Water and Power Associates Informing the Public about Critical Water and Energy Issues facing Los Angeles and California

Historical Notes

At the turn of the century (1893 - 1938) one of the most famous excursion in Southern California was the Mt. Lowe trip. Sightseers from all around the Los Angeles area took a Pasadena car to Altadena and Rubio Canyon. They then transferred to a cable car on the Incline Railway that went up a 62% grade to Echo Mountain. From there they would take a narrow-gauge trolley car winding its way up the rugged San Gabriel Mtns. and finally would arrive at Alpine Tavern on Mt. Lowe, a nearly 7 mile railway ride from the base of the mountain. The views of the valley floor and beyond were spectacular.*

Historical Notes

After Pacific Electric (owned by Henry E. Huntington) purchased Mount Lowe Railway around 1902, the cars used on the Great Cable Incline were rebuilt to include a roof on the top deck. These cars, stripped to their floors, were last used to carry salvage in 1938, when the Mt. Lowe line was scrapped.**#

Historical Notes

Buildings at Echo Mountain, reached by the Mount Lowe Railway, included the Echo Mountain House, a 70-room hotel at an elevation of approximately 3500 ft., the 40-room Echo Chalet, the observatory, car barns, dormitories, repair facilities, and a casino/dance hall.*

Click HERE to see more in Early Views of Mt. Lowe Railway.

Historical Notes

Completed in the fall of 1894, the Echo Mountain House was a marvel. The four-story Victorian building was marked by a tall, cylindrical tower and capped by a metal dome and a huge American flag. The bright white exterior was marked by a long row of windows on each floor. At the building’s entrance, two sweeping verandas looked off across the canyons and the valley. The interior of the hotel was extravagant, with detailed wood inlay, the finest floral-patterned carpet and handmade furniture throughout. There were seventy guest rooms, large areas for office space, a massive social hall and dining room, a souvenir shop, a Western Union office, a bowling alley, a billiard room, a barbershop and a shoeshine stand.^^

Historical Notes

From the top of Echo Mtn, passengers could transfer to another trolley line, the Alpine Division, which would take them to the upper terminus at Crystal Springs and Ye Alpine Tavern, a 22-room Swiss Chalet hospice with a complement of amenities from tennis courts, to wading pools, to mule rides. This phase of tracks cut through the broad Las Flores Canyon which gave a tremendous panorama of the valley floor below. At one point a tall trestle was required to bridge a broad and deep chasm with a bridge so named High Bridge.*^

Historical Notes

The automobile must have been taken up on the back of an incline car, as there were no auto roads in the vicinity at the time. A fire road reaches this spot today.

Historical Notes

Ye Alpine Tavern was the end-of-the-line for the Mount Lowe Railway at the foot of Mount Lowe. It was renamed The Mount Lowe Tavern in 1925, and was burned down in September 1936.*^

Historical Notes

On closer look you can make out Christmas Tree Lane with deodar saplings in the middle of photo.  The McNally and Greene mansions are those buildings on either side.

(1902)* - Caption reads, "'Ah, there!' Behold, three young ladies of fashion determinedly, though circumspectly, hiking up the Mt. Lowe trail in the year 1902. Mountaineering was quite the thing in those halcyon times, but if anyone had so much as mentioned hiking outfits with 'shorts' to these gals, they probably would have hidden their blushes in the shrubbery."

Historical Notes

Benjamin D. Wilson, born in 1811 in Tennessee, was a fur trapper by trade. He arrived in California in 1841, intending to continue to China. During the Mexican War he joined up with the Gringos, was captured, and spent the remainder of the war as a prisoner. After the war he went into business in Los Angeles and was eventually elected mayor in 1851. In 1854 he bought a 128 acre ranch where San Marino now stands and lived there until his death in 1878.

Don Benito, as he was known to his many Spanish speaking friends, needed lumber for his fences and wine barrels. The mountain peak that loomed above Wilson's ranch held plentiful forests of sugar pine and cedar, so he had been told. The year was 1864. To get that timber, Wilson was to build the first modern trail up the peak that now bears his name. In the spring of 1864, Don Benito put his Mexican and Indian help to work improving an old Indian path up Little Santa Anita Canyon. Upon arriving at the top, Wilson found two cabin ruins already there, possibly built by horse thieves of an earlier time.

The timber on Wilson's peak, as the mountain became known after Don Benito built his trail, apparently didn't suit Benjamin Wilson. A few weeks later he abandoned the venture. But his trail remained, and for many years was the only pathway to the mountain top. #*#*

Historical Notes

La Mariposa is the first motel located between Lake and Marcheta (Webster) avenues in Altadena. It was built in the early 1900s and had six rooms. The Model Grocery, a branch of Pasadena's Model Grocery stores, opened its business for a few years catering to the cattle trade customers.

Historical Notes

When the Pasadena National Bank first opened its doors in 1886, local residents made $25,000 worth of deposits on the first day alone. The bank's original lacation was a room on Raymond Avenue, but it soon moved to the Masonic Temple, shown here on the southeast corner of Raymond Avenue and Colorado Street. The bank's new offices had the most burglarproof vaults available, featuring 5-foot-thick walls laced with steel horseshoes.**

Historical Notes

Harry Ridgway designed the imposing Masonic Temple block at the southeast corner of Raymond and Colorado in Romanesque Revival style in 1894.  He was also the architect/designer for the First National Bank building, built in 1886 on the n/w corner of Colorado and Fair Oaks. *#*#

Historical Notes

Nash Bros. Grocery store moved to 141 Colorado in 1900.

Historical Notes

Back of photo reads:  “Great Grandpa Adams founder of the Adams & Turner later Turner & Stevens.  Grandma Wall lived on 2nd floor with my father.”

Historical Notes

The large home seen between the Churce & Library belonged to John Allin and was located at 109 East Walnut. Allin owned the "Livery and Feed Stable".

Throop University later became Cal Tech.

Historical Notes

This was Pasadena’s 2nd Central Public Library building. Opened on Sept. 9, 1890, the library was an impressive stone structure located on the southeast corner of Walnut Street at Raymond Avenue in what is now known as memorial Park. Although this building was expanded in 1901 and Children’s services had moved to a bungalow in Library Park, the existing space was insufficient to meet the needs of a growing City.

The Library’s founding predates the City’s incorporation by four years. The first building was on Central School grounds, south side of Colorado St. between Raymond St. and Santa Fe tracks, and opened Feb. 26, 1884. This building was moved to 42 West Dayton St. in 1886.*

Click HERE to see Pasadena's 3rd Public Library Building, built in 1925 at 285 E. Walnut.

Historical Notes

Opened on Sept. 9, 1890, the Richardsonian Romanesque style stone building was designed by architect Hamilton Ridgway.

Historical Notes

This was Pasadena's second library building. The first was located on the Central School grounds, south side of Colorado St. between Raymond St. and Santa Fe tracks, and opened Feb. 26, 1884.

Historical Notes

Today, a green sandstone wall and a bench can be found at the corner of Orange Grove and Colorado.  They are made of stone from the 1890 building of the Pasadena Public Library.  A plaque bears the names of the 27 original colonists of Pasadena.*^

Click HERE to see Pasadena's 3rd Public Library Building, built in 1925 at 285 E. Walnut.

Historical Notes

Rapidly growing in size, the Universal congregation decided to build a huge church building to accommodate future growth. By 1890 they reached almost 140 members and completed construction of a large church on the corner of Raymond and Chestnut. (The current church at Del Mar and Los Robles was built in 1923.) ^

Historical Notes

Financing this new (1890) building was quite complicated, involving numerous other real estate transactions and loans. In the end, Amos Throop wound up paying over 2/3 of the cost. The Governor of California contributed $1000 which was a large sum in those days.^

Historical Notes

While a newspaper claimed in 1890 that the church could accommodate 1000 people, a more accurate story is obtained from the Nazarene Church which eventually bought the building in 1922. They claim that as many as 1300 people could be crammed into the sanctuary with 700 seated and 600 standing. The 700 seats were not pews but were luxurious theater-style seats with arm-rests.

The book "Inventing the Dream, California Through the Progressive Era" mentions on p. 99: "Pasadena grew into a charming town of ten thousand by century's turn with a church for every thousand residents (including a massive Romanesque Universalist Church ...)". A local newspaper wrote: "Pasadena boasts many handsome buildings, but none of them surpass in architectural beauty the Universalist Church."

The church building was demolished by the new owners in the early 1960s to create a parking lot. ^

Historical Notes

By 1895 a railroad line had been established from Downtown Los Angeles with a grand wooden trestle that cut a straight line crossing from the west side to the east. Eventually this line would hook up with rail lines built from the east to create the cross-country course of the Santa Fe Railroad. For local commutes, an electric traction trolley was put in and operated by the Pacific Electric Railway, a Henry E. Huntington enterprise, which ran the "Red Cars" from the upper Arroyo and Pasadena through the San Gabriel Valley into Los Angeles and many points beyond. The lower Arroyo Seco was served by the Los Angeles Railway "Yellow Car" lines.*^

Historical Notes

Originally this line had four bridges. The most spectacular spanned the Arroyo Seco at Garvanza and was the highest bridge on the PE system. It was a single track structure, of combination steel and frame bent construction. Built in 1895, it was rebuilt in 1903 and strengthened in 1916. It was about 900 feet long. Two double track wooden trestles spanned the SP main line at Daly Street & Alhambra Avenue and the UP Pasadena Branch at Fair View near Columbia Street The lower Arroyo Seco was crossed by means of a concrete structure on Pasadena Ave. near Ave. 36; this was a paved viaduct for both vehicular and rail traffic.

Believe it or not, the chief tourist attraction on this line was the Cawston Ostrich Farm, on the east bank of the Arroyo Seco at Garvanza. In was American's first ostrich farm, having opened in 1886. The incubators, the dye houses and factories were widely publicized and the South Pasadena cars hauled thousands for 25 cents round trip (which included admission to the Farm). Just as long as ostrich feathers enjoyed a vogue as an essential part of milady's costume, so did this lucrative business help keep the South Pasadena Line in the black.##**

Historical Notes

The Tournament of Roses began as an effort by Pasadena’s Valley Hunt Club to promote the city’s charm and beautiful weather. Many of the members of the Valley Hunt Club were former residents of the American East and Midwest and wanted to showcase their new California home's mild winter weather. At a club meeting, Professor Charles F. Holder announced, "In New York, people are buried in the snow. Here our flowers are blooming and our oranges are about to bear. Let's hold a festival to tell the world about our paradise."

So the club organized horse-drawn carriages covered in flowers, followed by foot races, polo matches, and a game of tug-of-war on the town lot that attracted a crowd of 2,000 to the event. Upon seeing the scores of flowers on display, the professor decided to suggest the name "Tournament of Roses."

Over the next few founding years, marching bands and motorized floats were added.*^

Historical Notes

Members of Pasadena's Valley Hunt Club first staged the parade in 1890. Since then the parade has been held in Pasadena every New Year's Day, except when January 1 falls on a Sunday.*^

Historical Notes

By 1895, the event was too large for the Valley Hunt Club to handle, hence the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association was formed. By the 11th annual tournament (1900), the town lot on which the activities were held was renamed Tournament Park, a large open area directly adjacent to Pasadena's world-famous institution of higher learning, Caltech. Activities soon included ostrich races, bronco busting demonstrations, and an odd novelty race between a camel and an elephant (The elephant won the race.) Soon reviewing stands were built along the parade route and newspapers in Eastern Seaboard cities started to take notice of the event.*^

Historical Notes

This particular float was the winner of a First Prize. The verso of the card reads, "This is one of the wagons in New Year parade - the tournament was postponed till this Saturday on account of rain." *

There are two maxims about the Rose Parade that everyone in Pasadena knows: There’s never a parade on a Sunday, and it doesn’t rain on the parade. The first has always been true since the first time Jan. 1 fell on a Sunday in 1893 and the parade was moved to Jan. 2. The second—well, 10 rainy days in 125 years isn’t a bad batting average. +#

Historical Notes

The San Gabriel Mountains borrow their name from the nearby Spanish mission, but for decades they also bore a more poetic name: the Sierra Madre (Mother Mountains). Both names were handed down by the early Spanish missionaries and existed side-by-side until 1927, when the U.S. Board on Geographic Names acted on a petition from a Pomona College geographer and decided in favor of "San Gabriel Mountains." "Sierra Madre" has since passed out of common usage, although it still survives in numerous place names, from the City of Sierra Madre to the Gold Line's Sierra Madre Villa station, named after a tuberculosis sanitarium at the base of the mountains.

Historical Notes

The inventor and promotor of the cycleway was Pasadena resident Horace Dobbins, who attracted ex-California governor Henry Harrison Markham to join him in the venture. Together, the two sought approval from the California state legislature, which was ultimately granted (after a first attempt was vetoed) in 1897. The California Cycleway Company bought a six-mile right-of-way from downtown Pasadena to Avenue 54 in Highland Park, Los Angeles.

Construction began in 1899, and about 1.3 miles of the elevated wooden bikeway were opened on January 1, 1900, starting near Pasadena's Hotel Green and ending near the Raymond Hotel.

Historical Notes

The California Cycleway, opened in 1900, was a nine-mile elevated tollway built specially for bicycle traffic through the Arroyo Seco, intended to connect the cities of Pasadena and Los Angeles.

The majority of the California Cycleway route is now Edmondson Alley. A toll booth was located near the north end, in the present Central Park.

Historical Notes

Built in 1889, the Pasadena Grand Opera House was bought by Thaddeus Lowe in 1891. Lowe is also known for his Mt. Lowe Railway and Echo Mountain Incline.

Historical Notes

Oldsmobile model could not be verified, however, vehicle in photo closely resembles steam Locomobile from 1900-1904.

Historical Notes

Had the full route been completed, it would have continued past Highland Park, on through Montecito Heights, crossed the Los Angeles River, passed Elysian Park, and continued to the Plaza in Los Angeles.

Historical Notes

The elevation of the roadway was 50 feet. The portion built was constructed almost entirely of Oregon pine and was wide enough for four cyclists to ride abreast, with provision for eventual doubling of the width. It was painted dark green and, at night, brightly lit with incandescent lights.

Historical Notes

The toll was 10 cents one-way, or 15 cents round trip.

Due to the end of the bicycle craze of the 1890s and the existing Pacific Electric Railway lines connecting Pasadena to Los Angeles, the cycleway never made a profit, and never extended beyond the Raymond Hotel into the Arroyo Seco. In the first decade of the 20th century, the structure was dismantled, and the wood sold for lumber, and the Pasadena Rapid Transit Company, a failed venture headed by Dobbins to construct a streetcar line, acquired the right-of-way. Later, the California Cycleway's right-of-way became part of the Arroyo Seco Parkway (Pasadena Freeway).

The California Cycleway, along with the similar Santa Monica Cycle Path, were two projects that reflected the cycling boom of the 1890s when Los Angeles had over 35,000 cyclists. They represented early attempts to create dedicated infrastructure for non-motorized transportation, predating the car-centric development that would come to define Los Angeles County in the 20th century. While neither project achieved long-term success, they remain important chapters in the history of transportation and urban planning in Southern California.

Historical Notes

Hotel Green was initially known as the Webster Hotel.  Mr. Webster became nearly bankrupt while trying to finish his lavish hotel in time for its opening. It opened its doors to the public in the 1880s and was only open a few months before he sold it to George Green.

George Gill Green acquired the unfinished building, doubled the size and completed the hotel in 1893. The newly expanded hotel, named the Hotel Green, opened for business in 1894.

Historical Notes

In 1898, Col. Green built an even more impressive Mediterranean style hotel on the opposite side of Raymond. The two buildings were connected by a bridge across Raymond.

Historical Notes

The Green was one of the leading Pasadena hotels, along with the Raymond and the Huntington, during Pasadena's heyday as a winter resort for wealthy Easterners in the 1890s and 1900s.

Historical Notes

In 1887, Edward Webster built a new Santa Fe Railroad station next to his hotel site, for easy food and lodging business with trains' arrival/departure passengers. Webster went bankrupt before finishing his hotel.

Historical Notes

The hotel was home to both the Tournament of Roses and the Valley Hunt Club. It was supplemented by two later buildings, creating a complex of three structures.

Historical Notes

Due to the hotel's success, Green began building an addition in 1897, and the "Central Annex" opened on January 16, 1899 to coincide with Green's birthday, and 1,000 guests came to celebrate the occasion. The hotel continued to grow in popularity with the new Central Annex. Its pedestrian bridge to the main hotel over Raymond Avenue became a popular viewing site for the Rose Parade, which ran along Raymond at the time.

Historical Notes

The new building, to become known as "Castle Green," was on a full city block but was set back from the streets, which provided open space for large new gardens. They became Pasadena's only 'public' park at the time.

Historical Notes

In 1903 Green added a third annex, known as the Wooster Block. It incorporated an earlier building constructed in 1887, which had been part of the original site of the California Institute of Technology.  Green planned to add a fourth annex, before running short on money for construction.

Historical Notes

Hotel Green, designed by Los Angeles-based architect Frederick Roehrig, was published in the periodical The Western Architect in December 1905.

Historical Notes

Hotel Green acquired a reputation as a luxury hotel. The hotel hosted society events such as receptions for significant visitors and the Valley Hunt Club's annual ball. In addition, the hotel contributed to Pasadena's economy and population. Lodgers at the hotel were credited with spending large amounts of money at Pasadena businesses, and many tourists ultimately decided to live in Pasadena.

Historical Notes

Meredith P. Snyder was elected mayor of Los Angeles in 1919.

Historical Notes

Daniel M. Linnard bought the hotel from George Gill Green in 1914. The hotel's business declined after this point, as the rise of automobile travel took away its market of Santa Fe Railroad passengers at the adjacent train station. The original 1894 Hotel Green building on the east side of Raymond Avenue was sold in 1920. By 1924 the hotel was owned by a group of investors who divided the hotel complex into three parts. The Central Annex was subdivided into fifty residential apartments and renamed the Castle Green.*

The Castle Green is now a luxurious condominium complex, with 52 units privately owned. They are predominantly one bedroom units, carved out of what were once hotel rooms and suites for the very wealthy. They are filled with rare architectural detail and beautiful reminders of their Victorian past.

The Castle Green is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the State Historic Register, and the City of Pasadena’s list of Historic Places.*

Historical Notes

Colorado Street had become a more bustling locale by the time this photograph was taken, sometime around 1900. Many of the timber shacks lining the street in the 1880s photographs have been replaced by taller, more ornate buildings. Power lines and trolley tracks show Pasadena's progress as well. A bicycle parade attracted the curiosity of onlookers. Pasadena had nine bicycle shops by 1902, and the long line of parade participants on this day suggests that business was good.

Historical Notes

The Carlton Hotel was a first-class establishment in the center of Pasadena’s growing downtown.  Known as the Exchange Block, and designed by Harry Ridgway, it opened in the summer of 1886 (the same year as the Raymond Hotel). The Carlton boasted the first passenger elevator in town, and at its front entrance was the first benchmark from which all official city grades or levels were measured.*#*#

Historical Notes

Gilbert Longfellow built his first octagonal house along the coast of Maine. Then in 1893, after moving to Pasadena, Longfellow built his second octagonal home on San Pasqual Street. After Longfellow died in 1912, his son Charles continued the family's farming business, purchasing additional land nearby (now part of the California Institute of Technology campus) where he established a small, but successful, citrus grove. In 1917, to make way for subdivision of the original farm, the house was moved to a city lot about a mile north of the farm on Allen Avenue.

While remaining in the same family, over the years the house fell into great disrepair. In 1973, facing demolition of the house where he had spent much of his life, Walter Hastings (Longfellow's grandson) sought assistance from the Cultural Heritage Foundation of Southern California's Heritage Square Museum to save his family's home. In exchange, he donated the house to the museum. The home was moved to its present location (Heritage Square Museum) in 1986. ^

Historical Notes

In 1917, when L.A./Pasadena sprawl reached San Pasqual Street, the Longfellow family moved its octagon house a mile north to Allen Avenue. In 1973, the Cultural Heritage Foundation of Southern California, which runs the Heritage Square Museum, struck a deal with Walter Hastings, Longfellow's grandson who lived in the house. The foundation would save his home from threatened demolition if he donated the octagon. When Hastings moved out in 1986, the organization relocated the Longfellow place to the Arroyo Seco.) ^

Historical Notes

The original building was a large two-story structure facing Lincoln Avenue; a small building for the kindergarten was in the rear. The Board purchased a house and lot adjoining the school site in November 1901, and started the kindergarten class there in January of 1902.*

Historical Notes

In 1895 The Pasadena and Pacific Railway was created from a merger of the Pasadena and Los Angeles Railway and the Los Angeles Pacific Railway (to Santa Monica.) The Pasadena and Pacific Railway boosted Southern California tourism, living up to its motto "from the mountains to the sea." *^

Historical Notes

The Shakespeare Club of Pasadena was organized in 1888 and has the distinction of being the oldest women's club in Southern California. The Club's purpose has always centered around the cultural, educational and philanthropic interests of its members.*#

Historical Notes

The Pasadena Police Department was founded in 1886.*^

Historical Notes

John Muir High School was Pasadena's second High School. Later it served as a Junior High School for many years, and then a school for special classes. The name had been changed to Benjamin Franklin. Later it was condemned for school purposes and the Recreation Department used it for years.*

Historical Notes

John Muir Technical High School first appears in a 1928 Pasadena directory at its Lincoln location. Prior to that it was John Muir Junior High School, and was located on Walnut. #*

Historical Notes

The City of South Pasadena established a solid reputation for its public schools, its first high school being no exception. Norman Foote Marsh, and his firm Marsh and Russell, designed this first High School building in 1906, and saw its completion by 04/1907. The City of South Pasadena, in its historic preservation context statement said of this education complex: "After several years of operating out of shared or rented facilities, a bond was passed in 1906 which authorized $65,000 for the construction of a new high school. However, construction was delayed when the San Francisco earthquake in 1906–along with the subsequent rebuilding efforts–inflated the cost of building materials. Voters were compelled to approve an additional $10,000 before construction could begin. Designed by the firm of Marsh & Russell, the three-story building was officially opened in April 1907. Additional buildings housing domestic science and manual training programs were added in 1912.^

Historical Notes

This building, constructed in 1907, and two others added in 1912 stood until the 1950s, at which time they were demolished. *

Historical Notes

The large building seen in the upper left corner of the photo is John Muir Jr. High School, which later became Pasadena High School, located on Walnut St., between Euclid and Los Robles.*^*

Historical Notes

The trellis in the lower left hand corner was later covered in vines. The church in the upper corner of the photo is believed to be the Pasadena Presbyterian Church.*^*

Historical Notes

The Hotel Maryland was designed by John Parkinson and opened in 1903. It was expanded over the years and hosted many famous people including Presidents.

Historical Notes

The Maryland Hotel was an all year hotel, different from seasonal hotels. The builder of the Maryland's first unit was Colin Stuart, who named the hotel "Maryland", after his home state.*

Historical Notes

On April 18, 1914, the main building burned to the ground. It was redesigned by Myron Hunt and rebuilt the same year. A large open area to the north was lined with "bungalows" and some people lived there all the time.

Historical Notes

At one time the Maryland Hotel covered the entire area from Colorado Blvd. to Walnut Avenue, with Los Robles as its eastern border and Euclid as its western border. Union Street wasn't put through until later, so it was a solid long block full of rental bungalows all the way north.

Historical Notes

The Maryland Hotel covered eight acres of lawn and flower gardens, and besides the main structure it had thirty bungalows, where one could live in quiet seclusion a few feet from the busy halls - yet remote and undisturbed - if he so desired.*

Historical Notes

Most of the Hotel Maryland was torn down shortly after August 20th, 1937 but some of the hotel continued until 1948. The property was gradually sold off. The apartment house on Euclid, added in 1927, is all that remains today.

