Thursday, March 6, 2014

Altadena Nursery, 1968 N. Lake Avenue, Becomes a Ditch

I really think we're going backwards on North Lake in Altadena.  Here we have a nice vintage design perfect mixed use building with lots of parking and room for additional buildings and the new owner/developer decides to build a mega development on the site.  

With the recent sale of the Webster's Complex and the Hill and Washington Apartment Complex to Mike Balian, we may be in for additional nasty surprises.







Fortunately, due to diligent neighbors in Pasadena, the Hill and Washington Apartment Complex in Pasadena has been found by the Pasadena Historic Preservation Commission to be landmark designation eligible.  That means Mike Balian must preserve the facade of the historic building, but he may build on the surrounding asphalt parking area to the limit allowed by the Pasadena Zoning Code.

Pasadena has been somewhat more successful in retaining and preserving buildings on the North Lake Corridor than Altadena/L.A. County.  Stay tuned for more developments, and heaven help Altadena...

Here something interesting which is related from Wikipedia:  In 1880, Capt. Frederick Woodbury, and his brother, John Woodbury of Marshalltown, Iowa, purchased 937 acres (3.79 km2) known as the Woodbury Ranch. John Woodbury established the Pasadena Improvement Company in 1887, with a plot plan of residential development referred to as the Woodbury Subdivision. They contacted Byron O. Clark, who established a nursery in the foothills in 1875, and had since moved away. He called his nursery "Altadena Nursery", a name he coined from the Spanish "alta" meaning "upper," and "dena" from Pasadena. Woodbury asked if he could use the name "Altadena" for his subdivision and Clark agreed.

4 comments:

  1. How disturbing! I guess I haven't driven North Lake for a bit. Nothing I hate more then seeing those construction fences go up. It's like seeing your past erased. I'm glad your documenting it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I was born and lived in Altadena most of my life. I am trying to get back there and this attitude of destroying it is breaking my heart. All these people care about is making money at the cost of everything else.

    ReplyDelete
  3. We need people to sit on an Altadena preservation committee. Anyone who interested should contact Altadena Historical Society - 626-797-8016

    ReplyDelete
  4. I worked there for several years, loved it. Sam and Stan were so nice. People came in a good mood, and pleasant. On weekends I could use the truck to load my bike and go riding in the dessert. Then hell happened; new owners, god. You can't have coffee, must sell glass crap, and on and on. I had to weed the entire place. Build tables, paint everything. After that they fired me. A place I really liked went to hell.

    ReplyDelete