Looking for Something to Do? Free Events Feb. 1 to 8

Here are my top picks of events scheduled from Feb. 1 to 8. All events are free, so take a look -- and don't you dare tell me there's nothing to do in this town!

Draft policies for the City of Pasadena General Plan update will be reviewed at a community meeting Saturday, Feb. 1, at 9 a.m. in the Creveling Lounge (Building CC) at Pasadena City College. The policies cover topics such as growth, transportation, design, historic preservation, environmental sustainability, arts and culture, economic vitality, parking and education, and give direction for future planning efforts for several areas of Pasadena, including the Central District, East Pasadena, North Lake, Fair Oaks/Orange Grove, Lincoln Avenue, Washington/Allen, West Gateway and Northwest Pasadena.

Swap out your old books for something new Saturday, Feb. 1, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Pasadena Central Library's west patio. All ages and genres are welcome.

Teens are invited to the Story Room at Pasadena Central Library for an anime afternoon Saturday, Feb. 1, from 2 to 4 p.m. Watch anime episodes, enjoy Japanese snacks and learn about the new manga in the library's collection.

Register your child aged 6 to 12 no later than Saturday, Feb. 1, for the Kids Safety Academy, which begins Feb. 8. From 9 a.m. on seven consecutive Saturdays, Pasadena police officers, firefighters and others will cover topics including stranger danger, fire safety, environmental stewardship, bike safety, the 9-1-1 system and much more. Space is limited to 30 children and their parents. Contact Police Specialist Karla Kauhola at kkauhola@cityofpasadena.net or (626) 744-7657.

Hastings Branch Library presents a special exhibit titled "Historical View of African American Families" from Feb. 1 to 28 during regular open hours. Explore the lives of families as seen through African American literature and the civil rights movement. This is just one of the Black History Month offerings throughout February in Pasadena.

Not a football fan? Caltech Performing and Visual Arts presents a chamber music concert Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 2, at 3:30 p.m in Dabney Lounge, located at Dabney Hall (#40 on this map). Works by Rachmaninoff, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Shostakovich and other composers will be performed.

Instructors from Armory Center for the Arts will provide art lessons to children Tuesday, Feb. 4, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. at La Pintoresca Branch Library. Children will paint, work with clay and create collages.

Tuesday, Feb. 4, from 4 to 8 p.m. is Free Family Night at Kidspace Children's Museum. Explore the Imagination Workshop, Galvin Physics Forest, Digging Deeper Gallery, Nature Exchange, Harvest Corner and so much more that Kidspace has to offer!

Pasadena Presbyterian Church presents French violinist Etienne Gara for the popular Music at Noon weekly concert Wednesday, Feb. 5, from 12:10 to 12:40 p.m.

You don't have to be a member of the Pasadena Senior Center to see the 2013 film "The Butler" there starring Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey Friday, Feb. 7, at 1 p.m. The film tells the story of a White House butler who serves eight presidents over three decades with a backdrop of the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War and other dramatic events that affected this man's life and family.

Pasadena City College is asking our participation in a community visioning workshop Saturday, Feb. 8, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. in the Creveling Lounge. Help PCC President Mark Rocha, members of the Board of Trustees, staff and other officials develop a future vision for the college and its facilities.

An interactive outdoor installation is being created through a series of community events at Side Street Projects. During the opening event "Sculpting Social Landscapes" Saturday, Feb. 8, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., you'll explore the newly built labyrinth, learn about the history, meanings and purposes of labyrinths and participate in sensory activities.

On Sept. 4, 1957, in one of the defining moments of the civil rights era, nine black students registered to attend the segregated Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas, testing the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that required desegregation of schools nationwide. As a result, Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus called in the National Guard to prevent the students from entering the school – a decision that flew in the face of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling that mandated all public schools in the nation be integrated "with all deliberate speed." On Sept. 24, President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered federal troops to escort the "Little Rock Nine" into the school, and their first day there finally began. Dr. Terrence Roberts, one of those students and now a resident of Pasadena, will speak at the Allendale Branch Library Saturday Feb. 8, at 2 p.m. about that fateful day, civil rights, social justice and ethical decision-making.


