Pasadena will never be as cool as downtown L.A., but it’s trying. For proof, stop into the new bar inside the historic and lovely Raymond Restaurant. Named 1886 (for the year this cottage, once part of the Raymond Hotel, was built), it has dragged Pasadena into the cocktail era—about two years after it dawned on [...]
Pasadenan John Delacruz has three passions: food, bargain-hunting and software development. Lucky for him, he’s found a way to combine them all by joining forces with Pasadena’s Idealab to start FrugalFoodie. A cross between Hotwire and Groupon, this new site and smartphone app saves last-minute diners a considerable amount of money. Like Hotwire and Priceline, [...]
South Pasadena’s über-creative hangout, Common Thread Studio, is hosting an event they’re calling the Common Rally on Saturday, and basically it appears to be a craft geek’s paradise. Taking place at three Mission Street craft havens—Common Thread, Abuelita’s and Zinna—the day is devoted to raising money for the Pasadena Humane Society and to celebrating the [...]
We were sad to have to attend two memorials over the last three days, but honored to take part in the celebration of two wonderful lives. What was so striking about the back-to-back services was how diametrically opposed they were—and yet, deep down, there was a pretty essential similarity. The first, for longtime Altadena resident [...]
Not many locals know that one of the 20th century’s best tennis players, Stan Smith, is a hometown boy. As Altadena author Kathleen Tuttle wrote in her new book, Altadena Town & Country Club: A Centennial History, Smith grew up in Altadena, and his dad, Ken Smith, was the tennis coach at PCC. The family [...]
For about a decade, we’ve been hearing about the Thanksgiving dinner at our friends Debbie and Doug Deems. If you’ve lived in Pasadena a while, perhaps you’ve heard of it, too—or even been invited. They have a tendency to invite all their friends; the attendance of family is a given. Last year the Deemses sat [...]
Union Station may have more volunteers than it needs this year for staffing its famed Thanksgiving in the Park meal for the homeless and poor of the San Gabriel Valley, but it doesn’t have enough food. While you’re doing your final shopping before turkey time, please consider adding a couple of things from their wish [...]
Gloria Putnam, owner and resident of Altadena’s historic Zane Grey Estate, is a DIY foodie. She keeps goats (for milking and cheesing) and chickens (for the eggs, natch), she grows her own produce, she’s involved with the effort to launch the Arroyo Food Coop, and now she’s taken to hosting the greatest hippie happening Altadena [...]
Christian Lander, author of the hit blog-turned-book Stuff White People Like, and his buddy Alex Blagg, have a new series of book-trailer videos to promote Lander’s new book, Whiter Shade of Pale. In the trailers, as in the book, the two dudes visit various American cities to see what the particular white people in those [...]
The view from a dog walk on Parkview in Pasadena’s Linda Vista neighborhood midday Sunday, after the fierce rain Saturday night, panning from north to south, as best as an iPhone could capture it:
