Thanksgiving Sky

by Laurie Allee
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South Pasadena skies have been ridiculously dramatic lately!  (I have another one here, too.)

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Along the Arroyo Seco

Along the Arroyo Seco

The Arroyo Seco is much more than a weird concrete channel used by local skateboarders. Although the Spanish name roughly translates to “dry stream bed,” it usually flows with several cubic feet of water per second, and occasionally swells to near capacity with the runoff of an erosion-prone 46.7 square mile watershed. It starts near Mount Wilson in the Angeles National Forest of the San Gabriel Mountains and winds its way between La Canada Flintridge and Altadena through Pasadena, alongside the western boundary of South Pas and onward into the bigger concrete confines of the Los Angeles River north of Downtown LA. The Arroyo Seco stream assists in replenishing the Raymond Basin aquifer underlying Pasadena.

Nightfall over the Arroyo

I was listening to this when I captured this moment. (It was a good moment.)

Cobblestone, Shmobblestone...

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

Well, everyone here knows that the San Gabriel Valley might not be awash in cobblestones but it is (literally) built on river rock! Here, we have a detail of my 112 year old home's original river rock foundation, built with stones dragged from the nearby Arroyo Seco.

The City Daily Photo website was hacked last month, and our wonderful hosts there are still trying to make their way through the mess left behind. Since participating bloggers can't post at the main site, we have brilliant Julie, all the way over at Sydney Eye, to thank for putting up this Theme Day blog to see the all the other Theme Day contributors.

The Play's the Thing

Arroyo Seco Park is one of South Pasadena's tucked-away treasures. It spans 19.9 acres of parkland and includes soccer fields, baseball diamonds, horse and hiking trails, picnic tables, barbecues, undeveloped wooded areas and a flood channel. It's a quiet, breezy getaway curving along the Arroyo Seco with the skate park, racquet center and wonderfully retro golf course on one end and San Pascual Stables on the other. You'll even find a tiny, underused river rock amphitheater behind one of the baseball diamonds. (Why underused, you ask? Well, although the stone stage begs for a Hamlet soliloquy, the poison oak warning signs behind it are a bit of a buzz kill...) All in all, this is a beautiful oasis ideal for taking a jog, kicking a ball or just stretching out under one of those heritage maple trees.

But seriously, what's up with the playground equipment?!

Garfield Park and Orange Grove Park have lovely, well-maintained playscapes that are not only safe for little exploring hands but challenging for little developing minds. By contrast, Arroyo Seco Park has a few tired swings, a jungle gym that makes you hope your tetanus shots are up to date and a slide that is to playground equipment what Charlie Brown's Christmas tree was to holiday decorations. Come on, South Pas! Who do I have to bug to make this playground fun for the preschoolers and worthy of the magnificent surroundings?

Serenade in Green

I couldn't make out exactly what he was playing, but it was something kind of like this.

Another Sunset Along the Arroyo...

...no two are ever the same.

At Such Great Distance

Already my gaze is upon the hill, the sunny one,
at the end of the path which I've only just begun.
So we are grasped, by that which we could not grasp,
at such great distance, so fully manifest—
and it changes us, even when we do not reach it,
into something that, hardly sensing it, we already are;
a sign appears, echoing our own sign...
But what we sense is the falling winds.

--Rainer Maria Rilke

Wind at Your Back

This is the view you'd glimpse if you rode your bike along the Arroyo toward the Rose Bowl. It's something my husband loves to do. And since today is his birthday, I thought he could get a head start on his weekend ride...

Happy, happy, happy birthday, Jon!

Mountains in the Stream

You know what it looks like when you dump an overflowing ashtray into the toilet? Multiply that by about a bazillion and you'll get an idea of what the water looked like coursing down the Arroyo yesterday. No, an oil tanker didn't somehow overturn in the Hahamongna Watershed. This black water is the result of heavy rain pouring down the San Gabriel Mountains, bringing along ash and debris left from August's devastating Station Fire.

I never thought I'd see the charred remnants of a forest floating downstream.

More rain is expected today.

Update, January 23: Check out our friend Pasadena Adjacent's incredible post on the subject. Be sure to follow her links, too.

Low Tech

Who needs a high definition flat screen when you can just sit along the Arroyo at sunset?

Arroyo Seco Golf Course

What can you do when your child whines, "I'm booooooooored" this summer? Forget video games or high def movies, take her back in time for an afternoon. While The Arroyo Seco Golf Course is better known for its 18 holes of par 3 golf, it also boasts a cool 9 holes of mini golf right out of a 1960s coming-of-age film. It's fun, it's colorful, and it's only six bucks for a family of three to play. Finish up with something yummy from the grill -- and be sure to get yourself something cold from the bar -- and we're talking serious cure for the summertime blues.

The course has been pleasing golfers and parents alike for 50 years -- and it has definitely preserved its original charm. Everything from the old water fountains next to the driving range to the squeaky Naugahyde booths in the cafe seems right out of a midcentury fetishist's dream. Oh, and the place even has a charming little bonus for kids: frolicking chipmunks just love to dart across the green.

Cathedral Oak Monument

You might not notice this South Pasadena Cultural Landmark unless you scrutinize the brush on the south side of Arroyo Drive. The Cathedral Oak Monument marks the exact spot where the first Easter services were held in California back in 1770. Legend says that a priest named Father Crespi gathered worshipers under the branches of a mighty oak that grew here. The Oneonta Park Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution marked the oak with a plaque in 1932.

Alas, by 1952 the tree had fallen. The same DAR chapter placed this simple monument in memoriam of the historic tree. (But I think the other trees to the left clearly show that X marks the spot...)

And while Father Crespi might not have been the type to celebrate it -- happy Fathers Day to all of the dads out there! YOU guys deserve a monument!

Little Oasis

The Arroyo Seco watershed is one of Southern California's treasures. (I wrote about it at length back in February.)Much more than a concrete stream bed, the Arroyo is a 46.7 square mile corridor of natural space that links the San Gabriel Mountains to the Los Angeles River. South Pas claims much of the Lower Arroyo -- including this delightful little pocket of wild beauty which, on most days, is home to a couple of well-fed ducks.

Read more about the Arroyo Seco here and here. And make sure to do your part to protect this and other watersheds by following the advice here.

Incongruous

I know littering is a problem in the Arroyo ... but throwing in an entire trash can?