Altadena Department Store 1930

The Altadena Department Store took up five store fronts on the north side of Mariposa Street, west of Lake: 731, 722, 735, 737, and 739.  Today the address numbers are different.

This ad ran in The Altadena Press in 1930

The store sold everything from school supplies to toys to stationary to house goods.  It was probably more like an old fashioned five and dime than a modern day department store. 

Are these the five storefronts? 

With nearly 5000 square feet of floor space the Altadena Department Store met all the needs of our community.  

Painted sign on the back of the
building is no longer there.

The N in A-Z says: No need of
going away from Altadena to buy

Altadena Library Painting by George Gardner Symons

 Next time you visit Altadena library, make a point to look at the magnificent painting on the south wall, Millard Canyon at Granite Gate, donated by Mr. and Mrs. Guy Fisher quite a few years ago.  Painted by George Gardner Symons in 1896, the painting is unusually large, about 6 feet tall, giving the chasm scene in the San Gabriel Mountains above Altadena a large-as-life perspective.

 

George Gardner Symons' Millard Canyon at Granite Gate
belongs to Altadena Library, a gift from Mr. and Mrs. Guy Fisher

  The painting features intricate geological details hidden in the soft twilight of sunset.  The longer you look, the more you see.  But even standing close up, you’ll have a hard time making out the minuscule Mt. Lowe railroad car chugging through Granite Gate in the upper left hand corner of the painting. 

Symons, an American landscape and marine artist, was born in Chicago in 1861. He studied at the Chicago Art Institute where he became friends with artist William Wendt. Symons worked in Chicago as a commercial artist and later studied in Paris, Munich and London. Although his primary studio was in Brooklyn, New York, in 1903 he and Wendt built a studio in Laguna Beach, becoming active in western art societies.

 Like many western landscape artists of his time, Symons worked entirely out-of-doors, frequently working in Arizona, painting desert and Grand Canyon views. The grand landscape painters, including Thomas Ayres, Albert Bierstadt and others traveled widely. Whether with expeditions, fellow artists or alone, packing-in by animal train was the usual mode of mountain travel. Although Symons is a lesser-known western painter (he is better known for his New England snow scenes) he was recognized in his day. Today his work stands up with surprising strength.  Symons died in Hillside, New Jersey in 1930.

Source:  Donald Brewer, Pack-In Painters of the American West, November 22 – December 23, 1976, University of Southern California, 1976. 

American Flags Reveal Mount Lowe Railway Timeline

This 46 star American flag is part of Altadena Historical Society's  Mount Lowe Railway legacy. 

Forty-six star American flag in AHS collection
flew over Ye Old Alpine Tavern sometime 
between1907 and 1912.

The scenic mountain railroad attraction imagined by Thaddeus S. C. Lowe opened on July 4, 1893, when the U. S. flag boasted 44 stars.  In the photo below, the blur on the back of the incline car is the flag. The man in front of the car looking at the camera is Professor Lowe.

Was this photo taken opening day, July 4, 1893?

The Alpine Tavern, a Swiss chalet style lodge, opened in 1896, the same year the flag was reissued with 45 stars, when Utah was made a state.  During its 40 years in operation, the Tavern traditionally flew the flag outside the main entry as shown in the photos below.

That looks like a 45 star flag so the picture
was taken sometime between
1896 and1907.
Photo: Los Angeles library

When Arizona and New Mexico received
statehood in 1912, the flag flew with 48 stars.  
So this flag indicates the photo was taken 
after 1912. The Edwardian dress suggests 
it's pre-World War One.

Forty-eight stars again - this could be anytime 
between 1912 and 1936, the year the resort burned 
down. (The flag didn't change again until 
1959 when Alaska acquired state status.) 
Photo: Los Angeles Library

AHS' 46 star American flag flew at the Tavern sometime between 1907 and 1912.

The Society is still looking for a photograph of the Tavern with this flag.  If you've got one, let us know. We'd be delighted to see it.

Read more about Alpine Tavern and The Mount Lowe Railway in George Wharton James' 1905 book, Scenic Mount Lowe.

The book is made 
available by 
 Project Gutenberg 

Or drop by and visit. AHS is open Monday, Tuesday and Friday, 9:00 am to noon and by appointment 

730 E. Altadena Drive, Altadena, CA 91001

Phone  (626) 797-8016

Email  altadenahistorical.society@yahoo.com

Visit our website  altadenahistoricalsociety.org

Altadena's Greene and Greene Houses

Charles and Henry Greene in Altadena

By Kathy Hoskins, AHS volunteer

Charles and Henry Greene are famous for the many beautiful homes they built in Pasadena including the Gamble and Blacker houses.  Altadena has it’s own share of these wonderful buildings.

