Tonight, Monday, Sept. 20, 2010 - Art Deco Landmark Designation Hearing

Hearing tonight at the Historic Preservation Commission in regards to the landmark designation application for the Art Deco style garage building on the NW corner of Rutan and Washington Blvd., 731 E. Washington Blvd., in the North Lake Specfic Plan Area, site visit at 4:45 pm., Historic Preservation Commission meeting at Planning, 175 N. Garfield, Hale Bldg., 6:00 p.m.

This building was originally a drive-in corner market, designed by local architect Glen Elwood Smith, who worked with Myron Hunt, and designed a number of significant local structures such as the Masonic Lodge located at 17 South Sierra Madre Blvd.

731 E. Washington is landmark eligible being a largely intact locally significant auto-related building in the rather rare Art Deco Zigzag style, an architectural style which has not survived very widely in Pasadena. This potential landmark property is prominently sited on a corner raised lot located on the busy Washington Blvd. thoroughfare in the historic Lake Washington Village District.

If you would like to support this landmark designation, please call Planner Vicrim Chima at 626 744-6791 or email him at vchima@cityofpasadena.net, as soon as possible, as the meeting is tonight in a few hours and we apologize for the late notice.

Changes Coming Again to Lake and Colorado, the Oak Knoll Shopping District of Old

Exterior view of Lake Avenue Methodist Church on the southeast corner of Colorado Boulevard and Lake Avenue in 1907, looking north on Lake Avenue just south of Colorado Boulevard

Exterior view of Lake Avenue Methodist Church on the southeast corner of Colorado Boulevard and Lake Avenue in 1907, looking south on Lake Avenue from the intersection with Colorado Boulevard. This Mission Revival style church building was demolished about 1927 to make way for the following bank and office building

The Oak Knoll Office and Bank Building as proposed in 1927 in the architectural drawing, to be located on the southeast corner of Colorado Boulevard and Lake Avenue in the Oak Knoll Shopping District

The Oak Knoll Office and Bank Building as built in 1928, only one wing executed, located on the southeast corner of Colorado Boulevard and Lake Avenue in the Oak Knoll Shopping District, later called the South Lake Shopping District, this was the Oak Knoll Branch of the Pacific Southwest Bank, later Security Pacific Bank. Demolished 1974; from Sid Gally: "The caption on a photo in the Star News of March 11, 1974 says,”The six-story structure was uneconomical to maintain and remodel, according to bank officials.”

Here is Sid Gally's piece about this corner:

Past on Parade: Corner in Pasadena has been a busy placeBy Sid Gally, CorrespondentPosted: 10/18/2009 10:11:34 PM PDT The occupancy of the southeast corner of Lake Avenue and Colorado Boulevard has changed as this area of Pasadena has evolved from agriculture to business. The site once held the fruit-drying operation of R. W. Teeple. "Seven hundred tons of peaches and apricots and many tons of prunes, all produced in the Pasadena region, were dried at this plant in the season of 1893," said the Star-News. The fruit was pitted and cut open by hand and placed in wooden trays. The fruited trays were treated with sulphur dioxide fumes in enclosures and then the trays were spread on the ground for the fruit to dry in the sun. Schoolchildren often earned money in the summers by cutting fruit. The Mission-style Lake Avenue Methodist Church opened on the site in 1907. It remained at Lake and Colorado until the 1920s. The building was demolished and the congregation moved east to become the Holliston Avenue Methodist Church. The "new" church was really old, moved stone by stone from Colorado and Marengo. Then in 1928, the Oak Knoll Office and Bank building containing the Oak Knoll branch of the Los Angeles First National Trust & Savings Bank opened for business. The building was designed by architects Marston & Maybury. The Star-News wrote, "The Oak Knoll Bank building, the architecture of which combines the types of Italian Renaissance developed in Florence and on the adjoining plains of Tuscany in the fifteenth century, is a striking and outstanding building of six stories." The bank occupied the entire ground floor and basement. It had a spacious public lobby, a writing room for the ladies, and a desk platform for the officers. "All of the banking screens and counters are of Italian walnut finish, rather than the usual marble found in many banking houses," said the paper. R. W. Caspers, the bank manager, touted the security of the bank, its vaults and its night deposit system. Sound detectors would set off the alarms upon picking up noises of unlawful entry. The bank promoted its investment arm. "It maintains at all times, Mr. Caspers pointed out, a well diversified list of high grade bonds," the newspaper reported. The Bank of America, in a two-story building with outdoor ATMs, occupies the site today. - Sid Gally is a Pasadena Museum of History volunteer.

