La Pintoresca Hotel

La Pintoresca (The Painter Hotel), built and managed by Altadena's Painter family occupied the northeast  corner of North Fair Oaks and Washington in what we might call historic Altadena.  (The hotel was built before Pasadena annexed the area.)  The Painters were close friends with the Gambles and the hotel, like the Gamble House, was very up-to-date for its time.  

Hotel Pintoresca in 1895
The hotel was built in 1888
and destroyed by fire in 1912.

The hotel offered sweeping views of the snow capped San Gabriel range and was popular with tourists and well-heeled Pasadenans.

Sid Galley wrote in an article for the Pasadena Star-News:

"At an elevation of around 1,000 feet and in an era when trees were lacking, there must have been a splendid view from the [hotel's] veranda.  

The Pasadena Star reported on January 15, 1912: "With the exception of the north wing at the west end of the building, containing the kitchen, dining room and servants' quarters, Hotel Pasadena, formerly known as La Pintoresca, located at the corner of Washington Street and Fair Oaks Avenue, was completely destroyed by fire that started at 10:45 o'clock last night. The guests escaped without injury."  

Defective wiring was suspected as the cause of the fire but it started above the room of guest E. Tallman who had just left to catch a train and might have discarded a match when lighting a cigar.  

The fire department arrived soon and fought the fire for several hours. Bellboys ran through the halls alerting guests who grabbed jewelry and other possessions as they left. The jewelry of a few guests was lost in the fire.  

In an editorial, the Star wrote: "Destruction of property by fire is always particularly regrettable. But the burning of Hotel Pasadena, better known as La Pintoresca, is especially to be deplored, because of the aroma of early-day romance that clung to this landmark. Before it was La Pintoresca, it was known as the Painter Hotel, from the Messrs Painter who built it in 1888 and owned and conducted it until a few years ago. In the early youth of the city many a delightful banquet and social function was held within its walls. Perhaps no structure in Pasadena had more romantic memories and associations attached to it. "That there was no loss of life is cause for thankfulness."  

The hotel contained antique furniture brought to the hotel by "Hetty" Green, said to be the richest woman in the world, who was an investor in the hotel. One valuable chair that was saved had been made for Francis Scott Key of Star Spangled Banner fame."

Check out Ann Erdman's informative blog post about La Pintoresca that features these rare photos:

Today the lovely La Pintoresca Branch Library, built in 1930 and named after the hotel, is situated on a small piece of the original property.  

Artist Mildred Scott Townsend

Our friend Richard Bale who recently lectured about growing up in Altadena sent AHS this information on artist Mildred Scott Townsend.  She had a studio in the Highview Avenue neighborhood where Richard grew up.  He sent this information:

Mildred spent many of her
Altadena years painting in the San Gabriels.

Born in Illinois, September 13, 1897, Mildred Scott (Townsend) graduated from Northwestern University, studied at the Chicago Art Institute and did graduate work at the University of Wisconsin. In 1921 she married Elmer Scott Townsend. She suffered a tubercular hemorrhage in 1926, then travelled to Southern California where she entered a sanitarium in Monrovia. Her recovery over the next few years was successful. 

"Hasting's Ranch"

In 1935, the couple moved to the area permanently. Elmer Townsend established a clothing business in Pasadena. They purchased a home in Altadena at 2677 Highview Avenue where they had a multi-windowed studio built atop the single-story house. 

2677 Highview
The house has fallen into disrepair although
it looks like some renovation work just started.

The upper story room (noted by oval)
was added by the Townsends to serve
as Mildred's studio.

As her health continued to improve, Mildred became increasingly active in painting.  

"Sierra Vista"
During the 1940s Mildred camped
and painted in the High Sierras.

In 1953 she studied at the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, painting there and in Guanajuato. In the 1950s, through her studies with Richard Ruben, she moved strongly in to the abstract field. In 1958 she won the Pasadena Society of Artists McBride award and a first award with the Pasadena Art Festival. In 1959 she again won the McBride award and other firsts with the Woman Painters of the West. Between 1958 and 1964 her resume listed 16 awards. 

Mildred favored landscapes, working in
Altadena’s Millard and Eaton Canyons,
and Big Tujunga Canyon.

Mildred continued to paint after downsizing to a retirement home in Laguna Hills in 1971. She won a first award at the Laguna Hills Fall Show with a painting that was reproduced on the cover of the January 1973 edition of “Orange County Illustrated” magazine. She died January 29, 1985. 

Mildred in Laguna Hills, about 1970.
Note her painting "Hasting's Ranch"
is on wall to her right. 

Twenty-five of Mildred Scott Townsend’s abstracts, many of them award winners, are housed at the Bower Museum in Santa Ana. 

