Bookmarks

The Battery Books and Music, South Pasadena

Today I begin a regular Saturday feature on writing, reading, and books. Not just my books, but also guest authors, libraries, book shops, ideas, writing tips, and fun stuff. I'm just busting to talk about this stuff. I'm calling it "Bookmarks," and I welcome your suggestions.

I won't limit it to Pasadena, though of course I'll include a local photo. (That's the rule, and I obey the rules, most of the time. It's easier to get away with being bad when no one expects it.)

And what better way to kick off this feature than with footwear? Chain mail--or maille--running shoes for the knights of Camelot & Vine. Or maybe not. So much for literature.

Actually, literature is doing fine. The publishing industry is changing, but reading isn't going away. Just like we changed the way we listen to music (I wish I'd kept those LP's), and the way we watch movies (have you seen a VHS tape lately? I don't miss those), we're reading in new ways. TV wasn't the end of the movie business, and ebooks aren't the end of publishing. They're just another way of reading.

I'm keeping my books, though.

For now, enjoy the documentary Bad Writing, streaming free for the month of January only. I owe thanks for the link to Karin Bugge, the excellent writer known as the Altadena Hiker.

The Dena is My Village

Yesterday morning I went to South Pasadena to meet with writer, blogger and successful entrepreneur Margaret Finnegan. Her luscious new book, The Goddess Lounge, is selling very well. I had a long list of questions to ask her about publishing as I move forward with my plans for Camelot & Vine.

Pictured is the old Meridian Iron Works building, which houses the South Pasadena Historical Museum. It's right by the Mission Metro Rail Station. South Pas is the closest thing to Mayberry around here. You can ride your bike to the station and take the train to downtown Los Angeles; it takes about 15 minutes. The big white square is for movies on the lawn.

Some may argue that Altadena is our closest thing to Mayberry, but Altadena is more like the Dena's version of Berkeley. In about 1976. Or Idlewild in the off-season.

South Pasadena is Margaret's turf. It's also Laurie's turf. Thank you, Laurie, for allowing me the border-crossing. Laurie would say it's my turf, too. We are sooo not territorial around here.

Margaret and I sat upstairs at Buster's (cash only), just across the street from the Iron Works. The heat has finally arrived on the west coast so we drank iced drinks. I had too much caffeine. Margaret generously answered every question on my typed list, and waited patiently while I jotted notes. (We are sooo not territorial around here.)

My biggest question was, now that I've done all this research, what's my next step?

There are about five first steps.

Hello ground, I have hit you running. Thank you, Margaret.

And thank you, Buster's, for the caffeine.

Goddesses

I could have shown you Margaret Finnegan signing books for her fans. She signed a lot of books yesterday.

I could have shown you the people. SPACE Arts Center in South Pasadena was packed.

I could have shown you Margaret reading from her book. She read brilliantly, and now everyone is begging for the audiobook.

I could have shown you the crowd either noshing, laughing, or applauding.

But this is my favorite shot: two readers, absorbed in the blurbs on the back of The Goddess Lounge. They're about to buy a couple of copies and have them signed by the author.

Margaret Finnegan's novel, The Goddess Lounge, is on sale everywhere. If you're not sure you want to make an investment, you can read Margaret's blog for a while or check out her stories on Smashwords. Once you've done that, I think you'll be as proud to know her as I am.

Zen Monday: #194

And now, for your Monday Zen.

If you're not sure what we do here on Mondays, just ask and I'll let you know. Otherwise, leave your impressions/expressions/interpretations in the comments.

And thank you. I love Zen Mondays.



By the way, if you're viewing this post on http://bestpasadena.com/, you are viewing a pirate site. bestpasadena.com steals all of its content in hopes you will click on their ads. So don't! 
This post was originally posted on pasadenadailyphoto.blogspot.com. Come on over! We'd love to have you. In the meantime, don't worry, we've got the law on it.

Titania's Bench

William Shakespeare's presumed 448th birthday (and the 396th anniversary of his death) landed on Zen Monday, so I saved this picture for today.

On a stroll through South Pasadena I saw this bench, a perfect spot for faeries. I don't recommend it as a chair for bards, though, unless they wear rubber pantaloons, because that bright green seat color is moss. But it's fine for faeries and other woodland creatures. It might even be a nice place for Bottom to rest his a**.

Glimpse Her While You Can

Like most City Daily Photo bloggers, Laurie Allee didn't know when she started where Glimpses of South Pasadena would take her. I think blogging takes us each to a different place, but maybe that's not the right way to think about it. More likely it's the blogger herself who steers, driving the blog like the personally-designed and -constructed vehicle it is.

Laurie has driven her blog to a leadership role in her community--not a political one (although even South Pasadena elected officials showed up at Charlie's Coffee House yesterday to celebrate the opening of her photo exhibit, South Pas: Observed)--but a social one.

Glimpses of South Pasadena has become a local forum where people speak their minds. Laurie's email box is constantly filled with requests, questions, thanks and damnation. She started something big, something South Pasadena needed--a place to talk, and sometimes even to shout.