Many thanks to the Pasadena Planning Department, A to Z Library, anime.com, the mighty Zack Stromberg,  Pasadena Public Library, Petrea Burchard, The Musical Nose, Kidspace Children's Museum, Etienne Gara, The Hollywood Reporter, Pasadena City College, Jeanmarie Conlin and Little Rock Nine Foundation for the photos.

Looking for Something To Do? Free Events Jan. 26 to Feb. 8

                 

By popular demand, I am reviving this feature that I posted every week when I was the Pasadena PIO. All events are free, and now that I'm retired I can also include events that are not sponsored by the City of Pasadena!

So take a look, and don't you dare tell me there's nothing to do in this town!

Pasadena Conservatory of Music's award-winning chamber music students will perform in concert Sunday, Jan. 26, at 4 p.m., in room 300F with works by Mozart, Haydn, Bridge, Mendelssohn, Clara Schumann and Pleyel.

Hill Avenue Branch Library presents "Złączym się z narodem: Poland, past and present" Thursday, Jan. 30, at 4 p.m. From the Baltic to the Tatras, Poland is filled with unique sights, sounds, and tastes that arise from its position between east and west and from a history that is simultaneously and by turns heroic,

tragic, comic and controversial. Explore the history and culture of Poland with Mark Kozłowski, a

2012-2013 Fulbright Fellow who lived and studied in Kraków, the ancient city of Polish kings.

Pasadena Central Library offers a film series at 1 p.m. every Wednesday with a different theme every month. This month it's films featuring Pasadena locales. The Jan. 29 film is the 1991 remake of "Father of the Bride" starring Steve Martin and Diane Keaton and filmed on South El Molino Avenue.

The Colorado Street Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic Wednesday, Jan. 29, from 2 to 8 p.m. for the filming of a commercial for Ecolab. Detour plans will be in place and Pasadena police officers will assist with traffic control. Bicyclists and pedestrians will have access to the bridge, although they may be asked to stop briefly from time to time.

You don't have to be a member to attend Pasadena Senior Center's workshop titled Outlook and Opportunities Thursday, Jan. 30, at 10 a.m. Learn about trends that will help put your concerns about the economy into perspective. Explore the pace of recovery, deficits and debts, the economic outlook and strategies for addressing the impact of inflation and interest rates.

Draft policies for the City of Pasadena General Plan update will be reviewed at a community meeting Saturday, Feb. 1, at 9 a.m. in the Creveling Lounge (Building CC) at Pasadena City College. The policies cover topics such as growth, transportation, design, historic preservation, environmental sustainability, arts and culture, economic vitality, parking and education, and give direction for future planning efforts for several areas of Pasadena, including the Central District, East Pasadena, North Lake, Fair Oaks/Orange Grove, Lincoln Avenue, Washington/Allen, West Gateway and Northwest Pasadena.

Hastings Branch Library presents a special exhibit titled "Historical View of African American Families" from Feb. 1 to 28 during regular open hours. Explore the lives of families as seen through African American literature and the civil rights movement. This is just one of the Black History Month offerings throughout February in Pasadena.

Pasadena City College is asking our participation in a visioning community workshop Saturday, Feb. 8, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. in the Creveling Lounge at PCC. Help PCC President Mark Rocha, members of the Board of Trustees, staff and other PCC officials develop a future vision for the college and its facilities.

"Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore" by Robin Sloan is Pasadena's 2014 One City, One Story selection. The popular community reading celebration was created in 2002 to nurture a love of books and spark vibrant discussions among residents. The New York Times said the book is "eminently enjoyable, full of warmth and intelligence. Sloan balances a strong plot with philosophical questions about technology and books and the power both contain." The novel is available for check-out Pasadena public libraries, for sale at Vroman's Bookstore and even available in eBook and Spanish options. So read"Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore" and then get ready for a series of related activities and events in March including book discussions, film series, expert speakers and more throughout the month and a community dialog with the author Thursday, March 27. 

Mystery Hstory -- Solved!

Bellis wins with her 4:12 p.m. Wednesday guess "The man in the apron looks Japanese, so I'll make a wild guess -- perhaps he's building the Storrier Stearns Japanese garden?"

