Helen Lukens Gaut

They've got this great photography exhibit at the Pasadena Museum of History. I'm sorry to spring this on you at the last minute but it's closing, so you have to go today.

Helen Lukens Gaut was a self-taught photographer and journalist who lived in Pasadena and Highland Park in the early 20th Century. Her father, Theodore Parker Lukens, was mayor of Pasadena. Twice. The family's Victorian home still stands on N. El Molino.

Gaut loved Pasadena architecture and photographed a lot of it. She even designed a bungalow and apparently one, or some, of her designs were built in Bungalow Heaven.

I wish there had been a book based on the exhibit so I could take it around with me and compare the then to the now. That's probably too expensive an undertaking for our small and homey museum. The museum shop's book section is impressive, though--they carry books about Pasadena history I had once thought hard to find, including some about the native Tongva, architecture, etc. I bought a book by Ann Scheid called Downtown Pasadena's Early Architecture. That's right up my refurbished, Old Town alley.

I feel a kinship with Helen Lukens Gaut. She was born in Rock Falls, Illinois, not far from where I grew up in DeKalb. She loved to write and take photos (moi aussi), she loved to travel (that's me) and she was interested in architecture (me again). And she died the year I was born. Somehow that doesn't surprise me. It's certainly not reincarnation. I might just call it carrying on.

The Treasures on Your Block

In Pasadena, if you have an organized block with a Neighborhood Watch, you can arrange with the police department to block off your street for your block party. (Check with the Pasadena PD for details.) Children do not tire of riding their bikes in the road. No bouncy house necessary.

That's what we did yesterday on my block. When the kids could take a moment off from speeding up and down the street on their wiggle cars, a friendly representative from the Pasadena PD was there to fingerprint them. (Perhaps it's a safety thing, but you never know if one of those cherubs will turn out to be a criminal brat.)

The adults enjoyed the party even more than the children did, if that's possible. Some neighbors see each other often but more don't. It's nice to check in with folks whose schedules don't collide with yours. It builds community to welcome new people to the block, find out who got taller over the school year, and adore each others' little ones as they whiz by.

The title of this post refers to a gift John and I received when we bought our home. "The Treasures on Your Block" is a series of booklets, written by Ann Scheid in the 1980's, about the architecture in various Pasadena neighborhoods. Scheid (speaking of treasures) is a Pasadena historian, writer and community activist, among other things. The woman we bought our house from gave us her copy because our house was featured in it along with others in the neighborhood. The booklet is hard to find these days--a rare treasure.

We love our home, not because it's in a booklet but because it's so familiarly ours. It's our refuge, our place, a JohnandPetrea hermetically sealed envelope set aside from the world where we keep all our stuff, real and imaginary, in one place. We love it also because it's in this neighborhood, surrounded by these neighbors. If these people were to be gone tomorrow, the treasure would lose its value.

(Yes. It's a record player. On the front lawn. Some brought a dish to pass. Some brought paper plates and napkins. One brought music.)