Where to begin? Even if your intent is to see only the art collection here, you cannot help but take in at least a few of the 150 acres of sloping lawns, vistas and statuary in Henry Huntington’s botanical gardens. The art collections cannot be separated from their three specialized settings. Gleaming from a $20-million [...]
The Valley Valley The Facts What It Is: A 30.6 square-mile city west of Pasadena and seven miles north of L.A. Population: 201,326 Ethnic Diversity: 66% Caucasian (including 30% Armenian and 20% Hispanic), 16% Asian, 1% African-American Sister Cities: several, including Hiroshima, Japan and Kapan, Armenia Median Household Income: $41,805 Key Players In 1784, a [...]
America’s Chinatown The Facts What It Is: A 7.7-square-mile city eight miles south of Pasadena and nine miles east of downtown L.A Population: 60,051 Ethnic Diversity: 62% Asian, 29% Hispanic and/or Caucasian and darn few African-Americans, Native Americans and Pacific Islanders Median Household Income: $41,000 Key Players These pretty hills were originally inhabited by First [...]
It’s sunny in Pasadena, but an 8 a.m. car drop-off for new tires inspires doubt. I think I was oversold. I don’t really need Pirellis for the Prius. So I walk the Lake Avenue neighborhood, opting to raise my heart rate through exercise instead of anxiety. I need to live long enough to pay for [...]
While our resident History Buff, Matt Hormann, works on his next column, we’re starting the new year off with a guide to the best history-focused museums in the area, to inspire you to get out and explore them. If you’re looking to spend the day enjoying arts and architecture that tell a story, you need [...]
In 1881 the land for this cemetery was purchased, and the first customer arrived in 1884, a Civil War vet who had recently moved to town. This is a lovely, shady, raised burial park with fortified walls and a wrought-iron railing. It also has a new memorial “shed” with touch- screen information on the residents. [...]
This historic cemetery shares a common driveway with the Church of Our Saviour, home to a life-size bronze statue of Gen. George S. Patton in the church courtyard and a stained-glass window inside the church of a tank (yes, this was Patton’s family’s church). Take a left at the caretaker’s cottage, past the lollipop- sculpted [...]
Mountain View was created to serve Pasadena as well as the Pasadena Highlands, later known as Altadena. Although located in Altadena, it is Pasadena’s major cemetery, outside of some church sites. This stretch of North Fair Oaks is still fairly quiet and isolated, which makes a visit here all the more pleasant, and it’s a [...]
On the north side of the mission, you can’t miss the large wrought-iron cemetery gates framed by tiles painted with welcoming skulls. Aside from tombstones and a few elevated monuments, this large, flat, walled block of land isn’t very inviting; benches for reflecting are as few as shade trees. The prettier burial grounds are inside [...]
The first in this swank chain of memorial parks (these guys thought up the term “memorial park,” because “cemetery” sounded so gloomy), Forest Lawn gives the deceased an upbeat, sun- and light-filled final resting place. So until Angelenos find a Botox-injected cure for death, we can pay our respects in these wide-open spaces – no [...]
