New Swank on South Lake

I'm always poking around on Hometown Pasadena, the brainchild of local publisher, editor, writer and whirlwind Colleen Dunn Bates. You can't help but scare up something great there because Colleen's got a little bit of everything. Last week she hooked me with this: Hometown Pasadena Five to Appear. It was an invitation to the open house for Granite Park Place, the new luxury condos currently under construction at the corner of San Pasqual and Lake. If you RSVP'd and showed up you not only got a peek inside the new condos, you got a free, signed copy of the latest edition of the book version of Hometown Pasadena.

Well, dayum. I wanted my free book.

I've featured these condos before. First here, then here. Obviously I was unprepared for the swank.
(Whether or not the interior design of the model is to your taste, you have to admit the dining table is out of this world. At least admit I need it in my house. It's ceramic or clay or something glazed. It probably cost at least as much as my car. I mean as much as my car cost new.)

The real estate personnel were gracious. Paul Sunshine of Domineum Marketing (right rear above), greeted me upon my arrival. He knew darned well I was not going to buy a condo. He knew I was not with the Pasadena Star-News but a mere blogger. He saw my blue jeans. Yet he gave me a friendly tour of the model condo.

While most people were down the hall chowing down on their beautifully catered bento box lunch, I shared the model condo's living room with no one but the string quartet. I took pictures while they serenaded me with a medley from Camelot. I wonder if the condos come with...? No, no, surely not. But one would have a string quartet if one were going to live in a luxury condo, doesn't one agree? In short, there's simply not a more congenial spot. Hey, I know my swank.

Judging from the number of unavailable units in the building, Granite Park Place is selling like Zhu Zhu Pets, even with the high price tag. Let's hope its presence perks up business on South Lake Avenue.

And oh yes! A coup! I got my free book! Signed by all five authors. Dayum.

Well, Almost Every Day

Sometimes I'll take a picture of something I like, and it's not until I post it that I go Googling to figure out what it is. I just like it, is all. Then it's late, and I'm tired, and I think "Oh, I'll just post this." And wait just a minute there, fella! I uncover something. Or I almost do.

There's a lot of public art in Pasadena--sculptures, mosaics, etc. At Plaza Las Fuentes just east of City Hall you'll find fountains, sculptures and brightly colored tile walls across a wide plaza connecting All Saints Church, the Hotel Maryland apartments, McCormick & Schmick's, California Pizza Kitchen and the Westin Hotel. So, you get it: big plaza. Lots of fountains, lots and lots of tiles, very colorful.

The City of Pasadena website provides fantastic walking tour maps of the public art. The one for this area shows three different possibilities for what we're seeing right here: items 4, 5 and 6 on the map. Item 4, "Dreamer with Fish" fountain by Michael Lucaro (can't find him online but I find a Michael Lucero. Typo, or I'm giving you the wrong link.) In the foreground we have a fountain, and it looks like a dreamy kind of fish. The background must be Item 5, "Pasadena, the City of Roses" tile wall by Joyce Kozloff. Yes indeed, a tile wall with roses on it. That's gotta be it.

Now take a look at item 6. "Tile Fireplace," mantle water fountain, by Ernest A. Batchelder. If you don't know Batchelder, well, he was a Pasadena townie who made such beautiful tiles for which we are so nostalgic that if your home has a Batchelder fireplace the price goes up. The City's website doesn't say when the piece was made, but Batchelder was born in 1875 and died in 1957, so--before that.

Well dang, I don't know what a Tile Fireplace mantle water fountain is, but I'm pretty sure I don't see that in my pitcher. I gotta go back and uncover that particular hidden treasure.

Theme Day: Contrast

This is not a scene from the Station Fire. It's the remains of a small brush fire that occurred within the Cobb Estate in Altadena within the last year. I thought it appropriate for today's City Daily Photo blog theme day because it shows the contrast of the burned forest in the foreground and the living forest behind it.

The Cobb Estate is a natural, wild area that belongs to the U.S. Forest Service. It didn't burn in the Station Fire but it remains closed (see the closed gates here) in order to aid the USFS in limiting access to the burn area. The station fire burned more than 250 square miles of forest and is still burning in some spots after more than five weeks.

We look forward to the reopening of our forests, although we know what we'll see when we get back up in the mountains will be in stark contrast with what we remember.

Check out the other blogs participating in today's theme.

Last Day, September 2009

5/29/09, 4:00 p.m.

I have this idea, but it's not my idea. I don't suppose there's any way of knowing who did it first. Monet did it with haystacks. Went back and painted them again and again in different seasons and different light.

8/22/09, 6:01 p.m.

