arroyo monthly march 2013

FINE LIVING IN THE GREATER PASADENA AREAMARCH 2013

HOT HOMESAND ‘HOODS

THREE NEARBY NEIGHBORHOODSPoised to Soar

A GARDENING WRITERExperiments With Sustainability

THE HOUSING MARKET’SNew Gold Rush

REAL ESTATE ON THE REBOUND

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ABOUT THE COVER: Gardens and Gardener’s Cottage of Vintage Tudor Estate. Renovation by HartmanBaldwin Design/Build.Photography by Alex Vertikoff.

40 1533

arroyoVOLUME 9 | NUMBER 3 | MARCH 2013

03.13 | ARROYO | 7

HOMES AND LAND 12 HOME SELLERS, REJOICE!

Arroyoland real estate is experiencing a new gold rush: Prices are up, proper-ties are scarce and cash is king.—By Bettijane Levine

15 HOT ’HOODSEagle Rock, Highland Park and Glassell Park make real estate websiteRedfin's list of the country's 10 "hottest" neighborhoods for 2013.—By Elizabeth McMillian

33 GREEN’S GARDENGarden writer Emily Green experiments with sustainability at her Altadenahome.—By Ilsa Setziol

DEPARTMENTS11 FESTIVITIES L.A. Chamber Orchestra Gala, Pasadena Museum of History

opens “I Do! I Do!”

31 ARROYO HOME SALES INDEX

38 KITCHEN CONFESSIONS International chefs duke it out in the prestigious Bocuse d'Or culinary competition.

40 WINING AND DINING Two new take-out spots for superb home dining

42 THE LIST “MatheMagic!” comes to Caltech, Dan Flavin at the Norton SimonMuseum and more

8 | ARROYO | 03.13

EDITOR IN CHIEF Irene Lacher

ART DIRECTOR Kent Bancroft

JUNIOR DESIGNER Carla Cortez

PRODUCTION Richard Garcia, Rochelle Bassarear

COPY EDITOR John Seeley

CONTRIBUTORS Leslie Bilderback, Michael Cervin, ScarletCheng, Mandalit del Barco, Lynne Heffley, Noela Hueso, Carole Jacobs, Kathy Kelleher, Carl Kozlowski, BettijaneLevine, Elizabeth McMillian, Brenda Rees, John Sollenberger,Nancy Spiller, Bradley Tuck

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Dina Stegon

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Brenda Clarke, Joseluis Correa,Leslie Lamm

ADVERTORIAL CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Joanna DehnBeresford

ADVERTISING DESIGNERS Richard Garcia, Rochelle Bassarear

HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER Andrea Baker

PAYROLL Linda Lam

ACCOUNTING Alysia Chavez, Monica MacCree

OFFICE ASSISTANT Ann Weathersbee

PUBLISHER Jon Guynn

SOUTHLAND PUBLISHING

V.P. OF FINANCE Michael NagamiV.P. OF OPERATIONS David ComdenPRESIDENT Bruce Bolkin

CONTACT US

[email protected]

[email protected]

PHONE(626) 584-1500

FAX(626) 795-0149

MAILING ADDRESS50 S. De Lacey Ave., Ste. 200, Pasadena, CA 91105

ArroyoMonthly.com

©2013 Southland Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.

RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE HAS BEEN A VERITABLE

hot button in any discussion of the causes

and impact of the Great Recession that erupted in 2008. Today, we’re happy to

report that home sales — both in and around Arroyoland — are (finally) hot in a

considerably more welcome sense: Some houses on the shrinking marketplace

are attracting multiple bidders who push up the sales price above asking.

Bettijane Levine went to local experts to find out what’s fueling the fire, who’s

likely to become one of those lucky sellers and what aspiring buyers can do to

stay in the game.

Arroyoland’s desirability has even lifted three adjacent neighborhoods —

Eagle Rock, Glassell Park and Highland Park — onto real estate website

Redfin.com's list of the country’s 10 hottest neighborhoods, likely to produce

solid investments in 2013. Elizabeth McMillian, a design book author and real

estate pro herself, with prior stints as a developer and Architectural Digest editor

to her credit, delved into the reasons why our next-door neighborhoods are so

promising. One she found is their proximity to Arroyoland — “the spillover effect,”

which attracts buyers priced out of more alluring and mature neighborhoods.

Looking at land from another angle, we tip our sun hat to seasoned gar-

dening writer Emily Green, who gave Ilsa Setziol a tour of her possibly unique

backyard in Altadena. There Green conducts experiments designed to improve

her property’s sustainability — and eventually yours.

—Irene Lacher

arroyoFINE LIVING IN THE GREATER PASADENA AREA

EDITOR’S NOTE

03.13 | ARROYO | 9

10 | ARROYO | 03.13

Greiman withher work

Roberta Dumas, Jeannette O’Malley, SuzanneEhrmann, Janet Kadin and Sheryl Peters

Dr. Michael Kadin, Natalie Edmondson,Janet Kadin and Mark Kadin

David K. and Kay Duke Ingalls andJennifer and Royce Diener

Jennifer and Michael Frain

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AllanVogel,

KennethMunday,Fine and

Pasadena’s classical music angels Carol and Warner Henry chaired

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s annual dinner gala, dubbed “Taking

a Chance on Love,” at the California Club on Feb. 2. LACO honored two

couples who’ve been longtime supporters — Jennifer and Royce Di-

ener and David K. and Kay Duke Ingalls. After an eclectic concert that

included a virtuoso performance by 10-year-old violin and piano

prodigy Ray Ushikubo, guests dined on veal, rosemary polenta and

mushroom ragout and sipped French wines donated by the Henrys...

That sticky wicket known as love also inspired “I Do! I Do!, Pasadena

Ties the Knot,” the Pasadena Museum of History’s two-part exhibition of

vintage wedding gowns, dating from 1850 to the present. Part one,

which covers 1850-1950 and runs through July 14, opened on Feb. 16

with a reception and preview of the show curated by PMH trustees Dr.

Elizabeth Smalley and Janet Kadin and volunteer Suzanne Ehrmann.

Peter Seymour and Greg Pattillo

Gabe Hobson and Luna Pearson

June Liand Andrea Laguni

Carrie Kennedy and Joel Pargman

Warner and Carol Henry and Terri and Jerry Kohl

Ann Moore Mulally, Eugene Shutler and

Rachel Fine

Margaret Batjer and Jeffrey Kahane

Cynthiaand Gale Davis

Suzie and Bryan Schwartz

John and Helen Baatz

Brigitte Bergmann

Roberta Dumas

Karen and Paul Hackett with Kevin Casey (center)

Kyra, Michael and Linda Rosen

03.13 | ARROYO | 11

FESTIVITIES

12 | ARROYO | 03.13

Home Sellers,Rejoice!

Arroyoland real estate is experiencing a new gold rush: Prices are up, properties are scarce and cash is king.

BY BETTIJANE LEVINE

03.13 | ARROYO | 13

That’s just one example of the roller-coaster ride Arroyoland’s current real estate scene hasbecome. And, like Wall Street and horse racing, the San Gabriel Valley’s residential marketis best navigated with tips from insiders. Charts and graphs can provide the big picture, butthere are nuances familiar to experts that can be crucial for those aiming to sell high or buylow in the current climate, where inventory has plummeted and demand has surged.

Although it may still be a buyers’ market elsewhere in the country, that is not thecase here, according to Arroyo Monthly’s informal survey of local real estate savants. Infact, national statistics have little relevance to California as a whole or to our little patchof it, experts say. From February 2012 to February 2013, for example, the number ofhomes for sale nationally decreased by 24 percent; the number of homes for sale in Cali-fornia decreased by 51.5 percent. The nation’s median home price increased by 3.4 per-cent; California’s median home price increased by 29 percent. Arroyoland’s medianprices also climbed by almost 30 percent, accompanied by a deep plunge of more than50 percent in number of homes sold. (The average price per square foot and inventorysold dipped around the holidays, which is typical of the season.)

But dry statistics don’t begin to convey the human tumult caused by factors thatconverged to create a perfect property storm. Interest rates are still low but are predictedto escalate. Home prices are rising but are still relatively affordable. Buyers of all stripes,foreign and domestic, see this as perhaps their last best chance to strike a deal that mayseem like a huge bargain within a year or two, the experts say.

But those same factors so positive for buyers can be negatives for sellers. If homeprices are rising, they reason, why sell now? Those who can wait have apparently de-cided to do so, intent on reaping higher profits down the road. So buyers are plentiful,but available real estate is not.

It’s a kind of stalemate, says broker Jenny Liu, who manages four of seven Re/Maxoffices in the San Gabriel Valley. Inventory is at a perilous low, she says. “With so fewhouses on the market, it’s as tough for brokers as it is for buyers. Clients can’t believethere’s so little to look at. They wonder if we’re holding back, not showing them every-thing. Maybe we’re saving the best houses for VIP clients. Of course we’re not doingthat. We show them everything, but we also explain what’s happening” to prepare themfor the inevitable bumps in the road.

One of those bumps: Cash is king these days, Liu says. There are so many buyerswho can pay all cash that even the most highly qualified non-cash buyers may not havethe slightest shot at getting the houses they want. “There’s more overseas money comingin because the whole world knows we’ve been in a downward real estate cycle” that’sturning around, she says. Foreign investors (many from Asia) out to score a bargain willfind a property, offer all cash and close the deal with a 10-day escrow, she says. Thatkind of swift, clean transaction usually beats out even higher-price offers from buyerswho want longer escrows and may present unforeseen problems.

Another developing trend: Today’s buyers are sometimes choosing to work directlywith the listing agent rather than an agent who represents them. “It’s not new, but it’shappening more because competition is so fierce and listings so few,” Liu says. “Buyersthink, ‘If I work directly with the agent who’s holding the listing, I may have a betterchance of getting my offer reviewed and maybe accepted.’” Does that work? “Perhaps insome cases,” says Liu.

Is she daunted by all this? “Not at all. We develop our own competitive edge,” she says.For her that includes social media and ongoing education in real estate law and finance.

