looking north on los robles ave

down colorado

while crossing the crosswalk on los robles the other day i decided i wanted a shot in the middle of the street.  in my haste i neglected to hold the camera at the proper angle - but i'm actually quite happy with the result.

dena burgers

woah - what happened to mi ranchito, and what in the world is dena burger?

just a few of the questions i had the other day as i walked by the former mexican restaurant on the corner of los robles and orange grove.  mi ranchito appears to have gone the way of so many other businesses at this intersection.  i guess it shouldn't surprise me.  people seemed to prefer getting their tacos, burritos, and other mexican street food from the butcher counter at king baja ranch (oddly enough you can still buy coupons to mi ranchito from restaurant.com).

dena burgers (like pasa-"dena", get it?) seems like your standard los angeles county burger stop.  the menu includes a small selection of other sandwiches, plus breakfast items, burritos, pastrami, and stuff like that.  i ordered the cheeseburger and fries, and while it was certainly worth eating, it wasn't anything overly special.  the bun was enormous - maybe too big for the patty - and the fries were thinner shoestring-sized - pretty similar to the kind you find at chains with golden arches.

granted, this was just their second day in business, but i'd much rather go down the street to fatburger, or up the hill to connals.  but this place is really close to where we live, so i'm sure i will give it another shot.

not a good use of water

a fire hydrant was knocked over by a runaway car on our street this weekend.  it was quite a sight to behold, but did make my stomach churn as i watched thousands of gallons of water get wasted in front of my eyes.

palmed sky

every once in a while i have to pinch myself.


this is where we live? 

more skywatch friday photography from across the blogosphere can be found, right here.

revisited

i thought it might be fun to go back and re-photograph some of my earlier photo subjects.  i've posted two images of this building.  one way back in january of 2008, and the other in march of that same year.

both of those images are quite different - the sky, the lighting, the perspective, etc.  but i also noticed that the 'farmers' sign has come down.

i'm going to keep browsing through my old photos to see if there are others that i could revisit.  let me know if you have any suggestions.

fleeting

here is one more pasadena sky for you all as 2010 winds down.

more skywatch friday (even though this is thursday) can be found right here.

it was a crazy day of precipitation

see

i've held off talking about our recent wet weather because...  well, i wasn't sure i had anything special to add.  but wednesday afternoon's downpour was so amazing that i figured i better take some pictures.

i want you to take a close look at the above photo - see that white stuff in the grass?  that is hail (additional photo below).  see that gray matter where the sidewalk should be?  yeah, that's a river.  see the van that is waiting to turn out into the road?  yeah, water is pouring through his front wheels.

i can't imagine what is going on up in our mountains, and in the communities at the foot of the mountains.  i haven't heard anything too terrible yet, but if the rain keeps coming, who knows what will happen.

certainly there is cause for concern at our various runoff basins and water channels across los angeles county.

corner of villa and los robles

wispy clouds

short and simple, another pasadena sky photo for skywatch friday.

we are not an agency

those who hung these fliers on the top of this lamp post seriously want people to understand that they are NOT an agency.  i thought i'd pass their interesting message along.

today i'm venturing out to burbank with a few loyal friends to experience the baseball reliquary's "ball four turns forty" event.  i really can't wait!

kaiser permanente building

one of pasadena's large buildings, located along los robles, just south of the 210.  today it gets featured as the skywatch friday offering.

perdue's bbq & catering

sigh.

i'm not sure why it has taken me so long to get to this place. friends have told me i would enjoy it. bloggers have told me they make excellent southern barbecue. heck, even their yelp reviews are solid. and the worst part, i live less than half a block away.

after recently discovering a pasadena blogger who appears to be a kindred spirit, (sharing a love of baseball and barbecue) and reading his review of perdue's, i knew i had to take the plunge.


i knew right away i was in for a treat. i had called in my order, so the woman working there called me by name when i walked in the door - wow. I turned to my left and saw a baseball glove hanging on the wall next to some negro baseball league paraphernalia. i was hooked and i hadn't even tasted the food!

well, the food was wonderful. the ribs were moist and delicious, and the spicy sauce was actually spicy. i chose the baked beans and mac and cheese as my side dishes, and both were spot on. the cornbread muffins were a little dry, but dipped in some stray barbeque sauce made them go down easy too. this place took me back to our time in virginia eating meals at wonderful places like bbq ranch, the smokin' pig, or fat boys pork palace.


a little slice of heaven in my own backyard.

the corner of los robles and orange grove

this mixed use complex has always caught my eye. probably due to the fact that it doesn't really feel like it fits in with the rest of this particular street corner. it is home to several small businesses that continue to open, exist for a few months, and then close.

at the corner of los robles and orange grove

down on the corner. i hope you like it. enjoy your saturday!

bicycling in the rain

it has been unseasonably wet in southern california this week. we don't usually get much rain, so when it rains for more than a few hours in one day people take notice. it has been raining almost non-stop so far this week, and as you can tell by the edge of the street in the bottom of this photo, it is raining more than the streets and gutters can hold.

this cyclist is hardcore. i'm sure this is a common sight in places like portland or seattle, but not in los angeles county. i consider myself to be an avid rider, but even i'm not really willing to go out in this mess. congrats - whoever you are!

fuller seminary throwback aerial photo

borrowing a theme from our ann erdman, our public information officer's fantastic mystery history series, i'd like to show you a photograph i have very information on, nor did i take this photo myself.

this image was found on fuller's campus by one of my coworkers. he snagged it when someone in our building was cleaning out their office. i'm not sure of the year, or who took this photo, or even how it survived. But those who are familiar with the area will notice several very interesting things. orient yourself with city hall in the upper left corner, with los robles and oakland as the two visible horizontally moving roads, and walnut and union as the visible verticly aligned streets.

a few things i noticed...

- the massive parking lot behind all saints church where plaza los fuentes now stands
- oakland avenue goes right through fuller's campus where a tree-lined walkway now appears
- there is no trace of our, ahem... beautiful courthouse
- obviously fuller's new library is not in the picture
- likewise, the pasadena museum of california art and the pacific asia museum are missing

so can someone give me an estimation of when this photo was taken? can you spot other differences between now and then?

how did this happen?

i don't really remember taking this photo. must have been an accident. but i sure do like how this little accident turned out!


by the way - "art smog" is a new area photo blog that was recently created by a friend of mine. check it out.

more perspectives on the la canada fire

the smoke continues to billow from the forest fires north of la canada. plenty of other bloggers are writing about this massive fire that is clouding the sky in the san gabriel valley. everything tastes like ashes.

petrea's photos here and here, x3, x4(big)
pio right here, x2, x3
kchblog, here, x3, x4
little homestead, x2, x3
laurie's perspective in south pas. x2, x3, x4, x5, x6, x7(big), x8, x9
hometown pasadena, x2
keith over in monrovia, x2, x3, x4, x5(big)
some german insight from hoecki
deb at altadena daily photo, x2, x3
hatching a patch
west coast grrlie
mr. earl, x2
stan's blog, x3
east of allen, x2, x3
daily photo la, x2
pasadena adjacent, x2
altadena hiker, x2
grow something new
brian and kelly
firefighter blog
matthew j krabill
loving pretty things
gershom's journal
john barkman photography
cafe pasadena
and of course the always fantastic altadenablog.

altadena hiker has a fantastic rundown of the aftermath.

pasadena rose magazine has a great rundown of places to get your info.

the pasadena star news also has a slideshow.

the sky is glowing in pasadena

i've been skywatching for a little while now. you can see my past photos here.

more skywatch friday photos from photoblogs across the world can be found at the following link.