A few blocks in Pasadena

Pasadena is lovely, always has been.  Lucky for us many of the older buildings remain.  About 25 years ago the western end of Colorado Blvd regentrified and became a very popular destination. It is interesting to see how the process is moving east along the Blvd. This is true of the original development of the city.

Colorado Blvd is the main street in Pasadena, like Wilshire in LA or Ventura Blvd. in the valley.

Yesterday I met a friend for lunch. I walked three short blocks and captured these wonderful details on the buildings.Linden Optometry, Yes, their marquee sort of gets in the way of the wonderful tile work, but not in a bad way. This is stunning tile work on an Art Deco building. Here is the info I found:

Warner Building

built 1927, by Jess Stanton

The Warner Building was built by Gladding, McBean and Company. It is remarkable for the incredible Art Deco green-glazed terra cotta grille over the display windows. The grille was designed by Jess Stanton of the Marston and Maybury design firm; he also did design work on the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. The Warner Building was originally occupied by a row of exclusive shops that catered to wealthy visitors, especially from the nearby Maryland Hotel. The building has long been occupied by Linden Optometry and is sometimes referred to as the Linden Optometry Building.

I got this info from this website City of Pasadena, unfortunately there was no way to link just to this info, so that is why I copied and pasted.  Btw, Gladding, McBean didn’t build the building, they made the tiles. They are the oldest tile company still in existence in California. One of these days I need to write a post just on that company.This looks like one big mold, I can easily find the repeat, but still, this isn’t a piece of fabric, it’s glazed terra cotta! I’d love more information about how was made.Here is the info about this building. Pasadena Star News building, today the Cordon Bleu Culinary institute is housed here. I love that I captured two of the students standing outside. That was pure coincidence.

The blade sign for 24 Fitness should probably come down, they aren’t there anymore. But then again, by now it might simply be part of the building. There isn’t purity in architectures, building change and evolve with time and that is ok.Across the street are more offices of the Cordon Bleu, in the window – decorative cakes. Really like the sugar sculpture of the swan and blue rose.Details, details. Patio World now occupies this building, I notice things like the cornice over the doorway.  The balcony is probably original, not sure about the scrolls that hold up the awning. If they are new – they work very well here.More design elements on the side of the building. My guess- more Gladding McBean Tile. I love how I captured the reflection of the palm tree. So SoCal.Along the side walk, decorative tile. This does not look like Gladding McBean at all. It could easily be Mexican tile.  Pasadena is full of decorative tile.The mosaic behind Vroman’s Bookstore. This mosaic is made of tile as well, not glass.Sorry the image is blurry. I shot this to show the tile risers, but yet again, I love the human and dog aspects of this picture much more.

Lunch was lovely, yes, I will be taking my camera with me where ever I go. There are interesting things to see – if you open your eyes, take a moment and look.