A NEARLY 1,900-SQUARE-FOOT HOME IN SOUTHEAST PASADENA WAS LISTED FOR SALE ON JANUARY 15

AT $708,000. WITHIN A WEEK, THE 1949 RESIDENCE HAD 43 OFFERS. THREE WEEKS LATER, IT HAD SOLD

FOR $941,500, AFTER A 10-DAY ESCROW. THOUGH THE HOUSE WENT FOR MORE THAN ONE-THIRD ABOVE

THE ASKING PRICE, IT DID NOT GO TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER (MORE ON THIS TRANSACTION LATER).

–continued on page 14

Seasonal blips aside, the above graphs based on data from the Arroyo Home Sales Index clearly show increasing prices while overall sales remain steady –underscoring increased demand against limited inventory in Arroyoland. See this month’s AHSI on page 31.Source: AHSI March 2012-Jan 2013. The Arroyo Home Sales Index is calculated from residential home sales in Pasadena and the surrounding communities of South Pasadena, San Marino, La Canada Flintridge, Eagle Rock, Glendale (in-cluding Montrose), Altadena, Sierra Madre and Arcadia. Individual home sales data provided by CalREsource. Arroyo Home Sales Index © Arroyo 2013.

Average Price perSquare Foot

Number of Homes Sold

Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan’12 ’12 ’12 ’12 ’12 ’12 ’12 ’12 ’12 ’12 ’13

Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan’12 ’12 ’12 ’12 ’12 ’12 ’12 ’12 ’12 ’12 ’13

$450K

$440K

$430K

$420K

$410K

$400K

$390K

$380K

$370K

$360K

500

450

400

350

300

250

200

150

100

50

arroyo~HOME SALES INDEX~

arroyo~HOME SALES INDEX~

14 | ARROYO | 03.13

–continued from page 13

“Social media is hugely important,” she says. “I can attest to that. I found my husband onMatch.com. People nowadays are finding their houses on Facebook and Twitter.”

Itza Aguilar, a Realtor with the John Aaroe Group’s Pasadena office, thinks poten-tial sellers who are holding out might want to rethink their strategy. “Some really oughtto list their homes right now, while there’s so little inventory available. It’s a great timeto sell, and some who may think they’re upside-down may not be at all. They may have equity they’re not aware of.”

Irina Netchaev, the founder and managing broker at Pasadena Previews Real EstateTeam in San Marino, scored the deal mentioned at the top of this story. Also a huge be-liever in online exposure, she blogs, tweets, attracts clients from reviews on Yelp and hasabout 4,000 followers on her fan page, called “365 Things to do in Pasadena,” which islinked to her listings and Facebook page. “Over 90 percent of buyers start their homesearches online, and if an agent has an online presence locally, people will find it,” she says.

As for the homes those aspiring buyers want, “honestly, every area you can think ofis low on listings,” Netchaev explains. “In January this year, the entirety of San Marinohad only eight listings. Year over year, from January 2012 to January 2013, listings inArcadia dropped from 177 to 67. Glendale’s dropped from 111 to 48. Pasadena wentfrom 427 listings last year to 211.”

Yes, there’s big competition among firms right now, she admits, “but that’s always beenthe case no matter what the market condition. And each agent markets homes a little dif-ferently. Some still do the same old, same old. They put a sign on the house and a listing inthe MLS, and that’s it. We do features on Realtor.com, which is very popular right now.We entice buyers and sellers to our site. We generate excitement about our properties.”

What was so special about the home she sold that received 43 offers in a week? Itwasn’t the home per se, she says. It was the desirable Michillinda Park neighborhoodcombined with the ample lot size — almost half an acre, unusually large for Pasadena,Netchaev says, adding that there’s intense competition among investors and developersfor those big lots. They frequently tear down the existing structure and build much bigger ones — 5,000 or 6,000 square feet — homes they will sell for up to $3 million.

“Out of 43 offers for that particular house, 38 or 39 of them were all cash, mostly frominvestors and developers,” Netchaev says. “Statistically in Pasadena, we are seeing about 30percent of sales in all-cash right now.” The offer she accepted for the seller was the second-highest bid, Netchaev says, because the terms were the best: all cash and a 10-day escrow.

So where does all this leave the ordinary bloke, who is pre-qualified by a lender butlacks a satchel full of cash? “I work successfully with regular people all the time, peoplebank-qualified and seeking fine homes in a moderate price range,” Netchaev says.“There are always houses they will love at prices they can afford. Sometimes they haveto lose a few before they get into the right one, but we prepare them for that.”

Equally sanguine about the current crunch is Pasadena agent John Matthes of CrosbyDoe Associates. Matthes specializes in architecturally distinguished homes along the Ar-royo Seco in west Pasadena. He says he and his clients are principally concerned with the“quality of architecture and the way a property sits on the land, meaning how it is sited.”

Matthes says he has noticed a recent trend among buyers toward downsizing. “Lessis more these days, and clients seem to be favoring smaller but very well-conceivedproperties. Often a smaller home with great siting and architecture commands a muchhigher price per square foot than a much larger but less distinguished home, Matthessays. “I sold a Buff, Straub & Hensman property on Poppy Peak for about $865,000about 18 months ago. It’s about 2,000 square feet, and was in disrepair. It’s been fullyrestored and is now on the market for $1.5 million. That’s about $750 per square foot.”

Of the affluent Linda Vista neighborhood where Matthes lives, he says, “There’snothing of real [architectural] quality available right now at entry-level price, which isabout $1.5 million. The last listing was $2.8 million.” Has the inventory crunch andcompetition affected him? “Not really,” he says. “Yes, inventory is low and propertiesare moving faster, often with multiple offers. But there are plenty of good homes andgood values out there.” ||||

Hot ’HoodsEagle Rock, Highland Park and Glassell Park make real estate website Redfin’s

list of the country’s 10 “hottest” neighborhoods for 2013. BY ELIZABETH MCMILLIAN

“We refer to this as the ‘spillover effect,’ when homebuyersget priced out of their first-choice neighborhood, or simply getfrustrated competing with dozens of other homebuyers for thesame homes,” says Scott Nagel, Redfin’s chief of real estate operations. “Last year, L.A.homebuyers saw a shrinking selection of homes to choose from, coinciding with risinghome prices,” he adds. “Because of these factors outside their control, many of ourclients expanded their home searches to neighborhoods in close proximity to, or withsimilar amenities to, the most desired areas.”

With the help of the site’s 600-plus agents, Redfin real estate analyst Tim Ellisblogged in January about predictions for the country’s 10 hottest markets in 2013, andthe Los Angeles area dominated the list (which also included a fourth L.A. community— Faircrest Heights).

“We compiled this list of ‘hot,’ ‘spillover’ or ‘up-and-coming’ neighborhoods to givehomebuyers who are new to the market some places to consider where they can still getinto homes with relatively low home prices and the potential for increasing values,”Nagel says. “Many of these areas are also home to new commercial centers with localbars, restaurants and coffee shops popping up nearby, making the neighborhoods evenmore convenient and livable.”

Donna Baker, an agent with Teles Properties, considered the Redfin ratings of thethree Arroyo neighborhoods and ran some tech reports to confirm the info. “From whatI’ve seen over the last two years, prices continue to inch higher as inventory dwindles anddemand continues to grow,” she says. “I believe that low interest rates have fueled thatfire, but distressed properties continue to affect pricing. The inflated prices during themortgage debacle probably will never occur again in our lifetime, in my opinion, becausehomes are long-term investments and were never intended to be used as a bankroll.”

Arroyoland satellites Highland Park, Eagle Rock and Glassell Park are inhabited bya variety of ethnic and socio-economic groups and have attracted creative folk, such aswriters, artists and filmmakers, who began moving into the general area in the 1920s.

Gentrification of those communities has accelerated over the past decade as young pro-fessionals relocated from pricier Los Feliz and Silver Lake, which are nearby.

“Highland Park, Eagle Rock and Glassell Park are three L.A. neighborhoods wherewe’ve noticed particularly marked growth during the past year, with augmenting salesand rising house prices,” says Redfin agent Earnest Watts, who specializes in the Glen-dale-Burbank area. “While these neighborhoods don’t boast beaches or ocean views likesome of the more prestigious L.A. neighborhoods, they are much more affordable andvery close to downtown — with only about a 10-to-15-minute commute by car. As a result, they have become increasingly popular among first-time homebuyers.”

All three have shrinking inventory, along with rising sales and prices. As of the endof 2012, trendy appeal, better amenities and growing interest have driven up homeprices in Eagle Rock, Highland Park and Glassell Park, more than in nearby areas. Thisis projected to continue and likely increase over the coming year. “Each neighborhoodhas its own unique ambiance and particular growth rate,” Watts says. “The key factor isthat these neighborhoods are central and reasonable. However, as a result of the low in-ventory and high demand we’ve been experiencing, homes in these neighborhoods aresometimes selling for as much as $30–40,000 more than their asking price.”

Highland ParkHighland Park is a historic neighborhood in a verdant, hilly area of Northeast LosAngeles, formerly Rancho San Rafael during the Spanish-Mexican era. It is locatedalong the Arroyo Seco with boundaries that are roughly the 110/Arroyo Seco Park-way, Oak Grove Drive, Avenue 51 and the Pasadena city limits. Highland Park wascreated after the Mexican-American War ended in 1848, when California joined the

03.13 | ARROYO | 15

YOU KNOW YOUR LOCAL REAL ESTATE

MARKET IS HEATING UP WHEN PRICES IN

ADJACENT NEIGHBORHOODS START

SOARING. AND ACCORDING TO

NATIONAL REAL ESTATE WEBSITE

REDFIN.COM, THREE OF THE COUNTRY’S

HOTTEST UP-AND-COMING MARKETS ARE

ARROYOLAND-ADJACENT — EAGLE ROCK,

HIGHLAND PARK AND GLASSELL PARK.

Some Highland Park homes offer valley views.


U.S. and Rancho San Rafael was subdivided. One of theNortheast’s oldest settled areas, it was a haven for artists andintellectuals who led the American Arts and Crafts movementmore than 100 years ago.

