ANCIENT ARTIFACT UNCOVERED AT LAKE AND COLORADO, OAK KNOLL SHOPPING DISTRICT!!!!

This was found behind the 1950's facade of the retail bays being renovated along Colorado Blvd.!

The retail bays are being restored and renovated to their 1920's appearance as part of the Hotel Constance restoration project, located on Colorado Blvd. from Mentor west to the Bank of America parking lot, with the most westerly bay being demolished, it being not of the same vintage as the rest. 

Under the 1950's facade covering we see an ancient king or philosopher in bas relief.  Could there be more of these allegorical figures under the blank and featureless newer facade?  Stay tuned!!!!!!!

The Marcell Inn - The Signs

Still hoping to get one of these great signs.

Apparently, when prohibition ended in 1933, the Marcell Inn's popularity as an isolated speakeasy located in laxly patrolled by the L.A. County Sheriff dropped off, the isolated location became a liability and Marcell took to placing these signs on the more frequented highways and bi-ways in neighboring Pasadena and on North Foothill Blvd. which is now Altadena Drive.  Marcell wanted to make his place a watering hole and bookie joint for the horse racing crowd centered at the 1933 newly built and licensed for betting Santa Anita Racetrack in Arcadia, horse racing had been illegal in California since 1909 and was allowed in 1933 once again, so exciting illicit behavior supported by the mob changed from rum running to illegal gambling in the back rooms of the former speakeasys of the area.  The mob had to make money some way now that alcohol was once again legal.  A searchlight was mounted on a tower at the Marcell Inn to help late night gamblers find the joint up at the top of Lincoln from the adjacent North Foothill Blvd., which in those days was well traveled by all those heading to points north.  Seems Marcell didn't do too well with the gambling and dealings with the mob so he sold his joint to the Mount Lowe Military Academy in 1937 and the rest is history.

I am looking forward to getting one of these signs, as I plan to make my house a museum when I'm gone anyway.  Just have to save up the endowment; I'm working on that now!  I want to emulate, on a very, very small scale, W.R. Hearst, J.P. Getty and H. Huntington, leaving something for future generations.  You'll have to have reservations, like the Getty Malibu, and be bussed to the site in a small minibus, since there will be no parking on site.  Well, we can dream, can't we? 

The Marcell Inn, from the book: CURIOUS CALIFORNIA CUSTOMS, 1935

Just recently I received notice that signs from the Marcell Inn in Altadena have been found in an old Altadena barn. I'm still waiting to see pictures from that marvelous find and hope these artifacts of Altadena history will be preserved.  More on the Marcell Inn here:  http://avenuetotheskylakeavenuepasadena.blogspot.com/2011/02/marcell-inn-altadenas-famous-speakeasy.html

Going through all my historical materials recently, I came across this article I wanted to share with you: 
From the book:  CURIOUS CALIFORNIA CUSTOMS, By Elisabeth Webb Herrick, Pacific Carbon and Printing Company, Los Angeles, California 1935

Marcell Inn, Los Angeles, California

This historic and popular old dining room is one of the high spots of our culinary tour, Lucullus himself would have been delighted to make it his permanent hangout.  Situated at 2900 Lincoln Avenue, Altadena, in an old garden, it is a monument to the epicurean tastes of those enlightened souls who have discovered it and kept it up.

All during those dark days of prohibition, it struggled along, goodness knows how because any good cook will tell you that it is utterly impossible to turn out anything fit to eat without wine to flavor the sauces, and any epicure will tell you how much alcoholic stimulants have to do with the enjoyment of the delicate nuances in viands.  But they're happy now at the Inn and they'll be glad to promote you to a state of exhilaration also, if you'll just give them the opportunity.

Their $2.50 dinner is something to conjure with!  If you are dieting, call up the masseuse and make a date for early next morning, but don't we beg of you, pass up any of their courses!  It would be an insult to the chef and a slight to the house which no amount of explanation could overcome.

The cherubic George Rector and Henri Charpentier used to do this sort of thing with air, but they couldn't possibly surpass the sweet breads saute sec.  Diamond Jim Brady, five stomachs and all, would have hailed their chicken with the reverence he felt for such artistic triumphs, and would have heralded their salads from the housetops.

There is an orchestra and dancing - talk about gilding the lily!  Inasmuch as your true gourmet never under any circumstances takes a sweet after dining, it is a very gracious gesture on the part of the management to feature such tantalizing delicacies for dessert as their special pudding, real Italian spumoni ice cream and petit fours.  By the time this course is reached, you are shrugging off the possibility of extra poundage anyhow, so you might as well go ahead and partake.  After one of these dinners, served with all the elegance of the Nineties, it is very easy to understand the fashionable figures of the day.  No wonder Lillian Russell had nothing left but her famous chiseled profile when we got around to see her!  Just be grateful that you were lucky enough to find out about this place, and remember there are no luncheons but the doors are open about 6:00 p.m., Sundays earlier.

I truly miss Michael's with its miniature golf and the Marcell Inn with its beautiful gardens.  I will continue to advocate for dining establishments with ambiance in Altadena and Pasadena along and adjacent to Lake Avenue.  Just recently I was taken to Julienne's in San Marino for lunch.  The spirit of the Marcell Inn lives on not too far from our North Pasadena abode.  What a pleasant suprise! 
http://www.juliennetogo.com/index.php  The ghost of Marcell sat with me for lunch.  This place is magical! Don't fail to try it:  Julienne Restaurant, 2649 Mission Street, San Marino, California.  (And thank you to my muse, who took me to this gem, and didn't let me pine only for all things lost, but let me rejoice in things found....)

Market Basket, a Pasadena institution since 1930, two locations on North Lake Avenue

Once upon a time there was a local Pasadena supermarket chain called Market Basket.....

Market Basket News, Volume 1, Number 3, March 1949

 Store Number 1, Old Number 1, was located at Colorado and Meredith in 1930 



 New Store Number 1, located at the middle of the block of Colorado between Bonnie and Meridith on Colorado, was opened the evening of February 17, 1934, just a few doors away from Old Number 1.  Now the 99 Cents Only Store occupies the space at 1720 E. Colorado.

 Here a closer view of Old Number 1 located on the SE corner of Colorado and Meridith, just a little to the east of the New Number 1.

 Here a picture of the interior of Old Number 1 in April, 1930

 Why the customers love their local Market Basket!

Market Basket was a local Pasadena chain of markets which existed up into at least the 1980's, as the Food 4 Less located in Lake Washington Village was originally named Market Basket, after the Kroger Company acquired the rights to the name and built what was called at first in 1986 the North Lake Market Basket Center.  A year or two later, Kroger renamed the Market Basket store and the center the Food 4 Less supermarket and center and changed the marketing concept.  It's been rather downhill since then.....

Across the street at 1260 North Lake, where Big Lots is now located, was our historic Market Basket, going out of business in the late 1970's, with the building becoming Continental Catering until it became Pic 'n' Save in the 1980's, later with a name change to Big Lots in 2002.

Here is a picture of the 1260 North Lake Market Basket in the early 1950's, when the Space Patrol rocket showed up during a promotion for Rice Chex breakfast cereal.

Here is some more information about the Market Basket chain and part of our lost heritage of a local business which disappeared: http://pleasantfamilyshopping.blogspot.com/2007/08/market-basket-mayhem.html

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/toomuchfire/4786163527/

http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=698

As of 1959, these Market Basket locations are listed in the Pasadena area:
2270 N. Lake Avenue, Altadena
2502 N. Fair Oaks, Altadena
1160 N. Fair Oaks, Pasadena
40 N. Santa Anita, Pasadena
1859 E. Washington, Pasadena
1280 N. Lake Avenue, Pasadena

We've come a long way.......  Our other local institution, Pronto Market aka Trader Joe's is not bad, though!  http://avenuetotheskylakeavenuepasadena.blogspot.com/2010/03/return-of-trader-joes-market-formerly.html

Leon Rick's photo of the Market Basket on North Lake Avenue in Altadena about 1960 (I can see a 1957 Ford in the picture).  His photo collection was recently shown by the Altadena Historical Society at the Altadena Community Center.....Of course, Ralphs has removed the famous basket sign..............

THE GENESIS OF LAKE AVENUE!

LAKE AVENUE BEGAN IN THE MISTS OF TIME
Lake Avenue began in the mists of time as a footpath connecting the flat lands of the San Gabriel Valley at one end with the Sierra Madre mountains on the other end. The Tongva people guided the Padres to the forested mountains to cut timbers for the San Gabriel Mission in 1776.

In 1838, the Mexican government gave an Indian woman Victoria Reid, the wife of settler Scotsman Hugo Reid, a portion of the vast San Gabriel Mission estate for her past service to the mission. In 1854, Reid's Indian widow sold her rancho, the 128-acre La Huerte del Cuati, to Benjamin Wilson, a trapper, trader and early area businessman, which Wilson renamed Lake Vineyard. It consisted of a ranch with a 40 acre shallow pond fed by streams of Old Mill "El Molino Viejo" Canyon and Wilson Canyon (Wilson Creek / Woodbury Creek of Washington Park). The property included Alhambra, San Marino, South Pasadena, and Pasadena--and Wilson's Lake / Kewen Lake (now San Marino's Lacey Park, the lake has been filled in) which became a swimming hole for the residents of the valley.

George Ellery Hale - Pasadena Visionary

George Ellery Hale, the Solar Priest of Mount Wilson Observatory, managed to convince Pasadena's civic and educational leaders and Andrew Carnegie to follow his enlightened vision for a Pasadena of the future, forming the foundation for the evolving scientific, educational and artistic center of the West that Pasadena would become.

He was a driven individual, and in Pasadena he founded the Mount Wilson Observatory and directed Edwin Hubble to make his astounding discoveries of the expanding universe.  Also, Hale was instrumental in convincing Amos Throop to turn Throop University into the California Institute of Technology and helped develop Caltech into the premier research and scientific university in the West.

Hale seemed delusional at times, claiming that a little green man sat on his window ledge in the middle of the night and advised him about how to proceed with discovering the wonders of the universe and also how to go about implementing the City Beautiful movement in Pasadena.  Hale built his own Solar temple, observatory and laboratory where he lived after his retirement as director of the Mount Wilson Observatory, where he continued his conversations with the little green man from the sky.

The City of Pasadena owes much to how it looks today, with one of the most beautiful civic centers of a town its size, to Hale's vision to apply the City Beautiful aesthetic to the planning of Pasadena's civic center. Hale saw himself as a Solar Priest during his time as the director of the Mount Wilson Observatory, holding elaborate torch lit ceremonies late at night with his astronomers in the Monastery on the observatory grounds.  Now his sculpted bust looks out eternally from the Caltech campus towards his beloved Acropolis of the West, on the high peak of Mount Wilson, where he put his dreams into reality in the discovery of the nature of Sun and the ever expanding universe.

San Gabriel Mountain Throughway

There has been a lot of talk about the extension of the 710 into Pasadena lately.  The idea of connecting the San Gabriel Valley with the Antelope Valley in a direct route has been thought about since at least the 1920's.

Various proposals have been floated, one of which was to build a tunnel under the San Gabriels and extend Los Angeles Freeways to the north, opening up the Antelope Valley to urban sprawl just as happened in the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valley.

We are lucky in Pasadena and Altadena that the San Gabriel Mountains form such an impenetrable barrier.  If it was more practical, Lake, Fair Oaks and/or Lincoln Avenues would have become multi-lane highways into the new Los Angeles suburb of Antelope Valley.

Fortunately, for the moment at least, our neighborhoods are spared the problems of being the feeder system through Pasadena and Altadena to another sprawling suburban valley.  Thank goodness for the San Gabriel Mountains and the dead ends at the top of Lake, Fair Oaks and Lincoln Avenues!!! 

This rendering was found recently at a local fleamarket and shows what was being proposed back in the early 1950's when the expansion of suburbia was on the mind of Los Angeles.....