#5 negative - cost of housing

august will be the last month of the sky is big in pasadena.  

i have accepted a position at salford mennonite church in harleysville, pennsylvania.  we will be moving in september, so august will be my farewell month to the city of pasadena.  when we moved here from virginia i posted a list of the ten things i would miss most about harrisonburg.  i figured that would be a good way to end our time here, so each day i will be doing one final rundown of life in this great city.  i have prepared two lists - ten things i won't be sad to leave behind, and twenty of my absolute favorite things about pasadena.  i am going to start with ten positives and ten negatives, alternating back and forth each day.  concluding with my top ten things about life in pasadena.

#5 negative - cost of housing

let's face it.  los angeles county is an expensive place to live.  pasadena isn't one of the cheaper neighborhoods either.  the building featured in today's photo lists their condo prices on their website.  for around $500,000 you can purchase a one-bedroom condo in this old town pasadena location.

half a mil.  for one bedroom.  this is something we clearly will not miss.

#17 - old town pasadena

august will be the last month of the sky is big in pasadena.  

i have accepted a position at salford mennonite church in harleysville, pennsylvania.  we will be moving in september, so august will be my farewell month to the city of pasadena.  when we moved here from virginia i posted a list of the ten things i would miss most about harrisonburg.  i figured that would be a good way to end our time here, so each day i will be doing one final rundown of life in this great city.  i have prepared two lists - ten things i won't be sad to leave behind, and twenty of my absolute favorite things about pasadena.  i am going to start with ten positives and ten negatives, alternating back and forth each day.  concluding with my top ten things about life in pasadena.

#17 - old town pasadena

slightly trendy and a bit more upscale than we usually appreciate, we've still loved how close we are to this pasadena hotspot.  old town has a bit of everything.  it is walkable, accessible, and certainly one of the most appealing things about life in pasadena.  today's photo is of the corner where the kitchen is located - one of our favorite places to eat in old town.

here's a treat!

a tasty photo from old town pasadena's favorite frozen yogurt joint, 21 choices.

i have something big planned for tomorrow, and for all of august.  but for now, i know what you are all waiting for - the answer to thursday's trivia contest!

there were only six correct answerers who submitted "memorial park".  i'm not sure if that is because only six people were interested in prize i was offering, or if the question was just too hard for many of my readers who don't live in pasadena.  either way, a random number was selected by random.org...

 
and since timmy was the first person with the correct answer, he wins the copy of helen of pasadena!  congrats mr. tim.  i hope you enjoy.  for those who missed out, you can still buy a copy for yourself at your local bookstore, or by visiting the online monster linked below...

kings row gastropub

recently groupon had a deal at one of old town pasadena's latest foodie destinations.  "perfect!", i thought to myself, "i've been wanting to try kings row gastropub".

although i must admit, the recent restaurant trend to develop a decent beer selection, make well-crafted pub food, and charge a hugely inflated price, has made me a bit frustrated.  looking at their online menu confirmed that they had a good beer selection, and (sadly) the prices were on the high side for a pub, but the groupon deal persuaded me that i would take the plunge anyway.

fortunately, the food here was really excellent, and the atmosphere was really cool.  there is a nice little patio that backs on to one of old town's many alleyways, and the service was friendly and pretty smooth.  i'm not sure we will return and pay full price, but perhaps a return during their happy hour time slot will happen in the future.

pasadena bike week 2011

oh what a week it was.

another pasadena bike week has come and gone.  i wasn't able to get to everything i wanted to, but i did make it to several events including (clockwise from upper left) the bike to work celebration at city hall, bicycle valet in downtown los angeles at angel city brewing, bicycle riders during art night, and saturday's party to end bike week at one colorado.

old town pasadena at dusk

more skywatch friday from around the blog-o-sphere can be found right here.

family meal at the seafood grill

we had family in town this week and they were hungry for some seafood.  so we grabbed this coupon and headed back to the seafood grill in old town.

the baby isn't quite old enough for fresh fish or sushi, but the rest of us had a great meal.

december theme day: time

one of old town pasadena's newest sugar destinations is rocket fizz - a small chain of stores specializing in an incredible variety of soft drinks and candy.  like a kid in a candy store, i felt trapped in time as i browsed isles of nostalgic treats of my sugary childhood.

do you want to travel back to a simpler and sweeter time?  check them out on green street in old town.  as usual, the first of the month is theme day - many other members of the city daily photo family are working with the theme of time today.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

a dark alleyway

i don't often think about old town pasadena as a dark place, but this image turned out almost frighteningly bleak.  the wet pavement, the dim lighting, and even the old red brick exterior made this image appear to be from some other town entirely.

