Saturday, April 25, 2009

A Taste of Yellow

Here's a little something for those of you who have emailed me asking for more pictures of Victorian era South Pasadena homes. The neighborhoods around the library and all over the Mission West District are loaded with wonderful little cottages like this. They're often overshadowed by those famous Craftsman scene stealers, but they're every bit as beautiful.

Houses like this represent a kind of homespun turn-of-the-last-century American gestalt. (Note: there's not only a rocker but also a porch swing! Bring on the lemonade and apple pie...) When we see this cheery yellow house, it's hard not to reminisce about the past, about childhood, or maybe just imagine the way we wish things once were. I'll let poet Raymond A. Foss sum it up:

Forsythia blooms
plucked from the bush
a sudden jolt
back to when I was six
walking to kindergarten
petals curl on my tongue
a taste of yellow
like the first time
forty years ago

13 comments:

Dixie Jane said...

I love everything I can see about this happy little yellow house with the cinnamon-colored front door. As you say, lemonade and apple pie. Harks back to the time of my grandmother's tea cakes and fried pies. It looks like a storybook house. I wonder who lives there. Aren't they lucky?

Yakpate said...

Nostalgia is my favorite rush... and as you point out, it can be for things we didn't have, but wished for.

May I have a slice of chocolate cake with my lemonade? and as we glide lazily in the swing in our fresh cotton dresses, what shall we talk about?

wolofi said...

Your home seems like a dream. I've never seen such a lively yellow in real life. Your kid/s must be happy living there.

Double "D" said...

Laurie, this is an incredible photo. Great composition,
light, color. It's almost like a vision in a dream and definitely the easy mood of childhood.

Awesome!!!!

Ashley said...

Darling! Yes, aren't they lucky! I can imagine many golden afternoons and early evenings spent on that restful porch.

(And, yellow happens to be my favorite color--just don't tell orange!)

Mister Earl said...

"After one-too-many sleepless nights, Laurie and Jon bought their four year-old her own cute little yellow house."

Judy Williams said...

I absolutely adore everything about this image. The cheery yellow and the soft green of the grass. The bottom frame of the red curb is perfect.

I truly LOVE that poem too. Happy Saturday!!

Judy Williams said...

HA - I just read what Mr. Earl said. Do you think she would like that as her playhouse? :~)

Kim said...

And that mature tree at curbside and the one in the yard complete the picture of welcome homeiness.
Hye, I learned something from your Foss quotation: I didin't know Forsythia were edible. I'm going to have to look that up before I try it, but they are so lovely right now, and about as bright as your pretty house.
-Kim

Virginia said...

Well that's a little show stopper for sure. I'm sure all the neighbors are jealous. I'm going to have to snoop around B'ham for some good ones.
V

Cafe Pasadena said...

Ben W & I are still waiting 4 you to respond to our trillions of email requests to you for more pics of the So Pasa liquor stores & bars! Come on, LA, we know you're out late at nite.

dbdubya said...

Ben and Cafe Pasadena are going to have to wait awhile if you want photos of bars and liquor stores in So. Pas. I think Laurie's shown most of them - Ocean Liquor, Foremost Liquor, The Barkely, which is really a restaurant with a healthy bar crowd. About all that's left is the bar at Carmine's.

So Pas split from Pasadena in 1888 over bars. Pasadena had them, So Pas didn't. Not much has changed.

You'll have to stick to your own neighborhood, Cafe, for the best bars. You should do well at the Dirty Diver, I mean 35er or perhaps Lucky Baldwin's.

Laurie Allee said...

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the kind words and thoughtful comments. I always notice this house, and I've taken a couple of dozen shots of it.

Ashley, yellow is one of my favorite colors, too. When I was a little girl, my room was yellow. My own little daughter also has a yellow room and she has repeatedly said that we can never paint it a different color. (Or in her words, "Never ever, not ever NEVER!")

So Mister Earl, the wee one would LOVE this house.

Kim, I didn't think to look up about Forsythia. But now I'm curious, too.

Dbdubya, there was discussion of The 35er over at Pasadena Daily Photo a few months ago. I've always wanted to peek inside that place.

Virg, get out there and find some Victorians. (Uh oh... I feel a Victorian Challenge coming on...)

Cafe, you crack me up!

You guys are fabulous, and I love posting for all of you. Until tomorrow...