Julia Morgan YWCA

Julia Morgan was the first female architect licensed in the state of California. She's famous for creating Hearst Castle at San Simeon. She also designed the YWCA building across the street from Pasadena's City Hall. You know the place--it's been boarded up for years, sliding into ruin.

A couple of years ago, Pasadena's City Council voted to exercise its powers of eminent domain and take possession of the building. I think that was a smart move. The building obviously needed protection and its owner wasn't lifting one single, proverbial finger to care for it.

I'll post more pictures next week. In the meantime, there's another opportunity for you to see inside the Julia Morgan YWCA Saturday morning (tomorrow), from 9-10 am. Enter at 78 N. Marengo Avenue and the docents of Pasadena Heritage will be there to answer your questions and keep you from stepping into any holes. After your tour, stop by City Council chambers from 10:15-11:30 for a presentation and comments.

Neglect takes a toll. Years of doing nothing are going to cost. I admit, though, I find great beauty in ruins.

Guest Author Margaret Finnegan and "The Goddess Lounge"

In my novel The Goddess Lounge, an Altadena mom attends a "goddess consultation" at a notorious LA coffee house/knitting salon/menstrual palace called The Goddess Lounge, and from there on out madcap adventures ensue. On my blog, FinneganBeginAgain, readers ask me to find goddesses to help them with issues as diverse as career advancement to leaky plumbing.

You might wonder: Margaret, what's up with all the goddesses?

I'm glad you asked! I believe we live in a world that lacks historical memory.  We throw out the past like it's old Kleenex. The problem is that if you only have your own personal past to provide context for your experiences, then whenever some new tragedy strikes you can't help but gnash your teeth and wonder how you of all people became so particularly and cruelly ill fated. Your partner leaves you and you gnash.  Your career falls apart and you gnash. Your child/parent/best friend/self becomes painfully ill and you gnash, gnash, gnash.

You know what helps with the gnashing? Stories, ancient stories that remind us that loss, pain and hardship are timeless and universal. The only problem is that, in the old stories, hardship turns men into heroes and it turns women into crazy ladies or dead crazy ladies. Which is why women need better stories. Enter goddesses.

Being a goddess was no cake walk. Husbands cheated on you. Children died and betrayed you. You encountered humiliation, sadness, sorrow.  But you didn't go all cat lady and die. You muddled through. And you didn't get a boob job to please a man or feel guilty for wanting something just for yourself. You knew your invaluable worth, and you expected others to know it too. You were better than a hero. You were a goddess.

Want to be a goddess? Here's what you do: Look around, and in the places of your life where you find disrespect and ingratitude, say: "I am a goddess. I will not put up with this shit." And in the places of your life where you find hurt and pain, say: "You poor little thing, come hide under my wings. I am a goddess, and you are safe."

**********

Meet Margaret at a book signing and reception for The Goddess Lounge:

Saturday, July 21

Three o'clock to four-thirty in the afternoon

SPACE Arts Center

1508 Mission Street

South Pasadena, CA 91030

A portion of all proceeds will go to SPACE art scholarships.

Watch a trailer for TheGoddess Lounge (narrated by Pasadena Daily Photo's own Petrea Burchard).

Buy The Goddess Lounge.

Read Margaret's blog and request agoddess of your own.

Denis Callet's 201 Birds

The great horned owls who live at Hahamongna Watershed park seem comfortable with Denis Callet. He has spent so much time there with his camouflage-covered camera that they're used to him. Even the babies pose with confidence.

Check out those toes.

At last Saturday's Hahamongna "Multi-Benefit/Multi-Use Project" Environmental Impact Report scoping meeting, members of the local Audubon Society reported that they have catalogued 201 different species of birds living at Hahamongna. I think Denis has photographed most of them. "It was an awakening meeting," says Denis. "I will attend all those meetings from now on, the wildlife need us more than we need a soccer field."

"Multi-Benefit/Multi-Use" can be considered a misnomer, depending upon how you define "benefit." At a time of drought, when the Colorado River (a source we've long depended on) is at historic lows and the Metropolitan Water District no longer guarantees enough water to fill local groundwater basins, building pollutants into our watershed makes no sense. Nor does disrupting the habitat of squirrels, rabbits, snakes, lizards, bobcats, mountain lions and 201 species of birds.

Denis says four Cooper's Hawk babies were born this year "and I was lucky enough to see them grow up and fledged." He says lucky, I say patient.

I think we can all agree that there's nothing wrong with athletic fields. But some of us--a majority of us, I'll bet--think there's something wrong with athletic fields at Hahamongna. Let's put them somewhere else.

A couple of links you might find useful:
The City of Pasadena's website for the MBMU Project, including the Initial Study prepared by Willdan, the company that will do the Environmental Impact Report (the city will be updating this site as the project moves forward;
Sycamore Grove Field Grant Analysis, a concise report by Hugh Bowles that delineates how the City of Pasadena possibly falsified information on its grant application for state funding for the Hahamongna athletic field, which is part of the MBMU Project;

Descanso Gardens

Long day?
Long week?
Long walk is what I recommend.

