Lake Avenue is a major north–south feeder road for the

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...

and

Altadena Altadena () ("Alta", Spanish for "Upper", and "dena" from Pasadena) is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in the Verdugo Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, approximately 14 miles (23 km) from the downtown ...

communities in

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...

. The road was developed in the mid 19th century and takes its name from a lake which was located at its southernmost end known variously as Mission Lake, Kewen Lake, and Wilson Lake reflecting different owners of the land. The lake bed still exists as a municipal park (Lacy Park) in the City of San Marino just south of the Raymond Dike, but it holds no water. It has been surrounded by residences who are served by a crisscross set of roads that dip into the edges of impression and back out the other side. Lake Avenue is approximately in length.

Transportation

Metro Local Los Angeles Metro Bus is the transit bus service in Los Angeles County, California operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro). In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of . , there are ...

line 662 and

Pasadena Transit Pasadena Transit, formerly known as Pasadena Area Rapid Transit System (Pasadena ARTS), is the transit bus service in the city of Pasadena, California, Pasadena, California. The system was launched as a single shuttle route ahead of the 1994 FIFA ...

line 20 run on Lake Avenue: the former starts at Del Mar Boulevard and the latter through most of Lake Avenue between California Boulevard and Woodbury Road. A Metro L Line station is located at Interstate 210 under Lake Avenue.

In Altadena

The northernmost end of the road lies at the very foot of the

San Gabriel Mountains The San Gabriel Mountains ( es, Sierra de San Gabriel) are a mountain range located in northern Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California, United States. The mountain range is part of the Tr ...

in Altadena and immediately accesses Las Flores Canyon. The first resident of Las Flores Canyon was the Forsyth Ranch. It sold in 1919 to Mr. Cobb who had an enormous and fascinating estate on the

alluvial fan An alluvial fan is an accumulation of sediments that fans outwards from a concentrated source of sediments, such as a narrow canyon emerging from an escarpment. They are characteristic of mountainous terrain in arid to semiarid climates, but a ...

which emanates from the Canyon. Las Flores was also known for its small and short-lived

gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold resources by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. However, with the expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface ...

operations there. The Cobb Estate was deeded to the

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

as a free growth Arboretum in 1967. The gates on Lake Avenue mark the entrance to the estate which still has its long, paved, curving driveway which leads to the site of the defunct manor. The adjacent trailhead of the

Sam Merrill Trail The Sam Merrill Trail is a major hiking trail in the Las Flores Canyon of the San Gabriel Mountain Range north of Altadena, California, which leads to the top of Echo Mountain. It was built by Charles Warner and the Forest Conservation Club of P ...

also leads into the canyon from Lake Avenue. This is the origin of the local term "top of Lake," which refers to the northernmost neighborhoods. In the days of the

Red Car The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electric railway system ...

in Altadena (1902–1941), Lake Avenue was known as the short line, or Oak Knoll line. Oak Knoll is the street into which Lake Avenue transitions with a slow curve to the right and then back to the left. The

Pacific Electric The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electric railway system ...

cars came up from a switch on the Huntington Drive line below the famous hotel of the same name. The “short line” was a shorter way to get to Lake and Mariposa in Altadena without having to ride the circuitous route up Fair Oaks Avenue. In 1914 a spur on the short line was built across Mendocino Street from Lake Ave. to Allen St. and the development of Country Club Parks. The line was put there to access the new development and the Altadena Country Club and Golf Course.

In Pasadena

Lake Avenue was originally named Lake Vineyard Avenue after the ranch of the same name (on which the lake mentioned above was located) on which the street was partially located. Lake Avenue is located centrally to Pasadena and is the East West divider of the city;

Fair Oaks Avenue Fair Oaks Avenue in Pasadena, California, is a major north–south road connecting the communities of Altadena, Pasadena, and South Pasadena, running in length. It starts at its southernmost end in South Pasadena at Huntington Drive. It travels ...

and

Colorado Boulevard Colorado Boulevard (or Colorado Street in Glendale and Arcadia) is a major east–west street in Southern California. It runs from Griffith Park in Los Angeles east through Glendale, the Eagle Rock section of Los Angeles, Pasadena, and Arcadia, ...

mark the postal center of town (0e/w, 0n/s) where its downtown section had originally developed. This postal division carries through into Altadena. However, Lake defines County Road Division No. 5 (West) from County Road Division No. 4 (East). Lake Avenue defines the eastern boundary of the original Woodbury Ranch purchase of . In Pasadena, Lake Avenue serves a great number of business districts and is relatively free of residential addresses, though some still exist from earlier times. Well known to locals is the South Lake Avenue Business District which runs south from Green Street to California Boulevard, about in length.

References

Bibliography

* {{coord, 34.177154, -118.131865, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-CA, display=title Altadena, California Streets in Pasadena, California Shopping districts and streets in Greater Los Angeles

Transportation

In Altadena

In Pasadena

See also

References

Bibliography