Backlit Directory at the corner of Raymond and Colorado

Just in time for the busy holiday rush, 12 new back-lit directory signs have been installed throughout Old Pasadena.  These signs are two feet wide, three feet high and are lit from behind so they are easily read during the day or night.  The signs supplement the printed  directory maps located throughout the District, and specifically in the parking garages and handed out by our Guides.  They will be updated twice annually.  Now it is even easier than ever for your friends, visitors and customers to find their way around the District.

While you are out and about, have a look at these new additions to our Way-Finding Program.  The new directories can be found mounted to the City’s electrical boxes at the following locations:

• S/E corner of Holly Street and Fair Oaks Avenue
• S/E corner of Union Street and Fair Oaks Avenue
• S/E corner of Colorado Blvd. and Pasadena Avenue
• S/E corner of Colorado Blvd. and De Lacey Avenue
• S/E corner of Colorado Blvd. and Fair Oaks Avenue
• S/E corner of Colorado Blvd. and Raymond Avenue
• S/E corner of Green Street and Fair Oaks Avenue
• S/E corner of Union Street and De Lacey Avenue
• S/W corner of Green Street and De Lacey Avenue
• S/W corner of Union Street and Arroyo Parkway
• S/E corner of Green Street and Pasadena Avenue
• S/E corner of Fair Oaks and Walnut Avenue

Posted by:  Anna Grazioli, VP of Operations, OPMD

Dog walk bag dispenser on Green Street

Picking up after our four legged friends is part of being a responsible pet owner. In addition, the Pasadena Municipal Code requires that you clean up after your dog within five minutes, whether your pooch leaves their “business” on public or private property. So as a service to our residents and visitors, Old Pasadena Management District has installed dispensers, throughout the District, which provide pet owners with (biodegradable) bags to retrieve and dispose of pet droppings. These dispensers can be found at the following locations:

• 50 East Green Street (Castle Green Hotel)
• 33 West Green Street (Aaardvark’s Odd Ark)
• 67 West Dayton Avenue
• North Side of Dayton Avenue (Condo Complex)
• South Side of Green Street (Westgate – Sares-Regis Project)
• 54 South Pasadena Avenue (Harmony Nails)
• 84 S. Fair Oaks Avenue
• 112 S. DeLacey Avenue

Please be a good neighbor, obey the law and pick up after your pets. Thank you.

Posted by: Anna Addis, Vice President of Operations

We recently received the February newsletter from the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce and found a piece written by Paul Little, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce, to be particularly timely and very pertinent to the businesses of Old Pasadena.  Paul Little is on the Planning Division Committee, so he is well informed as to the importance of this revision.  Old Pasadena Management District urges the business and property owners and management to participate in the revision process to ensure that your interests and concerns are represented and addressed in the updated General Plan.  Paul says it well… here is the complete article.

Pasadena General Plan Revision Requires Attention of Business Community

Pasadena is currently in the information gathering stage of a significant revision to the General Plan. What may seem mundane, can have lasting and real impacts on businesses, residents and visitors to Pasadena.

The General Plan governs how land will be used and how people will be able to access different parts of the city. The General Plan determines where commercial activity will take place, what type of businesses will be allowed and how concentrated enterprises can be. Beyond that, the General Plan lays out how people will move about the city, where they will be able to park their cars, and how many cars any given street can carry.

A successful General Plan will balance the interests of residents, who desire safe, comfortable neighborhoods, with economic activity that supports the operation of the city and the quality of life in Pasadena. For a well-crafted, thoughtful and appropriate plan to emerge, concerns and opinions of all stakeholders must be considered. That means our local business community must take the time to provide input and information so economic development and commercial interests can be taken into account as plans are formulated.

There continue to be opportunities to provide input. The City Council has appointed a General Plan Update Advisory Committee to oversee gathering information and prioritizing issues. While community meetings have been conducted, those have focused mostly on gaining input from residents. If Pasadena’s commercial and economic development concerns are to be heard and incorporated into the plan, we need significant input from Chamber members and others doing business in Pasadena. You can find information on the City of Pasadena website at www.cityofpasadena.net/generalplan. The page contains information, background material and opportunities to comment. It is up to you to make sure your voice is heard as Pasadena plans for the future.

