THE VIEW OF ECHO MOUNTAIN & MOUNT LOWE FROM MY LIVING ROOM

Echo Mountain below Mount Lowe, December 10, 2009

Snow on Mount Lowe, December 10, 2009

The recent snow dusting on our venerable mountain tops brings to mind the lost history of our once international tourist destination: The Mount Lowe Railway to the Clouds via Echo Mountain and the Great Incline!


Tourists from 1893 to 1936 were continually heading to Altadena, Rubio Canyon, the Great Incline and the Mt. Lowe Alpine Tavern Hotel. The Mt. Lowe Alpine Tavern was located nestled in a canyon above Echo Mountain in a crow's flight above the terminus of North Lake Avenue and was a popular destination for weekend outings and as a local and national tourist destination. The incredible Mount Lowe mountain railway, which at the height of its popularity was Southern California's outstanding tourist magnet, attracted more visitors at the time then Yosemite or Catalina. It offered one of the world's most spectacular rail trips with disaster seeming ready to strike at every turn of the car wheels, yet so expertly engineered that in all the years it operated not one accident occurred. It was the realized dream of Professor T. S. C. Lowe., the first U.S. Union Army balloon aviator during the Civil War, inventor and one of the most prominent Pasadena residents, investors and boosters.

The Alpine Tavern was also a well visited destination watering hole during Prohibition (1919 to 1933), since the Tavern was cut off from the rest of the city when the last train left in the evening until the trains began running in the morning. This made the Alpine Tavern safe for the imbuing of spirits and other nefarious activities during the nighttime hours. Also, businessmen, attending meetings at the Alpine Tavern Hotel and then being stranded on the mountain after the last train had departed, were known to have telephoned their wives informing them they would have to spend the night at the Tavern, giving them a good excuse for an evening of unbridled and uninterrupted entertainment in this veritable mountain fortress!


The interurban railway of the Pacific Electric Company brought the ``Big Red Cars'' to North Lake Avenue in 1902, in which crowds of hikers would arrive early on Saturday morning bound for the local canyons to the north. Come Sunday evening the reverse migration would occur. At its peak in the year 1921, when 160,930 passengers were carried, Mt. Lowe cars operated from Pasadena to Altadena via North Fair Oaks, Mariposa, and North Lake including via North Lake from Colorado Boulevard. Another nearby local tourist destination was the home and gardens of noted local botanist and Southern California Missions booster Charles Francis Saunders, located at 580 North Lake Avenue, located just south of Orange Grove Boulevard, which was visited by many traveling on the Pacific Electric cars going up and down to the mountains.


The hiking era came to a close soon after the Angeles Crest Highway was opened in 1936 and the automobile began to dominate people's lives. Roads were driven into the San Gabriel Mountains and few people ventured more than a few hundred yards from their automobiles. The number of visitors today is probably a few percent of the number who came in 1921.


The North Lake Pacific Electric Line was extremely busy until shortly before its abandonment in 1941. Altadena and North Pasadena saw its fortunes decline after the closing of the Mount Lowe tourist attraction in 1936, the opening of Angeles Crest Highway into the mountains also in 1936, the ending of trolley traffic in 1941, the onset of World War II and the general availability of automobiles and cheap gasoline for the common man.


In the above photographs you can see Mount Lowe peak, formerly Oak Mountain, and renamed by the leaders of Pasadena in 1893 in honor of Professor Lowe and his accomplishment of building a seemingly impossible mountain railway. In the Echo Mountain photograph it is possible to see the concrete retaining wall and stairway (the light spot in the middle) from the top of the Great Incline where millions of tourists over the years had their souvenir photo taken as they arrived at Echo Mountain, just as cruise ship passengers still have their souvenir photograph taken today upon disembarkation in distant ports.

Theme of the Day - Waiting.......

Yes, the animals are always waiting for us. But, these enigmatic characters are always up to something on their own. These are the hardwood floor dusters of Normandie Cottage, at least two of them. The third chose not to be photographed.


I'm sure they are daydreaming - waiting for the next delicious meal.



They never seem to tire of the same breakfast and dinner; they'll eat it with gusto no matter. And always I'm thankful for a hungry cat, because a cat which isn't hungry is not feeling well!

LIVING IN THE SHADOW OF MOUNT LOWE - UP LAKE AVENUE!