The completion of the Arroyo Seco Parkway in 1940 trig-gered changes in Highland Park that continued throughout the1950s, with the artsy enclave dispersing, replaced by predomi-nantly Latino residents. By the mid-1970s, the neighborhoodwas a haven for numerous racial and ethnic groups. In the fol-lowing decades gang violence marred the landscape, claimed bythe Avenues criminal street gang, as was adjacent Glassell Park.Since the millennium, local and federal law enforcement steppedup efforts to convict gang members of murder, drug and hatecrimes. Recent years have seen a dramatic decrease in violentcrime in both neighborhoods.

Highland Park began returning to its hipster roots in theearly 2000s, when a diverse population began to rent or buy its reasonably pricedCraftsman homes. (At presstime, Redfin reported the median value of all HighlandPark homes was $439,000 [or $380 per square foot], well under Los Angeles’ median of$600,000.) While numerous older Highland Park homes were razed in the 1950s and1960s, many escaped demolition and continue to attract new residents, also drawn toits convenient location and fast freeway access to downtown Los Angeles. “There’s An-geles Crest Park for hiking, which is just 10 to 15 minutes away, and quick easy accessto downtown and Pasadena on the Metrolink Gold Line,” says Watts. “York Boulevardis the main thoroughfare for this neighborhood and boasts an influx of hip restaurants,bars, boutiques and parks.

“Highland Park has been highlighted as a very active neighborhood for property in-vestors who buy and resell properties,” Watts continues, “It’s also a popular neighbor-hood for first-time homebuyers. Though housing prices in Highland Park still remainmore reasonable than they are in those neighborhoods, it’s likely that prices will con-tinue to rise; they’ve already seen a 30 percent increase in the past year. Because of therising demand for houses in Highland Park resulting in bidding wars, houses are sellingabove list price.”

Glassell ParkToday many young middle-class professionals have joined Glassell Park’s working-classLatinos, whites and Filipinos in its relatively low-priced Craftsman homes. (Redfin liststhe neighborhood’s median house price at $470,000 or $347 per square foot.) They’re

built on rolling hills interspersed with several park and recreation areas, such as theGlassell Park Recreation Center on Verdugo Road and the Rio de Los Angeles StatePark in nearby Cypress Park. A good number of elementary, charter and private schoolshave also attracted growing families.

Historically, Glassell Park, like Highland Park, was originally part of Rancho SanRafael, granted in 1784 to Spanish army corporal José María Verdugo. In the lawsuitknown as the Great Partition of 1871, attorney Andrew Glassell received part of RanchoSan Rafael. Glassell settled in the area with his family, after whom Toland, Drew, Andritaand Marguarite streets are named. However, the main development of Glassell Park didn’tbegin until 1907,when subdivisions between Verdugo and San Fernando roads began to besold off. By 1916, the City of Los Angeles had annexed all of Glassell Park.

The neighborhood is now bordered by Glendale, Atwater Village and the Los An-geles River, Cypress Park, Eagle Rock and Mount Washington. York Boulevard andDivision Street provide “trade routes,” as the neighborhood continues to be all aboutconnections and accessibility. Glassell Park was once served by a line of the Los AngelesRailway, which traveled to Eagle Rock along Eagle Rock Boulevard’s median duringthe first half of the 20th century. Now Verdugo Road connects the historical trade routethat once tied the Verdugo Rancho to the Pueblo of Los Angeles. And the area boasts adesignated bike lane on Eagle Rock Boulevard, south of York Boulevard. Located onlyfive miles north of downtown, Glassell Park also offers high-speed auto access to manyparts of Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley and San Gabriel Valley via the GlendaleFreeway, which runs through Glassell Park and connects to both the Golden State and

Ventura freeways. “Glassell Park has had a relatively slower

growth rate than both Eagle Rock and HighlandPark,” says Watts. “The commercial center isgrowing, but at a slower rate than our other fea-tured neighborhoods. That said, the location ofGlassell Park, with its proximity to downtownand Highland Park, is a huge selling point forthis up-and-coming neighborhood. I, myself,purchased a home here recently and have discov-ered a few great new businesses very close by (including a great bakery, Lemon Poppy, withdelicious snacks and homemade sodas). What isnotable about Glassell Park is that it seems to bea hotbed for investors. On my street alone, I’veseen two houses get bought up by investors andthree or four others nearby.”

16 | ARROYO | 03.13


Eagle Rock’s skyline includes the majestic San Gabriel Mountains.

HOT HOODS BY THE NUMBERSIt was a matter of simple statistics that focused the nation's lens on these red-hot communities. Redfin's

600-plus agents were asked to identify neighborhoods or cities in their markets as the most up-and-com-

ing. Then they narrowed down their choices to their three hottest neighborhoods and drew up lists,

based on year-over-year trends at the end of 2012, in four categories: (1) on-market listings, (2) sales vol-

ume, (3) median price per square foot and (4) sale-to-list ratio.

Below is Redfin's final list with trends for listings, sales volume and price expressed in percentages:

Rank Metro Area Neighborhood Listings Sales Price1 Los Angeles Highland Park* +48% +73% +31%2 San Diego Mira Mesa +69% +48% +21%3 Los Angeles Faircrest Heights +63% +17% +29%4 Los Angeles Eagle Rock* +54% +44% +11%5 Bay Area Livermore +71% +13% +20%6 Bay Area Willow Glen +60% +9% +32%7 Los Angeles Glassell Park* +64% +31% +17%8 Chicago Logan Square +10% +94% +20%9 Bay Area The Mission +29% +17% +80%10 Seattle N. Maple Leaf +44% +15% +22%

— Elizabeth McMillian

03.13 | ARROYO | 17

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Eagle RockOf these three neighborhoods, Eagle Rock was the first to undergo gentrification andcurrently has a median home price of $587,250 or $388 per square foot, according toRedfin. Now there’s a wide array of great shops, restaurants and bars along Coloradoand Eagle Rock boulevards. The neighborhood also has quick, easy access to down-town L.A., the San Fernando Valley and Pasadena. Eagle Rock is especially popularamong families drawn to its schools, notes Redfin agent Watts. The neighborhood in-cludes four public elementary schools, two public high schools and President Obama’salma mater, Occidental College. (Occidental’s beautiful 1914 campus was designed byprominent Pasadena architect Myron Hunt.)

Between Glendale to the west and Pasadena to the east, and bordering the foothillsto the north, Eagle Rock was originally home to the aboriginal Tongva people. Whenthe Spanish settled the area in the late-18th century — like Highland Park and Glas-sell Park — it was part of Rancho San Rafael. Following the Great Partition of 1871,Benjamin Dreyfus was awarded the parcel. Above the oak-filled valley in the SanRafael Hills sits a massive boulder (now on the northern edge of the 134 freeway). Atcertain times of day, an indentation casts the bird-shaped shadow on the rock that gavethe neighborhood its name.

L.A.’s growth late in the 19th century led to Eagle Rock’s evolution from a farm-land community to a semi-rural community. Soon the Los Angeles Railway trolleytransformed Eagle Rock into a full-fledged suburb. The neighborhood was incorpo-rated as an independent city in 1911 but annexed by the City of Los Angeles in 1923.

By the 1950s, new streets extended into the hillsides, allowing for development oflarge homes with city views. Today these streets continue to support grand, expensivehouses built on wide lots. Eagle Rock is known for many historic and architect-designed custom homes, which range in style from Mission Revival, Craftsman andGeorgian to Streamline Moderne and Art Deco.As of 2008, the neighborhood supports a median household income of $67,253, aboveaverage for the City of Los Angeles but average for the county. Relatively affluentEagle Rock is among L.A. County’s most racially diverse. “There seems to be a goodmix of investors and homeowners selling their properties in Eagle Rock, but inventoryhere is especially low,” Watts says. “Eagle Rock also has a wide range of homes, withprices ranging from a few hundred thousand dollars to $1 million–plus. While thisneighborhood is definitely hip and still growing, its recent growth hasn’t been as explo-sive as Highland Park. In the last year, home sales have increased by 44 percent as op-posed to a 73 percent increase in Highland Park.” ||||

A large home in Eagle Rock

arroyoOPEN HOUSE

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENTHOME & DESIGN

18 | ARROYO | 03.13

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SELECT READERS WELCOME USINTO THEIR PRIVATE PARADISEBY JOANNA DEHN BERESFORD


03.13 | ARROYO | 19

03.13 | ARROYO | 21

“DO YOU LOVE YOUR HOME? IF YOU DO, WE WOULD LOVE TO KNOW WHY!” THIS

IS THE ESSENCE OF AN INVITATION WE RECENTLY EXTENDED TO OUR READERS

IN ANTICIPATION OF OUR MARCH, HOMES AND LAND ISSUE OF ARROYO.

WHETHER YOU LOVE YOUR HOMES BECAUSE OF RECENT REMODELS, FAVORITE

ROOMS, BEAUTIFUL BACKYARD GARDENS – OR FOR ALL OF THESE OR ANY

OTHER REASONS, WE WANTED TO READ ALL ABOUT IT. IT CAME AS NO SURPRISE

TO LEARN THAT MANY SAN GABRIEL VALLEY RESIDENTS DO IN FACT CHERISH

THE INTIMATE, CREATIVE, UNIQUE SPACES THAT SHELTER THEM DAILY. WE’RE

THRILLED TO INCLUDE THE WORDS AND PHOTOS THAT TWO OF OUR “NEIGH-

BORS” SUBMITTED TO US; IT’S AN HONOR TO BE WELCOMED INTO THEIR DE-

LIGHTFUL HOMES.



—ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT—PH

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STARTING OVER…

Anthony Guthmiller describes his Pasadena home in lavish and loving detail. For him, the cre-

ation of this residence, both the interior and exterior, gave him an opportunity to start over in

life, thus providing him with a vibrant metaphor for reinvention. The photos he includes with

his narration capture the magical, almost sacred quality of the residence. From the verdant

front yard, porch and entry, through simple rooms full of color and light, to the backyard

gazebo enhanced by lanterns and roses, every object seems to sing with meaning. Here’s

what Anthony writes:


—ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT—PH

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I moved into my home in Pasadena almost four years ago. I had gone through a nasty

breakup and decided to get out of 'Dodge', so to speak, and picked Pasadena and the little

house I am in. It wasn't very well kept up and that's putting it mildly. The previous tenant had lived

here four years with two large dogs and the house showed. Nothing in the yard was living; every-

thing was dead, dead, dead! I knew what it could be though and I poured my soul into it, both

as a healing from my previous relationship and I LOVE design.