Times are hard, and doing business anywhere is a challenge, but as far as Old Pasadena is concerned, the rumors of the economy getting better seem to be true.  Like anywhere else, to take full advantage of that, you not only have to work harder, you have to work smarter and in Old Pas, we also work together.  Cooperation is what gave Old Pasadena its start in the late ’80s, and it’s what is keeping us ahead of the curve today.

This was a very good holiday season for our 21-block district.  Even though we don’t have all the figures in from all the stores, we can see that our garages were consistently at full capacity, unique visitors to our web site nearly doubled from last year, and merchants have come to us with thanks and stories.

Lula Mae on Fair Oaks Avenue

Marci Christensen, proprietor of Lula Mae, an award-winning Old Pasadena gift boutique saw a dramatic increase in profits over last year.  She is not only a smart merchant but also an active marketer.  Since OPMD research had predicted that virtually all our customers would be spending less, she changed her product line to take full advantage the situation.  To attract more customers, she participated in all our holiday events beginning with the Halloween Trick-or-Treat weekend.  To maximize her visibility with limited ad funds, she developed a website and blog as fun and quirky as her store.  She linked it to the OPMD site, offered on-line coupons from both sites, then gave the coupon discount to all her customers, whether they knew about them or not.  “I see the look in their eyes when they get the added discount.  I know they’ll visit my site now, and they’ll come back to the store.”

Crowned Studio on Green Street

Andrea Auman, owner of the Crowned Studio Salon not only experienced a 35% increase in business, she did it overcoming an additional challenge.  In the middle of the worst recession in anyone’s memory, she decided to move and start up her business all over again.  “It was the best possible timing as far as I was concerned,” she remarks.  “I knew my best customers would follow me, and with Pasadena rents at an all time low, I knew I could find a great place in a great city.”  Andrea not only took full advantage of the OPMD web connections and events to bring in customers, she started up networking and cross-promotional events of her own.  To maximize her electronic presence Andrea links to her partners and fellow merchants from her home page and maintains FacebookTwitter accounts and a blog.

As diverse, and sometimes eccentric, as the merchants of Old Pasadena are, all of our success stories share this aspect of working harder, working smarter and working together.  No magic potions (that we know of), no lucky Leprechauns, and no behind-the-scenes buyouts or bailouts have been employed to give us the upper hand.  Just good research, good marketing and good business.  The Old Pasadena Management District is proud to be the hub of this activity, and is working hard to keep giving our merchants and business owners ahead of the game.

On Friday, January 1, 2010 at 8:00am, millions of spectators around the world celebrated the New Year with the 121st Rose Parade, themed 2010: A Cut above the Rest. With nearly a half mile of the 5.5-mile parade route and the greatest concentration of spectators along the route running through the heart of Old Pasadena, the volume of trash left behind is enormous. Yet before noon on New Year’s Day, less than two hours after the last float passed through Old Pasadena, the District was completely clean. With a team of less than 20 people, Anna Addis, VP of Operations for Old Pasadena Management District (OPMD) had the streets and sidewalks spic and span. By noon, merchants were able to open for business without their patrons having to step over trash and debris.

Anna developed her own post-parade cleanup plan three years ago. Using push brooms, leaf blowers, one street sweeper, trash bags and good old-fashioned elbow grease, Anna and her team of 10 Ambassador Guides from Block-by-Block and 3 Clean Street team members initiated the plan right after the end of the parade. Two Block-by-Block staff members were assigned to each block of Colorado Boulevard in Old Pasadena.

Anna and each Block-by-Block staff member were armed with a broom or leaf blower, and together they pushed all of the trash off the sidewalks into the street. From there, the Clean Street crew picked up the trash using the street sweeper and large trash bags. Before noon, the boulevard was clean and ready for business. The transformation is nothing short of amazing, as the attached pictures will attest. The work is not limited to Colorado Boulevard. All of the streets within the 21-block Historic Business District were addressed after Colorado Boulevard is clean.

Jack Huang, owner of several restaurants in the District (Villa SORRISO, Bar Celona, and ix-tapa Cantina), said that he cannot believe how quickly Anna and her crew got things back into shape in the District. “I saw Anna and the Ambassadors pushing brooms on New Year’s Day and it seemed like in no time at all the area was completely cleaned up. All you have to do is look across Arroyo Parkway from our new restaurant ix-tapa Cantina on Colorado Blvd. to see how aggressively OPMD attacks the issue within the District. Colorado Boulevard is a mess from Arroyo Parkway east. The difference is night and day.”

