Old Pasadena, often referred to as Old Town Pasadena or just Old Town, is the original commercial center of
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.
...
, a city in
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, and had a latter-day revitalization after a period of decay.
Old Pasadena began as the center of a research hub where science and research institutions such as
Caltech
The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
and
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States.
Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA an ...
and companies such as
Beckman Instruments
Beckman Coulter Inc. is a Danaher Corporation company that develops, manufactures, and markets products that simplify, automate and innovate complex biomedical testing. It operates in two industries: Diagnostics and Life Sciences. For more than ...
and
Aerojet were founded. The large concentration of such companies in the area gave it the nickname "Athens of the West".
The area was also an artistic center, the home to
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...
's West Coast museum debut and the first Marcel Duchamp retrospective, both at the Pasadena Art Museum (one of the earliest modern art museums in the country, now the
Norton Simon Museum
The Norton Simon Museum is an art museum located in Pasadena, California, United States. It was previously known as the Pasadena Art Institute and the Pasadena Art Museum and displays numerous sculptures on its grounds.
Overview
The Norton Si ...
). Before that, Pasadena was a center of suffragist and pacifist movements and other liberal causes. By the late 1940s, the downtown area was blighted by
flophouse
A flophouse (American English) or dosshouse (British English) is a place that offers very low-cost lodging, providing space to sleep and minimal amenities.
Characteristics
Historically, flophouses, or British "doss-houses", have been used for ...
s,
dive bar
A dive bar is typically a small, unglamorous, eclectic, old-style drinking establishment with inexpensive drinks; it may feature dim lighting, shabby or dated decor, neon beer signs, packaged beer sales, cash-only service, and a local clientele ...
s and pawn shops. It later became a
hippie destination, with
head shop
A head shop is a retail outlet specializing in paraphernalia used for consumption of cannabis and tobacco and items related to cannabis culture and related countercultures. They emerged from the hippie counterculture in the late 1960s, and ...
s, adult bookstores and massage parlors. By the late 1980s, Old Pasadena was undergoing a period of urban renewal and
regeneration.
History
Fair Oaks and Colorado Boulevard
Old Pasadena's center is the postal zero/zero intersection for the city of Pasadena at
Fair Oaks Avenue (N-S) and
Colorado Boulevard (E-W). The first of the businesses of the original
Indiana Colony
The Indiana Colony refers to a group of Indiana residents who settled the area known today as Pasadena, California. The group was incorporated on January 31, 1874, by Indiana residents who sought warmer weather after the exceptionally cold winter o ...
were established at old Pasadena. J. D. Hollingsworth's general store served as the main supplier for the town as well as the post office when mail arrived from
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
.
On the northwest corner was the Grand Hotel, in a building originally owned by Barney Williams, where the Williams family had run a general store on the ground floor. On the southwest corner (1 Fair Oaks Avenue) stood Williams Hall, also owned by the Williams family; this building was re-modeled in 1902 and became known as the Dodsworth Building, and now houses the Dodsworth Hotel.
The first meeting of Masons in Pasadena, later to become Pasadena Masonic Lodge No. 272, took place on 20 February 1883. A meeting in the library hall followed in October, at which the newly elected officials decided to make Williams Hall their permanent meeting place. An ornate front, similar to the facade of the present lodge, was erected on the upper story of the Colorado Boulevard building by H. Ridgway, an architect who was Master of the lodge in 1886. The Lodge continued to grow, and by 1917 it encompassed three separate lodges and fourteen affiliated bodies.
From the 1940s until the early 1970s, the Dodsworth Building, still displaying the masonic compass symbol on the inscribed stone in front of the building on its lower sides, contained a five-story furniture store belonging to Harry Steinberg and his son Albert Philip Steinberg, a 32nd degree mason and Shriner; that cornerstone now sits at the southwest corner of the Pasadena Masonic Temple at 200 S. Euclid Avenue.
Schoolhouse Block
In its infancy, the Indiana Colony was a quiet farming community centered around Orange Grove Boulevard, about a half mile west of Fair Oaks Avenue. Fair Oaks Avenue, just south of Colorado Boulevard, became the site of a new school, the Fair Oaks schoolhouse, a gift from
Benjamin "Don Benito" Wilson. Fearing for the safety of children, the council of city fathers sought to move the schoolhouse away from the developing center of the town and its bustling activity, but Benjamin Wilson had died and his estate had passed to family members still living in the area. The council sought permission from the family on the understanding that the school would be moved immediately for the benefit of the children, but an improved school would be established somewhere outside Old Pasadena soon thereafter. The block of Fair Oaks Avenue, Colorado Boulevard, Raymond Avenue, and Green Street retained the name "schoolhouse block."
