I stumped everybody this week.
In the photo above, golfers Wayne Griggs (left) and Gil Gentry play through despite a runaway car that had landed on the rim of a sand trap at Carmelita Park on Nov. 19, 1951.
Pasadena Star-News Nov. 20, 1951:
Golfers yelled "Fore!" for a runaway automobile at the Carmelita Park Pitch and Putt course yesterday.Carmelita began as a huge private property owned by Dr. Ezra Carr and his wife Jeanne (more about that fascinating history here)
The car belonged to Mrs. Jane Cheeseman, 77, of 150 South Oak Knoll Avenue who left it in the parking lot while she worked in the Red Cross building.
Somehow the car slipped its brakes and rolled 100 yards downhill into the eighth fairway where three golfers were carefully studying their approach shots. They scattered just in time and the car wound up in the sand trap, police reported.
After the City of Pasadena took ownership of the land in 1941, the Carmelita Pitch and Putt course was established at the northeast corner of Colorado and Orange Grove boulevards.
Here are a couple of photos of the course, sans runaway cars:
Lofty plans originally calling for an extensive city park complete with a large, multifaceted cultural complex never came to fruition.
Today the property is owned by the City of Pasadena and leased by the Norton Simon Museum.
Many thanks to Pasadena Public Library and USC.
8 comments:
Fascinating.
Hold on now, the Norton Simon Museum is a multfaceted cultural complex!
xoxoxo
Et aussi, my Uncle Charlie said that turf was called the Pinch Your Butt Carmelita course. YOU ARE WRONG x2 buckle my shoe. 3, 4 shut the door! He should know, he's Italian.
I would never have guessed there was a golf course on that land! Though I hope they didn't cut down any trees and shrubs planted by John Muir. Knowing he was there, I will now look at the trees around the Norton Simon with reverence.
Many thanks for this, Ann.
I agree, Jean!
MG, I like that name better.
This is why I don't golf. The hazards.
I remember Carmelita. It is where my father introduced me to the game of golf. It is where my late brother, Danny, had his first hole-in-one at the third hole.
We used only three clubs -- a 9-iron, 7-iron and a putter -- and it was great.
I
I learned to golf at Carmelita, around 1960 or so. I recall the first hole had you driving due west towards Orange Grove, and in my youthful exuberance I sent my ball right into traffic on northbound Orange Grove, much to my father's consternation. By the time I returned to Pasadena in the early 70's, the golf course (pitch and putt) had been displaced by the new museum building, and I lamented the trees separating the fairways that were lost to the museum building. Some of the course would seem to be under the end of the 134, similar to the loss of some fairway space to the 210 at the Verdugo Hill golf course in the same era.
My friends Ralph and Rick lived down in Alhambra and Monterey Park. We were in grammar school and would get rides up and back or take a bus and play golf all day. For juniors, the first round was 35 cents; additional rounds were 20 cents!!! For a few dollars we would golf and eat all day long. Ah. What great memories. 🏌🏽♂️😂
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