But I'm no Monet. I might be more like Marley of Cheltenham Daily Photo-Marley (as opposed to Cheltenham Daily Photo-Lynn). Marley, a fellow City Daily Photo blogger, started his Changing View posts in September of 2008 and ran them monthly for a year, giving his visitors a busy street corner in all its seasons.

9/11/09, 6:08 p.m.

The most striking example I've seen is this gallery by J?r?me Chom? (that's how it looks at pbase) at pbase.com. I can't stop looking at it. It's the kind of work I want to be able to do.

9/28/09, 10:48 a.m.

I've found a spot I like. I can get there often enough to shoot it in its differing seasons and times of day. I'll stop posting when you get tired of them, which may be sooner, but I'll keep shooting until I get tired of them, which may be later. Last day of the month, starting now.

Friend of Hahamongna

Thanks to the inimitable Altadenablog for alerting me to this:
There will be a meeting of the Hahamongna Watershed Park Advisory Committee this evening at 6:00pm at La Casita del Arroyo, 177 S. Arroyo Blvd. in Pasadena. Much has been said, plans have been made and I'm confused about what's going to be done with Hahamongna.

I wish it were nothing. Hahamongna is accessible wilderness in the middle of civilization, a ragged wedge of land where humans can breathe the scent of sage, watch a heron fly, even make eye contact with a coyote. There's nothing like it in Chicago or San Francisco or even Paris. It's one of the gems that makes Pasadena unique. It is often my muse.

But change may be coming to Hahamongna as inevitably as the Station Fire came charging through the San Gabriel Mountains. There was no stopping it once the arsonist had done his work.

I'll be at the meeting. Maybe I can help make sure the changes are for the good. So much of Pasadena's natural surroundings have already been destroyed; I'd like to see this small, ragged wedge preserved.

Zen Monday: #65

Zen Monday is the day you experience the photo and give us your thoughts rather than me telling you what the photo's about. I look for something worth thinking about or, failing that, at least something odd.

As I post each new Zen Monday photo, I'll add a label to last week's to identify it if necessary (if I know what it is).

A Blissful Affair

J and I were actually out after dark last night, and I believe we were at the social event of the season. It was the 9th Annual Perello Private Outdoor Affair, where we got to meet new people, chow down on great food, have a drink and--believe it or not--enjoy a brief massage. Now that's what I call a party favor.

If you visit here often you've heard me mention Ibarionex Perello, a photographer and human I admire. Well, there's a Cynthia to our Ibarionex, and she, too, has the soul of an artist. When she shared her original poem, "Bliss," it seemed to have everything to do with having her family and friends all around. We were honored to be included.

I took a lot of pictures of Cynthia. Most of them weren't clear, but in this one I caught the light of someone else's flash. That flash was so bright it worked on her like a spotlight, and she worked it right back.

Peace Through Music

The job of the Pasadena Human Relations Commission is to "engage in activities designed to aid in elimination of prejudice, intolerance and discrimination" and to "assist the City in achieving better inter-group understanding among residents." Among other things.

It's about all kinds of people living together harmoniously, which doesn't always happen even here in what I like to think of as my personal Utopia. Utopia's not perfect, so the Human Relations Commission's working on it.

Tonight they're presenting the annual Peace Through Music Concert. The proceeds support most of the Commission's work, much of which is with area youth. Check it out at 7PM sharp at the First Church of the Nazarene, 3700 E. Sierra Madre Blvd. in Pasadena. If you've got questions you can call Commissioner Terrie Allen at 626-796-6878 or Co-Chair Michelle Bailey at 626-644-0701.

The picture of the house has nothing to do with it. I just like this house.

Guarding the Property

When we walk Boz in the neighborhood he causes a stir. All the local sentries come out to give him what fer and the hair on Boz's butt goes up. He's a lover, not a fighter.

I imagine if we could understand what dogs say it would be all single-syllable words and their sentences would be peppered with profanity. "You no come here! This my $%@# yard! You go! You go now! Go fast! You no come back!" They're just doing their job.

On the block behind us there's an area we call The Chihuahua Corridor. Long before he gets there Boz gets a mohawk going all the way down his back. Now Boz could kill a chihuahua with one chomp of his teeth. But with dogs, size really doesn't matter. It's all about confidence. When I stay home and John walks Boz, I know exactly when the two of them enter the Chihuahua Corridor.

This little guy may not look tough, and Boz's hair stays flat when we pass this house. But this guy's always got something to say: "This my $%@# yard! You go now! Wait! You come back here, you $(&# dog! I said come back here right now! You play?"

Free Time in the Bank

I don't think I'm giving away any trade secrets if I tell you I write my post the night before it goes up, then program Blogger to post it at 12:01 a.m. Usually I'm all organized and prepared. But sometimes the day has worn me out and I don't have a single pithy thing to say. Such is life, daily blog or no.