No record of the subsequent location of the school was retained in the records, but the location of the new school can be drawn from several historical accounts. Hiram Reid's ''History of Pasadena'' (1895) states that the schoolhouse was "moved several feet east to a frontage on Raymond 500 feet north of a line parallel to the north wall of the Post Office building." In 1895 the Post Office was in the Morgan Block just north of Kansas Street (Green Street). Reid goes on to say that "a beautiful new edifice stands there now," a reference to the Van der Vort building, built in 1894, replacing the schoolhouse. Eventually that building was sold to someone who moved it away for a residence, and a new Wilson School was later built outside of Old Pasadena, 4.2 miles to the east on Del Mar Boulevard and Madre Street.
Castle Green
![HotelgreenWesternArch1905](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/HotelgreenWesternArch1905.JPG)
In 1887 Edward C. Webster began construction of a hotel at 1929 Green Street, on the southeast corner of Raymond Avenue and Kansas Street. When he was unable to complete the job, a newcomer to the area, Colonel
George Gill Green, took over the construction and finished the
Green Hotel, which opened in 1888.
Green was a friend of
Andrew McNally, a prominent printer from
Chicago
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who had moved West and made his home in
Altadena. McNally had invited Green to come out and join him in this new community. Together Green and McNally invested heavily in the short-lived
Altadena Railroad, which provided them private sidings at their residences and which Green rode daily to the construction site of his new hotel. Green and Andrew McNally were next door neighbors on Mariposa Street just west of
Lake Avenue. The
McNally home still stands and the old Green carriage house remains in use as a residence, and is visible from the rear parking lot of the
Altadena Library, which stands on the site of the Green house.
The new Green Hotel was a 6-story edifice that faced Central Park on South Raymond, just north of the original Victorian Pasadena Train Station, where trains stopped between Chicago and Los Angeles. That station was replaced by
the current station, in the Southwestern style.
In 1898, Green built a grander
Mediterranean style hotel on the opposite side of Raymond. The first became referred to as the annex, and the second became the winter home for some of the most prominent industrial magnates in the Eastern United States. The two buildings were connected by a bridge across Raymond, and a tunnel under it. Guests arriving by train would pass through the annex, to the second floor, and be trammed across the bridge. In the main residence they would retire to their suites, and the luggage would follow via the tunnel. Many of the servants and attendants of the guests were forced to find accommodation in the adjacent buildings. In 1902 a new wing of the hotel was built along Kansas (now Green) Street to the P.G. Wooster Block, home of
Throop University (forerunner to Caltech).
In 1924 the hotel was converted into residential apartments. The original building (annex) was razed to its first floor. All that is left of that original hotel is a portico on the corner of Raymond and Green. The building is now owned by Stats Floral Supply. In 1970, the U.S. government's
Department of Housing and Urban Development acquired the 1902 wing and separated the buildings into the Green Hotel on Green and the Castle Green on Raymond.
Other developments
![St](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/St._Andrew%27s_Catholic_Church_%28Pasadena%2C_California%29.JPG)
In 1887, a
Chicago
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land speculator named Morgan built a three-story block next to the site of the County Jail. In 1895, John Woodbury built a modest office building for himself which he shared with
Jared S. Torrance. This building was replaced by the Marsh Block in 1902, which took up the whole corner lot of Raymond and Kansas south of the Morgan. In 1894 Van der Vort constructed the building that still bears his name at 32 S. Raymond. In 1889, Robert MacComber built the MacComber block on the northwest corner of Raymond and Kansas. In 1906 Braley built a bike manufacturing building, which eventually became an
Oldsmobile
Oldsmobile or formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it pro ...
dealership.
In 1887, a three-story Victorian red-brick building with bay windows and a turret on the southeast corner was constructed at 107 South Fair Oaks on the northwest corner at Dayton Street. It was named the "Doty Block" and housed a
stagecoach showroom. In later years, it became The Mikado Hotel, which served the Japanese-American community. It became a freight depot for the
Pasadena and Los Angeles Railroad, which later became part of the
Pacific Electric Railway
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 ...