I only had two pieces of furniture to move, so it was all a blank canvas so to speak. The old

carpet came out, hardwood floors went in. I painted the entire inside, hung shutters on the outside,

installed a weather vane on the roof, trimmed bushes, relocated mail boxes, planted trees and

over the next three years rescued 65 rose bushes, a fountain, installing a brick path, gazebo with

wisteria and bordered the entire property with a privacy hedge.

I became a regular at the PCC Flea Market, The Huntington Collection and Hughes Estate

Sales, filling my little home with treasures and making it the retreat that it is today. My neighbors

think I'm the new owner, because what crazy renter would put so much work into a house that

wasn't theirs? ME. It's my home and I live here. Walking into my home is like walking into my soul.



—ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT—

03.13 | ARROYO | 27

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03.13 | ARROYO | 29

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I do admit that I have to stop buying Buddha’s (30 so far) and I still have a list a mile long of

continuing projects that I want to do. But the chandelier I made over the baby grand piano I love.

The 300 Swarovski crystals that I glued to the walls of the piano room make it magical. Painting

the 1970's kitchen cabinets white changed the entire kitchen. Relocating the ugly light and in-

stalling another treasure over the table, another fun experience. Almost everything in this house

I've gotten for $100 or less. My friends joke that it's “the $100 house”. Stone fountains, mirrors,

Japanese side tables, oriental salon chairs, kitchen table, a corner hutch, paintings at flea markets

. . . . .

My home is my heaven. I LOVE my home and I love my neighborhood.

MOVING ON…

Like Anthony Guthmiller, Beryl and Dan Meiron were encountering changes in their life when

they decided to remodel their family home in Arcadia. Although their particular situation dif-

fered from Anthony’s, their goal was similar: to reinvent the residence so that it more beauti-

fully and adequately reflects the way they live now. After careful saving and planning, the

Meirons transformed the spaces in their home with clean surfaces, an abundance of natural




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light, and generous use of a black, white and neutral palette with dramatic splashes of color.

Their words and photos depict the comfort and elegance of these renovations.

As the number of years of raising and putting the kids through school added up, the tired,

out-dated condition of our 1950 ranch-style home in Arcadia spiraled down and down. The

house had never been remodeled over the decades, and after the kids achieved their academic

goals and moved out, we had the house to ourselves. We saved funds for a number of years

aimed specifically to renew, restore and reinvent the classic modern house in a lovely neighbor-

hood.

When we had our savings in order, we were able to create an inviting home that is warm

and beautiful for the two of us--as well as large groups for friends and family.

Every time we walk through the doors, one of us is likely to say, "I love our home." We hope

you do, too.

Both Anthony Guthmiller’s and Beryl and Dan Meiron’s homes glow with the passion, vision

and effort that the homeowners invested in making these residences their own. Even without

their testimony, anyone who steps across the thresholds of their houses – virtually or in brick,

mortar and flesh – knows that these are beloved spaces where the residents and their fami-

lies and friends can share treasured moments. Which is, after all, one of the fundamental

functions of such a refuge. Their stories bear witness to the idea that creating a home, like

creating a life, is a process; it’s never done, it just keeps getting better. AH&D


03.13 | ARROYO | 31

arroyoHOME SALES ABOVE $750,000RECENT HOME CLOSINGS IN THE ARROYO FOOTPRINT SOURCE: CalREsource

ADDRESS CLOSE DATE PRICE BDRMS. SQ. FT. YR. BUILT PREV. PRICE PREV. SOLD

ALTADENA

3605 Canon Boulevard 01/08/13 $850,000 5 $216,000 10/04/1996

2331 Glen Canyon Road 01/11/13 $885,000 4 2174 1931 $546,000 06/25/2001

756 La Vina Lane 01/24/13 $815,000 4 2844 1997 $1,053,000 08/18/2006

1052 New York Drive 01/24/13 $860,000 9 5841 1925

462 East Las Flores Drive 01/30/13 $799,000 4 2220 1935 $460,000 12/21/2001

ARCADIA

1703 South 10th Avenue 01/04/13 $780,000 2 1804 1928

628 East Longden Avenue 01/08/13 $1,880,000 3 1355 1947 $630,000 09/15/2011

2000 South 2nd Avenue 01/09/13 $2,580,000 4 6397 1989 $1,080,000 09/05/2003

809 East Camino Real Avenue 01/10/13 $1,050,000 4 2395 1922 $845,000 03/08/2006

601 Hampton Road 01/16/13 $4,900,000 6 9958 2010 $1,250,000 12/23/2005

1017 South 2nd Avenue 01/18/13 $1,625,000 7 5359 2005 $712,000 04/30/2004

2107 South 5th Avenue 01/23/13 $850,000 4 1944 1951 $518,000 12/24/2002

1807 South 10th Avenue 01/31/13 $810,000 3 1316 1948

146 East Pamela Road 01/31/13 $1,080,000 3 2023 1957

GLENDALE

1301 Corona Drive 01/09/13 $775,000 3 2469 2006 $879,000 02/15/2008

221 Spencer Street 01/10/13 $1,400,000 5 2914 1930 $1,100,000 12/14/2010

1415 Del Monte Drive 01/11/13 $750,000 3 2164 1935

746 Cavanagh Road 01/11/13 $1,335,000 4 3693 1928 $895,000 02/28/2011

1960 Deermont Road 01/23/13 $1,495,000 4 3327 1967 $1,625,000 03/27/2007

2416 Sylvan Lane 01/25/13 $770,000 5 3026 1936 $1,165,000 04/04/2006

3220 Beaudry Terrace 01/25/13 $805,000 4 2927 1975 $708,000 04/01/2003

2241 Hollister Terrace 01/30/13 $820,000 3 2322 2005

740 West Kenneth Road 01/30/13 $915,000 3 2506 1948 $538,000 07/16/1998

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE

1101 Olive Lane 01/11/13 $2,060,000 5 3815 1935 $2,647,000 10/06/2006

328 Mellow Lane 01/04/13 $1,098,000 3 1722 1956

1331 Journeys End Drive 01/08/13 $2,001,000 6 6901 2001 $2,000,020 04/16/2002

4190 Hampstead Road 01/09/13 $1,100,000 3 2253 1957 $1,181,000 07/31/2008

5306 Palm Drive 01/09/13 $1,191,000 3 2074 1948 $1,005,000 11/02/2005

1112 Uintah Street 01/11/13 $1,200,000 3 1344 1951 $740,000 05/08/2012

5302 Ivafern Lane 01/14/13 $1,300,000 4 2940 1963 $106,000 04/01/1975

1005 El Vago Street 01/15/13 $1,135,000 4 2169 1967 $93,000 04/12/1979

4810 Hill Street 01/30/13 $1,150,000 2 1793 1950 $810,000 09/13/2010

PASADENA

840 East Green Street #301 01/08/13 $840,000 2 2141 2006 $999,000 10/03/2006

366 Allendale Road 01/08/13 $1,000,000 4 2141 1928 $510,000 08/16/2011

155 Cordova Street #501 01/08/13 $2,450,000 3 3840 2010

429 South Santa Anita Avenue 01/09/13 $835,000 3 1724 1927 $659,000 10/28/2003

ALTADENA DEC ‘12 JAN ‘13HOMES SOLD 37 34MEDIAN PRICE $485,000 $462,500MEDIAN SQ. FT. 1602 1340ARCADIA DEC ‘12 JAN ‘13HOMES SOLD 31 20MEDIAN PRICE $888,000 $674,000MEDIAN SQ. FT. 1933 1669EAGLE ROCK DEC ‘12 JAN ‘13HOMES SOLD 14 10MEDIAN PRICE $520,000 $466,000MEDIAN SQ. FT. 1394 1356GLENDALE DEC ‘12 JAN ‘13HOMES SOLD 115 72MEDIAN PRICE $500,000 $474,500MEDIAN SQ. FT. 1467 1448LA CANADA DEC ‘12 JAN ‘13HOMES SOLD 21 10MEDIAN PRICE $1,150,000 $1,170,500MEDIAN SQ. FT. 1910 2211PASADENA DEC ‘12 JAN ‘13HOMES SOLD 149 104MEDIAN PRICE $530,000 $482,000MEDIAN SQ. FT. 1301 1323SAN MARINO DEC ‘12 JAN ‘13HOMES SOLD 12 9MEDIAN PRICE $1,700,000 $2,620,000MEDIAN SQ. FT. 2352 2852SIERRA MADRE DEC ‘12 JAN ‘13HOMES SOLD 15 6MEDIAN PRICE $585,000 $542,500MEDIAN SQ. FT. 1659 1377SOUTH PASADENA DEC ‘12 JAN ‘13HOMES SOLD 16 16MEDIAN PRICE $726,750 $726,750MEDIAN SQ. FT. 1486 1372TOTAL DEC ‘12 JAN ‘13HOMES SOLD 410 278AVG PRICE/SQ. FT. $445 $405

~HOME SALES INDEX~HOME SALES

AVG. PRICE/SQ. FT.

+32.2%

+8.9%

dec

2012

jan

2013

410

HO

MES

SO

LD

278

HO

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SPONSORED BY

continued on page 32

™

The Arroyo Home Sales Index is calculated from residential home sales in Pasadena and the surrounding communities of South Pasadena, San Marino, La Canada Flintridge, Eagle Rock, Glendale (including Montrose), Altadena, Sierra Madre and Arcadia. Individual home sales data provided by CalREsource. Arroyo Home Sales Index © Arroyo 2013.