In the circa 1937 photo above, Kinzuchi Fujii supervises the installation of sculpture at the Storrier Stearns mansion on Arlington Drive between Pasadena Avenue and Orange Grove Boulevard.

In 1935 Charles Storrier Stearns (1868-1944) and his wife Ellamae moved into the Georgian mansion built in the early 1900s. The property included extensive traditional gardens as well as grand tennis courts.

Here they are behind the house:

They were wealthy patrons of the arts, were active in the civic life of Pasadena and had the means to travel domestically and abroad. Swept by the wave of interest in Japonisme that was still taking Europe and the U.S. by storm, they went to Japan to purchase art, ceramics and textiles and fell in love with the gardens there. 

The rest of the story is a mix of triumph and tragedy, transitions and new beginnings.

Kinzuchi Fujii was born in 1875 in the Yamaguchi prefecter and came to San Francisco in 1903. A carpenter and craftsman by trade, he soon became interested in designing Japanese gardens for Americans of means and earned contracts as well as a sterling reputation in Hollywood, Ojai and Santa Barbara.

The Storrier Stearnses hired Fujii in 1935 to design and create a Japanese garden in place of the tennis courts, and construction began in 1937. 

He conceived of a vast garden with specific elements that would silently reveal themselves as people meandered along paths, over bridges, past ponds and waterfalls.

There was also a teahouse built in Japan to Fujii's specifications and shipped to L.A. for transport to Pasadena:  

 The Storrier Stearnses spared no expense as Fujii's vision came to life with black leaded tiles, stone ornaments, granite boulders, and plants and trees typical of Japanese woodland gardens. 

Fujii supervised the entire operation with the help of foremen and laborers, and he and Charles had great mutual respect for each other. 

The Japanese garden was nearly completed in 1941 when a series of terrible events took place: Japanese bombers attacked Pearl Harbor, the U.S. entered World War II and more than 100,000 people of Japanese descent were forced to relocate to internment camps -- including Kinzuchi Fujii*.

The final phase of the work had to be completed without Fujii's supervision, but the result was a marvel nonetheless and the Storrier Stearns were very happy with the Japanese garden on their property.,

After Ellamae passed away in 1949, the property was subdivided to be sold at auction.  Gamelia Haddad Poulsen (below), owner of Poulsen Galleries, attended the auction with the intention of buying some antique furniture from the mansion, but by the time she walked away she owned the entire Storrier Stearns estate.

Over the years she sold off most of the estate and the mansion was dismantled (one room is now part of the Pacific Asia Museum).

Circumstances dramatically changed again in 1975 when the State of California took the portion of the estate on the east side of the Japanese garden by eminent domain, along with many other properties on some other west Pasadena streets, to make way for the proposed 710 freeway.

Assuming the garden would be the next to be seized, Gamelia allowed it to deteriorate and sold off some of the artifacts. The teahouse was burned in 1981 and arson was suspected although an investigation was inconclusive.

When Gamelia passed away in 1985, her son and daughter-in-law, Jim and Connie Haddad, inherited it and they own it to this day.

Jim and Connie Haddad should achieve hero status in our community because they have restored the Japanese garden over time to its original condition.

 

The Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden is is at 270 Arlington Dr., across the street from Arlington Garden. It is open to the public the last Sunday of every month from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The cost is $7.50 and children 12 and under are free. Make your reservation online here.

* What ever happened to Kinzuchi Fujii? In the one suitcase the government allowed him to take to the internment camp, he carried his original plans for the garden and several photos of the work in progress. After Japanese Americans were released from the camps, his whereabouts become unknown. He never saw his masterpiece again.

UPDATE FROM BELLIS: "I did hear on a tour of the gardens that someone connected with the Haddads ran into Kinzuchi Fujii's son quite by chance in a San Diego restaurant. He said his father moved to San Diego after internment and was so upset by the way he had been treated that he couldn't bear to to visit the garden again."

Many thanks to the Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden and the Pasadena Museum of History.

Mystery History

Where are we? And what's happening?

The first person to guess correctly will win lunch with me -- I'll buy yours and you'll buy mine.

Remember, leave your brief guess as a comment on this blog post but don't try to give the entire back story (that's my job).

I'll have the full scoop on Thursday.