Historical Notes

The man in the car is Charles Gibbs Adams, a landscape architect and historian in Pasadena.  The woman at the steering tiller is identified only as “Mary”.

Historical Notes

Opened in August of 1914, Warner’s Photoplay Theater was one of the first motion picture theaters offering air-conditioning.  It was a welcome relief from Pasadena's hot August temps. *^*

Historical Notes

The Cawston Ostrich Farm became a premier tourist attraction for many years. Its proximity to the trolley line that came through from downtown Los Angeles brought many tourists to visit the farm through the earlier part of the 20th century.*^

Historical Notes

Cawston Ostrich Farm, located in South Pasadena, was opened in 1886 by Edwin Cawston. It was America's first ostrich farm and was located in the Arroyo Seco Valley just three miles north of downtown Los Angeles and occupied nine acres.*^

Historical Notes

In 1885 Edwin Cawston charted a ship to take fifty of some of the best obtainable ostriches in the world from South Africa to Galveston, Texas. From there, the ostriches endured a treacherous train journey to South Pasadena. Out of the original fifty, only eighteen survived. Cawston bounced back from the loss of over half of his stock and the Ostrich Farm eventually boasted over 100 ostriches from the original batch.*^

Historical Notes

Cawston Ostrich Farm guests were able to ride on the backs of ostriches and to be taken for ostrich drawn carriage rides. They also could buy ostrich feathered hats, boas, capes and fans at the Ostrich Farm store that was connected to the factory. The ostrich farm feather products were shipped and sold throughout the world.*^

Historical Notes

Most of the original brick structure of the factory and store remains today and is South Pasadena Cultural Landmark #18.*^

Historical Notes

In 1911 City Hall occupied a building at Union and Fair Oaks. Since then City Hall moved several times, and the building was lost, only to be replaced in 2003 by a quasi replica now known as the Container Store.*^

Historical Notes

The Original Raymond Hotel burned to the ground in 1895.

The second Raymond Hotel opened on December 19, 1901 and was met with immediate success especially from those who had lost their winter residence for 6 years. The registry was filled with names of moguls from the East: Pullman, Schwab, Harriman, Swift, Armour, Rockefeller, Morgan, Carnegie, and of course R. T. Crane who spent his remaining winters at the Raymond.*^

Historical Notes

Located atop Bacon Hill, renamed Raymond Hill, which lies between Pasadena and South Pasadena, the first Raymond Hotel burned down in 1895 and was replaced by a second (seen above) in 1903.*

Click HERE to see more on the 1st Hotel Raymond.

Historical Notes

The Raymond was a landing-place for well-heeled visitors in the area until the Huntington Hotel, another luxury resort also located in Pasadena began receiving visitors in 1914.

Historical Notes

During the Great Depression, 1931, the Raymond Hotel starting seeing a major decline in the number of guests.  Mortgage payments became due and could not be met.  The bank foreclosed on the hotel and Walter Raymond lost the property. The owner of the Maryland Hotel, Daniel M. Linnard, sought to manage the property for a while, but in 1934, the year of Walter Raymond’s death, the hotel was torn down for commercial development.*^

Historical Notes

CA. Roy Knabenshue made outstanding contributions to aviation as an aeronaut making balloon flights. He was among the first to pilot a steerable balloon, one of the pilots of the first successful American dirigible, a builder and exhibitor of dirigibles of his own design, manager of the Wright Brothers’ Exhibition Team, and a leading builder of observation balloons during World War I.*

Historical Notes

Roy Knabenshue was the first to make a dirigible balloon flight over the skyscrapers of New York back in 1905, one year after his original lighter-than- air powered flight at the St. Louis Exposition. After several years of barnstorming and a stretch as general manager for the Wright Brothers, he went west and built a 13-passenger airship in Pasadena for passenger flights.*

Historical Notes

The Oneonta Park Tract came into being in 1902 when Henry Huntington changed the name of the existing Monrovia Junction to Oneonta, the name of his hometown in New York.  He described Oneonta Park as a model suburb with rail transportation to downtown Los Angeles as more than 750 Red Cars passed in a single day.

The name Oneonta was widely used in South Pasadena – Oneonta Military Academy, Oneonta School, Oneonta Congregational Church, Oneonta Club, and many others.  The Oneonta Tract encompassed several hundred acres in the area of Huntington Drive and Fremont Avenue, east to Fletcher Avenue and south to the Alhambra city limits. ^

Historical Notes

The Oneonta Park Station was constructed in 1906 and had a small counter where tickets, daily newspapers and soft drinks could be purchased before boarding the Red Cars.  A tower located within the station housed an interlocking system which controlled all the switches at the Junction, including Southern Pacific Railway crossing at Huntington Drive and Marengo Avenue.  From the tower, the controller had a view in all directions.  The Oneonta Park Station was demolished when operations were discontinued in late 1951. ^

Click HERE to see more early views of Oneonta Park Junction (1937 +).

(1915)**- View of the Pasadena Furniture Company.  Picture taken from 1915 Tournament of Roses Program. According to the 1916 Pasadena City Directory, the Pasadena Furniture Company was at 83-91 Raymond Avenue.

Click HERE to see contemporary view.

Historical Notes

Construction began in July 1912 and lasted 18 months, employing 40 to 100 workers on any given day. Built with 11,000 cubic yards of concrete -- made from gravel collected from the arroyo -- and 600 tons of steel reinforcement, the bridge cost a total of $235,000.*#*

Historical Notes

The bridge was completed in December 1913 at a cost of $240,000. The 1,467.5-foot span over the Arroyo Seco chasm that separates Pasadena from Eagle Rock.

Historical Notes

The Scoville Bridge survived until the flood of 1914, when the trestle was carried all the way down the Arroyo Seco and into the Los Angeles River.

Historical Notes

With its majestic arches rising 150 feet above the deeply cut Arroyo Seco, the Colorado Street Bridge was proclaimed the highest concrete bridge in the world upon completion in 1913.  The bridge impressed travelers from the day it opened.  Until then, the crossing of the Arroyo Seco required horses and wagons to descend the steep eastern slope, cross a small bridge (Scoville Bridge) over the stream, and then climb the west bank through Eagle Rock Pass.**^

Historical Notes

The Colorado Street Bridge was designed and built by the Kansas City (MO)-based firm of J.A.L. Waddell. With a span of 1,486 feet and known for its distinctive Beaux Arts arches, lights, and railings, the bridge is on the National Register of Historic Places and has been designated a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers.*

Historical Notes

The site's resort history dates to 1882, when Emma C. Bangs opened the original La Vista del Arroyo Hotel, a two-story, wood-frame building, and series of small cottages. In 1919, hotel tycoon Daniel M. Linnard, associated with such elegant Pasadena hotels as the Huntington and Green, purchased La Vista del Arroyo with the vision of developing the property into an opulent resort. Linnard commissioned the noted architectural firm of Marston & Van Pelt to design a large, two-story Spanish Colonial Revival hotel to replace the original structure. Once the popularity of the Vista had been established, select guests also built bungalows on the property.*^

Historical Notes

Only two lanes wide, the bridge was considered inadequate as early as the 1930s. The bridge remained part of Route 66 until the 1940 completion of the Arroyo Seco Parkway. After the route moved to the Arroyo Seco Parkway, Colorado continued to be signed as Alternate 66 until 1964.

Historical Notes

Rising 144 feet above the mostly dry ravine below, the bridge earned an unfortunate nickname — Suicide Bridge — after dozens of people leaped from the structure to their deaths during the Great Depression.^

Historical Notes

The Scoville Bridge survived until the flood of 1914, when the trestle was carried all the way down the Arroyo Seco and into the Los Angeles River.

Historical Notes

The Vista Del Arroyo Hotel's main building was constructed in two sections—the two-story north wing, in 1920, and the six-story bell tower with flanking wings, in 1930.

Historical Notes

The car seen above appears to be a 1920 Milburn Electric.