The Greene and Greene architectural offices opened in 1894.  In 1898, after only four years in practice, they received a rather large commission to build a home for James Swan, a prominent Pasadenan.  The home was built at 515 E. Colorado in Pasadena and was an example of the Greene’s early architectural style.   Having received their architectural training at MIT, the Greene’s were influenced by the east coast arts and crafts movement most notably with the shingle style that was popular at the time. The home, “Torrington Place”, combined Georgian and classical elements with a shingle exterior.  It was built with a budget of $18,500.

Torrington Place in 1900

In 1925 the home was moved to Altadena.  Henry Greene designed the alterations (Mediterranean style) for the home.  It now stands at 2162 N. Holliston near the corner of Boston and Holliston.  It has a stucco exterior instead of shingles but the Georgian exterior elements can still be seen and except for the kitchen, the interior is in near original condition.

Torrington Place today

The William A. Bowen house stands at the northwest corner of Calaveras and Santa Anita.  It was designed by the Greene brothers and built in 1903.  It was built as a ranch house and included out buildings.  It was called a “ranchita” and demonstrated the Greene’s love of creating space that interacted with nature.  Originally it was one story and was built around an inner courtyard or garden “living room”.  All but one bedroom had access only to the courtyard with not interior hallway.  It was certainly the ultimate in indoor/outdoor living at the time. A second story was added in 1905.  The home has been much altered and looks little like its original design but some of the Greene’s style can be seen in the overhangs and beam structure.

In 1905 a home for was designed and built for August Brandt on the northeast corner of Maiden Lane and Mariposa.  The family of Iwan Serrurier, an inventor from Holland who developed the Ganesha Tract, first inhabited the house; at the time Mr. Brandt was serving as the contractor for the Pasadena home being built from the Greene’s design for Mr. Serrurier.   When the Altadena home was completed, the Serrurier family decided to live in it and rent the Pasadena home.  The Altadena bungalow was later moved to the southeast corner of the same intersection where it can be seen today.

Serrurier House corner of Mariposa and Maiden Lane
Source: Greene & Greene Virtual Archives, USC Berkeley

Charles and Henry Greene’s architectural career boomed between 1903 and 1909 but declined sharply from 1910  to 1923 due to the loss  of popularity of the bungalow style.  Charles Greene moved to Carmel in 1916 to spend more time following his passion of studying art and Asian philosophy.  Henry Greene remained in Pasadena to continue the work of the architectural firm.

The Dr. Nathan Williams home was built in 1913 and shows Henry Greene’s more practical influence.   It is unlike other Greene and Greene homes with a gunite-clad front elevation and a façade reminiscent of the recently relocated Herkimer Arms apartments in Pasadena.  All of the large interior rooms are painted with little surface decoration.  The built-in buffet in the dining room and the stairway show some of the Greene’s signature details. 

Dr. Nathan Williams' home today
1145 Sonoma

Wildwood Park is a newly discovered Henry Greene design.  The cottages were designed in 1922 for Walter D. Valentine who wished to turn his property at the end of a cul-de-sac on Palm Street into a small compound.  Two of the cottages survive today accessed by a private driveway with stone gate pillars marking the entrance.  The oak shaded property lends itself to Henry Greene’s architectural style.

Henry Greene lived the last years of his life in Altadena.  In 1940, after the death of his wife Emmaline, Henry moved to the home of his son Henry Dart Greene.   He lived with his son’s family at 1405 La Solana until his death in 1954.

Altadena Modernism at Former Medical Building on Mariposa

20 East Mariposa

The modest art deco flourish over the front door suggests a bit of aesthetic history in the building that stands on the southeast corner of Fair Oaks and Mariposa.  

We found out about it in the September 23, 1936 copy of the Altadena Press: "Altadena has new medical building now completed at Mariposa and Fair Oaks. Italian Renaissance architecture of exterior contrast with conservative modernism of interior finishing in the new $15,000 building built by Dr. C. L. Haines."

Today the building serves as apartments.

According to real estate site redfin.com, the building recently sold. To see more photos including interior shots, click here.

Pankow Building

The building standing at the southeast corner of Lake and Mariposa has a story to tell about finance in Altadena.  Home to two banks and an internationally-known engineering firm, the building was constructed in 1926 for Pacific Southwest Trust and Savings Bank.   

Bank Plans 1926

The bank manager was local businessman, architect and Chamber of Commerce president R. M. Thurin.   In 1929 the bank changed hands to become Security First National of Los Angeles.

Bank interior, about 1928

In the mid 1960s Security First (later Security Pacific) relocated to the southwest corner of Marcheta and Lake. (It now houses the denominational headquarters of United Church of Christ.)

Above: Photos on right show interior of bank in the Pankow building, about 1928. Photos on left show another banking institution, Altadena National Bank, located on northwest corner of Lake and Mariposa.

In 1967, the old bank building was acquired by Charles Pankow Company, serving as the architecture and engineering firm's corporate headquarters.  Mr. Pankow died in 2004 at the age of 83.   Since then the building has changed hands and today serves as office space.

The 1970s' remodel hides the building's original Mediterranean details.

Read about the bank building's public drinking fountain here.