After the last rain the clover is beginning to sprout again and the elves and mushrooms are about. When I turn around and look towards the mountains I see Echo Mountain and Mount Lowe, actually visible from my bedroom and living room windows! This shot epitomizes my interests: historic architecture, Colonial Revival Moderne style, 1950's sports cars, czecho-germanic-anglophile culture, travel, trees and blue sky thinking.

Normandie Cottage is a lot of work to keep running, being 1924 vintage and my having so little time at the moment to give it attention. The 1958 Austin Healey 100-6 is also a lot of work to keep running, as well. As a matter of fact, trying to keep myself running, vintage 1950, is a lot of work.

Some of us still believe and hope we might bring back this part of town to what it was almost a hundred years ago. A small group of enthusiasts actually believe we may see the reconstruction of the Mount Lowe Incline Railway and the reinstallation of trolleys up and down Lake Avenue, taking tourists to a rebuilt Mount Lowe Alpine Tavern hotel at Crystal Springs, all this happening within the next 20 years or so.

First we must have a grand reopening of the restored Washington Theatre and the establishment of a Lake Washington Village Arts District. All good things take time. Let me know if you want to get involved to bring back the economic vitality of the old tourist days. Up Lake Avenue can be a vacation destination for all once again, as it once was.

LAKE AVENUE'S LOST WOODBURY CREEK AND LONE PINE RANCH TODAY.

As promised, I recently took some photographs of Woodbury Creek and the former Lone Pine Ranch, all near the intersection of North El Molino Avenue and Atchinson Street, just west of North Lake Avenue.

The first photo shows the entrance pillar to Lone Pine Ranch on the northwest corner of El Molino and Atchinson, and this is apparently the location that one person remembers having a corral back in the 1950's still, which had smelly runoff into the creek. The original house appears to still be on the lot nearest to the intersection with the rest of the lot having apparently been subdivided for other homes starting in the 1950's and later. Atchinson wasn't put through to El Molino until sometime around 1907 and and the original ranch home in Craftsman style was built around 1903, so originally the ranch had a large area with Woodbury Creek running northwest to southeast through its parcel, where the corral would have been, most likely behind the house to the west on Atchinson, making a slope into the creek.

The next photos show the storm drain which passes under Atchinson just west of Madison, and then the natural creek is visible, although channelized, as it passes further south. A Craftsman era home is built on the lot directly to the west and the lot slopes down to the creek, allowing this seemingly one story bungalow actually to have a substory with windows below the street level. Sorry the pictures don't show the situation too well, but there is a lot of shrubbery and if you look closely you'll see the substory in a couple of the photos. All of the creek photos are looking south off of Atchinson towards the house located on the southside of Atchinson just west of Madison.

If you're in the area, take a look at this in person. It is truly amazing and can't be covered over by the city since the house has a substory below the street level!

If you have any stories about our lost Woodbury Creek, please comment.

BOB'S BIG BOY RETURNS TO LAKE AVENUE, PASADENA - WAS 77 NORTH LAKE AVENUE, NEW LOCATION 899 EAST DEL MAR AT SOUTH LAKE AVENUE

THIS IS THE BOB'S BIG BOY ON COLORADO BLVD. IN EAGLE ROCK IN THE 1950'S AND A SIMILAR DESIGN TO THE ONE IN PASADENA LOCATED AT 1616 EAST COLORADO WHERE THE PCC SHATFORD LIBRARY NOW STANDS, THE SW CORNER OF BONNIE AND COLORADO


BOB'S BIG BOY AT 77 NORTH LAKE AVENUE, IN EXISTENCE FROM LATE 196? TO 198?, NOW COCO'S RESTAURANT

THIS IS BOB'S BIG BOY RESTAURANT IN RANCH STYLE WHICH WAS OWNED MY MARRIOT AFTER THE CHAIN WAS SOLD BY THE CREATOR BOB WIAN IN 1967, AND MARRIOT CONVERTED MANY LOCATIONS LATER TO COCO'S, WHICH THIS LOCATION IS TODAY

Bob's Big Boy restaurant is coming back to Pasadena as of November 2009! This is hard to believe after so long an absence, but considering there were four locations in Pasadena and Eagle Rock, not operating necessarily all at the same time, maybe it's not suprising that Bob is coming back.

The same owner of the famous Toluca Lake landmark location just happens to own the Baja Fresh on Del Mar just east of South Lake Avenue. Baja Fresh is now closed and there is a banner hanging outside with the Big Boy saying he's coming back! For those of us old enough to have known Bob's during its heyday, this is a welcome situation, especially for Lake Avenue.