Alec Klebanov, Store Manager of Starbucks Coffee said, “Although we stayed open all night, we are so busy that we had no time to deal with the trash in front of our store, and it was terrible. The OPMD team jumped on it the minute the parade is over and we really appreciate their effort. It sure enhances the image of our store and Old Pasadena to have the streets and sidewalks free of trash and debris so quickly.”

This cleanup effort is just another example of the work OPMD does on behalf of the property owners, residents and visitors of Old Pasadena. Getting the clean up done so soon after the parade not only enhances the image of the City but it helps boost the revenue Old Pasadena merchants receive from the Rose Bowl events. It also makes it a more pleasant environment for our residents.

If you have any comments or suggestions with regard to this or any other subject, feel free to contact OPMD at (626) 356-9725 or email Anna Addis.

Happy New Year!

Posted by:  Anna Addis, VP of Operations, OPMD

For more photos of the pre-parade and parade spectacle, the LATimes has two comprehensive photo galleries online. Check out the gorgeous “panoramic views” that the LATimes has created in 360 degrees from several different points of view before and during the parade.  The Whittier Daily News also reported on the enormity of the post-parade cleanup.

Parade Route Campout

Clean Street Street Sweeper

Clean Street trash pick-up

As part of our Holiday Celebration which kicked off the holiday shopping season on Friday, November 27, we initiated our $1,000 Shopping Spree Sweepstakes for shoppers spending $50 or more in Old Pasadena. We received hundreds of entrees from local and visiting shoppers. An entry was awarded to every $50 spent over that weekend; so many people had several opportunities to win.

The opportunity drawing was held in our offices on Tuesday, December 1st and the winner of the $1,000 shopping spree giveaway was Lynn of Pasadena. When she received the news, Lynn explained that she and her husband ended up in Old Pasadena “on a fluke” Sunday afternoon to make a return at Crate & Barrel. They couldn’t resist making a few purchases and while shopping in Scarpa d’Oro were informed of the sweepstakes. Lynn said that she never won anything before so she was thrilled to win $1,000. She chose to spend her winnings at Scarpa d’Oro (in appreciation of their role in her sweepstakes participation), Lula Mae, Crate & Barrel, and Abercrombie & Fitch. Our warmest congratulations to Lynn!

Our wonderful Old Pasadena Holiday Celebration kicks off this Friday, November 27 with Santa’s Arrival and Tree Lighting in One Colorado Courtyard.  Saturday and Sunday, more than 50 merchants and restaurants are participating in our Holiday Open House by offering special in-store promotions, treats and events. Every $50 you spend in Old Pasadena on Saturday and Sunday qualifies you to enter our drawing for a $1,000 Old Pasadena shopping spree.  More details here.

To prepare for the festivities, we have been working hard to “set the stage” in Old Pasadena.  Last week Anna Addis, our VP of Operations, stayed up all night long to oversee the annual installation of the Reindeer Decorations, which are placed on four rooftops in Old Pasadena via cranes and careful maneuvering.  This is done in the wee hours of the morning so as not to disturb the regular traffic flow.

Then Barton Designs installs the spotlights to highlight our reindeer friends in their perches above the hustle and bustle of Colorado Boulevard.  They also install projected lighting (“gobos”) of snowflakes and other holiday themes to cascade along the sides of Old Pasadena buildings and alley walkways.  This year we’ve added more locations around the intersection of Fair Oaks Avenue and Colorado Blvd.  Locations include Pottery Barn, Louise’s Trattoria, Crate and Barrel, Distant Lands, Schoolhouse Parking Garage, and several alley walkways.  So, look for them when you visit us.

Dekra-lite, another team of specialists, installs the  lit snowflake falls on the streetlights to round out the holiday decor.  Last year they installed the lighting on the glorious Ficus trees of Green Street.  It was such a success with residents, merchants, and visitors alike, that we decided to leave the lighting up year round.  Don’t miss this great evening photo op.

To top things off, this year we added almost 150 poinsettias to our landscaping around the parking garages and alley walkways.  We’ve even switched out the music on the alleys to light holiday fare… so don’t miss the celebration this upcoming weekend.  We are ready for the holidays to begin.