And here is what is now planned for the corner:

http://www.parkplacelp.com/images/p-2.jpg

and for the whole story of the proposed development:

http://www.parkplacelp.com/About%20Us.htm

We can only hope the final design is worthy of this important corner. The restoration of the Hotel Constance on the southwest corner of Mentor and Colorado in the same block is a wonderful thing. The Hotel Constance was a bookend to the Oak Knoll Office and Bank Building and now we have a chance to put the west bookend back on this block at this prominent Pasadena intersection of Lake and Colorado. Watch for this development coming in the next months to the Design Commission and there will be a chance for public comment. You will have a chance to have your say about what happens on this corner.

Old Glass Sign Enigma at Canterbury Records on Colorado just west of Lake

The Canterbury Record Shop historic projecting sign which we are all familiar with. The enigma of the Colorado Blvd. Canterbury Record Shop: the antique glass mirror facade sign, as seen below. What does it mean and what is it advertising? The design appears to be a "P" inside a stylized lyre. It must be very old. Does Pasadena have the only historic glass mirrored advertising sign left in the West?

The only place I've seen glass mirrored advertising signs is in Europe years ago, in Bavaria and in Karlsbad, Czechoslovakia, but they are mostly gone or badly deteriorated, such as the one pictured below.

The Canterbury Record Shop has been at this general location for a very long time, decades in fact. They took over and expanded in the former See's Candy location which went to the corner of Hudson, when See's Candy moved, I think back in the 1970's. But I don't understand the stylized "P" in what looks like a lyre of this gold mirrored sign. This is a little historic jewel and probably not noticed by most passersby. Hopefully, we can protect it and allow it to survive into the coming years, through all facade improvements of this buildings, for future generations to puzzle about and admire its beauty. Let me know if you've seen it and what you think it is.

Lake Washington Village Dance Party 2010 - Crown Rooftop Sign Update August 2010

Welcome to the 21st Century in the heart of the Lake Washington Village! The Crown Sign has been reborn and relit, advertising the "Fred Astaire Dance Center", a wonderful example of adaptive reuse of a historic rooftop figural sign. Now if the sign could only be outlined in neon? One can hope for the future. Keep on dancing and maybe the music will never stop! We really have seen some wonderful improvements in the area; things are looking better all the time.

Lake Washington Village Dance Party Continues in 2010 - The Crown Sign

The Crown Market located at 1368 North Lake Avenue, just north of Washington Blvd. in the heart of the Lake Washington Village District, did a brisk business from the 1920's through the 1970's in gourmet food, supplying many of the leading hotels and restaurants in Pasadena, as it was known also as the Crown Restaurant Supply Company. The most distinguishing feature of the Crown Market was its huge rooftop neon sign, double sided, in the form of a crown, outlined in neon, and flashing "M E A T S" to passing motorists and pedestrians.

In the intervening years this was the location of a foam, upholstery and fabric supply store, where the sign was painted with "F O A M & F A B R I C" simply on each side and then in more recent time was painted black after the Arthur Murray Dance Studio moved in and now it has become the Fred Astaire Dance Studio. We held our breath to see what would happen to the historic rooftop sign, listed on the City of Pasadena's historic sign inventory, thereby protected from removal or structural alteration.

Take a look at what has happened! Simply amazing! I will publish photos of the present condition very soon. Please check back and see the unexpected.