We hadn't been to Descanso Gardens in a while and it was high time we went back.

Go. And when you do, get off the main drag as soon as you can. The side pathways feel a bit secretive but you're welcome to take them. Surprises await when you get off the beaten track.

Zen Monday: #205

It's Zen Monday. Tell us how the photo makes you feel.

Archival

This picture is from my archives. I took it once upon a time, during a stroll around the Caltech campus. Caltech is a nice place for a stroll. You're welcome to walk around there and take in the sights--the architecture, the gardens, the turtles.

Arnold O. Beckman was quite the Caltech guy. He did so many important things for southern California and Caltech that the Laboratory of Chemical Synthesis just wasn't enough, so Caltech named the Beckman Auditorium for him, too. I had not heard of his company Beckman Coulter, but perhaps you are not the ignoramus I am.

Professor Beckman was born in 1900 and lived to be 104 years old. For that reason alone, his oral history ought to be pretty interesting.

UPDATE:
Thank you to Sid, who added this information:
"These are the arches by Alexander Stirling Calder that once adorned the front of Throop Hall, the first building on the campus."
You can find Sid Gally's history column regularly in the Pasadena Star-News. He is also a volunteer at the Pasadena Museum of History, where he probably knows the archives by heart.

Creative Reuse

You might want to bookmark this just for the color palette. If it doesn't work for you as a building, perhaps you'd like it in a purse. Or as food.

I like it as a building. If you want to have a look, it's at the corner of Valley Street and DeLacey Avenue, a block or two south of Old Town Pasadena.

I love this kind of architecture. The shape of that facade says "old west frontier" to me. Except the old west is wearing a new outfit, and I just adore that handbag.

Cool Relief

We're having hot weather (not unusual) and actual humidity (rare for soCal). It's not what I'd call oppressive, but it's been tough on Boz. Mostly he's bored. A trip around the block is all he can handle in the heat, yet he's restless. He wants action, baby.

So on Wednesday, before the ground got too hot for tender paws, we took Boz to the Lower Arroyo to enjoy the shade and (yes!) the stream that trickles from north to south among the reeds. He got as muddy and stinky as a dog can get without immersing himself. The picture shows you how far under Boz will go. He doesn't swim. He likes to walk about and cool his belly. He loves to dip his muzzle and bite the water.

From parking lot to bridge and back was all he needed. He slept for the remainder of the day, and he was fine all day yesterday, too, until evening when he became restless again.

Last night it rained, a light rain borne of overwrought humidity and a stressful sky that just had to shake itself out. It didn't pour, but it refreshed the humans almost as much as a trickling stream does a dog.

Bright and Beautiful

Something simple is what I want for today. But not too quiet.

I know it's a rose but I don't know what kind. Do you?

I've been working hard. Too much time at the computer! I need to go stare at a real flower for a while. Smell things. Eat something fun. Hear noise.

Thanks for all your encouraging words on Belinda's Birthday! I'm working on a business plan for the publication of Camelot & Vine and I'll let you in on it as I figure it out. I want to do a European book tour. I will be delighted, however, with a tour of the San Gabriel Valley.

Flood them With Comments

photo taken 1/23/10

Coupla meetings you might like to go to: they're called "EIR scoping meetings." I believe that means the city is getting its chance to scope out whether or not the people want development at Hahamongna Watershed Park.

I know, I know. We've already told them over and over again that athletic fields belong somewhere else. But we have to tell them again.

There will be two meetings (you're welcome to attend both):

Thursday, July 12th 6:30 pm
Saturday, July 14th, 10am
Salvation Army Fellowship Hall, 960 East Walnut, Pasadena, 91106 (enter parking lot from Mentor, south of Walnut)

The idea is for citizens to come and hear about the plans for Hahamongna and to let their feelings be known. This time it's especially important because our comments will be made part of the public record. Apparently that's not always the case.

If you'd like to read up:
The city's initial study for the "multi-benefit multi-use" project;
A report by Hugh Bowles that questions the validity of Pasadena's grant application for the project (very interesting);
the EIR Toolkit from SaveHahamongna.org.

If you can't attend the meetings there is a 45-day public comment period. I'll provide the mailing address as soon as I can.

If you'd like to know why I don't think we should build an athletic field in a watershed during a drought, let me know and I'll go into detail. But I think most folks can figure this one out.

Belinda's Birthday

I am going boldly forward into the self-publishing world! So boldly, in fact, that I'm following in Margaret Finnegan's footsteps. It's like when you walk behind someone in deep snow and place your feet in the footprints they made. Bold! Forging behind!

One of these days I swear I'll come up with ideas of my own, but right now I'm thanking Margaret for the courage, and for this sentence: "Just start with a short story." So I've started with Belinda's Birthday on Smashwords. I first published the story on Paula Johnson's The Rose City Sisters (now at its fancy new WordPress location). Belinda's Birthday was a runner-up for story of the year on that site in 2009. Perhaps you've already guessed the winner.

