Leave the Light On

This wonderful old light fixture hangs at the top of my stairs. I can see it through the window when I pull into the driveway after dark. It's a friendly little beacon. It's quirky and dependable -- kind of like the family it welcomes home. I love the rosy glow of that light, especially after a long day.

Like yesterday, for example...

You've heard me say that things are just different in South Pasadena. That it's kinder here. That in the cruel, impersonal jungle of Los Angeles, South Pas is an oasis of cornball, old-school neighborliness that borders on fetishistic. (And we like it that way.) It's not that the rest of LA is mean -- it's just that so much of South Pas is nice. Really nice. It's kind of weird how nice it is here. People smile and hold doors open here. They throw block parties. They bring you homemade marshmallows and fudge during the holidays. Oh, I'm sure there are some rude, angry, self-centered people in South Pas -- I just haven't run across them yet. (No doubt they skip the old-fashioned Fourth of July Parade.)

But, we can't always stay within the borders of our happy, little village. Yesterday, my daughter and I were waiting to pay for a laptop charger at the Best Buy in Hastings Ranch when a tall man in an expensive suit cut in front of us.

"Hey," I said, "The line is back there."

"Whatever," he said, and then ambled over to the check stand to buy his Transformers DVD.

So, the guy was a first-class toad but not worth getting riled up over. I explained to my daughter that sometimes grownups forget their manners. Next, we drove to a fabric store in Alhambra. At this point, my daughter realized that she needed a bathroom.

"Can you tell me where to find the bathroom?" I asked one of the cashiers.

He looked at me, sighed and said, "Um, no. We don't have a bathroom."

"I have to pee!" My daughter started to freak out, "I think it's going to come out NOW!"

"You don't have a bathroom?" I said.

He stared at me. "No."

I blinked. He didn't.

"Can you let me know which store in this shopping center has a bathroom?"

"I'm pretty sure none of them do," he said. Then, like something remembered from a training manual he added, "Sorry."

I don't think I'm going out on a limb when I say that I know for a fact he was not sorry.

"Hurry, Mommy!" Now my kid was crying, "HURRY!!!"

"I don't know what to tell you," he said, and then went back to straightening and unstraightening shopping bags, right next to a sign that insisted sewing holiday decorations brought back old fashioned family values.

I'm not sure how we managed it but we got home without soiling clothes or car seat -- no accidents, just a lot of tears and a few broken speed limits. Later, I realized I was out of Tylenol. I drove to the South Pasadena Rite Aid on Fair Oaks.

"I'm just curious," I said to the woman stocking paper towels. "Do you have a bathroom I could use?"

"Oh sure," she said with a glow every bit as warm as my lamp in the window. "Let me get the keys."

It's good to be home.

Good Sport

It would have been a better shot with a tripod, but I couldn't resist this spur-of-the-moment capture of my husband and daughter walking past Orange Grove Park. When the field and courts are lit up for games it feels like anything is possible ... like the unbridled enthusiasm of a sporting match floats up and wraps around everyone nearby. Maybe it's because my father was a coach, but the sound of cheering sports fans and (even screaming umpires) inspires me far more than most sermons or speeches. Like Knute Rockne said, "One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than a hundred teaching it."

Something's Up

Not exactly a rainbow, not exactly a sundog, but something odd and beautiful above South Pas the other day. Nature's paintbrush? A secret government experiment? Optical illusion?

Whatever it was, it sure was pretty.

Take in Stride...

I like walking. But somewhere in the 90s in Southern California people stopped calling it walking. If you walked in the woods or up a mountain path: it was hiking. If you walked around the track or even around the neighborhood it was worse: it was power walking. If you jogged to the corner and then walked for a few blocks before sprinting home: it was low impact cardio. Instead of walking up and down the stairs, you took step classes. Just walking had become outdated and quaint. In an age of ambition, just walking was not an action item. It was too unmotivated. (Unless it was on a treadmill at the gym.) If you just walked, you'd better do it in $200 walking shoes with a state-of-the-art pedometer, a heart rate monitor and a bottle of vitamin water.

Poor walking. Forced to compete when all it really wanted was to hang out and play.

In recent years, outdoor malls modeled after small town city centers have become the rage. At places like The Grove , Universal City Walk and The Americana at Brand, you can stroll along cobblestone sidewalks, beneath vintage-inspired streetlamps, in an experience replicating the bygone custom of ... just walking around town. We're lucky to be able to just walk around town in South Pasadena. At just barely 3.44 square miles, we can walk all the way around town. (With all the hills we can even call it a work out.)

Caption this photo... (#20)

I can't wait to see what you guys come up with for this one...

South Pas Up Close #8

The immensely talented (and eagle-eyed) Pasadena Adjacent tipped me off to this curious bronze compass embedded in a sidewalk square near Garfield Park. Isn't it cool?

Doorway to Wonderland...

Today is the first of the month, and that means it's Theme Day for participating City Daily Photo bloggers. This month's theme is Doorways.

Here is the vantage point from the doorway of The Rialto, South Pasadena's decaying film palace. It has been closed for some time now, open only for the occasional birthday party or Rocky Horror midnight show. In this era of iTouch and YouTube, The Rialto stands as a reminder of old-school movie magic. Stepping through these doors once meant leaving the problems of the real world behind, sinking into a plush, velvet seat an losing yourself in the film experience. In fact, stepping through these doors was kind of like entering another dimension. It was more than just the moving pictures on the screen -- The Rialto was an oasis of opulance and grandeur accessible to everyone for the price of a ticket. The Batchelder fountain, gold leaf columns and ornate Wurlitzer organ were everyman's riches. Now, the very same details shine like jewels in our synthetic age.

Like most South Pas residents, I hope for a rebirth of The Rialto. (Come on, Hollywood ... surely there are those among you who are tired of mansions, bling and race cars. Why not invest in this magical place and save an iconic part of Los Angeles history!) You can learn more about The Rialto here.

For more interpretations of today's Theme Day, check out the talented photobloggers from around the world. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants