I remember watching movies set in neighborhoods with Craftsman houses nestled into tree-lined streets and wondering where IS that?
Turns out, a lot of those films were shot in South Pas. While some people might be annoyed living among so many film and TV productions, I think it's fun to be a small part of the dream factory. (Plus, it's kind of exciting to see your street in a Steve Carrell movie...)
I've only gotten a few checks from a studio in the almost ten years I've lived here. One was merely for using my driveway to stage equipment for a CSI shoot down the street. Thanks, Hollywood!
I put together the above video a few years ago, so it is missing quite a few productions. (In fact, I've barely scratched the surface of South Pas film and television history.) I think I might need to make a Part 2.
Want to leave a comment? You can always click on the Community tab at the top of this blog to start a conversation.
We all know that South Pasadena has a lot of gorgeous old-growth and heritage trees. But did you know that our city is part of Tree City USA? South Pas meets the program's four requirements:
1. A tree board or department
2. A tree care ordinance
3. An annual community forestry budget of at least $2 per capita
and...
4. An Arbor Day observance and proclamation. (I'll admit, I've never officially observed Arbor Day.)
Tree cities not only look better than their more sparse cousins, they enjoy things like better storm water management, energy savings and increased property values. As an unabashed treehugger, I agree that these are all good things. But I think I'd love trees even if they offered nothing of tangible value. Come on... they're beautiful, lush trees! What more do you want?
Before you click on the above video compilation of South Pas trees, I am reminded of my very favorite South Pasadena tree story. I've told this one before, but it's worth a repeat:
I hope my South Pasadena friends and neighbors have stocked up for the Halloween trick or treat onslaught! This is one of my favorite video compilations from several years ago.
I get nostalgic around Halloween.
More than any other holiday, Halloween reminds me of life's brevity. How quickly kids grow up: last year's fairy costume doesn't fit, someone's too old to dress up like a pirate, this year the neighbor's giant blow-up monster no longer seems menacing...
I received a great email from long-time reader Sally wanting to know how to directly access all of my Glimpses of South Pasadena photo slideshows and videos. Thank you for your interest, my good pal Sally! In case there are others who would also like access to all of the videos:
In the meanwhile, click above for a video of some of my favorite South Pasadena neighborhood views.
Stay tuned for more! (I know, I know, I've been promising extended video interviews and documentary-style pieces for almost a year now. Don't rush me.)
The Los Angeles region doesn't have the greatest track record when it comes to preserving landmarks. Despite the efforts of dedicated preservationists, many architectural wonders have been lost to the wrecking ball. The Richfield Tower, The Brown Derby, The Garden of Allah, and The Ambassador Hotel are just a few of the historic structures that have been demolished in the name of progress. (Many South Pasadena residents were worried that our very own Rialto Theater would meet the same fate. Luckily, for now, that disaster seems to be averted.)
You won't find points of interest once the last art deco tile or Spanish arch has been hauled off to a landfill -- a parking lot here, a nondescript office building there. What's left behind is a creeping blight of utilitarian sameness that has earned Los Angeles the title of "Strip Mall Capital of the World." We've gained a lot of dry cleaners and nail salons, but we've lost a lot of our history and perhaps more than a little of our soul.
Next week will mark 9 years since Jon, Raine and I moved to South Pasadena. I will always remember our first Christmas in our new house. We managed to decorate a tree and wrap presents, but 2-year-old Raine was more interested in all the new sinks she could use to "wash the decorations." Needless to say, there were a lot of soggy bows. (In fact, we never did turn the faucet back on in the living room wet bar.)
I think the one thing we can agree on about this election season is that we are all exhausted by it. So, regardless of your political views, let's stand on common ground together, look up, and reach for our better angels.
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.
In 1904, a brand new residential development was taking shape in a peaceful orange grove at the northern end of South Pas. Although it contained only one large oak tree, it was called Oaklawn. "The good life," South Pasadena Realty and Investment Company promised, "is in South Pasadena."
If you looked in the skies above South Pasadena in the fall of 1913, you might have seen aerialist Roy Knabenshue's amazing dirigible. Sailing over 800 feet in the air, the flying machine thrilled locals. For a whopping cost of $25 a ride, a brave traveler could experience what the press reported as "a daring adventure with spectacular views!"
Knabeshue, the first person to fly a dirigible in the United States, certainly knew he had picked a crowd-pleasing location. The majestic San Gabriel Mountains were nestled in a lush, green valley. It was an ideal setting to conduct pleasure flights for "brave gentlemen."
It's back to school time. Most of South Pasadena's kids are putting their noses to the grindstone in SPUSD's public schools. Others are attending private progressive schools like Waverly, Waldorf and Sequoyah or the highly academic Polytechnic. Some are in charter schools. A few are homeschooling. A few are even unschooling. But each child is preparing for a future we all hope is bright, happy and prosperous...
I want to thank readers Johnny and Greenman for emailing me after yesterday's post on the library tree. You guys asked if I had any video slideshows of my many (many!) tree pictures? I aim to please...
But before you click on the above video, I am reminded of my very favorite South Pasadena tree story:
When I first moved to South Pasadena, I thought the city's southernmost border was Huntington Drive. It's a logical assumption: Huntington is a major thoroughfare. It seems like some kind of line of demarcation.
As it turns out, the corner of Huntington and Fair Oaks was once the junction of the Pasadena Short Line and the Monrovia Line -- two important Big Red Car trolley routes. After Henry E. Huntington incorporated the Pacific Electric Railway Company in 1901, he began work on what would eventually develop into the largest interurban electric rail system in the world...
Take a look at the public art on display in South Pasadena
I love being part of such a creative community here in South Pas. I've already mentioned my love of the South Pasadena Arts Council. Membership in SPARC is a great way to connect with the city's artists, writers, filmmakers, musicians and art afficianados. But it's also fun to be reminded of South Pasadena's rich, artistic history ... and there are hints of it at every turn.
During the Great Depression, Federal Relief agencies put many South Pasadena residents to work on projects ranging from building the control channel to constructing the high school fine arts and science buildings. The powers-that-be realized that communities not only needed structures to have good function, they also needed them to have beautiful form.
In December of 2007, after many years on the west side of Los Angeles (and at least a third of those years spent stuck in traffic on Pico Boulevard) my family settled into a happy little house in South Pasadena. This daily blog covered almost 5 years as I put down roots in my new home town -- and almost 5 more as I settled in and became a South Pas old-timer. Here it is...my time capsule of South Pasadena.
You can always find the blog at its original address:
Entanglement. Schrödinger said it was the defining trait of quantum theory. What is it? It’s that quirky talent discovered by quantum p...
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Thank you Charlie's Coffee House for hosting my photo exhibit, South Pas: Observed. From October 2011 through January 2012 my pictures graced the walls of the best place in town to get a cup of coffee!
Read the nifty story on photo bloggers Petrea Burchard, Ben Wideman, Kat Likkel and little old me featured in the September, 2011 issue of Pasadena Magazine.
