in London. Click on the link and scroll to the caption under the third photo.
'Alexander Robert Campbell Johnston
Who served many years in China
Under H.M. Foreign and Colonial Offices.
He died at San Rafael Ranch, Los Angeles
January 21st 1888 aged 75
In beloved memory
This stone is erected by his widow and children
Also to the memory of
Frances Ellen Campbell-Johnston
His beloved wife
Who died at 84 St. George's Sq. London
November 21 1893 Aged 56'
It could be them. And it doesn't say they were buried there. Did she die so soon after he did? Did she spend so little time admiring the chapel she'd built?
I tried looking into the crypt. It's not like you can tell if anyone's there.
It's their place. It was made for them. I hope they were allowed to stay.*

 
**1/26/2012: Much later! Update on this crypt: 
*It was not made for them.
In a book called "Within the Vale of Annandale" by Donald W. Crocker, a relatively rare but not impossible-to-find book first published in 1968, there's a short chapter about the church with pictures, very interesting, pp 38-42.
On page 40, Crocker says the "...memorial vault which was later added to the church...bears the remains of two of the Campbell-Johnston sons, Alexander Napier and Augustine, and Augustine's wife, Alice."
The book was "A Fund Raising Project of Scout Troop 35." It's an entertaining history of the southwest side of Pasadena, and Garvanza. I found it by searching online sellers.

Mrs. Campbell-Johnston's Wishful Thinking

When I first got to Church of the Angels last week Kelly, my guide, was finishing a conversation with friends and said I could go on in. I had never been there before and didn't know what to expect. When I walked into the small chapel I saw this window and gasped a little.

Kelly's husband, The Scout, got a much brighter picture of the window. It's posted at Kelly's blog, West Coast Grrlie Blather. Maybe the window glows differently at different times, like we all do, according to the sun. (Maybe The Scout's a superior photographer, which he is.) But I saw the the nave around me in darkness and the window aglow.

Click on the photo above to enlarge it and you can read the inscription at the bottom. The window, made in London in the late 1800s, shows an Easter motif: "He is risen..."

This is said to be one of the "finest examples" of stained glass in America. I don't know who says it, but I do know it knocked my socks off. Seriously. I was wearing socks when I got there, but I couldn't find them when I left.

Tomorrow, our last installment of Church of the Angels: the crypt.

Memorial to Love

The Church of the Angels looks large from the outside, but Kelly, my tourguide, told me it holds only about 130 people "tightly packed." In part, the church was meant to be a place of worship for the people of the village of Garvanza, now the section of Los Angeles surrounded by South Pasadena, Highland Park, Eagle Rock and Pasadena.

But mainly this church was built by Mrs. Alexander Robert Campbell-Johnston as a memorial to her husband. She had the the means to demonstrate her love in a most impressive way. Expensive appointments abound; in the photo you can see the red pressed brick of the walls and beginnings of the upper redwood beams. The lectern resembling the Archangel Michael was carved in Belgium from a solid piece of a bog oak tree more than 400 years old. The baptistry, with a figure of Italian marble holding a font of Mexican alabaster, was a gift from the workmen who built the church. (I'm saving the stained glass window for tomorrow.)

In front of the church, a stone sundial in a heart-shaped setting is a memorial to Mrs. Campbell-Johnston, donated by her sons. And over the years, the congregation has maintained the whole place with care.

Money made the place impressive, but it's the love that makes it special.

Zen Monday: Church Attic

An upstairs room at Church of the Angels.

If you want daily zen, try daily zen.

Then and Now: Church of the Angels

It's a bit of a thrill to find an old photo, taken from a spot you can get to, then go see what the shot looks like today. I've wanted to try it for a long time.

Pasadena's Church of the Angels is a good place to start. It's the oldest church in Pasadena (built in 1889), rich in history and still active today. It appears in films and TV from time to time.

My friend Bob Goldstein used to be a docent at Pasadena Heritage and probably still would be, had he not moved away from southern California. He loved that volunteer position and relished giving tours of Pasadena's historical neighborhoods. Bob took his post card collection with him, but he's shared some good scans with me. He sent tour information, too—I still haven't perused it all. There'll be more "Now and Then" installments, thanks to Bob.

There'll also be more pictures of Church of the Angels in the next few days, thanks to Kelly. She showed me around her beloved church and read to me about its history. A beautiful old building is a treasure, an old church a quiet mystery. When you and your friend have that to yourselves, it's a special kind of blessing.