Tradition

When the original Zinke's shoe repair was torn down at Madison and Colorado, an old sign was revealed. How fitting that it's for a "time shop." Helen's? I couldn't find anything about it on the web. This might be a question for the archives at the Pasadena Museum of History.

Zinke's has moved to a new location, a mini-mall at Locust and Lake, and that's not a bad thing. By the time it was torn down the only traditional thing about it was the sign (and perhaps the vintage tile).

Other Pasadena traditions we adore, however. Take Doo Dah, for example. It can't disappoint because you never know what to expect. For example, would you expect the venerable Pasadena Museum of history to host a retrospective exhibit about the Doo Dah Parade?

Well, such an exhibit is in our future (we know what to expect from the PMH, thank goodness), and tomorrow between 5 and 8pm there'll be a party at the museum to celebrate. You can go. A host of past Doo Dah queens will be there and the current queen, Patrizzi Intergarlactica herself, wouldn't miss it.

Put on your Doo Duds. Help the museum fund-raise. Go mingle. It's tradition.

Let's have a little contest.

Update, 10:50am: the contest is over, I have 8 winners. I think this one may have been a little too easy. Never fear, we'll do this again sometime, as soon as I have more prizes to give out.

The winners are:
Roberta M.
Cafe Observer
Margaret
Susan C.
Daniel
Loren
Valerie
Jim O (send me your mailing address, Jim--I think I'm not getting through your spam blocker)

As (apparently) many of you know, this is the interior of Zinke's Shoe Repair on Colorado Blvd. at Madison. The earlier post is below.

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Before you say anything please read the rule, because if you do it wrong you might disqualify everybody.

(A cruel authority figure once told me "wrong" is not a nice word. Just obey the rule, okay?)

There's only one rule: you must email me the answer to the contest question at the end of the post. The link to my email is in the upper left corner of the blog.

You must not answer in the comments section. The reason for the rule is I have eight prizes to give away, and if you answer in comments you give the answer away, which invalidates any answers that follow your comment.

If you don't know the answer to the question you can play it like Zen Monday if you want to. Or critique my cropping. We'll use the comments to chat about something else today.

I think you'll like the prize:
You may have noticed the link on my blog (lower left) to the Ben's post. This little booklet has a lot of stuff in it, including ads, AND discount coupons for places on Pasadena's edges that you've been thinking about trying, like Cycleway Coffee on Monterey Road, My Taco Catering in Highland Park and Larkin's Soul Food and a bunch of spots in Eagle Rock.

(The Eateries website includes a couple of my coffee shop quest posts (I'll be getting back to the quest very soon), a terrific article by Ben and the funniest restaurant review ever, written by John Sandel, aka my husband, also known to Pasadena Daily Photo readers as J+P. Deb also put up a gallery of some of my shots.)

If you're willing to share your mailing address with me (I won't keep it), send me an email with the correct answer to the contest question. The first eight emails I receive that include the correct answer win the Eateries Handbook. If we don't get eight winners by midnight tonight, we'll do another contest until I give 'em all away.

Whew!

The contest question is: Where was the top photo taken?

Zinke's Drive In

Zinke's, at the corner of Colorado and Madison, is one of those businesses everyone knows. Like the sign shows, it's a shoe repair place (as opposed to a drive-in movie or burger joint). And as the online reviews will tell you, they'll also fix your purse or even add a notch to your belt. And they do it very well.

I think Zinke's has been in business for about sixty years. The neon sign, at least, was made in 1948. The other sign in the picture is newer.

According to this February 14th article about the demise of Bungalow News in Pasadena Weekly, "Plans to build a parking garage nearby at the southeast corner of Colorado and Madison Avenue fizzled several years ago...and would have destroyed two other Pasadena institutions - Zinke's Shoe Repair and The White Hut."

So the parking garage thing didn't work out, and the lot these businesses stand on is for sale. Which could mean Zinke's and the White Hut aren't yet out of danger. For now, you can still drive in and get a new notch in your belt, if your belly justifies such tightening.