People liked them because in many ways early electric cars outperformed their gas competitors. Electric cars didn’t have the smell, noise, or vibration found in steam or gasoline cars. They were easier to operate, lacked a manual crank to start, and didn’t require the same difficult-to-change gear system as gas cars.

Electric cars became extremely popular in cities, especially with upper-class women who disliked the noisy and smelly attributes of gasoline-powered cars.
Like today, one of the challenges for early electric car owners was where to charge them.  By 1910 owners could install their own charging stations on their property, and an increasing number of car-repair shops popped up that allowed electric cars to charge overnight.

The production of electric cars peaked in 1912. And while at the turn of the century electric cars had made up a good proportion of the market, advances in gasoline-powered vehicles meant that electric cars owned a smaller and smaller market share as time went on.

When Henry Ford introduced the mass-produced and gas-powered Model T in 1908, it symbolized a death blow to the electric car. By 1912, a gasoline car cost only $650 while the average electric roadster sold for $1,750. In 1912 Charles Kettering also invented the first electric automobile starer. Effectively eliminating the hand crank, Kettering’s invention made the gas-powered auto even more attractive to the same drivers who had preferred electric cars.

By 1935, electric cars had all but disappeared from the road.*

Historical Notes

The Mount Wilson Observatory is located on Mount Wilson, a 5,715-foot peak in the San Gabriel Mountains near Pasadena. The observatory contains two historically important telescopes: the 60-inch Hale telescope built in 1908 and the 100-inch Hooker telescope, which was the largest telescope in the world from its completion in 1917 until the 200-inch Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory was built in 1948.

Historical Notes

The 60-inch Hale telescope was the largest telescope in the world when it was completed in 1908.

Historical Notes

One of the things that astronomers had to learn in those days was how to stay warm on cold nights [this shot was taken in December] working with a telescope. The instrument had to be the same temperature as the outside air, and the astronomer couldn't move very much.

Historical Notes

Mount Wilson Solar Observatory was founded in 1904 by George Ellery Hale under the auspices of the Carnegie Institution of Washington (the word "Solar" was dropped from the name in 1919 soon after the completion of the 100-inch telescope). In that year, Hale brought the Snow Solar Telescope from Yerkes Observatory in southern Wisconsin to the sunnier and steadier skies of Mount Wilson to continue his studies of the Sun. With a small cadre of Yerkes scientists and engineers accompanying him, Hale started what would become the world’s foremost astronomical research facility.

Historical Notes

In 1889, the Harvard Telescope was transported up the San Gabriel Mountains and installed at the top of Mt. Wilson. The problems associated with transporting this instrument up the old Wilson trail and the belief that larger telescopes would follow, created an interest in building the Mt. Wilson roadway.

As new, larger telescopes were designed for the Mt. Wilson Observatory, an automobile roadway became necessary to accommodate the trucks hauling parts up the mountain. In 1907 the trail was widened to ten feet with most of the work being done by hand with the use of Japanese laborers and mule-drawn scrapers. The road was widened to a full 12-foot roadway in 1917 to facilitate the transportation of parts for the 100-inch Hooker Telescope.

Historical Notes

The first optical interferometer ever used for astronomical research was used on the 100-inch telescope to measure the sizes of distant stars for the first time in 1919.

Historical Notes

Edwin Hubble used the 100-inch telescope to determine the distances and velocities of neighboring galaxies, demonstrating that they are separate "island universes" and not small nebulae contained within the Milky Way, as many astronomers had previously thought.

Historical Notes

Edwin Powell Hubble (1889-1953) played a crucial role in establishing the field of extragalactic astronomy and is generally regarded as one of the most important observational cosmologists of the 20th century. Hubble is known for showing that the recessional velocity of a galaxy increases with its distance from the earth, implying the universe is expanding, known as "Hubble's law" although this relation had been discovered previously by Georges Lemaître, who published his work in a less visible journal.

Edwin Hubble is also known for providing substantial evidence that many objects then classified as "nebulae" were actually galaxies beyond the Milky Way.

Historical Notes

The Hooker 100-inch telescope is named after John D. Hooker, who provided the funds for the giant mirror. It was the largest telescope in the world from 1917 to 1948 when the 200-inch telescope was built on Palomar Mountain 90 miles to the southeast.

Historical Notes

The horizontal Snow solar observatory was built on Mount Wilson in 1904. It was soon found that heat radiation was disrupting observations. Almost as soon as the Snow Observatory opened, plans were started for a 60-foot-tall tower that opened in 1908 followed by a 150-foot tower in 1912. The 60-foot tower is currently used to study helioseismology, while the 150-foot tower is active in UCLA's Solar Cycle Program.*^

Historical Notes

Over the years, the increasing light pollution due to the growth of greater Los Angeles has limited the ability of the observatory to engage in deep space astronomy, but it remains a productive center, with many new and old instruments in use for astronomical research.

Historical Notes

In 1928, George Ellery Hale secured a grant of six million dollars from the International Education Board, a funding agency endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation, for "the construction of an observatory, including a 200-inch reflecting telescope... and all other expenses incurred in making the observatory ready for use."  The 5,600-ft tall Palomar Mountain, located 100 miles south of Pasadena, was selected as the site of the new observatory.

Construction of the observatory facilities and dome started in 1936, but because of interruptions caused by World War II, the telescope was not completed until 1948 when it was dedicated. Due to slight distortions of images, corrections were made to the telescope throughout 1949. It became available for research in 1950.

Unlike the Mt. Wilson observatories, which are operated by the Carnegie Institution, the 200-inch is administered by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

Historical Notes

The installation of the Harvard telescope in 1889, which brought its own problems of transporting the instrument up the old Wilson trail, caused an interest in a Mt. Wilson roadway.

In June 1889, Judge Benjamin Eaton gathered a group of prominent Pasadena businessmen to consider building a wagon road to Mt. Wilson. There were eighteen men who agreed to contribute capital and on July 12, 1889, they incorporated "The Pasadena and Mount Wilson Toll Road Company." However, the company failed before there was any progress on a roadway.

Within a couple of years five of the original investors reorganized and refinanced the project, but since the Harvard telescope had been removed, and interest in Mt. Wilson had tailed off, they thought it better to downsize the project from a twelve foot road to a four foot road. By June 1891, after only five months work, a usable ten mile trail was established.

Historical Notes

The road was built in 1891 by the Pasadena and Mount Wilson Toll Road Company to provide access to the newly installed Harvard telescope and observatory on the summit of Mt. Wilson.

The original road was 10 miles long and 4 feet wide, but was later expanded to 6 feet wide to accommodate increased foot and pack animal traffic.

The toll road allowed vehicles, hikers, and pack animals to reach the top of Mt. Wilson, which had previously only been accessible via a more difficult trail.

The road was used to transport equipment and materials for the construction of the Mount Wilson Observatory, including the 100-inch telescope mirror in 1917.

Historical Notes

In July, 1891 the new toll road was officially opened to the public and the toll fixed by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors at 25 cents for hikers and 50 cents for horseback. The new road was called the "New Mt. Wilson Trail", and it soon became more popular than the old Sierra Madre trail. Foot and pack animal traffic became so heavy that in June 1893 the trail was widened to six feet, making two way travel much easier.

Historical Notes

The Mount Wilson Toll Road ascended Mount Wilson via a vehicular passable road from the base of the foothills in Altadena. It was accessible from Pasadena via Santa Anita Avenue (nowadays the north-south portion of Altadena Drive) which drove right to the front porch of the toll house.*^

When the Toll Road closed in 1936, the first 1/2 mile was sold off as residential lots and the entrance to the road moved to its present location on Pinecrest Drive.

Historical Notes

The Maxwell was a brand of automobiles manufactured in the United States from about 1904 to 1925. By 1914 the company sold 60,000 cars. They became known for their speed from some racing contests.  The present-day successor to the Maxwell Company is Chrysler Group.

Historical Notes

By the early 1930s a new high speed highway was being built from La Cañada via the Arroyo Seco. The new Angeles Crest Highway was paved and ready for travel into Red Box Canyon and onward to Mt. Wilson from the back side by 1935. The historic Mt. Wilson Toll Road closed to the public in March, 1936 and was turned over to the United States Forest Service.