(What I mean is, I got nothin'.)

These are the times when it would be great to have several posts "in the bank," so to speak. You know, something pre-written and ready to go in case I'm out of ideas. I really need to get around to banking those. One of these days, when I get some free time.

Maybe this is a good time to say thanks to everyone who checks in, and to those who follow Pasadena Daily Photo.

(Yeah, yeah, that'll work. Try that.)

I love taking the photos, posting them and writing about them, and you all make it worth it. Thank you.

(Okay, well, it sort of worked. I should still bank some, though.)

Apparently, Johnson Rocks

Who is Johnson? How does he rate a field?

Oh, I looked, but I did not find. Much. Besides repeated mentions of Johnson Field ("an inactive spreading basin...used for passive recreational uses"), I found nothing but this interesting LA times article from 1992. The article discusses early plans for Hahamongna Watershed Park and a disagreement about putting soccer fields there. At the end there's a brief mention of Johnson field: "a small baseball field built by city employees for a municipal soccer league." I think he meant it was originally built as a soccer field but by the time of the article it was used more as a baseball field.

The article said all parties agreed the field should be eliminated. It's still there, after a fashion, although they finally stopped watering it this year. Makes sense. Drought + rarely used field - water = savings (or at least common sense).

So I found out that much. But I still don't know who Johnson is, or how he rates a field. Or a rock, for that matter.

Aztec Fire Crew 63

When I met John Belushi I said, "Nice to meet you." When I saw Brad Pitt in an empty diner, all I did was smile.

But last Wednesday, when J. and I met a bunch of firefighters fresh off the mountain, I said, "You guys are amazing! There's no way to thank you, but thank you!" Then I proceeded to take photo after photo, which they tolerated and even smiled for.

I think they liked the "you guys are amazing" part. I know they liked the "thank you" part, because when we arrived at the gates of the Cobb Estate we'd just missed them posing for photos in front of a hand-made, "Thank You Firefighters" sign hanging on the fence.

The top photo here is a little blurry but I like its haphazardness. Look how young, how tired and how tough they are. And how dirty. They've been through it.

Not to disparage Belushi or Pitt, but movie heroes are heroes of fiction. Firefighters are the real thing. They're not Batman or Spiderman or Transformers. These guys can't fly. When you contemplate the 250 square miles of mountainside that burned in the Station Fire, then think of how tiny even a brave firefighter is against voracious and towering flames, these mere humans are mighty small. But as a team their powers are great.

(Plus Brad Pitt's got nothin' on some, I must say.)
(Aw, cheer up.)
Very nice, thanks.

Smokey? Bear?

Where was I?

Ah, yes. So we met these men last Wednesday. They'd been putting out hotspots on steep terrain, just over halfway through a two-week deployment during which they were headquartered at Hansen Dam. That deployment ends today. Welcome home, guys!

Friday, when I saw pyrocumulus clouds above Altadena, I thought about "the guys." Now the firefighters had faces. I started nosing around about Aztec Fire Crew 63 online. Now I'm even more impressed than I was before. These young men have had to fight more than fires. You can read more about Aztec Fire Crews, or watch a video starring a different Aztec Crew.

I'm awed by all firefighters, and Aztec Fire Crew 63 is no exception. They're gentlemen, they were all exceedingly nice and we loved talking to them. As we left, my husband, who can lift a full-sized sofa by himself, said, "We sit at our desks and deal with ideas. These guys go into the mountains and deal with the forces of nature." I can't say it better. They are men of the elements.

Admittedly, there's plenty of hero worship going on around here. But I think the reason we're so impressed with these heroes is that they are, after all, humans.

Damn fine humans.

Zen Monday: #64

Zen Monday is the day you experience the photo and give us your thoughts rather than me telling you what the photo's about. I look for something worth thinking about or, failing that, at least something odd.

As I post each new Zen Monday photo, I'll add a label to last week's to identify it if necessary (if I know what it is).

Enchanted Evening

One evening last spring in Altadena, I took this photo looking through a storefront window. It was the first Altadena Arts Coalition Open House on May 15th (the second one was September 5th). I took so many other pictures that night I never got around to posting this one.

Lately we've been having lovely evenings for strolling and looking in storefront windows. I think I've finally found the right time for posting this.

I'm not frilly. I rarely wear bows or fluffy things. But this graceful dress, the strange light and the night invited my girlhood imagination to awaken and think of princesses.

Water Tight

In comments about yesterday's photo Margaret asked, "What is the flat surface we see?" Here's a closer view of it; it's a catch basin, part of the Las Flores Water Company's system. I don't know how it works, but I know it's part of a larger group. A snooty crowd, frankly. They're being a tad obvious about the fact that they don't want anybody inside their fence.