Laurie's at the forefront of the Save the Rialto movement and you'll find some of the most poignant photos and writings about this landmark are hers. In fact, if you want to find Laurie today you won't find her at Charlie's, although her photos will be there throughout October. Today you'll find her taking part in a symposium called Encore Rialto at the South Pasadena Library Community Room at 3PM.

Laurie has also steered her considerable writing talents into a popular column called Views from the Front Porch for South Pasadena Patch (her editor was at the reception, too).
And as she gains confidence behind the wheel there's no telling where else she'll drive this thing.

Anywhere. She can take it anywhere she wants to go.

Sunday Steps

We've been having cool, cloudy mornings and warm afternoons. If you're one of those people who complains about hot weather, all you have to do these days is get up early. And not like 6am. You can get up at 10:00 and still get in a good hike before it heats up. I wonder how long it'll last.

Probably 'til I post this.

Have a beautiful Sunday, wherever you roam.

Guest Author: Victoria Patterson and "This Vacant Paradise"

Today I'm honored to host guest author Victoria Patterson, the South Pasadena writer whose novel, This Vacant Paradise, was published March 4th. Victoria will be appearing at Vroman's this Thursday, March 24th at 7pm.

 

For the most part, my fiction takes place in Newport Beach, but I live and write in South Pasadena. A tour of the places in South Pasadena (and surrounding areas) where I’ve written, and where my story collection, Drift, and my novel, This Vacant Paradise, came to life, would take quite some time, especially considering the seventeen years we’ve lived in South Pasadena. 

           
For years I worked at the South Pasadena Library (and I still do at times).  I’ve staked out every quiet and isolated work area at S. Pasadena Library, my favorite being the upstairs conference room, although that didn’t last long, considering there was just solitary me. The downstairs partitioned workspace desks near the teen section are great—while said teens are at school—except during “Storytime”(which I used to take my kids to), when the massive avalanche of toddlers’ feet boom from overhead.

Buster’s Coffee on the corner of Meridian and Mission was a mainstay, though ultimately I knew too many people, and would end up visiting and talking rather than working.

For close to three years, I worked at the coffee shop at Vroman’s, and I actually wrote an essay about it.

Pasadena Library, check. Starbucks, check.

For a long time, I worked at Caltech library, on one of the upper floors, with its spectacular view of the mountains. But then it was discovered that a Hummer-graffiti-terrorist civilian was also taking advantage of the library, and Caltech became understandably more restrictive.

This is a small sampling—I could go on and on, because South Pasadena (and Pasadena, San Marino, Alhambra, Sierra Madre) is home to my writing, even if the writing takes place elsewhere. 

Zen Monday: #130

Students of Zen learn through experience.

Please experience the photo and tell us, in the comments, what you have learned.

(Your first Zen Monday? Just have fun.)

French Filling

Some people make it a point to get to Paris every year. In the absence of that possibility, I make it a point to get to Nicole's in South Pasadena whenever I want a taste of France.

Now, before anyone outs me I'll admit I practically starved in Paris. I didn't know how to order what I wanted. It's scandalous to say so, but I'm not crazy about a lot of French foods. (I once told this to a foodie friend and it made her cry.)

But I can handle French bread--lots of it. I love macarons--in fact, just about any French pastry will be fine, merci beaucoup. And you won't hear me complain about French chocolate.

Nicole's has all these things, plus sandwiches, coffee and a little French grocery, too. Though it's a bit too far from the Louvre to be perfect, I've never left there hungry.

A Taste of France in the Dena

We in "the Dena" are one, I like to think. I'm free to travel from Alta to Pasa to South Pas, and thank goodness for that because South Pas has Nicole's Gourmet Foods. Laurie will forgive me for posting about it. She herself has posted twice about this slice of paradis in southern California. Who could resist a visit to, and a post about, a cafe whose website slips in a cheese guide with the usual menu, about page and directions?

Plus there were the chocolate cups. Which I resisted. I was there for coffee and coffee only.

It was this dumb idea I had, I don't know, don't ask me why. What was I thinking? My friends said, "Let's meet at Nicole's" and I thought, great, I'll have a latte and a visit and be on my way.

Then there were the chocolate cups. And the mango mousse macarons. Mango mousse. I kid you not.

Not the best photo, but I know my audience. It's not the photo that counts in this case. It's the macarons (not to be confused with macaroons).

I didn't taste them, or the chocolate. What a fool I am.

Swinging to the Bard

Is it already Wednesday? I'm still telling you about my weekend.

On Sunday I crossed over into Laurie's turf and caught the last of this year's free concerts in South Pasadena's lovely Garfield Park. My neighbors had been taking their kids every week this summer and I didn't want to miss my last chance.

The crowd really enjoyed the Irish folk band, Wake the Bard. The music had folks dancing, especially the kids.

When you're in South Pasadena in a park on a summer evening and there's live music and food and kids all over the place, you walk slower, if you walk at all. You might lie on a blanket or on the grass, or put your head in your lover's lap. If you need to prop yourself up to see anything you do so on your elbows. If anyone mentions work you don't understand a word they're saying.

