Bucolic Altadena

There are quite a lot of cabins in our area. You may come across them while hiking in the hills above Pasadena or Sierra Madre. Some are historic and rustic. Many are hard to get to, all are in beautiful places.

This one's in a beautiful place: Altadena. It's easy to get to; the Altadena Hiker and I came across it while hiking on a residential street.

Tomorrow's the last day of our Altadena hike. I've enjoyed this a lot. I thank Karin for showing me so many great places, and especially for being good company.

Altadena Departure

Walking through a residential part of Altadena, the "town of extremes" as the Altadena Hiker put it, we came upon this flight of stairs leading to a modern home. Just to show you how extreme Altadena can be, I turned from the spot where I shot yesterday's photo and shot this one looking in the opposite direction. They're just a few steps apart. Karin and I guessed they're on the same property.

I wasn't going to post this one. I had two more, one for today and one for Friday, then it was going to be "au revoir, Altadena." But there's something about this picture I like. I think it's because it's a departure for me. Not my usual.

So we'll have our Friday Altadena shot and save the kittycombs for Saturday. Then it will indeed be "Altadena, au revoir."

Extreme Altadena

I don't think anyone actually lives here. But in comments the other day on a post about an Altadena mansion, the Hiker herself said "Altadena is a town of extremes" so I couldn't resist.

The Altadena Hiker led me through an almost secret neighborhood I'm not sure I could find again, a place so private we ambled down the street completely undisturbed by people, or by traffic of any kind. We finally came across a man sitting near this trailer and asked if he minded if we took some photos. He didn't.

This week we'll finish our hike with the Hiker, then I'll hand over Altadena to Debbi. I'm loathe to give up Altadena! Well, I can still take pictures there (I don't think I could stop!) , I just won't post them here. It is a pretty, pretty place. It's as close to hillbilly country as you can get and still be in LA. And I mean that in a good way.

Home Shopping #3: Mediterranean Altadena

Karin, the Altadena Hiker, knows where all the good stuff is in her neighborhood. This Mediterranean Mansion looks suitable, doesn't it? When a home goes on the market these days it gets its own website. Take a look at this.

I love all the French doors, the archways, the dark wood. The back yard and patio are fab. I'm just going to mention that I could do without the murals. As for the kitchen, I haven't decided what to do with it yet. Maybe it needs a remodel or maybe there's just too much in there. It's different, I'll give you that. Otherwise, this house is ready for me to move in.

Ah. Then again, there's that staff I mentioned the other day. I'll have to have at least a cleaning lady (or I'd be happy with a cleaning man), a gardener, a cook and a masseuse to keep this place in order.

Zen Monday: #36

Zen Monday is the day you experience the photo and give us your thoughts rather than me telling you what the photo's about.
There's no right or wrong. If the photo evokes something in you, that's all it is.

As each new Zen Monday is posted, a label is added to last week's to identify it (if I know what it is).

Patrician Altadena

We're back on our Altadena walk with the AltadenaHiker. I snapped a shot of this stately home and was gratified when the Hiker told me the people who live there are "so friendly." I don't know why, I just liked hearing that. Maybe it's because I like to think rich folks are people too, and if/when I'm rich, people will still like me.

Not all of Altadena's neighborhoods look like this one, but east of Lake Avenue you'll find many of the sort of homes you wouldn't even want if you couldn't afford the staff to help with the upkeep. I don't mind telling you I've done some fantasizing about these homes. Yes, and about having employees to do the tasks I don't want to do. A cleaning lady! A cleaning lady! My kingdom for a...* Well that doesn't make any sense, does it? Then what would she clean?

I think these folks are conserving water. Rich folks can be decent too.

I promised you an announcement today, and here it is: There's a new blog in town and it's called Altadena Daily Photo! Writer/photographer/Altadena resident Debbi Swanson Patrick has taken up the task. This means that once we've finished our hike with the Hiker, I'm going to officially leave the Altadena turf to Deb. Bonne chance, Debbi!


*Inspiration: The Altadenahiker herself.

Fairy Tales

We're taking a Valentine's Day break from our Altadena hike.

This is a close-up on the Cinderella Tile Panel at the Huntington Art Gallery in San Marino. The card on the wall next to it says the panel was originally created to adorn a fireplace. The tiles were painted by Lucy Faulkner, sister of William Morris's partner Charles Faulkner after a design by Edward Burne-Jones, and manufactured by Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Company in London in 1862.

I think the tale of Cinderella is appropriate for today because in the story, the couple can't be together until she reveals her true self to him. Yeah, yeah, yeah, she has to fit the glass slipper. And yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a rags to riches story of virtue conquering tyranny. But fairy tales are also allegorical. Love is about sharing our truest selves with each other and accepting our loved ones in all of their forms, from the glorious to the base.