32 | ARROYO | 03.13

ADDRESS CLOSE DATE PRICE BDRMS. SQ. FT. YR. BUILT PREV. PRICE PREV. SOLD

PASADENA

2033 Rosemont Avenue #1 01/11/13 $817,000 3 1989 1982 $725,000 09/15/2004

374 South Grand Oaks Avenue 01/14/13 $760,000 3 1536 1926 $590,000 07/14/2003

1845 Kinneloa Canyon Road 01/15/13 $852,500 7

3307 Fairpoint Street 01/16/13 $800,000 4 4351 1950 $695,000 09/06/2001

1533 East Mountain Street 01/18/13 $960,000 3 2391 1916

448 South Oakland Avenue #11 01/18/13 $1,030,000 4 2480 2004 $1,500,000 09/08/2005

250 South De Lacey Ave #406A 01/22/13 $900,000 3 1580 2007 $886,000 12/24/2009

1340 Carnarvon Drive 01/22/13 $1,380,000 4 3252 1964 $1,717,500 08/31/2006

25 Los Altos Drive 01/22/13 $2,375,000 7 7579 1930 $1,750,000 07/16/2009

1020 South Oak Forest Lane 01/28/13 $840,000 6 $325,000 04/01/1994

112 South Roosevelt Avenue 01/28/13 $1,450,000 10 4475 2004 $1,400,000 02/09/2005

SAN MARINO

2415 Lorain Road 01/16/13 $1,338,000 3 2277 1937 $1,115,000 07/10/2009

1900 South Euclid Avenue 01/18/13 $1,004,500 3 1474 1925 $364,540 02/24/1993

935 Huntington Drive 01/18/13 $2,620,000 6 3954 1959 $917,500 07/11/2003

1354 Bedford Road 01/18/13 $2,638,000 4 3427 1948

1409 Pasqualito Drive 01/22/13 $5,230,000 3 6368 1933 $2,000,000 03/28/2002

1705 Oak Grove Avenue 01/23/13 $3,150,000 4 4337 1926 $3,525,000 09/20/2007

1015 Avondale Road 01/25/13 $2,800,000 7 $2,380,000 03/31/2009

1915 Sycamore Drive 01/29/13 $1,150,000 3 2255 1940 $950,000 10/17/2005

572 La Paz Drive 01/29/13 $1,308,000 3 1741 1927 $929,000 09/17/2012

SIERRA MADRE

1965 Vista Avenue 01/31/13 $831,000 3 1850 1953 $140,000 08/19/1980

SOUTH PASADENA

2070 Milan Avenue 01/14/13 $790,000 2 1987 1914 $853,000 09/15/2005

1327 Mountain View Avenue 01/16/13 $1,175,500 1982 $395,000 03/15/1999

1253 Huntington Drive #A 01/23/13 $790,000

1716 Camino Lindo 01/23/13 $1,420,000 4 2734 1967

HOME SALES ABOVE $750,000RECENT HOME CLOSINGS IN THE ARROYO FOOTPRINT SOURCE: CalREsource

continued from page 31

GREEN’S GARDENGarden writer Emily Green experiments with sustainability at her Altadena home.

BY ILSA SETZIOL

03.13 | ARROYO | 33

HAD THE HOME ON FAIR OAKS AVENUE ALREADY BEEN

ACQUAINTED WITH ITS NEW OWNER, SURELY IT WOULD

HAVE BEEN SUSPICIOUS OF EMILY GREEN. FOR DECADES,

THE HANDSOME EARLY-MIDCENTURY HOUSE IN ALTADENA

LOOKED CONTENT WITH ITS LOT OF MATURE CITRUS,

STATELY DEODAR CEDAR AND RECUMBENT LAWN. THEN

CAME GREEN. THE ENVIRONMENTAL WRITER, KNOWN FOR

HER LOS ANGELES TIMES DRY GARDEN COLUMN AND

CHANCE OF RAIN BLOG, PURCHASED THE PROPERTY IN

LATE 2010 AS A SPOT TO WORK, PLAY AND EXPERIMENT.

“MY GARDEN IS THE PLACE I MAKE THE MOST MISTAKES

AND CONSEQUENTLY WHERE I LEARN THE MOST,” SHE SAYS.

GREEN’S HOME WOULD BE A LABORATORY OF SUSTAIN-

ABILITY; IT WOULD EARN ITS KEEP. –continued on page 34

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“It’s not a show garden,” she says, giving me a tour one chilly morning not long ago.“It’s a working garden.” And yet it’s a beauty, all the more so for its unusual virtues.

First, Green killed the water-greedy backyard lawn — without herbicides or re-morse. After buzzing it to the quick with a lawn edger, she smothered it with thick lay-ers of mulch (which worked because it wasn’t as tenacious as commonly cultivatedBermudagrass). Then she tucked in young native plants such as sages, ceonothus andmanzanita, as well as fruit trees (Santa Rosa plums, Red Baron peach, Anna apple).Next, in a stroke of yellow brilliance, she scattered some 200,000 native sunflower seeds(Helianthus annuus). The fast-growing annuals suppressed remnant grass and weeds,perhaps by outcompeting with them for sunlight. They’re also thought to be alleo-pathic, deploying chemicals that inhibit the growth of nearby plants. The native sun-flowers — a shrubby kind with multiple flowers — also sheltered the young, slower-growing perennials from harsh sun and attracted a flurry of birds and other pollinators.“When the sun hits the sunflowers,” she wrote in her Dry Garden column, “the gardensmells like a pan of freshly baked cookies.”

Like many Southern California garden aficionados, Green is an advocate of nativeplants, but a clear-eyed one aware of the realities: acknowledging, for instance, that evendrought-tolerant landscapes need upkeep. “You can see a lot of really bad-looking native gardens around L.A. that are giving the whole movement a bad name because ofthis no-maintenance myth,” she says, adding that the benefits are primarily environ-mental. “You do it because it’s got tremendous benefit for the birds, for lizards,” shesays, “and you don’t have the pollution of lawn-grooming equipment.”

The sunflowers are gone now, but remnants are still at work in the garden. “You can

see there are sunflower carcasses here,” she says pointing to a barrier made of driedplants. “I’ve got wildflowers coming up — lupines, clarkia — and I don’t want themtrampled by dogs.” Green devoted days to sorting and bundling the wattle so it could beneatly stored instead of trucked away. She has also used the twigs for erosion control,poking them into the ground to create spiky borders downslope of young trees. Near thesalad bed, there’s a bean trellis fashioned from tree limbs.

This kind of thoughtful tinkering has earned Green fans among conscientious gar-deners, such as Altadena artist and garden designer Leigh Adams. “I admire the wayEmily is taking responsibility for the waste and the water,” she says. “I think the key isthat she is experimenting. And if we give ourselves that permission, we can try newthings and share information with other people.”

Strolling among 100-year-old fruit trees (lemon, Valencia orange, Fuerte avocado,pummelo), Green notices a broken limb. “Poor baby,” she coos, inspecting a tree she hastaken pains to revive.

From the get-go, she was besotted with the grove of stout citrus, polka-dotted inbright orange, yellow and pale green. “It never occurred to me that this yard was going toproduce about 6,000 pounds of fruit a year,” she says. When Green moved in, the or-chard was sagging under the weight of unpicked fruit. In late December, she drove a carfull of fruit to a homeless shelter on Colorado Boulevard. “I saw lines and lines of peoplewith sleeping bags” and assumed they’d appreciate an orange, she recalls. “I thought,‘Who knew there was all this homelessness in Pasadena!’” The hordes turned out to bepeople camping out for the Rose Parade.

An attempt to sell the fruit at the Altadena farmers market last summer was a bust— too much work for too little money. Plus, the endeavor had a “coals-to-Newcastle”aspect, Green says. “Every other person up here has the same complement of trees,” shesays with a laugh. “I’m going back to food banks.”

The granddaughter of a UC Riverside citrus farm consultant, Green was born inCovina in the San Gabriel Valley. After college, she worked as a reporter in the U.K.,covering agriculture and food, among other things. And she gardened — which theEnglish cherish as a pastime, not a chore to be farmed out. So on returning to Califor-nia in 1998, she didn’t see the point of hiring a mow-and-blow crew. “I’m alwaysamazed that people don’t do their own gardening [here],” she says, “but they do go offand work out on a treadmill in a gym.”

At the West Adams home where she lived for a dozen years, Green gradually adaptedthe garden to suit the dry climate. She wrote for the Times, taking on the garden beat in2002. She grew increasingly aware of how Southern California’s profligate use of importedwater imperiled fish and wildlife and exacerbated climate change (moving and treatingwater uses a lot of energy). “So I feel morally obligated to meet the highest possible standard

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Emily Green with the rain chains andmetal sculpture thatsend surplus water tothe right spots.

White sage around which wildflowers grow

Fruit trees get regularwater, while the nativeSalvia clevelandii offers arugged fill that keeps beeshappy but does not needmuch summer water.

03.13 | ARROYO | 35

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of beneficial use,” she continues. “It’s the gardening equivalent of remembering when youeat meat, say, that something died for your dinner.”

“She is in many ways our environmental conscience,” says landscape architect RhettBeavers, who discusses Green’s gardening and writing in his UCLA class on the historyof designed landscapes.

The West Adams Craftsman was too large for one person, though. Casting about fora smaller house on a generous lot, she settled on Altadena. The mountains were enticing,as were the good drainage (ideal for most native plants) and active garden community. YetGreen sees a dark side to gardening in the foothills. “We really are some of the biggestwater users,” she notes. “We’ve got fast-draining soil, we’ve got big lots. And this is reallywhere the community needs to work hardest.”

Which brings us to one of Green’s most ambitious experiments. Like many L.A. homes,the Altadena house was designed to channel storm water out to the street. We now know thecost of that: wasted water and polluted beaches. Green wanted to direct the water where itwas needed — to the garden. But the hand-built red-cedar home lacked gutters, and the pre-fabricated kind would clutter the home’s elegant floating eaves. So, inspired by a Buff &Hensman home in the San Rafael Hills, Green commissioned welder Ruben Ruiz to fabri-cate sleek steel gutters that were taller and narrower and would perfectly cap the eaves. “Thehouse looks like a ship that’s floating,” she says, explaining that the gutters funnel water torain chains — descending links of metal. “It’s almost like moorings, these chains.”