Finnegan's a damned marketing genius. How can I compete with that? I can't. She makes cake with cocoa frosting. I make lentils. We do what we can with what we have.

I hope you'll download Belinda's Birthday for FREE, and maybe even give me a 900-star review. (Or whatever. I don't think  Smashwords will let you give me 900 stars, but I'll take as many as they'll allow.)

This is the first step, of course, to publishing my novel, Camelot & Vine. Camelot, here we come!

Zen Monday: #204

Nobody likes Mondays, but I hope a little Zen will brighten yours.

It's the day when you tell us what the photo's about, so please leave your comments.

Picture Picture

I'm reading an excellent book by Ann Patchett called State of Wonder in which a doctor from Minnesota takes a trip (for which she is unprepared) to the deepest Amazon. Patchett makes the jungle real in her writing. I wonder how she researched that. I mean, did she look it up online? Read books? See a movie? Or did she actually go there?

I might be able to research Patchett and find out, but for the moment I'd like to ponder the question.

In one scene an anaconda nearly kills a boy. I don't know a thing about anacondas and it would have seemed real enough to me if the danger had come from either constriction or the snake's bite. But let's say you know about snakes. Would it bother you if the author got it wrong? Or would you just think, "It's fiction, she's allowed to make it up"?

John and I discuss questions like this when we talk about writing. When we talk about photography, we don't. We just take our pictures from our different angles, and we're fine with that.

Above Town

With the sun setting to our left and an old road beneath our feet, John and I enjoyed a walk above town on the Sunset Mountain Fire Road on the Fourth of July. You have to take Chaney Trail to get there and Chaney Trail is closed at 8pm, but we had plenty of time for a good hike, or so we thought.

On our way out at about 7:40pm we approached the locked gate near the bottom of Chaney Trail. Several Forest Service vehicles were there and the workers let us out (not that they had much choice, but they were nice about it). One Forest Service guy told us a sign had been posted for early closing at 6pm, but we sure hadn't noticed it. And we weren't the only ones. When we left there were at least four cars still parked at the trail head.

Can you spot the unexpected vehicle in this photo?

Bag Ban Theory

Just as in many other California communities, a ban on single-use plastic bags has recently gone into effect in Pasadena. Those bags are big polluters so I think the ban is a good idea. The ban doesn't cover all stores, but I can't keep track of which stores it's in and which it isn't, so I carry my canvas bags everywhere. I've been doing it for a while and I have a collection in the back of the car.

You play your cards right and folks give 'em to you for free, if you don't mind a logo. I've got one from the City of Pasadena, one from Whole Foods, one from some book fair a hundred years ago, several from Bell Sound and about a hundred Trader Joe's paper bags that just won't quit.

What logos have you collected so far?

Commute, 11

You can't take the freeway all the way from Pasadena to Hollywood. You've got to take surface streets a good part of the time.

Sometimes I take Santa Monica Blvd. instead of Beverly Blvd. Santa Monica is not all like this. It has interesting stretches, though Beverly is more lively more of the time.

I'm told Santa Monica is faster than Beverly, but I prefer Beverly. Go figure.

O Beautiful for Open Space

Hahamongna Watershed Park

Go vote for something. Stand up for a right or two. Or a left, or something in between, whatever suits you. Fortunately we have a choice and we'll keep it as long as we're as vigilant as our foreparents were. 

I wish you an independent Independence Day.

Margaret Finnegan: Goddess of Inspiration

Today is release day! You can now buy a brand spankin' new copy of the brand spankin' new novel, The Goddess Lounge (paperback here), by South Pasadena's Margaret Finnegan. That is a beautiful thing, partly because I love Margaret and partly because I love The Goddess Lounge (ebook here). Also partly because Margaret inspires me.

Margaret's blog, Finnegan Begin Again, would be inspiration enough to read her novel because one always wants more of her unique writer's voice. But she's gone further by involving her readers in the processes of publication and promotion. We've been reading about goddesses, we voted on the book cover, and when it was time to make book trailers we contributed photos of ourselves being goddesses.

Margaret has created two (two!) book trailers. Here's one:


Here's the other:


I'm in the second one twice! The first photo you see is one John took of me. Plus, that's my voice, reading from Chapter Two. I'm honored to be included.

The publishing industry has changed so much in the past few years that publishing the book yourself has become the way to go, or it's certainly at least as viable as the traditional way.  I love what Margaret's doing. Her energy and innovative ideas inspire me, and I can't wait to get my copy of The Goddess Lounge.

Zen Monday: #203

Once again, I don't know. You tell me.

Theme Day: Chimneys

I'm not sure this is an actual chimney, but it's in the expected place so I'm going for it. See if you can spot it next time you're in the passenger seat on Orange Grove Blvd. on the east side of Lake Avenue.

Today is theme day, City Daily Photo's tradition for the first of the month. The website's in a tizzy right now so check out the participants in today's theme at the site Julie set up here.

Ordinarily on theme day I invite you to visit our newest member, but today I think you ought to visit Julie at Sydney Eye and say hello.