2006 November Trip toSouthern California Day 3

     The last time my wife and I were in Southern California, the day we visited Pasadena and South Pasadena we had my parents along so we did not get to stop and really look around a lot (my parents were very impatient and did not enjoy the journey). So we decided that we would spend today looking around South Pasadena and Pasadena so my wife could get a really good look on where I grew up.

     The first thing we did was stop and take a picture of the house I lived in my teen years which sits on Monterey Road in South Pasadena. I really would love to see what the inside looks like now especially the huge dining room and kitchen my father single handedly built but alas the house has been sold every couple of years it seems like so I have no idea who lives there now.

     Next we went over to the McDonalds on Fair Oaks Avenue to get lunch. While this lunch wasn’t fancy it still was a budget saver. I rarely will eat breakfast at McDonald’s but figured what the heck it was convenient. When I do eat at McDonald’s I always get the same thing, the Big Breakfast, an Egg McMuffin and Orange Juice. Some one had left a paper sitting on one of the seats so I took a quick look at it.

     After breakfast we headed over to the Gold Line station so I could take a couple of pictures of it along with some of the trains. An old rest stop for stages is just a few hundred feet away from the station and is near several other historical buildings that make up South Pasadena’s historical district. Our next top was the house used as Molly Ringwald’s home in Pretty in Pink which looks totally different from its movie star days. I also took a picture of the 176 bus route that I rode many a time (especially since a good friend drove it) and its 35ft RTS buses that are being retired after many years of service.

     Next stop was Trader Joe’s so my wife could get a look at one of their stores. The one on Arroyo Parkway in Pasadena was one of the original stores and it is still going strong. Trader Joe’s was a favorite stop for my parents when I was growing up. We also stop at Stat’s. For those of you who have never been to Stat’s they are a floral shop but after the fist of November they become one of the biggest Christmas stores I have ever seen. They have a couple of rooms full of decorated Christmas trees and aisles and aisles of accessories. I remember when I used to come and see my friends who worked for the Santa Fe and Amtrak in Pasadena at Christmas time. The eastbound Southwest Chief would stop right in front of the parking lot of Stat’s and all those 80’s car alarms with motions sensors would always go off, it was so fun to watch people run out with all those alarms going off and then it turning out to be a train.

     Next I drove my wife down Colorado Blvd and Lake Street so that she could see the main business district of Pasadena. Our next stop was the Macy’s store at Lake Blvd and Colorado. My mother worked in this store in the 70’s back when it was a Bullocks store. The store looked the same as it did back then except that the famous Tea Room that my mother would take for lunch at is gone. We took the elevator downstairs and stop in the men’s department. I saw some shirts there that were only clearance so we bought one that should have fit. Then we started out by going through the cosmetics department which is the area where my mother worked. I could picture here standing there gossiping with her fellow employees and the one they she jump over the counter in order to get Claude Akins autograph.

     After leaving Macy’s I took my wife on a drive through San Marino. I used to drive throughSan Marino all the time when I was going to PasadenaCityCollege. I would look at some of the houses there and use them for inspiration (to bad it didn’t work well enough at that point in my life).

     We drove around a little while longer then we headed to the Sierra Madre Villa Gold Line station so we could ride the Gold Line to Union Station and back. However, when we got there my wife was not in the mood to go because it was so hot so I parked the Torrent in the parking garage and she sat there and read. She moved over to the drivers seat incase she had to make a quick escape with and undesirables came by.

      After making sure she was all set up I headed to the elevator went down a level and headed across the bridge over to the platform. I purchased my ticket and jumped aboard the train that was sitting there. I took a window seat and prepared for my trip. I had rode the route of the Gold Line several times when it was still a Santa Fe main line and hosted multiple Amtrak trains a day but this would be my first ride since the opening of the Gold Line.

      The line heads down the center of Interstate 210 until it passes under Los Robles where it takes a tunnel that goes under the freeway and Walnut street. When this was an active rail line it would come above ground here but the light rail line continues in an open cut until it reaches the Del Mar station where it pops its head to the surface. The former Amtrak station in Pasadena that I spent a lot of time is being refurbished into a restaurant. Ironically I had an idea to turn it into a restaurant 20 years ago but someone else is doing it here.

     Next the line travels along the Santa Fe right of way that lies between the Arroyo Parkway and Raymond Avenue. After stopping at the Fillmore station the train passes the Pasadena Power Plant, passes under Fair Oaks, travels through Memorial Park in South Pasadena that is not getting sound walls because of the typical South Pasadena NIMBY, across the Pasadena Freeway, past the Pretty in Pink house and finally stopping at the South Pasadena station which we stopped at earlier today.

     After leaving the South Pasadena Station (called the Mission Station since its at Mission Street) we then make a gently right hand corner and then start passing the former location of Santa Fe’s Olga siding. About halfway between Orange Grove Avenue and Indiana we pass behind my old house on Monterey Road that we saw earlier today. Next we pass StancliffSchool were I attended 7^th Grade, which is a small private school. We had only 8 students in our class, two of them girls. One of the Girls, Dolly Cepeda would become one of the youngest victims of the Hillside Strangler.