Jim Plotkin - Old Pasadena stakeholder

Jim Plotkin has made a significant investment in Old Pasadena and is as committed as anyone to keeping the District vital and competitive, particularly in this tough economy.  Jim started out in retail in 1964 as the owner of the Pasadena Vacuum and Sewing Company located in the Stanton Building at 80 East Colorado Blvd.  He purchased the building and then refurbished the property in 1972.  The Stanton Building is now the home of the Sprint store.

T-Mobile architectural detail

This would be the first of many properties Jim would acquire and restore in Old Pasadena through the years.  In addition to the Stanton Building, Jim now has investments in several other Old Pasadena landmarks.  He owns the Web & Seward Building located at 124 East Colorado Blvd.  The Web & Seward Building once housed the original drug store in Old Pasadena, and is currently the home of Pasha Grill.  Jim also owns the Holly Building, located at 2 East Holly Street, which was formerly the old Holly Hotel.  Re-furbished in 1991, it now includes such businesses as Lula Mae and Mignon Chocolate.

T-Mobile façade - freshly painted

Finally, there is the T-Mobile Building.  With its Art Deco design, this building dates back pre-1900 and was originally a pawn shop.  In order to preserve the historic integrity of the building, Jim commissioned Paul Rogers, with Drawger, who researched the historic art deco color schemes to be used in the preservation of the buildings façade. Working with the City of Pasadena Design & Historic Preservation office, Jim and Paul made the final color selection.  “I am so pleased with the way the restored façade came out.  It has re-branded the original art deco vibe from the early 1900s.”

As a founding member of the Pasadena Business Improvement District (PBID), Jim was instrumental in the re-development project which raised funds for the Schoolhouse and De Lacey Parking Facilities.  As a board member and active investor in Old Pasadena, Jim’s passion for a better Old Pasadena is much needed and greatly appreciated by us all.

Posted by:  Anna Addis, VP of Operations

Photos by: Janet Swartz

Indiana Colony 1874 - Stereoscopic picture

1.     Present day Pasadena was settled by a group of Indianans seeking fairer weather following the exceptionally cold winter of 1872-73. The Indiana Colony was incorporated on January 31, 1874, and was later renamed Pasadena because the name “Indiana Colony” was rejected by the Postmaster General.

2.     The official paint color for all street furniture in Old Pasadena is “Tavern Square Green“, as stipulated in the Streetscapes and Alley Walkways Plan.

Original Schoolhouse

3.     The Schoolhouse parking garage is named for the Fair Oaks schoolhouse, which was relocated shortly after the turn of the century when it became exposed to the bustling activity of the developing center of town and potential danger to the children.

4.     The Old Pasadena Property-based Business Improvement District (PBID) was renewed by petition vote in 2005 for another five year term, by an overwhelming 94% approval by the property owners.  The Continuation Campaign is getting underway for the 2010 renewal.

5.     In 1929 Colorado Street (now Colorado Boulevard) was widened by 14 feet on both sides. Many of the elaborate Victorian faces of the buildings were lost to reconstruction and replaced with Spanish and Art Deco designs.

Old Pasadena Clean Team

6.     The annual Tournament of Roses Parade attracts hundreds of thousands of spectators to Colorado Boulevard and they begin lining the parade route at noon on December 31 in preparation for the New Year’s Day kick-off at 8:00am.  Old Pasadena’s Clean Team has the streets and sidewalks clean by noon so that merchants can open for business and visitors can enjoy shopping and dining.

7.     The Ambassador Guides patrol the District walking a total of miles in one year that more than circle the earth.

8.     Many people know the downtown area as “old town”, but the team of people working on the revitalization plan in the 1980s christened the area “Old Pasadena” to distinguish it from so many other “old towns” and mark the new beginning.

9.  17,434,560 square feet of sidewalk in Old Pasadena are pressure washed annually.

Rose Parade ca. 1905

10.  The first Tournament of Roses featuring rose-bedecked carriages was staged in 1890 by members of Pasadena’s Valley Hunt Club, former residents of the East and Midwest eager to showcase their new home’s mild winter weather.

11.  The intersection of Fair Oaks Avenue and Colorado Boulevard in Old Pasadena is the zero-zero, east-west, north-south postal division of Pasadena.

12.  The recently redesigned website oldpasadena.org receives as many as 1,300 unique visitors a day and the average time spent on the site is 10 minutes.

Armory Center for the Arts

13.  The building that now houses the Armory Center for the Arts on Raymond above Holly was originally built for the California National Guard.  The old brick building on Holly across from the Pasadena Senior Center was the National Guard motor depot.