intelligentsia pasadena

i'm way behind on this one - many local bloggers have already visited and given their two cents on pasadena's new upscale coffee destination (here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).  but high end coffee just doesn't excite me too much.

then i heard that they partnered with my favorite local brewery to make a coffee laced belgian beer known as "stimulus".  uh oh.  i guess that meant it was time to head to old town.

i made the trip and checked it out.  intelligentsia is a trendy place to grab a bite to eat or your favorite beverage (the beer was spectacular by the way).  a bit upscale, this place reminded me of a cool coffee shop in a college town - except in pasadena, it becomes a sneaky way to serve well made quality items at premium prices.

it is certainly one of the coolest places in old town to hang out - and the fact that they serve great beer just made them that much cooler.

crepes!

pasadena's newest crepe destination, "crepe studio", is now open for business.  it was late at night, and i was too full to stop by and sample their food when i took this photo, but i hope to make it sometime soon.

after all, those who read brigham yen's fantastic blog know that he is offering his readers a tasty discount.

out of treats?

look closely at that sign in the window.  on halloween night, stores in old town pasadena offer treats to youngsters dressed up for the occasion.  when they are out of treats, they place this disappointing sign in the window.

but - take a closer look at the image.  that store is FILLED with treats.  okay, so maybe they ran out of bite sized snickers, but so what?  they should have started handing out the other incredible chocolaty treats they have on hand!

in all fairness, temptations wasn't the only store who ran dry well before the 9pm trick-or-treat end time (poor kids), but their store front just seemed too ironic to not snap off a photo to share.

old town details

this corner has been home to several restaurants in just under three years of our life in pasadena. for that reason, i rarely take much time to even look at this building. it is possible that ix tapa will break the trend and become a lasting presence in old town, but i can't be sure about that.

so the other day as i walked by, i happened to look up. and as it turned out, this building has quite a crown! the masonry and decoration on the top few feet of this building is incredible. all of the mediocrity on the ground floor has prevented me from ever looking too closely, and as it turns out i was missing out on something pretty special.

click on the image and take a look at the top. you'll see what i mean! do any locals know if this building has a name?

big city hot dogs

one of old town's newest fast food eateries is big city hot dogs. as the name implies, they specialize in dogs in the style of several of america's hot dog loving cities (chicago dog pictured above). the menu lists a variety of topping options with city flare.


we were happy with our order, but nothing was particularily spectacular about our time there. our dogs were steamed (or boiled?) and i always prefer if they are grilled. aside from that it was a fun place to eat a quick lunch.

a side note - a google search comes up with zero hits for an actual business website. do these kinds of start up businesses think they can exist without getting their cyberface on? i can't fathom thinking this way.

the seafood grill

before i begin this post, i must give a tip of my hat to brigham yen's blog, that alerted me this week of the grand opening and 50% off celebration happening at pasadena's new seafood grill.

we were able to visit yesterday and found their menu to be filled with fresh seafood delights. meredith ordered the grilled mahi mahi, and i went with the fried calamari. neither of us were disappointed, and because of the 50% off deal for opening week, our bill came to only $9. i had forgotten to take a photo of our plates before we started eating, so the serving sizes are a little off from what you actually receive.


if you have some time, wander down to old town and visit the place! it was filled with happy customers when we were there, and i'm sure many of them will be returning to sample something else from the expansive menu before this week's discount has finished on saturday.

which barney's?

old town pasadena includes barney's ltd and barney's beanery. you would think that someone would have caved and changed their name to avoid confusion.

anyway, this is a photo of barney's ltd - home of a decent happy hour menu and massive (although somewhat unexciting) list of beer.

naga naga ramen

i've been wanting to check this place out since reading this review done by another area blogger. it didn't help that many of my friends had been, and gave rave reviews of that new restaurant with the big fish tank.

how good can ramen be? doesn't it cost about 7 cents for a pack in the grocery store? well, naga naga has figured it out. these people know how to make some tasty noodles! as there slogan says - slurpin' good!

snowflakes fall on old town pasadena

this is as close as we get to seeing snow in town.

we're heading east today to spend time with family in ohio. we may get to see some actual snow there, as well as a few family members. we'll be back for christmas day.

the pasadena trolley

i might need some help on this one. every once in a while I see trolleys shuttling people around old town pasadena, but i don't know how frequently this happens. is it just during special occasions? on weekends? help me out here people.

beyond the olive

beyond the olive is one of old town pasadena's newest shops. they specialize in - you guessed it - olive oil! most of their product is made right here in the state of california. best of all, you can sample anything in the store before you buy it. the metal containers on the left side of the photo are from the wide selection of oils that are available to be filled and re-filled from one of their house bottles. they also sell a wide variety of balsamic vinegars too. check them out!