It takes some keen architectural detective work, but if you look closely along Colorado Boulevard, you’ll see telltale traces of some of Pasadena’s lost movie houses. Repurposed marquees, empty ticket windows, and distinctly arched roofs give us clues to where they once stood. In the second part of our Ghost Theaters feature, we look at [...]
You see them up and down Colorado Boulevard—marquees, ticket windows, and arched roofs—the empty shells of some of Pasadena’s former movie houses. As we did in our signs feature, we take a look at the stories behind some of these picture houses of yesteryear. Clune’s Pasadena Theatre/Fox Pasadena Theatre (1911-1953) – 61 W. Colorado Blvd. [...]
“German Aliens Must Go On Records,” stated the headline in the Pasadena Star-News on January 26, 1918. “Registration in Pasadena Will Begin at Police Station Feb. 4.” “All natives, citizens, denizens, or subjects of the German empires or imperial German government being males of the age of 14 years and upward, who are within [...]
It’s an increasingly rare sight in Pasadena: signs remaining for businesses that have long since gone. In this feature, we take a look at several that have endured and the stories behind them. 1. Crown City Bank – 1176 E. Colorado Boulevard This tile mosaic dates from 1906, when the small Crown City Bank opened [...]
As a purveyor of Western mythology, Altadena dentist-turned-author Zane Grey got most of the publicity during his years in the city. For a brief period, however, a real-life icon of the American West lived nearby. From 1926 until his death in 1928, “cowboy detective” Charles A. Siringo, a former lawman and Pinkerton agent, resided in a [...]
Perkins Palace once cast its seamy glory on Old Town during the heyday of L.A.’s punk, new wave and metal years. (That’s the ’80s to you, kids.) Long before this, however, the district had a musical venue of a different sort—and the details of its existence remain far more mysterious. The Club Onyx, at 109 [...]
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 [...]
City Hall may boast an impressive Christmas tree, but our neighbors to the north in Altadena have the Rose City beat when it comes to holiday displays. Christmas Tree Lane and the colorful lights of the Balian Mansion have become beloved parts of area tradition. Near December 24th, Santa Rosa Avenue, as it is known the [...]
Driving by the empty Pacific Hastings Theatre the other day, I remembered when it used to be the premier spot in Pasadena to see new movies. Even after theaters like the AMC in Old Town and Paseo opened, nothing could beat the experience of the Hastings’ massive 60-foot screen. The theater closed in 2007, and [...]
We were thrilled to be granted permission to include in the book At Home Pasadena some glorious images of Pasadena’s Hale Solar Observatory. It is an exceptional example of scientific and architectural history, once deeded to, and then abandoned by, the Carnegie Foundation, and now in the capable hands of Pasadena architects Liz Moule and Stefanos Polyzoides. We’ve based some of the scientific information that follows on a discussion with Don Nicholson, who appears with his colleague, Gale Gant, in some of these photos.