To direct flow away from the foundation, Green asked Ruiz to create flower-shapedsculptures that catch water at the bottom of the chains. Water gushes into their cuppedcenters, then spills out metal leaves. In the front yard, it flows into shallow ditchesleading to flowerbeds (with native irises, penstemons, monkey flower and humming-bird sage). The driveway asphalt has been replaced with decomposed granite that’smore permeable. Rain hitting the north side of the roof is piped about 40 feet along afence to reach backyard fruit trees. Adams, who consulted on the project, describes thegutter system as “a joyful expression of water harvesting…Instead of being perfunctoryand mechanical, it augments the natural beauty of that house.”

Other water projects are in the works on Green’s property, including ponds that willstore rainwater. Wine barrels are likely to replace the series of green trash bins currentlyholding runoff from the garage. In years of average rainfall, Green hopes to keep everydrop onsite. But the property is sloped and there are neighbors to consider, so in a wet-year deluge, some will inevitably shunt to the street.

Conspicuously absent is an irrigation system. Green insists on hauling around hoses(for occasional deep watering), cursing when they kink. She insists that garden workoffers “the richest possible environment” for people to learn about nature and considerthe implications of their own actions. “Would we have modern genetics if Mendel’speas had been on an automated drip system?” she muses. “Do we have more to learn bywatching plants? I think we do.”

This spring will find Green lying amongst her wildflowers, weeding them withtweezers. If it rains, she’ll be outside, studying how water works its way around heryard. “A garden is never finished,” she says. What luck for those who’d like to learnfrom Green’s experiments.

Green’s garden and environmental writing can be found on her website, chanceofrain.com.

||||

The concrete around thegarage was removedand decomposed granite paths created.

36 | ARROYO | 03.13

03.13 | ARROYO | 37


Barnhart SchoolBarnhart School offers a private elementary and middle school education forchildren in kindergarten through 8th grade from the Arcadia, Pasadena, SierraMadre and other San Gabriel Valley communities. Distinguished programs ofBarnhart School are the Writers’ Workshop, the 7th grade Biotech project spon-sored by Amgen, Spanish at all grade levels with a conversation club in 8thgrade, early literacy emphasis, the Virtues character development program,and continued integration of technology, arts, and physical education. 240 W. Colorado Blvd., Arcadia. barnhartschool.org (626)446-5588

Drucker School of ManagementThe Drucker School of Management in Claremont offers a world-class graduatemanagement education through our MBA, Executive MBA, Financial Engineering,and Arts Management degree programs. Our programs infuse Peter Drucker’sprinciple of management as a liberal art along with our core strengths in strat-egy and leadership. We offer individualized, flexible course scheduling, an inno-vative curriculum focusing on values-based management, and the opportunityto learn from world-renowned faculty. To learn more, visit us atwww.drucker.cgu.edu.

Kids Space In Super-Hero Bugs Camp, kids explore the science of bugs, and use that informa-tion to create a comic book-style story about insects! Kids will learn about insectadaptations, survival, and why they are important to the environment. They will visitour in-house critters, and invent a personalized insect character of their ownthrough art, games, and the creation of bug-themed costumes! For ages 6-10, fulland half-day registration available. Register online at: www.kidspacemuseum.org.

MathnasiumMathnasium is a highly specialized learning center where kids go year-round to im-prove their math skills. Students attend as often as they like - for as long as they like.The goal is to enhance your child’s math skills, understanding of math conceptsand overall school performance. At the same time, Mathnasium builds your child’sconfidence and forges a positive attitude toward the subject, yielding overwhelmingresults. Independent studies by EyeCues Education Systems found that Mathnasiumstudents’ performance increased more than two letter grades in as little as three tosix months. Visit mathnasium.com to find out more, or call (626)532-7587. ■

& ENRICHMENT AND SUMMER CAMPSEducation Aa CcBb

38 | ARROYO | 03.13

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KITCHENCONFESSIONS

LAST MONTH, DEVOTEES OF COOKING HELD THEIR COLLECTIVE

BREATH FOR FIVE HOURS, MANY WATCHING LIVE ON THE INTERNET

(AT 3 IN THE MORNING ON THE EAST COAST), DURING WHAT ESSEN-

TIALLY AMOUNTS TO THE OLYMPICS OF FOOD. IT WAS THE BIENNIAL

BOCUSE D’OR, NAMED FOR THE FAMED FRENCH CHEF, WHOSE

EPONYMOUS RESTAURANT IN LYON HAS CARRIED THREE MICHELIN

STARS SINCE 1965. YOU MAY NEVER HAVE HEARD OF PAUL BOCUSE

(SINCE HE HASN’T APPEARED ON OPRAH), BUT HE IS TO CLASSI-

CALLY TRAINED CHEFS WHAT CAPTAIN KIRK IS TO TREKKIES.

There are many other high-level international culinary competitions, including some

actually named “Culinary Olympics.” But no competition ranks higher in the hearts and

minds of the white-toqued set than the Bocuse d’Or. Bocuse conceived the competition

in 1983 as an event to draw professionals to Lyon’s hotel and restaurant trade fair. And it

worked. Although there were already cooking competitions, the Bocuse d’Or was the

first to welcome a live audience, and it has become quite a substantial crowd. When

you see video footage, you understand why the contestants train by cooking to record-

ings of raucous soccer stadiums. Air horns, cowbells, vuvuzelas, flags, banners and crazy

headwear are standard. The Mexican team brings a Mariachi band.

Judges include a revolving list of international Michelin-starred chefs, with a dais

that has hosted England’s Heston Blumenthal of The Fat Duck fame, Ferran Adrià from El

Bulli in Spain and Wolfang Puck, who makes pizzas. This year, California’s own Thomas

Keller — of the three-star restaurants Per Se and The French Laundry — was a judge. He

also served as president of the U.S. team, heading up training and recruitment. (Appar-

ently the motto of the American team was “conflict, schmonflict.”) Contestants are cho-

sen in regional competitions and are all veteran food competitors. But don’t look for

your favorite Iron Chef in their midst. It is a completely different level of cooking and, I

hate to admit, not at all the type you see on the Food Network. Ingredients are known

in advance, and dishes are planned and practiced for months before the event. This

year, the U.S. team captain, Richard Rosendale, constructed and practiced in an exact

replica of the competition kitchen in the basement of The Greenbrier resort in West Vir-

ginia, where he serves as executive chef. Though it is just a game, the stakes are high.

The American team spent half a million donated dollars to prepare, a mere fraction of

what the top international teams spend. This is a deadly serious business.

The competition’s creations are considered by some to be of the nouvelle cuisine

style, although that is not technically accurate. Silly portions and unrecognizable in-

gredients, manipulated by hand and instrument to look more like modern art than

modern food, are the norm. The judges are looking at taste and presentation, but also

for an understanding and mastery of classic techniques. Innovation within reason is

applauded, and while molecular gastronomy does appear occasionally, it is not as

prevalent at the Bocuse d’Or as it is in general fine dining. Such trends are considered

a passing craze in France, and Monsieur Bocuse is the face of classic French gastron-

omy. Of course, to say that Paul Bocuse is the face of French cuisine is like saying Joe

Namath is the face of American football. The man is hardly innovative and is barely

known by the young up-and-comers. Still, he is universally beloved.

Here’s why.

His restaurant l’Auberge du Pont de Collonges (also called, simply, Paul Bocuse) is in the

vast home he grew up in, the same venue run by the Bocuse family of chefs since the 1700s.

After serving in World War II, Bocuse apprenticed with Ferdinand Point (a chef known to culi-

nary students, nerds and historians, though hardly anyone else) at the famed La Pyramide

in Vienne, France . For you lay foodies, Point trained all the great French chefs of the 20th

century, including the Troisgros Brothers, Alain Chapel, Georges Perrier (Le Bec Fin in Philadel-

phia) and Jean-George Vongerichten (Jean Georges in New York City). Point himself trained

at Foyot, the post-revolution landmark that inspired the restaurant in Disney’s Ratatouille.

(Foyot, by the way, is named for the chef who ate so much he was buried in a piano box.)

Point was the first to move away from classic Escoffier (another oldie-but-goodie)–style

dishes with heavy, ingredient-concealing sauces that were the style of the day. Point appre-

ciated fresh, local ingredients and used them to create his menu, which was handwritten

daily (unheard of in the 1940s). Bocuse developed his own style there, rooted in the classics,

but lighter and more dependent on the quality of the raw ingredients.

Bocuse is often credited as one of the creators of nouvelle cuisine — the fussy, mini-

malist food that we made so much fun of in the 1980s. The nouvelles may have taken

a cue from the French master, but it in no way describes the fare served by Bocuse in

Lyon. There, the menu has barely changed in 50 years. (Nor has the décor… or the

waiters.) All are wonderful throwbacks to the classic dining of mid-century France —

though not everyone shares my admiration, as evidenced by online reviewers. (Unfor-

tunately, Yelp has indeed infiltrated the upper echelon.)

Those who don’t enjoy such dining clearly haven’t done their homework. Those of us

in the know appreciate the Restaurant Paul Bocuse for what it is: a living culinary museum.

Still served on a daily basis are dishes like Black Truffle Soup V.G.E. — a double beef con-

sommé scented with truffles and encased in puff pastry. Simple and elegant, it was cre-

ated in 1975 for French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing as a thank-you for Bocuse’s

appointment as a Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur. (Sure beats that chowder your

mom slopped in honor of your report card.) His signature dish, Volaille de Bresse truffée

en vessie, is the region’s superior hen stuffed with truffle (yeah, they use a lot of truffles)

and cooked, slow and moist, in a pig’s bladder; it’s carved tableside and served twice —

white meat with a buttery morel sauce and dark meat with a simple mixed green salad.

Paul Bocuse, the first celebrity chef, is still at it with an internationalculinary competition chefs’ dreams are made of.

BY LESLIE BILDERBACK

Beaucoup de Bocuse

03.13 | ARROYO | 39

METHOD1. Whip the egg whites until frothy. Mix with raw ground beef,

chopped onion, carrots, celery and tomatoes, and place in astockpot. Add cold beef stock and mix well. (It won’t look goodat all at this point.)