My choice of black & white for this photo was easy: it's a tribute to Laurie's depiction of last year's final concert.

Happy Birthday, GinaB

GinaB comes by here every once in a while to say hello and post a comment. She can't come every day because she's got a lot on her plate, but I'm always glad to hear from her.

A few things about GinaB: she's a businesswoman with a frivolous streak, an artist, a generous and loving wife, friend to every kid she meets and somewhat of a genius in her career as a technical writer. Technical writing's like speaking a different language, and it brings her language count to four: English, Techspeak, Spanish and French.

GinaB is also a supportive big sister who goes to such extremes as having margarita parties when her little sister speaks a word or two on an obscure TV show--even when her sister's lines may or may not be cut. (At least you still get to have the party!) Speaking of which, GinaB's genius extends to her parties, and her annual cookie party is famous in the north Dallas suburbs.

Evidence of GinaB's frivolous streak is her extensive Barbie collection. She's got at least a hundred of them, all in their original boxes. She's already seen this photo. I took it in South Pasadena before Laurie started her Glimpses of South Pasadena blog, so for this special occasion I'm hoping Laurie will forgive me for treading on her turf. Some months ago, this display was in a shop across Mission Avenue from Buster's.

Happy Birthday, Gina.

Arroyo Skate-o

Lower Arroyo Park was a beautiful place to be as the sun was sinking yesterday. We headed further south than we usually do, beyond the San Rafael Avenue bridge, past the stables and into the northwestern reaches of South Pasadena.

We were soon stymied by a bridge (San Pascual Avenue, maybe?). We could have continued, but we needed to cross the Arroyo and it's all cement there, so we turned back. There are places where people with decent shoes can climb it, but probably not dogs with stitches (see yesterday's post).

A long-term effort is underway to get rid of all that cement and restore the Arroyo Seco to its natural state. Some of that has already been achieved, but there's still a long way to go. In the meantime, some folks manage to make do.

Window

A shop window on Fair Oaks in South Pasadena. When I took the photo it looked like no one had been inside for a long time. It's next to the Rialto Theatre. I imagine when the Rialto gets revived, this shop will wake up, too.

Rialto

Doesn't look like a door you want to enter without high boots and a flashlight. Though it's pretty, in its way.

This is the side door to the Rialto Theatre in South Pasadena. The Theatre, which opened in 1925, has been closed since last December, when it showed "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" for the last time (after a thirty-year run).

Fortunately, the Rialto's on the National Register of Historic Places, so it's not a tear-down. While awaiting funds for its new function, there's a bit of elegant entropy going on.

A few extra shots on Overdog.

Buster's

I stopped in at Buster's in South Pasadena the other day. Buster's is great for coffee, tea, cookies, brownies and ice cream (they also have sandwiches, but I've never tried those).

The place was busy. A bona fide South Pas hangout. It was noisy downstairs and completely quiet upstairs. I wonder if it's always that way.

Hey, who left their wallet on the counter?

Baranger Studios

Baranger Studios in South Pasadena reminds me of an old church in an English village, put to reuse in modern times. There's nice detailing around the doors and windows, and a pretty courtyard you can begin to see on the right.

My impression isn't far from wrong. Baranger Studios is an old building by California standards. The plaque to the left of the front door says "Architect - G. A. Howard, Jr. Built in 1925 to serve the Jewelry Display Industry. Dedicated historical landmark No. 27 by the City of South Pasadena Cultural Heritage Commission June 6, 1982." Currently, the Baranger Studios building houses a law office, an accountant and an optometrist.

But what exactly is (or was) the "jewelry display industry"? All I know about are the velvet-covered pedestals in the windows at Tiffany.

From 1925 to 1959, Baranger Studios created colorful, mechanical displays that they rented to jewelry dealers for their shop windows. Before today I never knew such things existed, but that's not surprising. They were unusual in their own time, and even had a book written about them.

You just never know what you're going to find out there.

Kaldi Window

I haven't posted many interior photos, and even this barely counts as one. I confess this is due to shyness on my part. I'm not always sure if I'm allowed to take pictures inside a business. A couple of times when I've asked, the management has turned me down. (A couple of times they've said yes, but the pictures didn't turn out well enough.)

Today I stopped in South Pasadena for a cup of coffee at Kaldi. It's a cozy little shop in an old brick bank building (looks like late 19th century to me). This time I didn't ask if I could take pictures. Nobody seemed to mind.

Through the window you see the side and part of the rear of the South Pasadena Public Library. The rear entrance is grander than the front, I think. South Pasadena's loaded with charm, so I'll get back soon and take more pictures. (I figure Pasadena-adjacent communities are fair game, as long as I don't get too far from the border.)

I enjoyed my coffee at Kaldi. There's artwork hanging on the walls, and no loud music playing (a big plus). As long as the weather stays cool, I have a good excuse to take indoor pictures more often.