Today, the Old Mt. Wilson Toll Road is still accessible to non-motorized traffic (hikers, bicyclists, and horses) by way of Eaton Canyon (either from the Nature Center entrance, or an access gate on Pinecrest Drive, just off Altadena Drive in Altadena). Segments of it have been closed at various times due to landslides. A 2005 landslide destroyed 50 yards of the road, but it has since been rebuilt and reopened.

Historical Notes

The Mt. Wilson Hotel was a popular resort in the early 20th century, located near the Mt. Wilson Observatory which was undergoing major improvements at the time. The hotel was frequently taxed to its limits, with 50 men having to stay up all night in the dining room at one point in 1907.

Historical Notes

When the automobile craze surged in the 1920s, families were finally able to reach the summit on four wheels. Driving up the harrowing Mountain Wilson toll road, which was open to the public from 1912 to 1936, deposited weekend adventures at the doorstep of the Mount Wilson Hotel. Rebuilt after burning down in 1913, the hotel, complete with a dining room and swimming pool, was a popular lodging for Southern Californians.

Historical Notes

The hotel faced recurring challenges over the years, including wildfires, cottage fires, and battles over control of the surrounding land with operators like Charles Chantry and the McNallys of the Orchard Camp.

The landmark hotel would be torn down in 1966.

Historical Notes

The road up to Mount Wilson today is known as the Mount Wilson Red Box Road, and it provides access to the Mount Wilson Observatory and other facilities at the summit. The road starts from the Angeles Crest Highway and is 4.7 miles long, with an elevation gain of 1027 feet. The average gradient of the road is 4.14%, making it a challenging and scenic drive.

Historical Notes

Engineer J. B. Lippincott surveyed the highway for the Automobile Club of Southern California in 1919. This is the same Lippincott that surveyed the Los Angeles Aqueduct for William Mulholland.

When finished, the scenic byway would ascend up and wind its way through 66 miles of the Angeles National Forest, through chaparral, and montane forest habitats, along the highest and most scenic ridges of the San Gabriel mountain range.

Historical Notes

The concept for "the most scenic and picturesque mountain road in the state" was developed in 1912, and the funding allocated beginning in 1919. The construction, piece by piece, started in 1929 and continued until 1956, with the exception of the years 1941 through 1946 during WWII. *

Historical Notes

Where nature failed to provide a way, workers created one, blasting roadcuts into granite and erecting bridges over drainages. Some cuts are as deep as 240 feet.

Historical Notes

Construction of Angeles Crest Highway began in 1929. It was originally intended to be a fire access road. In 1941 construction stopped because of World War II. In 1946, after the war, construction resumed; the completed highway eventually opened in 1956. The road was constructed by prison labor from Camp 37, which has since been razed. Division of Highways (now known as CalTrans) staff lived at a site called Cedar Springs. The staff is now located at Chilao Flats. Children of the staff attended Chilao Mountain School, a one-room school; the school has been closed for several years.

Historical Notes

In the high country near Islip Saddle, the highway tunnels twice through the mountainside. It achieves its highest elevation, 7,901 feet, at Dawson Saddle.

Historical Notes

Angeles Crest Highway was originally planned to be upgraded to a freeway in the 1950s, but was later considered geographically improbable and the plans were abandoned.

Historical Notes

The highway forever changed the Angeles National Forest. Almost immediately after the first segment opened, automotive visitors flooded trail resorts like Switzer’s or forested hideaways like Chilao previously accessible only by foot or horseback. In the 18 months between July 1932 and Dec. 1933, nearly 2.5 million people visited the Angeles National Forest – more than all visitors to California’s national parks combined. As construction extended the road toward Big Pines (which it finally reached in 1956), Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) campgrounds drew even more visitors deep into the San Gabriels’ remote backcountry.

Today, a motorist can traverse 66 miles of some of the most difficult terrain in the U.S. in under two hours, through country that once provoked complaints from no less a mountaineer than John Muir. “In the mountains of San Gabriel,” Muir wrote, “Mother Nature is most ruggedly, thornily savage.”*

Historical Notes

The Gamble House was designed in 1908 by architects Greene & Greene. It was commissioned by David and Mary Gamble, of Cincinnati, Ohio, as a winter residence.

David Berry Gamble, a second generation member of the Procter & Gamble Company in Cincinnati, had retired from active work in 1895, and with his wife, Mary Huggins Gamble, began to spend winters in Pasadena, residing in the area’s resort hotels. By 1907, the couple had decided to build a permanent home in Pasadena. In June of that year, they bought a lot on the short, private street, Westmoreland Place, passing up the more fashionable address, South Orange Grove, known at that time as “Millionaires’ Row.”^

Historical Notes

Outdoor space was as important as the interior spaces. Exterior porches are found off three of the second-floor bedrooms and were used for sleeping or entertaining. The main terrace is privately beyond the rear facade of the residence. It has patterned brick paving with planting areas, a large curvilinear pond, and garden walls made with distinctive clinker bricks and boulders. Paths made with large water-worn stones from the nearby Arroyo Seco are reminiscent of running brooks crossing the lawns. The overall landscape design and constructed garden elements are integrated with the architectural proportion and detailing. The triple front door and transom feature a Japanese black pine motif in plated (more than one layer) leaded art glass, highlighting the Asian influence that runs throughout the house. *^

Historical Notes

David and Mary Gamble lived in the house until their deaths in 1923 and 1929, respectively. Cecil Huggins Gamble and his wife Louise Gibbs Gamble began living in the house after Julia’s death in 1944, and briefly considered selling it. They soon changed their minds, however, when prospective buyers spoke of painting the interior teak and mahogany woodwork white! The Gambles realized the artistic importance of the house and it remained in the Gamble family until 1966, when it was deeded to the city of Pasadena in a joint agreement with the University of Southern California School of Architecture. ^

Historical Notes

The Gamble House was built using multiple kinds of wood; the teak, maple, oak, Port Orford cedar, and mahogany surfaces are placed in sequences to bring out contrasts of color, tone, and grain.

The woods, the low and horizontal room shapes, and the natural light that filters through the art glass exterior windows coexist with a relatively traditional plan, in which most rooms are regularly shaped and organized around a central hall. Although the house is not as spatially adventurous as the contemporary works of Frank Lloyd Wright or even of the earlier New England "Shingle Style," its mood is casual and its symmetries tend to be localized. *^

In 1966, the Gamble family turned the house over to the city of Pasadena in a joint agreement with the University of Southern California School of Architecture. The Gamble House was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1977.^

Historical Notes

In 1985, the Gamble House played Dr. Emmett Brown’s home in Back to the Future. Today, the Gamble House serves as a house museum with tours offered most days; and two senior-year students of the USC School of Architecture are chosen to live in the home each year.

The house was included in a list of all-time top 10 houses in Los Angeles in a Los Angeles Times survey of experts in December 2008.^

Historical Notes

The Hulett C. Merritt mansion, also called the "Villa Merritt Ollivier" was featured in the opening scenes of The Millionaire, a popular TV series of the 1950s. Merritt's fortune was made largely in the railway and steel industries.

The Merritt mansion was built on four acres for $1,100,000 in 1905-1908. This area was referred to locally as "Millionaires' Row" (per the City of Pasadena's Architectural and Historical Survey of 1997, which states: "The Hulett C. Merritt House is significant as the residence of one of Pasadena's most celebrated millionaires and foremost residents of South Orange Grove Blvd.").*^

Historical Notes

In 1956, after Hulett's death, the property was purchased by Herbert W. Armstrong from Hulett's four surviving grandchildren because it was adjacent to Ambassador College. Villa Merritt Ollivier was renamed "Ambassador Hall" and the college subsequently obtained permission to close Terrace Drive. Thereafter, the residence and street address for the former Villa Merritt Ollivier was redesignated as 100 S. Orange Grove Blvd., Pasadena.

In the 1960s Ambassador College built two modern classroom buildings flanking Ambassador Hall. A formal Italian sunken garden, with a plaza in the center, joined the three buildings and the garden into an academic center.