Tomorrow we'll return to Altadena, with an announcement!

Paraskavedekatriaphobia

You learn a new word and you just want to walk around using it, impressing people with your snappy vocabulary. Either that or they think you're speaking gibberish.

Continuing from yesterday's post: Altadenahiker and I toured one of Altadena's prettiest neighborhoods and found this garden, protected by Ganesh. Ganesh is a popular Hindu god of arts, sciences, intellect and wisdom. He's even a patron of letters, according to Wikipedia. Ganesh covers lots of stuff. No wonder he's popular.

A less popular deity is the Norse goddess Frigga, or Frigg. She may be the origin of paraskavedekatriaphobia for goodness sakes. Not even a goddess can live down a stain like that on her reputation. Paraskavedekatriaphobia means "fear of Friday the 13th."

Although I always recommend Wikipedia as a beginning for research (as opposed to the be-all to end-all), I enjoyed the Wikipedia article about the origins of Friday the 13th.

Will you invoke any deities to protect you today? Will you stay in? I'm not afraid of today. Are you?

Altadena Hike

One of the many pleasures of blogging is other bloggers. If you're a lucky blogger you get to meet some of your favorite bloggers in person. And I am one lucky blogger.

Not long ago I took a hike through Altadena with the Hiker. I lived in Altadena for almost two years, in this very century, and still hadn't found all the places she showed me. All of them, including this secret spot, are within a few minutes' walking distance of where I lived.

I got some nice shots during our hike. I'll post them over the next few days. I think you'll like them, but unfortunately, you'll lack the pleasure of Karin's company.

Eric Merrell

What could be more bucolic, more artsy, more Seurat than coming across a painter in the Arroyo Seco, practically in the shadow of the Colorado Street Bridge?

John and I were walking with Boz when we saw Eric Merrell's umbrella. I just had to go find out what he was painting. But we'd caught him between paintings, and he was peering at a blank canvas. Thinking. Looking around. Checking out the light.

He was nice enough to let me take photos, but an artist has a process and I didn't want to bother him for long. We exchanged urls, as gentlefolk do in polite society.

Here's Eric's outstanding website. Here's Eric's thoughtful blog.

On the website, you'll see he's currently part of a show at the Cape Cod Museum of Art, and he opens at the Addison Art Gallery in Orleans, MA on Valentine's Day (break a leg, Eric!). Right here in Pasadena we can get a look at his works from April 26th to May 17th at the California Art Club's 98th Annual Gold Medal Juried Exhibition at the Pasadena Museum of California Art.

I think I'll just go to that.

Below, the painter contemplates his next masterwork.

Pasadena Professional Building

Last week we viewed a bit of Pasadena skyline from atop the Professional Building. (To see those posts, click on the label "Pasadena Professional Building" below.)

Here's a view looking up at the building itself. I wish I'd had a ladder. Better yet, a jet pack. I'd like to get up to those rosettes for a close-up. The best I can do is suggest you click on the photo for a closer look at the tasty superfluous details on this creamy building.

Amelia, the building manager, told me when she began working there in 1989 the basement was creepy, with lights hanging from the ceiling (some of them nonfunctional) over an old wooden desk amid boxes and old furniture. Supposedly there's a ghost of a little boy in the basement, too. Amelia's never met him face to face, but he's closed a few doors on her when she knew she was the only one on the premises.

The basement's been cleaned up now. Originally it held an assembly hall for meetings, but it's no longer in use.

There have been other changes. When Amelia first came to the Professional Building the elevators still had seats for the uniformed operators. Not anymore. The elevators are nice, but I prefer the stairs. I'd take them even if I had a jet pack to get to my doctor's office. (Use it or lose it, they say.)

For a view from a bit further away, see Ben's post.

Zen Monday: #35

Zen Monday is the day you experience the photo and give us your thoughts rather than me telling you what the photo's about.
There's no right or wrong. If the photo evokes something in you, that's all it is.

As each new Zen Monday is posted, a label is added to last week's to identify it (if I know what it is).

Sunday Garden

A neighborhood stroll reveals this pretty patio along a stretch of Palm Terrace where, even on a gray day, almost every yard looks lovely.

I take a few pictures. The birdies tweet. I put the camera away. I stare. Finally, in sadness, I wipe the drool from my chin and slink away.

I've always wanted to have a green thumb, but if wishes were gardens I'd have a gorgeous yard instead of one where I experiment with methods of herbaceous homicide. Everything I've planted over the past three years is dead or in the process of dying. (So in case you were wondering, no, this is not my yard.)