2. Bring the mixture to a simmer (not a boil). Add the onionbrûlée. Combine the bay, thyme, pepper, parsley and clove in acheesecloth bundle and add to the pot. Simmer, stirring occa-sionally. As it cooks, the beef and vegetable mixture will hardenand float to the top. Don’t break it up or stir it once it forms a“raft” — this mixture is clarifying the broth, removing its cloudiness. Break a hole in the raft and allow the broth andsteam to simmer through. Simmer this way for 90 minutes.

3. Using a ladle, scoop out the broth and strain it through acheesecloth. Add salt to taste.

4. Preheat oven to 400˚. Place into 4 ovenproof individual soupterrines two pieces of truffle, or ¼ cup of sautéed mushrooms.Cover with consommé. Prick holes decoratively in the sheets ofpuff pastry, and place one on top of each terrine, like a lid.Brush lightly with beaten egg, place on a sturdy baking sheetand bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the pastry is well brownedand puffed.

5. To serve, carefully transfer each terrine to a napkin-lined saucer.

INGREDIENTS5 egg whites1 pound lean ground beef1 yellow onion, chopped2 carrots, chopped2 stalks celery, chopped2 Roma tomatoes, chopped2½ quarts finest beef stock½ yellow onion brûlée (a French term

meaning browned; do so on the cut side)1 bay leaf½ teaspoon dried thyme¼ teaspoon fresh cracked pepper¼ cup chopped parsley stems1 whole clove (the spice, not garlic)Salt to taste8 thin shavings of truffles, or 1 cup of

sautéed mixed mushrooms4 sheets of puff pastry, 5-inches square1 egg, beaten

Beef Consommé with Truffles en CrouteThis classic dish is a riff on Black Truffle Soup V.G.E. Truffles are available, but, in myopinion, not always worth the money. I prefer using fresh assorted wild mushroomsinstead. It’s hearty, savory and still superspecial.

Everything is served on signature dishes, with the name and image of the Great One

emblazoned on linen, glassware, china, corkscrews, even, I have heard tell, the toilet

paper. (What sort of ego did you expect?) The dining rooms are floor-to-ceiling Versaille-

sesque opulence, a gaudy parody of what you’d expect an old-timey French restaurant

to look like. But to me, that’s the point. Gilt mirrors, Limoges scones, velvet and silk, silver

and gold. It is the legacy of France’s culinary contribution, and if you can’t see how

modern cuisine is derived from this, then you’re just not looking hard enough.

Beyond the food itself, Bocuse is arguably the first real celebrity chef. He was the first

to take advantage of name recognition and market his eponymous items around the

world. He has a culinary school, runs a string of restaurants and brasseries in France

and Japan and recently ventured across the Atlantic to open another one in Or-

lando’s Epcot Center. (Yep... you can find a guy in a Ratatouille costume there.) And

there is, of course, the Bocuse d’Or. Did I mention he’s in his late 80s?

Bocuse was wounded in World War II and was tended by a U.S. Army medical unit.

He says he still holds a special place in his heart for Americans and has always flown

the Stars and Stripes at his restaurant. Our culinary Captain Kirk sent a lot of encour-

agement to the American team, hoping they would earn a spot on the podium. Alas,

this year we placed seventh, dashing the dreams of the culinary geek squad. Now the

clock is set for 2015. It’s still a European man’s world but, oh, how I dream of infiltrating

it. There have been just a couple of women competitors over the years, though the

fact that their existence is noteworthy is a little sad in 2013. You can send your dona-

tions for my training to suburbanmomhasdelusionalpipedream.com.

Leslie Bilderback, a certified master baker, chef and cookbook author, can be found in

the kitchen of Heirloom Bakery in South Pasadena. She also teaches her techniques

online at culinarymasterclass.com.

||||

40 | ARROYO | 03.13

TemptingTreats To GoTHE MARKET ON HOLLY’S BODEGAEvery town deserves a place like The Market on Holly — somewhere to meet with friends

and grab a cappuccino in noncorporate surroundings, a place to dunk a croissant into

the froth of a steamy hot chocolate while perusing the newspaper. Owner Marty Davich

and his partner and chef, Mary Pat Brandmeyer, opened their gourmet food emporium in

the spring of 2011, offering Brandmeyer’s great selection of light and healthy dishes

(salmon with Chinese black bean sauce being a particular standout) along with a mar-

ket selling carefully selected gourmet goodies. It’s the place you’d go if your dried beans

needed to be Rancho Gordo’s heirlooms, and your olive oil a single-estate Tuscan. They’ve

recently expanded, and in a space to the east there’s now the Bodega at The Market on

Holly. The Bodega is designed to be a total one-stop shop for fresh-baked bread, farm-fresh

eggs, cheese, charcuterie, imported pastas and, yes, single-estate olive oils.

There will soon also be sustainably sourced fresh flowers and produce from The Pro-

duce Project. So expect to see that leaf du jour, kale, along with shallots, fresh veggies

and citrus. In the spring, The Produce Project will mount its Pop-Up Farmstand there every

Friday, with live jazz and samples.

Two recent arrivals offer all you need to savor an ambrosial meal at home.

BY BRADLEY TUCK

WINING & DINING

The Market on Holly’s Bodega

57 E. Holly St.Pasadena(626) 844-8811

themarketonholly.com/bodega/

Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.Saturday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.Sunday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

La Monarca Bakery

1001 Mission St.South Pasadena(626) 403-6860

lamonarcabakery.com/pasadena.php

Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.Saturday and Sunday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Artisan pickles are among the Bodega’s tasty offerings.

PHOT

O: C

ourte

sy Th

e M

arke

t on

Holly

’s Bo

dega

LA MONARCA BAKERYThe residents of South Pasadena are a fortunate lot. Whenever I jump off the Gold Line

and stroll along its sidewalks, I feel as though I’ve taken a day trip to a little town where

time has slowed down, and the woes of the world can be cast aside for an hour or two. It

reminds me, especially the area right around Mission, of some of the small towns on the

Central Coast. There’s a lovely farmers’ market on Thursdays, teeming with families. Older

buildings have been sympathetically preserved and restored. And just opened in one

such building is La Monarca Bakery. I know we talked about a bakery last month, the

wonderful Bittersweet on Colorado,

but La Monarca is so extraordinarily

good that to ignore its debut in South

Pasadena would be reckless. This is

the fourth location for the founders,

Ricardo Cervantes and Alfredo Livas,

the others being in Huntington Park,

East L.A. and Santa Monica. Cer-

vantes and Livas grew up in Monterrey,

Mexico. A spell of studying in the U.S.

led to cravings for the pastries and sweets they enjoyed back home. Unable to find the

good stuff on this side of the border, they decided to make it themselves.

I popped into the South Pasadena location one afternoon to pick up some goodies to

take to a friend’s house. The first thing I spotted were polvorones. My eyes nearly popped out

of my head. Polvorones are a crumbly (from the Spanish word, polvo: powder or dust), heavy

but small cookie. Where I grew up in Gibraltar, they’d usually appear at the local bakeries

around holiday time. Sometimes you’d find them boxed or in a tin, with wonderfully decora-

tive paper wrappers somewhat like those that coddle Italian amaretti biscuits. We would

wash them down with a strong cup of tea, so as to avoid choking on the sugary “dust.”

In a case near the polvorones was a delicious-looking pile of conchas, a sweet pan

dulce. Tempting slabs of dulce de leche bread pudding were lined up in another case.

I grabbed one of each to go.

I left without polvorones, worried

that their reality might not live up to

my childhood recollections. My

friends and I gobbled up the bread

pudding and washed it down with

homemade cappuccino. If that was

any measure of the quality of the

shop’s other items, I needn’t have

worried. Polvorones, here I come. |||| Rosca de Reyes from La Monarca Bakery

Pan de Muerto from La Monarca Bakery

03.13 | ARROYO | 41

42 | ARROYO | 03.13

THE LISTCOMPILED BY JOHN SOLLENBERGER

HIGH-IQ ENTERTAINMENTMarch 1 — Magi-

cian/educator

Bradley Fields pre-

sents “MatheMagic!,”

using magical illu-

sions to demonstrate

the history, power and beauty of the lan-

guage of math, at 7 p.m. Admission costs

$15, $10 for youth under 18.

March 15 — The Aquila Theatre Company

presents a one-night performance of

Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, a

16th-century comedy about Petruchio, a

gentleman from Verona who courts the

headstrong shrew Katherina. The curtain

rises at 8 p.m. Ticket prices range from $15

to $45.

Beckman Auditorium is located on Michi-

gan Avenue south of Del Mar Boulevard,

on the Caltech campus, Pasadena. Call

(626) 395-4652 or visit events.caltech.edu.

FRACKING FRACAS FOCUS OFAUTRY PREMIERE

March 1 through 17

— Native Voices at

the Autry presents

The Bird House by

Diane Glancy

(Cherokee) at 8 p.m.

in the Autry National Center’s Wells Fargo

Theater. The play was written for and stars

Native Voices co-founder and Producing

Artistic Director Randy Reinholz as evan-

gelical preacher Reverend Jonathan

Hawke. Hawke fights to save his family,

church and community from an eco-

nomic crisis, as natural gas production

from the controversial practice of fracking

appears to offer a lifeline to his small Texas

town. Robert Caisley directs. The play con-

tinues at 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Sat-

urdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through

March 17. There will also be a perform-

ance at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 14. Tickets

cost $20, $12 for students, seniors and mili-

tary members and $10 for Autry members.

The Autry National Center is located at

4700 Western Heritage Way, Griffith Park.

Call (323) 667-2000, ext. 299, or visit na-

tivevoicesattheautry.org.

FOR THE LOVE OF ARTMarch 8 — Art-friendly Pasadena gets

even more amicable from 6 to 10 p.m.

with the return of ArtNight. The city’s most

prominent cultural institutions open their

doors for free admission to exhibitions,

music and a variety of presentations. Par-

ticipants include the Armory Center for

the Arts, Art Center College of Design, Al-

liance Française, artWORKS Teen Center,

Lineage Performing Arts Center, Norton

Simon Museum, Pacific Asia Museum,

Pasadena Museum of California Art,

Pasadena Museum of History, Shumei Arts

Council and Side Street Projects. Free

shuttles will stop at each venue during

the event.