. Above the second floor windows on the south wall, the faint lettering "Pasadena and Los Angeles" that advertised that service can be seen today.
In the 1940s, the building became Pasadena's first black-owned hotel, the
Hotel Carver, when it was purchased and operated by Percy Clark and his sons Percy Jr., Robert and Littleton. In the basement was a prominent jazz club known first as the Onyx Club and later as the Cobra Club. In 1970, the hotel was sold and the building was converted into artist and performance studios. Over the next fifteen years, hundreds of artists, musicians, writers, dancers and filmmakers rented space at the Hotel Carver. The building was best known during this period for the John Bull English Pub, operated by Danny and Denise Sharp, and for the quirky word mural by Paul Waszink on the north wall reading: ''"My people are the people of the dessert," said
T.E. Lawrence
Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935) was a British archaeologist, army officer, diplomat, and writer who became renowned for his role in the Arab Revolt (1916–1918) and the Sinai and Palestine Campaign (1915–191 ...
, picking up his fork.'' Several art shows were held in the third-floor ballroom and other parts of the building. In 1985, the artists were evicted and the building closed. The
1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake
The 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake occurred in the southern San Gabriel Valley and surrounding communities of Southern California, United States, at on October 1. The moderate magnitude 5.9 blind thrust earthquake was centered several miles ...
caused the collapse of the building immediately to the north of the Carver, and caused a large section of bricks on the top of the north wall to fall to the ground, destroying part of Waszink's T.E. Lawrence mural. Following the earthquake, the north wall was re-bricked and the building remodeled and earthquake retrofitted, as part of the general redevelopment of Old Pasadena.
Robertson Motors built an auto factory just south of the Green Hotel Annex, which is now occupied by Fishbeck Furnishings.
In 1911, City Hall occupied a building at Union Street and Fair Oaks Avenue. Since then, City Hall has moved several times, and the building was lost, only to be replaced in 2003 by a quasi replica now known as the Container Store. The
California National Guard
The California National Guard is part of the National Guard of the United States, a dual federal-state military reserve force. The CA National Guard has three components: the CA Army National Guard, CA Air National Guard, and CA State Guard. ...
used several buildings in Old Pasadena before they built The Armory on Raymond above Holly. The old brick building on Holly across from the senior center was a National Guard motor depot.
In 1929, Colorado Street (now
Colorado Boulevard) was widened on the north side, and many of the elaborate Victorian facades of the buildings were lost to reconstruction and replaced with cheaper and more modern frontages. Colorado Street became 14 feet wider as a result. In 1929, Kansas Street was widened and renamed Green Street. Union and Holly streets were part of a city gateway that were to lead toward City Hall (1933) from the statue and flag at
Orange Grove Boulevard
Orange Grove Boulevard is a main thoroughfare in Pasadena and South Pasadena, California. Each New Year's Day, the Rose Parade participants and floats line up before dawn on Orange Grove Boulevard, facing north, for the beginning of the parade. S ...
and Colorado Boulevard. The whole plan was scaled down, but the streets were put in.
Historic District
The Historic Old Pasadena District was designated in 1980 as a historic district of 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.
...
Charter, defined by its boundaries: to the North, Holly Street from Fair Oaks Avenue to Arroyo Parkway; to the East, Arroyo Parkway south to Green Street, moving half a block west to the old Santa Fe RR right-of-way; continuing south to encompass the Old Train Station and Central Park, then north on Fair Oaks Avenue to De Lacey Street, then west to Pasadena Avenue; on the West by Pasadena Avenue, north to Union Street, back to Fair Oaks Avenue, and north to Holly Street.
It was chartered as a means of revitalizing the oldest part of Pasadena, which, though not abandoned, had fallen derelict and was economically and commercially barren. With this charter, a controlled redevelopment was established, with federal tax incentives to qualifying investors. Under strict guidelines, buildings were stripped of old paint, revealing some of the early brickwork fasciae. All renovations and remodeling were overseen by a city commission, which approved materials, colors and styles, most of which were to reflect the period from 1925 to 1940.
The Old Pasadena Historic District was listed in the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 1983.