     Next we crossed the Arroyo Seco with the “river” and Pasadena Freeway below. This is a very tall bridge and was rebuilt for light rail after the Santa Fe railroad stopped using the line. Our next stop was at the Highland Park station. Right by the station is another place that holds a memory for me when it comes to my mother, as she worked at a department store called Ivers for several years before the Highland Park store closed and she transferred to the store in La Cresenta (which was bought by Robinsons, which was bought by May, which was bought be Federated (Macy’s). The store has been bulldozed in order to put smaller shops in. Highland Park is an area that you do not want to be around after dark as it is heavily gang infested.

      The next station we come to is the SouthwestMuseum station. This is an area where there was several high profile Santa Fe freight train derailments in the 80’s but there is no worries now since the Santa Fe no longer goes through here. There is a couple of museums here that are well worth a visit and of course access is easy via MTA’s Gold Line. The line then goes under Figueroa Street which is keeps the light rail trains from stopping traffic on this busy road. I am sure there is many drivers that wished this existed when the Santa Fe was operating this line.

      When once again cross the Pasadena Freeway and notice that almost all indications of the former Union Pacific branch line that traveled in this area is now gone. Next we stopped at the Avenue 26 station which is seeing some affordable housing go up which should help boost ridership on the line. We then cross over Interstate 5 and the Los AngelesRiver before passing to the side of a former Southern Pacific yard that is being turned into a park.

     Finally we head onto an elevated structure that takes us to the 2^nd to last stop in Chinatown. I would actually use this station in March when I stay at a hotel that is located here in Chinatown. Finally we make an “S” curve and we slowly pull into Los Angeles Union Station. Many people have complained about how slow the Gold Line is but from my experience I do not see it being that bad except for the section in Highland Park.

     I got off the train here walked over to the Gateway transit center where the Red Line and several bus lines come in. I then headed back to the Gold Line and made my way back to Sierra Madre Villa. One thing I did notice about this route is there is not a whole lot of places to get off and eat on this line but I am sure those will come as the line becomes more entrenched.

     I got off the train headed back on the bridge and found my wife still sitting in the Torrent right where I left it still reading her book. Next we drove down Foothill Blvd, past the old Shakey’s Pizza that my parents took me too and discovered it is now a strip joint. We then stopped at Rick’s to get a late lunch/early dinner so that we could have one last meal here. It was then decided that we would stop here on the way back to San Diego (San Diego to LAX area via Pasadena-only we would do something like that!!)

      After eating I took my wife to the Pasadena Library. I grew up coming to this library and I highly recommend anyone coming to Pasadena to make a point of checking it out (it is the main library and it is on Walnut a block from the City Hall). The architecture is classic Spanish and the interior still has all the wood paneling that it was built with. I was interested to see how they integrated a computer room and other necessities of modern life and I found they did a great job of making it fit. Since we where here and this library actually allows visitors to use the internet (too many libraries are NAZI’s about outsiders using the computers) I checked email to see if anything important had come through.

      After leaving the library we drove over to a Mobil station and filled up the Torrent with gas. Then we made a quick drive through old Pasadena and I showed my wife the Elks’ Club my parents and I had dinner in many times whose parking lot is at Colorado and Orange Grove where the Tournament of Roses Parade makes it’s turn to head east on Colorado Blvd. Next we drove across the famous Arroyo Seco Bridges that have been used from many movies and television shows over the years. We then headed down Figueroa Street so we could finish out all but one of the US 66 routes that existed over the years betweenPasadena and Los Angeles (we would hit Huntington Drive and Fair Oaks tomorrow as we head to Victorville to stay with my brother).       

     OK, I was just mentioning while I was on the Gold Line that Highland Park is not the kind of place that you want to be in after dark and here I am after dark driving through the heart of Highland Park. The only thing I can say is that it was dusk and being the fact that it’s November, that means its only 5:00pm and we kept the windows and the doors locked. Then again we had the A/C going full blast because it was 99 degrees outside.

     We stopped on Beaudry Street which is the street just west of freeway so I could get some night shots of the Bonaventure Hotel. We then headed down some streets in order to find a convenience store to buy me a Pepsi for tonight. As we drove down 6^th Avenue it seemed like the entire population of the area was on the street and people were selling things out of boxes along the way. In all my years of living in Southern California I never saw that but there had to be thousands of people out here. I was wondering how much of this stuff was stolen but most of it seemed to be garage sale type stuff. We finally found a store, I bought me a Pepsi and we headed back to the hotel.

      Once we got back to the hotel we decided to take a grand tour of the atrium shops so I could write down the shops for my review. We then headed up to the Restaurant/Lounge on 35^th Floor to have a little snack. You ride the elevator up the 35^th Floor which was the restaurant and then down stairs to the 34^th level which is the lounge. We found a place to stay but it took 15-minutes for our server to finally show up and take our order. I did something I hadn’t done since I was little and ordered a Roy Rogers and I forgot what my wife ordered. In addition I ordered a cup of French Onion soup and my wife ordered Chicken Wings. While the water was slow to get to us he was friendly so that made up for the long wait.

      By the time we finished our food and our couple of drinks we had made a complete revolution around as both the lounge and the restaurant above revolve. My wallet was also a little lighter as our non-alcoholic drinks and appetizers came to $35.00. I figured what the heck staying in the Bonaventure is an experience and we are on vacation. After paying the bill we headed downstairs and back to the room to get some sleep before heading out in the morning.