In 1997, the college closed. After many years of vacancy, the mansion and former classrooms are now part of an event venue called the Ambassador Mansions & Gardens.*^

Historical Notes

The Post Office Building is still standing today.

Historical Notes

The above view is that of the original hotel on the site, built in 1906 by General Wentworth, a Civil War veteran, and designed by Charles Frederick Whittlesey in Spanish Mission Revival-style. It opened in February 1907 as the Hotel Wentworth, but closed its doors after its first season.  It was purchased by Henry E. Huntington in 1911 and reopened in 1914 as The Huntington Hotel after redesign by the architect Myron Hunt. The hotel remained under Huntington's management until 1918.*^

Historical Notes

The Huntington Hotel, a Mission style resort hotel "where the sunshine spends the winter", was designed by architects Myron Hunt and Charles Whittlesey and built from 1906 to 1916. The hotel is situated on 23 acres at the base of the San Gabriel Mountain foothills with 380 guestrooms, suites, and cottages.*

Historical Notes

California's first outdoor Olympic-size swimming pool was added in 1926, when the hotel, formerly a winter resort, began opening year-round. The hotel was later owned by Stephen W. Royce, who sold it to the Sheraton Corporation in 1954. It was subsequently renamed The Huntington Sheraton.*^

Historical Notes

The Huntington Hotel became the Huntington Sheraton in the 1950s; it was restored to its turn-of-the-century grandeur by Ritz-Carlton in 1991, after languishing for several years due to earthquake damage.*

Historical Notes

The hotel closed in 1985 after the main building ceased to meet new earthquake codes, which had been changed due to the disastrous 1985 Mexico City earthquake. It sat vacant until it was demolished in 1989, though the bungalows remained in operation as a hotel.*^

Historical Notes

From Jan. 9 through 12, 1949, snow fell in Pasadena, Los Angeles and Southern California.  In a Jan. 10, 1999, Los Angeles Times article, columnist Cecilia Rasmussen wrote:

“On Jan. 10, 1949, in the middle of the worst housing shortage in Los Angeles history, more than half an inch of snow covered the Civic Center. The San Fernando Valley was pelted with the unfamiliar white stuff for three days, accumulating almost a foot. The Rose Bowl was transformed into “a dishpan full of milk,” by one account. An Alhambra hardware store put up a sign that said, “Snow Plows for Rent–Hurry!” A snowman appeared in Eagle Rock, wearing a sombrero, and the city of Reno, Nev., sent L.A. a snow shovel.

In a semitropical climate where January sometimes feels like June, palm-lined boulevards were transformed into winter wonderlands. Altadena residents turned their evergreen-lined Christmas Tree Lane on snow-swaddled Santa Rosa Avenue into a miniature ski run, and golfers swapped nine irons for snow skis…" ^^*

Historical Notes

A new building, almost exactly replicating the original, opened in March 1991 as the 383-room Ritz-Carlton, Huntington Hotel. It was renamed The Ritz-Carlton, Huntington Hotel & Spa in April 1998. In 2006 the hotel underwent renovations, changed hands, and re-opened in 2007 managed by Langham Hotels International.*^

Historical Notes

In 1905, railroad and real estate magnate Henry Huntington commissioned an engineer E.S.Code to translate his own simple sketch of what he wanted into a buildable design. By 1908, when he asked the distinguished Los Angeles architect Myron Hunt to take the project forward, he was already being influenced by the taste of his uncle’s widow, Arabella Huntington, whom he would marry in 1913. Retaining many of the features of the original plans, Hunt’s design subtly raised the game, removing Code’s neo-Palladian mannerisms, and restricting exterior classical ornament to the main compositions of the north and south fronts. To these he added a small porte cochere for the main entry, and the large peristylar loggia on the east, which to this day remains the building’s most distinguished architectural feature.^

Historical Notes

As a landowner and businessman, Henry Edwards Huntington, (1850–1927), played a major role in the growth of southern California. Huntington was born in 1850, in Oneonta, New York, and was the nephew and heir of Collis P. Huntington, (1821–1900), one of the famous "Big Four" railroad tycoons of 19th century California history. In 1892, Huntington relocated to San Francisco with his first wife, Mary Alice Prentice, and their four children. He divorced Mary Alice Prentice in 1906, and in 1913, married his uncle's widow, Arabella Huntington, (1851–1924), relocating from the financial and political center of northern California, San Francisco, to the state's newer southern major metropolis, Los Angeles. He purchased a property of more than 500 acres that was then known as the "San Marino Ranch", and went on to purchase other large tracts of land in the Pasadena and Los Angeles areas of Los Angeles County for urban and suburban development.*^

Historical Notes

As president of the Pacific Electric Railway Company, the regional streetcar/public transit system for the Los Angeles metropolitan area and southern California and also of the Los Angeles Railway Company, (later the Southern California Railway), Huntington spearheaded urban and regional transportation efforts to link together far-flung communities, supporting growth of those communities as well as promoting commerce, recreation, and tourism. He was one of the founders of the City of San Marino, incorporated in 1913.*^

Historical Notes

The Huntington Mansion originally came in at 55,000 square feet.  The south façade and terrace reflects Italian and Spanish Renaissance traditions of country house architecture, and the north façade is more in the French tradition.  As a whole, the house is a classic exercise in the emerging Mediterranean style of early-20th-century Californian architecture.^

Historical Notes

Henry Huntington's superintendent, William Hertrich, was instrumental in developing the various plant collections that comprise the foundation of the Botanical Gardens. Together, they molded the working ranch into a botanical collection of rare and exotic plants. They searched local nurseries and visited other plant collectors in the area to find mature and unique specimens. Mr. Huntington imported plants from many parts of the world to experiment with their cultivation in Southern California.^

Historical Notes

The garden was completed in 1912 and opened to the public in 1928. It features the drum or moon bridge, a large bell, the authentic ceremonial teahouse Seifu-an (the Arbor of Pure Breeze), a fully furnished Japanese house, koi-filled ponds, the Zen Garden, and the bonsai collections with hundreds of trees.*^

Historical Notes

The Lily Ponds were heated at the time to maintain the giant-leafed Amazon water lily during the relatively cool Southern California winters. Huntington and Hertrich also worked together on the Palm, Desert, and Japanese gardens and planned the North Vista and the landscaping around the mansion.

Today, forty gardeners, a curatorial staff of seven, and more than 100 volunteers maintain the botanical collections.^

Historical Notes

The Huntington Art Gallery, originally Henry and Arabella’s home, was designed by Myron Hunt and Elmer Grey. It was constructed from 1909 to 1911 and comprises 55,000 square feet. A 2008 renovation and adaptive reuse was led by Earl Corp. and Architectural Resources Group.

Historical Notes

Huntington's interest in art was influenced in large part by his second wife, Arabella Huntington, (1851–1924), and with art experts to guide him, he benefited from a post-World War I European market that was "ready to sell almost anything". Before his death in 1927, Huntington amassed "far and away the greatest group of 18th-century British portraits ever assembled by any one man". In accordance with Huntington's will, the collection, then worth $50 million, was opened to the public in 1928.*^

Historical Notes

In addition to the library, the institution houses an extensive art collection with a focus in 18th and 19th-century European art and 17th to mid-20th-century American art. The property also includes approximately 120 acres of specialized botanical landscaped gardens, most notably the "Japanese Garden", the "Desert Garden", and the "Chinese Garden" (Liu Fang Yuan).*^

Historical Notes

The building was constructed in 1920, at which time the Library was transferred from New York to San Marino. It is now being used extensively by scholars and is also serving the public through exhibitions of rare books and manuscripts from the collections.