Old Pasadena today
![Old Town Pasadena](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Old_Town_Pasadena.jpg)
Pasadena's downtown declined between 1930 and 1980, but has since been revived as “Old Pasadena”, one of Southern California's most popular shopping and entertainment destinations. Dedicating parking meter revenue to finance public improvements in the area since 1993 has played a major part in this revival.
Old Pasadena today is mostly a business district, with some mixed use. It contains a shopping mall, up-market restaurants, a movie theater, nightclubs, shops, outdoor cafés, pubs and comedy clubs, and has an active nightlife. Most of the buildings also have offices and apartments on the upper floors.
Old Pasadena is connected to
Downtown Los Angeles via the
Metro L Line light rail.
Del Mar station
Del Mar station is an at-grade light rail station on the L Line of the Los Angeles Metro Rail system. It is located between Arroyo Parkway and Raymond Avenue at Del Mar Boulevard, after which the station is named, in Pasadena, California. The ...
is two blocks south of Colorado Boulevard, while
Memorial Park station enters from Holly Street and Arroyo Parkway. The
Norton Simon Museum
The Norton Simon Museum is an art museum located in Pasadena, California, United States. It was previously known as the Pasadena Art Institute and the Pasadena Art Museum and displays numerous sculptures on its grounds.
Overview
The Norton Si ...
is located at Orange Grove Boulevard and Colorado Boulevard.
Pacific Oaks College Eureka campus is located at Fair Oaks Avenue and Eureka Street, the very north end of Old Pasadena. On New Year's Day, the
Tournament of Roses
The Rose Parade, also known as the Tournament of Roses Parade (or simply the Tournament of Roses), is an annual parade held mostly along Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, California, Pasadena, California, United States, on New Year's Day (or on Mon ...
Parade travels through Old Pasadena on
Colorado Boulevard. The spectacle draws an average of 1.5 million spectators each year, thousands of whom camp overnight on the route to have a prime view of the parade.
ArtPerformance is an annual outdoor music event featuring free concerts on multiple stages throughout Old Pasadena, in conjunction with PasadenART Weekend, a three-day citywide event.
Three street intersections in Old Pasadena, Colorado/DeLacey, Colorado/Fair Oaks and Colorado/Raymond, use the
pedestrian scramble
A pedestrian scramble, also known as scramble intersection and scramble corner (Canada), 'X' Crossing (UK), diagonal crossing (US), (Japan), exclusive pedestrian interval, or Barnes Dance, is a type of traffic signal movement that temporarily s ...
system, as used in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
,
Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard South in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of the Las Vegas city ...
in Nevada, and
Rodeo Drive
Rodeo Drive is a street in Beverly Hills, California, with its southern segment in the City of Los Angeles. Its southern terminus is at Beverwil Drive, and its northern terminus is at its intersection with Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills. The ...
in
Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. ...
.
Notable residents
Notable people who have lived or spent time in Old Pasadena include
General George Patton,
Alexander Calder
Alexander Calder (; July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976) was an American sculptor known both for his innovative mobiles (kinetic sculptures powered by motors or air currents) that embrace chance in their aesthetic, his static "stabiles", and hi ...
,
[Calder, Alexander. ''An Autobiography With Pictures''. p21-22. Pantheon Books, 1966, ] Upton Sinclair
Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. (September 20, 1878 – November 25, 1968) was an American writer, muckraker, political activist and the 1934 Democratic Party nominee for governor of California who wrote nearly 100 books and other works in sever ...
,
L. Ron Hubbard
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (March 13, 1911 – January 24, 1986) was an American author, primarily of science fiction and fantasy stories, who is best known for having founded the Church of Scientology. In 1950, Hubbard authored '' Dianeti ...
,
Jack Parsons,
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
,
Bobby Fischer
Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943January 17, 2008) was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Championships at the age of 14. In 1964, he won with an 1 ...
and
David Lee Roth.
References
External links
Official Old Pasadena websiteOld PasadenaOld Towne PubOld Pasadena - PasadenART Weekend Pasadena - jsponsel
Sources
*Hiram Reid, ''History of Pasadena'', out of print, rare book, 1895.
*Pasadena City Hall, Hall of Records and Office of Cultural History
*Pasadena Museum of History
{{Authority control
National Register of Historic Places in Pasadena, California
Neighborhoods in Pasadena, California
San Gabriel Valley
Shopping malls in the San Gabriel Valley
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in California