14.  1,992,090 cars enter and exit the three City-owned Park & Walk garages annually: Schoolhouse, Marriott, and De Lacey.

15.  The Braley Building on South Raymond Avenue was originally constructed in 1906 as a bicycle factory and its “wheel-and-spokes” motif remains to this day throughout the architectural details, both inside and out. The building has just begun renovation by its new owners, the Church of Scientology.

Green Street - Ficus trees

16.  At the same time that Colorado Boulevard was being expanded in 1929, Kansas Street was also widened and renamed Green Street, now known for its gorgeous canopy of Ficus trees, which are now lit year round.

17.  Colorado Boulevard, which runs straight through Old Pasadena, was a segment of the original Route 66.

18.  123 trash cans are emptied twice daily by our Clean Team.

Williams Store

19.  Restaurant Barney’s LTD was named for “Barney” Williams, who did double duty as the postmaster, and ran the first general store.  His home place was on the site now occupied by Central Park.

20.     Old Pasadena receives 30,000 weekend visitors on average.

City Hall ca. 1902 - The Container Store today

21.  In 1902 City Hall occupied the building on the corner of Union Street and Fair Oaks Avenue.  City Hall was relocated several times.  In 2003 the building was retrofitted and remodeled to resemble the original building. It  is now home to The Container Store.

22.  Pasadena means “crown of the valley” in the Minnesota Chippewa language.  Dr. Thomas Elliott, one of the city’s founders, contacted an Indian missionary friend in Michigan who had worked with the Minnesota Chippewa Indians and submitted the name for translation.

Santa Fe Station is now the site of La Grande Orange Cafe.

23.  The Metro Gold Line Del Mar Station was originally the Santa Fe Depot of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway.  La Grande Orange Café now occupies the original station building.

24.  Built in 1887, the three-story red brick Victorian at 107 S. Fair Oaks Avenue was a showroom for a stage coach or carriage company. In the early 1900s it was converted to the Hotel Mikado and served the Japanese American community. In the 1940s it became Pasadena’s first black-owned hotel, the Hotel Carver which housed a prominent jazz club in the basement, and finally closed in 1985.  Now several boutique shops occupy the street level retail spaces including Jumping Jellyfish, Bianca Luce, Rising Sun Denim, Elements Kitchen, and Images Nail and Spa. Check out Pasadena Daily Photo’s blog post “Hotel Carver: Then and Now” with a great photo of the building.

Raymond Theater

25.  “Pulp Fiction” (1994) shot scenes in Kendall Alley (off of Union Street and Raymond Avenue) and the exterior of the Raymond Theater at the corner of Raymond Avenue and Holly Street.  The historic theater was also used in the filming of “Spinal Tap” (1984).  Kendall Alley was also a location for the filming of “Paper Moon” (1973) and more recently, “Live Free and Die Hard” (2007), which also featured Brenart Café.

Historic photos:  Courtesy of the Pasadena Museum of History Archives.

This year’s edition of the Old Pasadena Film Festival included a very special occasion.  We were offered the opportunity to present a recently restored version of the Mary Pickford silent film Daddy Long-Legs (1919), her 226th film appearance at the age of 27, with a newly commissioned score composed by Maria Newman.  This particular film coined Mary Pickford as “America’s Sweetheart” and one of the most beloved actresses in history.

The composer Maria Newman was born into one of the most famous and influential musical families in Hollywood. The youngest daughter of the nine-time Academy Award-winning composer/conductor, Alfred Newman (The King and I), she grew up in a family of renowned musicians and composers, including Randy Newman (Toy Story).  Ms. Newman has received numerous commissions from the Mary Pickford Foundation to compose original music for newly restored vintage classic films of the silent era.

So it was that on a balmy Saturday evening in Old Pasadena, members of the Malibu Coast Chamber Orchestra performed the exhilarating musical score to the silent film under the direction of Maria Newman.  On July 11th, the film was screened for  a capacity crowd in the Courtyard at One Colorado and the musicians received a warm standing ovation at the end of their performance.

We have received wonderfully enthusiastic praise for this event and heard from many people who treasured this magical evening. Don’t miss the last weekend of the 2009 Old Pasadena Film Festival featuring An American in Paris and Gypsy on Friday, July 24th, West Side Story and Twilight on Saturday, July 25th.