Altadena's 1935 La Vina Fire

It's almost fire season in Altadena 

The 2009 Station Fire
Saving Mt. Wilson

And speaking of fires...

On the heels of the 1934 Brown Mountain fire that scorched 3,000 acres above Altadena, the 1935 La Vina fire, fueled by high winds, did substantially more damage. The La Vina fire was named after the sanitarium destroyed in the blaze. (The facility was located at the north end of Lincoln Avenue where La Vina housing development stands today.) 

The inferno swept through the foothills from Millard Canyon to Las Flores Canyon, almost destroying the home of Charles H. Cobb. His estate, elegantly appointed with imported exotic hardwoods was landscaped with combustible eucalyptus, palms and lodge pole pines. 

But the 83 year-old Cobb, with a 200,000 gallon reservoir he'd installed 15 years earlier, was prepared for the fight. (The reservoir is still there, about a quarter mile above the ruins of the house, and now belongs to Las Flores Water Company.)

Cobb's reservoir as it looks today.

According to the October 24, 1935 issue of the Altadena Press, "About two o'clock in the morning [Cobb] was awakened to find that not only his property… but his life and that of his household were endangered. Due to the water system installed on the Las Flores ranch 20 years ago, Mr. Cobb, with the aid of Andrew Anderson, was able to save all of his property with the exception of damage done to a few trees and shrubs. Mr. Cobb handled a water hose bearing 100 pounds pressure, playing it upon a blazing furnace with a few feet of his garage and other buildings, the point first threatened. Mr. Cobb stated that he has contended for many years that the canyons and foothills above Altadena should be periodically burned off by the forestry department to eliminate dangers to property and loss of life, this statement coming from a man who has spent a lifetime in the woods is significant and deserving of careful study."

Although this is the Station Fire behind JPL, 
you can imagine that the La Vina Fire 
looked pretty much the same.
Photo by Dan Finnerty

Charles Cobb made his fortune in lumber, starting off as a lumberjack in his home state of Maine and later Washington. Prior to retirement he served as president of International Lumber Company. In 1916 he and his wife, Carrie, purchased a substantial part of Las Flores ranch and built their dream home in the shadow of Echo Mountain.

Cobb died in 1939. About 20 years later the house was torn down due to neglect and vandalism. Cobb's estate, at the top of Lake Avenue, is now a park managed by the U.S. Forest Service.

See photos and read more about the history of the Cobb Estate.

Altadena's Miniature Golf Course

If you recall back 50 years, when the purple and white building on Lake Ave just south of Amy’s restaurant was The Venetian, you might remember the miniature golf garden that was built on the property in the 1920s.  The recreational attraction closed during the depression but the mini buildings dotting the little course were still there. In fact, a few of them remain to this day including the pint sized church featured in the photo below.  

Sidewalks still wind through the course ruins and remnants of a little water hazard remain.

The Altadena Golf Garden
piped in music over loud speakers.

More recently the location has served as a church.  The church sold the property a few months ago. Plans to raze the building (and the golf course) to build medical offices is on hold due to parking issues.  

AHS Map Collection

The AHS cartography collection includes more than 50 maps that chart Altadena’s history, progress and dreams for the future.  

Map from about 1940 shows where
New York Ave. cut across Eaton Canyon.
(Current road route is indicated by red line.)

Many are practical representations depicting the distance between places, demarcation of travel routes, and the location of boundaries. 

Realtor’s maps boast plans for future subdivisions. 

Others are whimsical graphic representations publicizing community sites, like businesses and parks. Maps tell darker stories as well, of racism, poverty, and economic downturn. Government tract maps show sub-divided pieces of land.   

Someone has indicated the location
of Camp Huntington on this old map.

Community booster maps, like those issued by the Chamber of Commerce, persuade  businesses and future home-owners to put down roots in Altadena. Reading a map is like reading a history book.  Best of all, most maps in the AHS collection are indexed for quick reference. Drop in and take a look.

The Altadena Press

Before ALTADENA NOW and altadenblog, there was the...

COX-O-TYPE Schwart-Seymore 

Flat Bed Web Newspaper Press

The mammoth press was installed at Altadena Press, 750 E. Mariposa (today the building west of liquor store on south side of Mariposa), on Thursday, August 26, 1937. This is what the building looked like in 1937.

The Cox-O-Type Schwart-Seymore Press weighed 10 tons and  modernized newspaper publishing, speeding up printing and folding in one operation.  It changed the size, make-up, and copy style of the The Altadena Press, first published in 1928.  

The paper stated, "The Altadena Press will adopt the newer trend toward "streamlined" newspapers, which will make the paper more easily read and will present the news content in a smarter, clearer page make-up." The publishers felt sure that readers of the press would be pleased with the efforts that were made to "give Altadena only the finest type newspaper - one in keeping with the high ideals and conceptions of the fine southland community."