The South Pasadena Unified School District Administration Building

A few days ago, I showed you the beautiful arches of the South Pasadena Unified School District Administrative building. Here is another view of the structure. Thanks to blog reader Mister Earl for pointing out that the building was originally a school. To be exact, the site was first home to the Center Street School, built in 1885.

According to the book South Pasadena by Rick Thomas: in 1928 the school was rebuilt by the architectural firm of Marsh, Smith and Powell who gave us the building you see here. It has been used to house the school district administrative offices since 1979.

Thankfully, this lovely place has suffered only minimal alteration. It looks a lot like it did when it was built except for a tower that was removed in 1949 for earthquake safety concerns. In 1952, the original school bell was taken down placed in front of the building. I don't think the city has to worry about anybody trying to steal the thing -- it weighs a quarter ton and was cast of solid iron way back in 1889.

I love to linger here when I walk by, and I often do. (It's right across from Kaldi as well as the library.) I've already mentioned how much I like those impossibly whimsical multicolored bricks as well as the funny W-shaped squiggles on the arch columns. But take a look in the lower left corner at that fallen section of the low wall. The rest of the building is so pristine and perfect, I like the flaw of that off-kilter tilt. I don't know who or what knocked it over (a rowdy teenager? An earthquake?) but I hope nobody ever fixes it.

Briganti Restaurant

Doesn't this courtyard look inviting? I have no excuse for not yet trying out the charming Briganti Restaurant on Mission just west of Fair Oaks. I walked past this cozy patio the other day when the staff was preparing to open for dinner. I'm not sure if it was the setting or the tempting wafts of garlic but I had to stop and snap a picture. I think it's a nice use of the space between two buildings. I really love cafes like this: warm and intimate and tucked into little corners.

The Farmers Market

The South Pasadena Farmer's Market offers its festive carnival vibe every Thursday afternoon into evening. It provides a lush selection of locally grown produce and flowers, cool handmade goodies and a staggering selection of prepared food from local and regional eateries.

It's also a simply awesome place to watch people. These two cast a megawatt glow over the place yesterday. Love is grand.

Door of Perception

If you walk along Mission, just before you get to Fair Oaks you’ll pass this amazing door. Check it out: the detailed stonework… the arch… the atomic age warning sign with mysterious numbers…

What?

Okay, so I could have researched this to find out exactly what goes on behind that door but I’m having too much fun imagining a mythical chimera under a dome of glass or Dr. Strangelove in front of a giant map of the world or a large round table with arguing superheroes…

Who says nothing ever happens in a small town?

Late Night at Mission Station

Yes, we have a delicate hatchling of light rail mass transit in Los Angeles. If you take the Metro Gold Line and get off at Mission, you’ll find yourself in the heart of South Pasadena. If you continue on one way you'll make it to East Pasadena. The other way will swing past Chinatown and eventually let you out at Union Station.

It's just one line in the Metro system but there are others. This is the quiet counterpoint to omnipresent freeway disharmony. (Maybe eventually it will become’s our region’s leitmotif.)

Concrete Rose

Neighboring Pasadena is known as the rose city, but this mysterious South Pasadena Rose fascinates me. I step over her name every time I take a walk in my neighborhood and with each crossing I wonder who she was and when she made this defiant mark in the sidewalk cement. I think names written in concrete are wonderful things – and for whatever reason, South Pasadena sidewalks have a lot of them. Unlike cemetery markers – so final, so respectful, so literal – these signatures are a testament to a city’s playful, chest-thumping whimsy. Whoever Rose is or was, one day she leaned down, picked up a stick and left this statement that she was here, a part of this place. Right on, Rose! The next time I see a patch of wet cement, I’ll be hard pressed not to do the same thing.

Time Warp

I was enjoying a cup of coffee on the bench outside Busters with my family yesterday. I noticed a beautiful, thoughtful young woman through the window, just inches from us but separated by glass. Suddenly, I saw an interesting and heartwarming reflection: my own thoughtful little daughter’s silhouette almost superimposed against the image of a lovely future version of her.

My little girl jumped up to climb in her Daddy's lap. The young woman turned away. The light changed. But this is what I captured in that passing moment.

Little Details

Old buildings have such magnificent minutiae. I love the varying colors of the bricks that make up the beautiful old South Pasadena Unified School District administrative building. But what really get me are the little zigzag Ws on all the columns.

Cappy's World of Spirits

I've never actually been inside. I can't even tell you for sure if it's open for business -- butcher paper on the windows is always a bad sign. I can, however, try to describe some of the many ways I love this place...

First, it's not called Cappy's liquor store. Instead, it's the more ethereal "Cappy's World of Spirits." That sounds to me like you could go in and find Aleister Crowley behind the counter levitating as he rings up your bottle of Jack Daniels, and possibly a secret back door painted with a golden triangle or an eye of Horus. Next, the sign proffers general merchandise -- something vaguely quaint and 19th Century, and perfectly suited for our historic little town. It also promises gifts. But gifts in a World of Spirits store that also offers general merchandise sound like no gifts I've ever received. And why aren't any of them displayed in the window? Finally, it has that odd picture of the man in the hat. I assume the man is Cappy. I like not knowing whether or not the man is Cappy. Throw in those gorgeous old bricks and the cool street lamp and now you can see why I just had to take a picture.

I'm sure someone in the area has a story or two about Cappy's. I'd love to hear it.

Summer Night

Global warming notwithstanding, Los Angeles area residents are lucky when it comes to weather. Okay, there are the occasional earthquakes. And the smog. And the alternating droughts/floods with ensuing fires/mudslides. But other than that … it’s pretty great to be here year round . Usually, it’s around 76 degrees. Even with 90-something summer days, the evenings cool off enough to put on a light sweater and the relative humidity is low enough that we rarely see mosquitoes. Native Californians will argue with me on this last point. But I grew up in Texas where the humidity is just shy of swamp and the mosquitoes are the size of police helicopters. (In the greater Los Angeles area we just have the actual police helicopters. But usually they don’t bite.)

When my family moved from our beach-adjacent location on the west side here to South Pasadena on the east side, I was convinced the hotter weather would be a terrible shock. Temperatures in the sprawling Los Angeles region can vary by 20 degrees depending on whether you are in Santa Monica or downtown, Culver City or Northridge, and South Pasadena is one of the hotter spots. But so far my first South Pas summer has been lovely. A brief heat wave in June, and temperate, wonderful summer ever since. Some nights lately have been downright chilly.

I saw these two stopped in front of the library around 10:00PM one warmer evening, giggling into a cell phone and glowing under that streetlamp. Here’s to summer nights.

Settings: Part 2

Blame it on those years in film school. I often envision a place as a location in a movie. Want to play along? Walk down Fair Oaks toward Huntington and turn the corner just as you pass the old Rialto Theater. This is what you see. Now, you tell me … what happens in this scene?

Lash Out

Okay, help me out here. New eyelashes? I’ve been caught up with raising a toddler and I am often out of the loop but, honestly, new eyelashes? I’ve never really given that much thought to my eyelashes – other than to coat them with Great Lash every morning for the last 30 years and wish they were Bambi-ish and fringy like my friend Pat’s – so I didn’t realize this was an area that might need serious enhancement. Then again, this is Southern California so there will be no beauty stone unturned. (Or eyelash unrenewed.)

I snapped this outside Puff Salon on Mission. I always see really beautiful, ultra hip looking people going in and out of there so I’m sure they’re on to something…