Historical Notes

The Library building was designed in 1920, by the southern California architect Myron Hunt in the Mediterranean Revival style. Hunt's previous commissions for Mr. and Mrs. Huntington included the Huntington's residence in San Marino in 1909, and the Huntington Hotel in 1914.*^

Historical Notes

Today, the library contains a substantial collection of rare books and manuscripts, concentrated in the fields of British and American history, literature, art, and the history of science. Spanning from the 11th century to the present, the library's holdings contain 7 million items, over 400,000 rare books, and over a million photographs, prints, and other ephemera. Highlights include one of 11 vellum copies of the Gutenberg Bible known to exist, the Ellesmere manuscript of Chaucer ca. 1410, and letters and manuscripts by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Abraham Lincoln. It is the only library in the world with the first two quartos of Hamlet; it holds the manuscript of Benjamin Franklin's autobiography, Isaac Newton's personal copy of his Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica with annotations in Newton's own hand. The first seven drafts of Henry David Thoreau's Walden, John James Audubon's Birds of America, and first editions and manuscripts from authors such as Charles Bukowski, Jack London, Alexander Pope, William Blake, Mark Twain, and William Wordsworth.*^

Historical Notes

The Huntington Library is one of the world’s great independent research libraries in the fields of British and American history, literature, art, and the history of science, stretching from the 11th century to the present. Among the collections:

7 million manuscripts

430,000 rare books

275,000 reference books

875,000 prints and ephemera

774,000 photographs

Historical Notes

In the west wing of the Library building is installed the Arabella D. Huntington Memorial Art Collection, consisting of Renaissance paintings and French decorative art of the XVIII century. The Library contains original manuscripts and first and early editions of English and American literary and historical works, and incunabula (or books printed before 1501).*

Historical Notes

This structure graced Colorado Blvd from ca. 1927 to at least the mid-1940s.

Historical Notes

In the 1920s, as the automobile was becoming the default way to get around the Southland, buildings and structures in the area became more unique, often resembling the merchandise or services they hawked.  These “hey-you-can’t miss-me!” buildings (referred to as Novelty or Programmatic Architecture) were made to pull automobile drivers right off the road.

Historical Notes

The restaurant served hearty meals from the whimsical shoe that attracted patrons driving along Route 66 from the east coast to Los Angeles. Diners would be seated on the ground floor and in a dining room upstairs.

Click HERE to see more examples of Programmatic Architecture.

Historical Notes

In 1912 the City of Pasadena purchased 30 acres of land known as Sheep Corral Springs for the development of a park in the Arroyo Seco. For many years sheep had grazed in that area.

While the park was being planned and constructed, it was known as Arroyo Springs Park.^

Historical Notes

TIn 1914 Mrs. Everett Wellington Brooks, the wife of a local investment banker, donated $3,000 to build a municipal swimming pool on a portion of land within what was then known as Arroyo Springs Park. The park was then dedicated in her honor (hence "Brookside") and the plunge was added later that same year.^

Historical Notes

Originally built as a horseshoe, the Rose Bowl stadium was expanded several times over the years. The southern stands were completed in 1926, making the stadium a complete bowl. The above photo was taken prior to 1926.

Today, Brookside Park is Pasadena's largest park covering over 61 acres. It contains the world-famous Rose Bowl Stadium, Brookside Golf Course, and Rose Bowl Aquatics Center, as well as several regulation baseball fields, multi-purpose fields, picnic areas, tennis courts, badminton courts, handball courts, horseshoe courts, archery, casting and lawn bowling facilities, etc., making it Pasadena's largest fully maintained park facility. Brookside Park is located at 360 North Arroyo Boulevard in the city of Pasadena.*

Historical Notes

From 1933 to 1942 and from 1946 to 1950, the Chicago White Sox held their spring training in Brookside Park.^

(1938)# - Chicago White Sox players line up in front of a movie camera for a newsreel that would be shown in theaters. (Brookside Park, Pasadena)

Historical Notes

In 1914 Mrs. Everett Wellington Brooks, the wife of a local investment banker, donated $3,000 to build a municipal swimming pool on a portion of a park located in Arroyo Seco. The park was dedicated in her honor (hence "Brookside") and the plunge was added later that same year.^

Historical Notes

There exists an uncomfortable racial history of the Brookside Plunge.  It was a different time in Pasadena and throughout the nation, and segregation was common.

Soon after the plunge was completed, city officials announced that it would be "set aside Wednesday afternoons and evenings for the use of the Negro population of Pasadena."

By 1930 use of the pool by people of color -- by now including residents of Hispanic and Asian descent -- was limited to one weekday from 2 to 5 p.m. The weekly event was dubbed "International Day." No white people were permitted to swim on that day. The pool was drained and cleaned at the end of each International Day and by the following morning there was fresh water in it.

After protracted litigation, the practice was ended in 1947 when the pool was opened to all swimmers in Pasadena, regardless of their race..*^*

In 1989 the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center opened on the site, funded with $4.5 million from the City of Pasadena and $2 million in private donations.

(1888)^#^ – Early view of Devil’s Gate showing the Arroyo Seco at its most narrow point. 

Historical Notes

The outcropping of rugged granite cliffs offered shade in the morning and late afternoon, make it a favorite community gathering spot. Local residents would pack lunches and have family picnics here.

(ca. 1910s)*^ - The Devil's Gate at the Arroyo Seco River prior to 1920 damming. Note the "devil's profile" in the rock to the right.

Historical Notes

Above Devil's Gate, the rapids of the Arroyo Seco are so positioned so that the falls make a beating, laughing sound. In Tongva-Gabrieliño traditional narratives, this is attributed to a wager made between the river and the coyote spirit.*^

Historical Notes

In the prehistoric past, Devil’s Gate was not a gate at all but a natural dam, formed where the stalwart granite of the San Rafael Hills merged with the bajada of the San Gabriel Mountains. For a time, this dam held back a natural lake fed by mountain streams. Then one day the dam burst. Spilling over the top, rushing water exploited weaknesses in the granite and punched a narrow gap through the rocks, unleashing a flood wave downstream. The gate—and its peculiarly shaped crag—was born. #^#^

Historical Notes

Disastrous floods in 1914 and again in 1916 prompted Pasadena and the Los Angeles County Flood Control District to reverse the work of that ancient cataclysm. Between 1919 and 1920, the Los Angeles County Flood Control District erected an arched, concrete dam just upstream from the Devil’s Gate formation. #^#^

Historical Notes

The Devil’s Gate Dam was built in 1920 as part of the Arroyo Seco flood control scheme designed to tame destructive rain-driven flooding as far south as downtown Los Angeles, whose river the Arroyo feeds. Though a dam now reaches across the gorge, the water still laughs as it flows through the sluice gates, and the Devil’s face ominously remains intact.^^^

Historical Notes

Devil’s Gate Dame, completed in 1920, was the first of the Los Angeles County Flood Control District's dams.

Historical Notes

The bridge on the left is the original bridge over the site of the Devil's Gate Dam. As of 1987, there is no longer a reservoir. The site may be seen from Highway 210, north of the Arroyo Seco and south of Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Look up location of Devil's Gate.*

Historical Notes

Soon after the dam was built it filled with water.  The dam was designed for both flood control and water conservation.  It also served as the main road between La Canada and Pasadena for many years.

Historical Notes

The Arroyo Seco watershed begins at Red Box Saddle in the Angeles National Forest near Mount Wilson in the San Gabriel Mountains. As it enters the urbanized area of the watershed, the Arroyo Seco stream flows between La Cañada Flintridge on the west and Altadena on the east. Just below Devil's Gate Dam, the stream passes underneath the Foothill Freeway. At the north end of Brookside Golf Course the stream becomes channelized into a flood control channel and proceeds southward through the golf course.*^

Historical Notes

There was a great deal of anticipation leading up to the opening of Jensen’s Raymond Theatre on April 5, 1921. But there was also a sense of amazement in the cost of the construction.  The Star News, on May 6, 1920, reported that the project was over budget, with a cost to date of $592,644. When it opened, all was forgotten, and the Pasadena Star-News exclaimed the Raymond to be “Last Word in Modern Thespian Temples". *^^*

Historical Notes

This Beaux Arts style building, originally occupied by Security National Bank and today by Comerica Bank, was constructed in 1922 by an unknown architect. The building sits at the confluence of two early alignments of Route 66, and along two Pacific Electric Red Car lines that shuttled commuters and shoppers between Los Angeles, South Pasadena and Pasadena during the bank's heyday.*

Historical Notes

This Beaux Arts style building was “remodeled” during 50s, then restored in 2000s.

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