Lake Washington Village Night Parade and Street Dance on North Lake Avenue

Wednesday Evening, July 30, 1952

In the auto repair courtyard next to Towne Furniture located at 854 E. Washington

http://avenuetotheskylakeavenuepasadena.blogspot.com/2010/03/sad-fate-of-towne-furniture-store-bldg.html

The " Melody Men " Polka Band, apparently a German band from the looks of the alpine caps with feathers! Looking at the city directory of this period, many of the names of residents of the Lake Washington Village area appear to be of German ethnicity. Perhaps this accounts for the popularity of a Polka band, and on television of the time Lawrence Welk, also an ethnic German, had a local popular show featuring Polka music on KTLA which premiered in 1952.

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h3762.html

Notice the Scottish Bagpipe Marching Band with drummers followed by horsedrawn carriages. The shops on North Lake just north of Washington are lit up with many neon projecting signs. For a point of reference, the "Maple Shop" recognizable by its maple leaf shaped projecting sign, a furniture store selling Early American Style furniture, was located where "Vorhee's Craftsman Furniture" is now located at 1415 North Lake and the large neon "MEAT" sign in the form of a crown was located on top of "Crown Meats", which is now the "Fred Astaire Dance Studio", located at 1368 North Lake and the historic crown sign is still on top but no longer neon lit. The Lake Washington Village Parade and Street Dance was held on a July summer evening, with these photos being taken from just above 1415 North Lake looking south, with an old Pasadena Fire Department fire engine, horse drawn buggy and other vehicles and marchers, with a large crowd looking on.






Here it looks like the parade has broken up or has yet to start, so I don't have the photos in the correct order. Notice the many children of all ages out on a warm summer night. Also in the background, just north of what is now " Showcase Liquor ", back then " Gerlachs Liquor " http://www.pbase.com/claimsman/image/85584642, is a tent set up in the liquor store parking lot with " SALOON " and a false window and door painted on the front which was apparently a temporary watering hole for this festival. Just north of the tent is Jimmie Hill's " MEAT N' TATERS ". Just north of that is the " ADENA " paint store. A temporary " No Parking " sign is on the ornamental double headed light standard.





Here we have a horse and buggy, a small mini bus and antique turn-of-the-century cars coming up the middle of North Lake Avenue from Washington.

An antique Pasadena Fire Department Fire Engine is leading a large truck, looks like a horse transporter, and the crowds are converging around behind, so this may be the end of the parade. Two men in top hats and period dress, one with a walking stick, are strolling down Lake Avenue behind the parade watching crowd. You can be sure that the local politicians were in the parade!

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could have such an evening parade and street dance in the Lake Washington Village sometime in the near future?! The merchants in the Lake Washington Village also had " Moonlight Madness " sales late at night every season to promote shopping in the local area. And of course there were Halloween decorations in October and street holiday decorations in December. Certainly, the tasteful neon projecting signs add to the street scene. The Crown " Meat " sign is a protected historic sign, and the reinstallation of the decorative neon would be an attractive and interesting reintroduction to brighten up the Lake Washington Village at night. Does anyone remember any of these businesses or spending time in the Lake Washington Village?

Washington Theatre Presents - All Quiet on the Western Front

Time to escape to the coolness of the Washington Theatre's 900 seat auditorium. I'm looking forward to seeing the Academy Award winning "All Quiet on the Western Front" tonight, Wednesday, April 1, 1931! At least it won't be too hard to come up with the admission price of a quarter.

It's a very varied program this month, including the Laurel & Hardy "Another Fine Mess", which sounds like my life story!

The " Washington Theatre " , Washington at Lake Avenue, Phone STerling 0140, Adults 25c , Children 10c Both Matinee and Evening, Continuous every day, doors open 1:45, Shows 2:15, 4:30, 6:45 and 9:00 p.m., Program subject to change without notice, Changes only made when beyond our control, We now have deaf sets for people who are hard of hearing. No extra charge for this service. All pictures are reproduced with the latest improved Western Electric System in Pasadena.

See you there! (Hopefully, sometime in our lifetime!)