Bob's had a number of locations in Pasadena. The first was located at 1616 East Colorado Blvd., built in 1953 and designed by architect S. David Underwood. This was located on the SW corner of Bonnie and Colorado, however the property has been taken over by Pasadena City College, after being eventually surrounded by the campus, and the restaurant was about where the Shatford Library now stands. This Bob's location had become a Greek restaurant after Bob's had moved into their new abode at 77 North Lake Avenue in the late 1960's, and the 1953 Googie style building was demolished without further adieu prior to the building of the new library in the 1990's, much to the regret of the space age architectural aficionados who also love the Saga Motor Hotel across the street which still stands.

A concurrent location in the 1950's through the 1980's? was located at 3130 East Colorado, across the street from Fedco now Target on the SW corner of Northrup and Colorado. This location was demolished in 1982. Also, in the 1950's probably through the 1970's? the Bob's location at 1803 Colorado Blvd. in Eagle Rock, the historic photo at the top of this entry, was in operation, with a miniature golf course located on the property just west of its parking lot. The things we used to have!

Well, I hope there are a few others of you out there with fond memories of Bob's Big Boy, also in Pasadena, and hope you are excited to maybe even have Car Nights on the weekends behind the new location in the parking lot on South Lake Avenue. We can hope for some more good memories on our own "Avenue to the Sky!" It's great when it's not all past tense, as memories go!

LOURDES OF THE WEST, 1879 NORTH LAKE AVENUE

Photo is dated December 25, 1939. "Lourdes of the West" was built in 1939 as "an exact replica of the beautiful and historic Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France, on the grounds of St. Elizabeth's Church in Altadena where it is attracting thousands of war anchored tourists, who are choosing the colorful Southern California vacationland in lieu of Europe this year. Photo shows the grotto at Altadena which encases statues of "Our Lady of Lourdes, the Virgin" and St. Bernadette, the little shepherdess to whom the Virgin appeared on 18 occasions, once commanding her to scratch the ground with her foot, where a healing spring burst forth, from which waters the spring at the foot of the "Lourdes of the West" has been created." It was built partly out of lava and greeted 300,000 visitors in nine months.

This is a magical place and recently renovated including the two garden entrance way gates which have "Lourdes of the West" in illuminated cut out letters in the decorative metal archway overhead. The St. Elizabeth of Hungary parish hosts an old time family festival in October on a Saturday evening where wonderful food and classic fair rides and games are hosted. Not to be missed; look for the banner advertising this coming festival at the southwest corner of New York Drive and North Lake.

At night, the flickering votive candles in the grotto give an eerie but peaceful feeling to the contemplative. One of several hidden gardens on Lake Avenue and a spot for reflection.

WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 1757 NORTH LAKE AVENUE LANDMARK

Here we have another Pasadena official landmark on North Lake Avenue, the French gothic style inspired Westminster Presbyterian Church designed by famed Pasadena architect Sylvanus Marston in 1925 as he was part of the Marston, Van Pelt and Maybury architectural firm which existed from 1922 to 1927, after Marston spent time in France during World War I, where he received inspiration from the French cathedrals. This is surely the most French European of cathedrals in Pasadena and it has a grand rose window on its south side, a sublime interior and a magnificent tower which can be seen for miles around. One could feel almost like being in Paris' Notre Dame during the Christmas Eve candlelight service in this wonderful treasure of a space.

This building has been used for filming a number of times including 1953 big screen version of the War of the Worlds where the church is seen silhouetted with Martian multi-colored blasts behind it. It was recently used for the 2008 Tom Cruise movie Valkyrie where it stood in for a German Catholic cathedral with its roof bombed and missing courtesy of CGI.

Truly a structure of magnificence on Lake Avenue. The photo is from 1939. With the undergrounding of the utilities on Lake Avenue we have very much enhanced the beauty of the street from that aspect. This gives us hope for the future that we might still be able to make major aestethic improvements to our boulevard. The ornamental streetlights are the same on this stretch from Woodbury to Howard that have been here since the 1920's. Someone thought it wise to remove the remaining ornamental light posts from Howard to the city center and replace them with much inferior light standards during the 1970's. We were lucky to replace the ornamental light standards once more from Howard to the 210 bridge in recent times, albeit they are just single headed rather than double headed.

More to come on the towers of Lake Avenue