One Night Only

Last night was the members only reception at the Pasadena Museum of History for my Mystery History exhibition and Dan McLaughlin's Pasadena Pursuit exhibition. 

It was so nice to see Jim Laris, former owner and publisher of the Pasadena Weekly, there as well as so many other friends and fellow bloggers!

I had three additional Mystery History photos on display -- one at the check-in table and two at the bar -- and visitors were encouraged to answer the two important questions for each: Where are we? And what's happening?

More than 100 people came for the event, and it was really fun to award prizes right there on the spot and explain the back stories for each of the photos.

So where are we in each of these photos? And what's happening?

In the top photo, shot by Pasadena Star-News photographer Walt Mancini in 1986, children climb the Ant Wall at the original Kidspace Children's Museum inside the McKinley School gymnasium where it was located for 20 years before moving to the former Fannie E. Morrison Horticultural Center at Brookside Park. See my Dec. 13, 2012, blog post here.

In the second photo, shot circa 1917, the first dedicated Pasadena City Hall, at the northeast corner of Fair Oaks Avenue and Union Street, is all decked out with patriotic decorations and messages during World War I. See my June 25, 2009, Mystery History blog post here.

In the third photo, shot in 1973, two men work on the construction project for Ambassador Auditorium. I never did a Mystery History blog post that was specific to Ambassador Auditorium but I did include a photo and information in my Mystery History post about the former Ambassador College campus where the auditorium is located. See that March 13, 2013, blog post here. 

Dan and I had a great time greeting guests to our exhibitions, speaking about our work and awarding prizes for our respective one-night-only contests.

The exhibitions will be up until March 29.

Many thanks to the Pasadena Museum of History and Wendy Anderson.