Devil’s Gate Dam – Portal To Hell? That’s what several sites on the Internet say (so it must be true?). Devil’s Gate is a deep, narrow spot in the Arroyo Seco separating La Cañada from Altadena, spanned now by a dam and a couple of bridges. It used to be called Devil’s Gate Gorge until […]
A Camping Trip to La Cañada, July 1882 Local history author and researcher Jo Anne Sadler found a wonderful newspaper article from 1882 describing a family’s month-long camping adventure in the wilds of today’s La Cañada. Mysteriously the author (from Pasadena) never gave his name in the article, only his initials: W.O.F. Who knows, maybe […]
The Montrose Theater – Then and Now The story of Montrose is a tale of rebirth and success – fond memories of a small-town Midwest-styled “Main Street,” a successful rebirth as a lushly landscaped shopping park in the late ’60s, and its renaissance today as a family-friendly mecca for restaurants and unique mom-and-pop stores. But […]
The Mystery of Goss Canyon’s Name Nearly all of our canyons on the both the Verdugo and San Gabriel Mountains have family names attached to them. Pickens Canyon, named for Theodore Pickens who homesteaded there in 1871. Hall-Beckley Canyon, named for Thomas Hall who purchased the land in 1874. Dunsmore Canyon for James Dunsmore, and […]
‘So What’s Going to Happen to Rockhaven Sanitarium?’ I often get asked that question, and my answer is invariably, “It will become a park.” As a refresher for those who don’t know about Rockhaven Sanitarium: It was established in 1923 by a nurse who was horrified by the treatment of the mentally ill, particularly women. […]
‘Burn, Baby, Burn – Disco Inferno’ (On Foothill Boulevard) The 1976 lyrics of the hit song came true for La Crescenta’s one and only disco one hot October night in 1980. Sherlock’s Restaurant and Disco burned to the ground. The Dundee family had been successful restaurateurs in La Crescenta for several decades. Former pro boxer […]
The Tujunga Mining District Few realize that there was a significant gold rush in Big Tujunga Canyon in the late 1880s in what was then known as the “Tujunga Mining District.” This little known chapter of history is documented by my good friend Cecile Vargo in her history blog ExploreHistoriCalif.com, from which I draw most […]
Abandoned Mines Around Us Mining was a common pursuit in the Los Angeles area from the Spanish era through the American period until WWII when most mining ceased. The minerals searched for were (of course) gold, but also silver, copper, tin, coal and graphite. Even “liquid gold” – water – was mined in those early […]
Famous Artwork on the Front of a Local Bank There’s a very famous piece of public art on the edge of the Crescenta Valley that few locals have ever acknowledged. It’s mounted on the front of a local bank that I, and I’m sure most of my readers, have driven by hundreds of times and […]
“Nature Boy” Lived in Big Tujunga Canyon “There was a boy, a very strange enchanted boy…” These were the opening lines of Nat King Cole’s hit song, “Nature Boy.” The song was a semi-autobiographical piece written by the famous Los Angeles pre-hippie icon Eden Ahbez, whose main home (campsite really) was in Big Tujunga Canyon. […]