I once had enthusiasm. I used it to tear out healthy plants planted by the previous owner and plant the things I wanted. You know what happened.

So how does one start over? What's my first move (besides hiring a landscaper)? Should I take a class? Read a book? Rip out what's left and apply gravel?

Bacon and Cheese

Margaret sent up the challenge: "Bring me bacon," she said, "straight from the pig."

Couldn't be easier. I applied logic and reasoned, "why, The Huntington has one of the most extensive collections of Bacon material in the world."

I figured I'd go photograph some of their Bacon. We Huntington members can drop by and do that any time we please.

Unless the Bacon is not on display. See, when the Bacon is curing, only specialists, called "curators," get to see it.

So I called. I wanted to be sure there was some Bacon in the current exhibits. It would save me a trip if there weren't. I'd just, oh, I don't know, maybe surf the web for my Bacon.

The switchboard operator didn't know if there was any Bacon on display, so she transferred me to the library. The person who answered was "only a security guard" who didn't know if there was Bacon in the library (you'd think she'd smell it), and though she couldn't transfer me she did give me a name. I called the switchboard again. The switchboard forwarded me to the person the security guard had recommended, who didn't know if there was Bacon displayed anywhere at the Huntington. She gave a snort and transferred me to someone who would know, yet didn't, and he transferred me to another department, where I got voice mail.

I wonder why they don't have a list, or a database, where employees can look up "What's Currently On Display at the Huntington." I've heard tell knowledge is power.

Anyway, I thought they should display some Bacon, seeing as they have such an extensive collection. So John and I drove down there to donate some. The Huntington thrives on donations.

I wanted a picture of the Huntington's Bacon, but it worked out okay. I've always been a bit of a ham. "Straight from the pig," Margaret said. Can you find the pig in this photo?

Presbyterian from on High

I snapped this shot of Pasadena Presbyterian Church on Colorado Blvd. from atop the Pasadena Professional Building at the corner of Madison and Union. If you click on this picture to enlarge it, you can get a better view of the cloisters to the right. You can also see the bells mounted in the slim, modern bell tower. These bells survived the 1971 Sylmar earthquake, but the original bell tower didn't. (Thanks to Elizabeth for sharing this info in yesterday's comments.)

Pasadena Heritage says the church began in 1875 in a private home; this site was purchased in 1908. But this view wasn't available until 1925 when the Pasadena Professional Building came into being.

I took several more shots, but I knew security man Ernie had other things to do, and though he was too kind to rush me I thought it best to head back downstairs to see Amelia.

Amelia's the building manager, and a fountain of facts about the Pasadena Professional Building. In order to build the eight story structure, a group of 57 doctors, surgeons and dentists formed a corporation. For a cost of nearly a half million dollars, Los Angeles architects Dodd & Richards and LA's Schofield Construction Company built to the corporation's specifications. Each office suite is different due to the arrangements made for the original occupants. Where are you gonna find that today?

Just walk into the lobby and you'll know you're in a special place.

We'll take a three-day weekend to bring home the bacon and do some other blog business, and I'll finish the tale of the Pasadena Professional Building on Tuesday.

Belvedere of the West

I'll get to pictures of the Pasadena Professional Building itself, but first I'd like to show you a few more shots I took from the roof. And I ought to tell you how I got up there.

The building in today's picture is Bank of the West, at the corner of Madison Ave. and Colorado Blvd. I've long admired the belvedere atop this building, which the PlayhouseDistrict tour says is on the National Register of Historic Places. See the bottom of page 2 of this .pdf for info, then print out the .pdf and keep it! No, no, no, don't thank me, thank Pasadena Heritage. The tour doesn't say what the building was originally called or who the architect was, but it does say it's a 1927-28 Italian Renaissance Revival, and there's lots of other great info in there.

I intend to get up to that belvedere some day, but in the meantime I was photographing it from the roof of the Professional Building. It started when the dashing Dr. Ferrante was examining my petite peds. (Well, okay, my pedestrian peds.) I mentioned I like the Professional Building and its 1920's style, but I'd been unable to learn much about it on the web. He said, "Go see Amelia. She knows everything."

Amelia turns out to be the building manager. I don't suppose she knows everything, but she knows everything about the Professional Building, and she's happy to tell it. While she sent for her archive file she recruited security man Ernie to guide me to the roof for a Pasadena photographer's dream. Ernie was patient, and I snapped away.

Do you recognize what's in the lower right corner of the shot? More on that, and Amelia's stories, tomorrow.

Guess Where I Am

Hint: Ben posted about it recently. In fact, the very day of Ben's post, I was in the very building he mentioned, visiting the dashing Dr. Ferrante, super-podiatrist!

