In 1918, 12,000 people congregated in Sierra Madre for the first ever Wistaria Festival. It’s more than 90 years later, and we Sierra Madreans still love our big purple plant, planted in 1894 on what is now West Carter Avenue. It is, undoubtedly, an impressive specimen: over an acre in size, weighing 250 tons and [...]
For more than 20 years, Father Greg Boyle has been executive director of what is now recognized as the largest gang intervention program in the country: Homebody Industries. Founded as an extension of his work as pastor of Dolores Mission in Boyle Heights (no relation), Homeboy provides at-risk youth and former gang members with [...]
Ten months and 3,000 miles ago, I was privy to an outrageous culinary experiment. In a fit of lunacy, my fellow diners at BLT Burger attempted to combine a corn dog with ice cream. What name was given to this deranged concoction, you ask? The Dogcream. It was pretty good. Someday, perhaps, it will be [...]
What do you get when you mix the intricacies of South African musical traditions with the sounds of gospel? You get a fragment of what Ladysmith Black Mambazo has to offer. At it for 50 years now, Ladysmith are the world’s preeminent isicathamiya practitioners. So successful were they in their native South [...]
Theoretically, this is an event for children, a “Science Saturday All Age Matinee.” Caltech recommends it for ages 8 and up. If you’ve ever seen Planet Earth, or any nature documentary that doesn’t sugarcoat the food chain, you’ll know that kids expecting Milo & Otis (do kids still watch that?) are in for a shock. [...]
If you believe what you read, poetry has been in crisis for a decade or two, or three or four, or nine. There’s too much of it, or it’s not any good, or it’s really weird. While it’s true that the volume of contemporary verse can be intimidating to initiates, there is a fairly straightforward [...]
All the way from Canada come the Wailin’ Jennys, an all-lady vocal folk trio, none of whom are named Jenny. They’ve won a Juno Award (Canada’s Grammys — a CanadaGram?) for best “Roots & Traditional” album and have been making regular appearances on A Prairie Home Companion. Their repertoire includes jazz and bluegrass as well, [...]
Monty Python this is not. Rather, it’s a choir of Carmelites from all over the Southland, putting on a rare show for those outside the convent’s walls. The program spans centuries, from old-timey Gregorian Chants to ultramodern contemporary Christian, but has a unifying theme: light. Because, as Mother Regina Marie says, “Times are dark.” The [...]
One of the largest and oldest house and garden tours in the country, Pasadena Showcase House of Design is an annual fundraiser disguised as a month-long celebration of an historic property. This year that property is the Cravens Estate, an official Pasadena Cultural Landmark as well as a Landmark of Historical Significance. In addition to [...]
Katrina Kenison, author of The Gift of an Ordinary Day and Mitten Strings for God and the series editor for 16 years of The Best American Short Stories, will be reading and signing her books this Thursday at both the La Cañada Presbyterian Church’s Family Life Center and at Flintridge Bookstore.
Despite the title [...]
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