Call (626) 744-7887 or visit artnight-

pasadena.org.

A “MONUMENTAL” INSTALLATIONMarch 8 — The Nor-

ton Simon Museum

presents an installa-

tion of minimalist

light sculptor Dan

Flavin’s 1966 work

“monument” on the survival of Mrs. Rep-

pin, on view through Aug. 19. Considered

one of Flavin’s best works, “monument”

consists of two white fluorescent lights of

equal length mounted along two con-

verging walls plus a third one spanning

the distance between the two, and a

small red light in the middle. Flavin stud-

ied Russian Constructivist Vladimir Tatlin’s

use of gallery corners to serve as exhibit

space; that and the theoretical endless-

ness of fluorescent light captivated the

artist for most of his career. Norton Simon

Curatorial Associate Tom Norris organized

the show.

The Norton Simon Museum is located at

411 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. Call

(626) 449-6840 or visit nortonsimon.org.

FESTIVAL SALUTES WOMEN AUTHORSMarch 9 — The 5th

annual Pasadena

Festival of Women

Authors features four

award-winners from

9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

at the Pasadena Senior Center. The di-

verse group includes Aimee Bender, Bo

Caldwell, Gabrielle Pina and Kathleen

Sharp. Reyna Grande, Pasadena City Col-

lege's writer-in-residence, opens the dis-

cussion. Participants will answer questions

and sign their fiction, nonfiction or plays.

Tickets cost $85 per person, including

lunch. Proceeds benefit the senior center

and PCC’s writer-in-residence program.

The Pasadena Senior Center is located at

85 E. Holly St., Pasadena. Visit pasade-

nafestivalofwomenauthors.org.

GAMBLE LECTURE EXPLORES MIDCENTURY DESIGNERS

March 9 — At 6 p.m.,

local artist Leslie

Williamson lectures

on the private worlds

of prominent person-

alities in the design,

architectural and art worlds who broke

new ground in the 1950s and ’60s. The

lecture, “Handcrafted Modern,” also fea-

tures Williamson’s photographs of resi-

dences of such designers as Jerome and

Evelyn Ackerman, Charles and Ray

Eames and Wharton Esherick, to illustrate

how they incorporated their unique ideas

into their own homes and workspaces.

The talk at the Neighborhood Church is a

Sidney D. Gamble Lecture presented by

Friends of the Gamble House. Tickets cost

$20 ($15 for Friends).

The Neighborhood Church is located at

301 N. Orange Grove Blvd., Pasadena. Call

(626) 793-3334 or visit gamblehouse.org.


A SELECTIVE PREVIEW OF UPCOMING EVENTS

Aimee Bender

MARCH JUST A BOWL OFCHERRIES AT DESCANSOMarch 23 and 24 — Descanso Gardens’ Cherry Blossom Festival offers a week-

end of free activities with regular admission. The following events are scheduled

for Saturday and Sunday: A cherry tree and Japanese rose sale runs from

10 a.m. to 4 p.m. A cherry blossom walk and talk takes place at 11 a.m. and

1 p.m. The Camellia Lounge offers bento box lunches, beverages and specialty

cocktails for purchase from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. From 2:30 to 5 p.m., Caltech Play-

ers bring to life Japanese director Akira Kurosawa’s classic 1950 film, Rashōmon,

the story of the meeting of a woodcutter, a thief, a young woman and a samurai

by an ancient gate among the cherry blossoms. The performance takes place

in the Under the Oaks Theater. On Saturday only, origami master Yami Yamauchi

teaches the traditional art of paper folding in the Japanese Garden from

11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Descanso Gardens is located at 1418 Descanso Dr., La Cañada Flintridge. Call

(818) 949-4200 or visit descansogardens.org.

03.13 | ARROYO | 43

44 | ARROYO | 03.13

03.13 | ARROYO | 45



Through March 30 — Pasadena’s Tirage Fine Art Gallery has partnered with the

Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia & Parkinson Foundation to help fight both diseases.

Dystonia is a movement disorder that causes muscles to contract and go into

spasm involuntarily. The gallery got involved after receiving a letter from teen Lau-

ren Von Der Ahe about her class project to raise funds to fight dystonia on behalf

of her sister, Kristin, who is afflicted with it. The gallery will donate 10 percent of its

retail purchases to the foundation through March 30. Commissioned pieces, por-

traiture, shipping charges and federal and local taxes are excluded.

Tirage Art Gallery is located at 1 W. California Blvd., Pasadena. Call (626) 405-

1020 or visit tirageart.com.

ART FOR A CURE

ECLECTIC ART AND ANTIQUESHOW AT GLENDALE CIVIC

March 9 and 10 —

Roadside America

LLC presents the “An-

tiques, Objects and

Art L.A.” show and

sale at the Glendale

Civic Auditorium. Collections are dis-

played in furnished room settings to show

how contrasting elements can enhance

a home or office environment. Genres in-

clude ethnographic and tribal arts from

around the world, plus midcentury mod-

ern, 20th-century industrial, folk art, Native

American, Spanish Colonial and Spanish

Revival, pop culture, fine art, devotional

items, vintage guitars, photography, signs

and advertising, Chicano art and country

furniture. The show runs from 10 a.m. to

6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sun-

day. Admission costs $12 for both days,

free for children with a paid adult.

The Glendale Civic Auditorium is located

at 1401 N. Verdugo Rd., Glendale. Call

(626) 437-6275 or visit antiquesandob-

jects.com.

MUSE/IQUE HOSTS GRAMMYGREAT AND GUESTS

March 11 —

MUSE/IQUE, the cross-

genre orchestra

headed by Artistic Di-

rector Rachael Worby,

presents the latest in-

stallment in its “Uncorked” series of music

and conversation, with Grammy-winning

songwriter and producer Tena Clark

(seen above) at 7 p.m. on the stage deck

of the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. Power-

house from the Firehouse: The Legendary

Tena Clark Backstage features an ap-

pearance by Clark with music by surprise

artists and friends. Clark wrote and pro-

THE LIST

"Noble Blue" by Donald Hildreth

46 | ARROYO | 03.13

THE LIST

duced hits for Aretha Franklin, Patti La-

Belle, Chaka Khan, Natalie Cole, Gladys

Knight, Dionne Warwick and many others.

She has also programmed music for

three presidents on Air Force One. She

manages her musical empire from her

Pasadena studio, Studio Express. The

event starts with a wine reception at 7

p.m. followed by the performance at 7:30

p.m. Tickets cost $60.

The Pasadena Civic Auditorium is located

at 300 E. Green St., Pasadena. Call (626)

539-7085 or visit muse-ique.com.

JANIS JOPLIN LIVESMarch 15 — The

Pasadena Playhouse

and One Night Pro-

ductions present

One Night with Janis

Joplin, opening this

evening and continuing through April 11.

Written and directed by Randy Johnson,

the story of the late blues/rock icon offers

a full-on concert experience, recreating

such Joplin hits as “Piece of My Heart,”

“Mercedes Benz” and “Me and Bobby

McGee.” The musical highlights the influ-

ences on Joplin of African-American

blues artists, including Bessie Smith, Etta

James and Aretha Franklin. Mary Bridget

Davies performs the title role. Tickets cost

$64 to $125. Showtimes are 8 p.m. Tues-

days through Fridays, 4 and 8 p.m. Satur-

days and 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays.

The Pasadena Playhouse is located at 39

S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena. Call (626)

356-7529 or visit pasadenaplayhouse.org.

ARTEMUSICA PERFORMS MOZARTMarch 16 — The inter-

national choral group

Artemusica presents

an 8 p.m. concert of

Baroque and Roman-

tic works, including

the entire Mozart Requiem, at St. Philip the

Apostle Church in Pasadena. The choir's 35

members include natives of Italy, Denmark,

Portugal, Austria, the Netherlands and

Canada. The chorus will be accompanied

by a full orchestra, as well as professional

soloists flown in from Italy, including so-

prano Diana Trivellato, alto Silvana Benetti,

tenor Fabio Buonocore and bass Oliviero

Pari. A $25 donation is suggested.

St. Philip the Apostle Church is located at

151 S. Hill Ave., Pasadena. Visit artemusica.us.

CLASSIC GREEK MYTH GETS STAGEMAKE-OVER

March 16 — A Noise

Within presents Eury-

dice, an adaptation

by Pulitzer Prize finalist

Sarah Ruhl of the

classic Greek myth,

at 8 p.m., continuing through May 19. The

playwright employs a unique poetic style

to recreate the myth of Orpheus through

the eyes of his new wife, Eurydice, in a tale

exploring matters of the heart. Geoff Elliott

directs. Tickets cost $40 to $52.

A Noise Within is located at 3352 E. Foothill

Blvd., Pasadena. Call (626) 356-3100 or

visit anoisewithin.org.

CHAMBER ORCHESTRA GOES FORBAROQUE AND BACH

March 21 — Los An-

geles Chamber Or-

chestra’s “Baroque

Conversations” series

explores the evolving

orchestral repertoire

from early Baroque schools through the

pre-classical period. Music Director Jeffrey

Kahane conducts the orchestra in Bach’s

Prelude and Fugue in A minor, selections

from the composer’s The Well-Tempered

Clavier and Busoni’s piano transcription

of the Chaconne from Bach's Partita in D

minor for solo violin. Kahane discusses the

works before the performance; a wine re-

ception for ticketholders starts at 6 p.m.,

followed by the 7 p.m. performance. Tick-

ets cost $55.

Zipper Concert Hall, at the Colburn

School, is located at 200 S. Grand Ave.,

Los Angeles.

March 23 — LACO presents works by

Stravinsky, Mozart, Bach and Handel at

8 p.m. at Glendale’s Alex Theatre. Kahane

conducts and is featured on piano, along

with soloists Margaret Batjer on the violin

and Davis Shostac on the flute. Tickets

cost $25 to $110.

The Alex Theatre is located at 216 N.

Brand Blvd., Glendale. Call (213) 622-7001

or visit laco.org. ||||


03.13 | ARROYO | 47

arroyo monthly march 2013

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