I know what you're thinking: great minds think alike. What? You weren't thinking that about the coincidence of me being in the building Ben was posting about? Oh. You were thinking you've never heard the words "dashing" and "podiatrist" in the same sentence. Whatevs.

I'm on the roof of the Pasadena Professional Building, looking west down Union Street. The Professional Building stands gracefully at the intersection of Union and Madison Avenue, just as it has since it was built in 1925 (two years before City Hall). The official address is 65 N. Madison. The building has an interesting history, some of which I learned while I was there. I'll post more about it in the coming days.

Actually, the building hasn't always stood at Madison and Union. It used to stand at Madison and Herkimer; Union Street was once called Herkimer Street. Now I know how the Herkimer Arms got its name. That's the square white building in the lower center of this photo, the only extant apartment building designed by Greene and Greene and slated to be moved to a new location in the near future. Just beyond the Herkimer, with the aquamarine trim, is the brand new David Allan Hubbard library of the Fuller Theological Seminary, another of Ben's great recent posts. Further west on Union you see All Saints Episcopal Church and Pasadena City Hall. I don't know what those two huge buildings center right are called. Does that make me a bad person? Don't answer that.

More to come about the Professional Building and its early 20th century super-doctors. They didn't fly, but they built a mighty nice building.

First Cut Contest: The Winners

We have 'em! Three triumphant winners in The First Cut Contest. It's historical!

Contest entrants read The First Cut by Pasadena author Dianne Emley, and correctly answered five questions about the novel. Their prize, which is on its way to them, is a copy of the second book in Emley's Nan Vining Thrillogy, courtesy of Dianne Emley. The book's title is Cut to the Quick and it's in stores now. The third book, The Deepest Cut, goes on sale February 24th. Dianne will be signing copies of The Deepest Cut at Vroman's on Colorado Blvd. at 7PM February 25th, so come pick up a signed copy! I'll be there taking pictures. (Or check out her tour schedule, she might be coming to your town.)

And now the winners (drum roll)! In order of receipt of entry, they are:
Katie of Katiefornia in Berkeley, California!
Keith of Gem City Images in Monrovia, California!
and Barbara who doesn't blog (oh, the sanity!) in Pasadena, California!

Here are the questions with the correct answers:
1. What word is written on the refrigerator magnet Nan receives from T.B. Mann?
"pearl"
2. What's the name of the nightclub owned by John Lesley?
Reign
3. What song is played at Frankie Lynde's funeral?
The Beach Boys' "California Girls"
4. What does Frankie's voice say to Nan on the CD that Emily records?
"Wear the pearls. He gave them to you. Wear the pearls."
And the bonus question, which no one had to answer but all three winners did:
5. How many times has Nan's mother been married?
four

Thank you to all the participants!

The only loser was Frankie Lynde, whose body was found above the stone wall beneath the west end of the Colorado Street Bridge. Good thing Frankie's fictional.

For my first such venture there was no better choice than The First Cut. What could be more perfect for Pasadena Daily Photo than a novel starring a Pasadena Police detective, set in Pasadena, by a Pasadena author? I'm extremely grateful to Dianne Emley for her participation. She's been gracious, generous and fun all along.

They would soon put Frankie's casket into the ground. Her case files would go into storage, eventually buried beneath files and more files until the case of Frances Ann Lynde was forgotten. Vining and Frankie had made the same journey. They were sisters, bound by their calling, by violence and their own spilled blood. Vining had made it back.

Zen Monday: #34

Zen Monday is the day you experience the photo and give us your thoughts rather than me telling you what the photo's about.
There's no right or wrong. If the photo evokes something in you, that's all it is.

As each new Zen Monday is posted, a label is added to last week's to identify it (if I know what it is).

Theme Day: Paths & Passages

Today's theme on the City Daily Photo Blogs can be interpreted in many ways. The Arroyo Seco is a water path - at least on some days. But with drought conditions worsening in California, we're likely to see less water traveling through here for a while.

I remember water rationing in the early 90's. It wasn't so hard. We can do it again. In fact I'm starting now. Why wait?

I'd appreciate any water-saving tips you have to share. Here's what we're doing so far: we don't pour left-over water down the drain, that's for plants or for rinsing dirty dishes. We wash full loads, of course. We never hose down the driveway (that is sooo passe). Why water the back yard? Nobody ever sees it. And here's an old favorite we can repeat together in public restrooms: "If it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown...

City Daily Photo bloggers all over the world are participating in today's theme day. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

On another note, today's a good day to look at the peaceful world helper, Avaaz.org, and see if you want to participate.