I took this picture from the back side of the basin or tank or tub or whatever it's called. That would be to the left side of it, in yesterday's photo. (Enlarge that shot and you can see the cyclone fence.) It may look a little rusty, but the rust is just to fool you. I've seen maintenance people around, taking care of it, patrolling the place and making sure nobody gets in. People take water seriously around here.

Fine, fine. Call it sour grapes but I don't want to go in there anyway. Stand next to the tank at the end of a hot day and it makes weird noises while it cools off. "Bloop. Boing. Doonk." Hell, I can hear that at home.

Revisiting an Old Flame

While firefighters continue to target hotspots in the Station Fire, I thought it might be interesting to revisit a small brush fire area I've photographed before to check in on the progress of regrowth. I took this photo on August 13th before the Station Fire began. Though this area (viewed across Las Flores Canyon from the Sam Merrill Trail) was unscathed in the recent fires, it remains closed to hikers.

This small area burned almost exactly two years ago in August of 2007. The fire was very quickly put out by our local firefighting heroes. Click on my March, 2008 post to see how the burn area looked this past February, then again a month later, after some rain.

In today's photo you can see much more growth. I don't know if the burnished brown scrub is dried from lack of water, or if that's the color of the healthy plant. Maybe one of you can tell us.

One of the hotspots the firefighters have been working on the last couple of days is almost directly north of this area. John and I met some of the guys as they came off the mountain Wednesday night. They were tired and dirty and gorgeous and sweet. I'm saving those pictures to post Tuesday, 9/22. That's when they said they'd be coming to the end of their deployment and have a chance to check the web.

I know we can never thank them enough, but if you get the chance, give it a try. They like it.

Wiggle Waggle Walk

Here's an action-packed sporting event involving three happy dogs who don't have a care in the world, thanks to owners who love and care for them. That's Sprocket on the left, Jerry in the middle and Boz on the right. John and I adopted Boz a little over six years ago and he's been enhancing our lives ever since. He doesn't have much of a tail to waggle, but he finds myriad other ways to show his appreciation.

Pasadena Humane Society & SPCA's annual Wiggle Waggle Walk is coming up on Sunday, September 27th at Brookside Park. There you can join with animal lovers from miles around and raise funds to help the more than 11,000 animals (of all types) that the PHS cares for every year. The walk is schedule for 9am to 2pm.

The Pasadena Humane Society is a broad organization helping all kinds of animals. They even have Wildlife Services. I suspect the Station Fire has created a stronger need for those services now than ever before.

The Wiggle Waggle Walk is a fun way to support all of PHS's services, including animal adoptions, education programs, wildlife services and more. I'm sure it'll be an action-packed event that will help more animals live their lives without a care in the world, thanks to the people at Pasadena Humane Society who care so deeply for them.

Fyre Guard

Fyre Guard doesn't have much of a web presence so I can't tell you any more about the business than what we see in the photo. The place was closed when I took the picture and there wasn't anyone to ask. Still, I love the look of the place. Click on the picture to enlarge it and contemplate all those fire extinguishers in need of fixing.

Acronymious

Who needs Hollywood? All that beating of one's head against Hollywood's brick wall is unnecessary when our very own KPAS has a green screen (aka Chroma key) studio. (If you don't know what it is and you'd rather not read the Wikipedia article, just click here for a quick visual to give you an idea of how green screen can be used.)

I met some nice people over at Hen's Teeth Square where the studios are located. Linda Centell, Pasadena's Assistant Public Information Officer, introduced me to everybody (and she knows everybody):
E. Stuart Johnson, Live Production Coordinator, recorded and videotaped me in the sound booth. (It's strange to watch myself doing voice-over on video.)
Later, Aaron Wheeler, the Marketing & Communications Manager, was helping set up in the green screen studio while I nosed around with my camera.
Don Repella, the Executive Director of Pasadena Community Access Corporation, talked about how green screen is used. Plus we got to talking about photography.
Community Outreach Coordinator Michele Maglionico Lembo demonstrated how to break the rules.

Now I know that KPAS and PCN are two different entities. Linda told me PCAC is public access and KPAS is government access, but is PCAC the same as PCN? And what does KLRN have to do with it? And why is it when I click on the "How Can You Create Your Own Show" link on the PCN website I get nowhere? What are they trying to tell me?

Ah, just banging my head against a bright green brick wall.

Zen Monday: #63

Zen Monday is the day you experience the photo and give us your thoughts rather than me telling you what the photo's about. I look for something worth thinking about or, failing that, at least something odd.

As I post each new Zen Monday photo, I'll add a label to last week's to identify it if necessary (if I know what it is).