Mystery History -- Solved!

I liked the variety of guesses for this one, from "miners digging out the last of our coal and/or gold reserves" to "it has something to do with a dam being built at the bottom of Hahamongna."

Frank Girardot wins with his 3:56 p.m. Tuesday guess "building of the rose bowl in arroyo seco."

I tried to throw everybody off the scent by cropping in on this photo:


Architect Myron Hunt designed the Rose Bowl Stadium, which for several years was a horseshoe shape that was open on the south side. Here's Hunt, right, looking over an early model with builder William A. Taylor:


And here's an aerial shot of the nearly completed stadium:


But the project really began with laborers and mules. Imagine the back-breaking work of digging out all that dirt along with all those rocks and boulders.


In 1920, to fund the stadium's $272,000 construction, Myron Hunt, Tournament of Roses President William Leishman and several others devised a plan to sell subscription tickets for stadium events for the next 10 years at a cost of $10 per person per year -- $100 total -- all up front. It worked.

Construction took less than a year; the stadium was ready in time for the 1923 football game with USC vs. Penn State (USC won, 14 to 3).


And now the stadium is poised for a $171 million renovation and expansion. Design plans are going through the commission process and the financial plan will be coming to the Pasadena City Council soon.

It's a far cry from the $272,000 raised to build the stadium 90 years ago but it sure will be worth it!

I'll leave you with this aerial shot of the stadium during the BCS final game on Jan. 7 this year (Alabama 37, Texas 21):




Many thanks to the Pasadena Museum of History, Rose Bowl Stadium and Tournament of Roses Association.

Mystery History -- Solved

Elijah wins with his 7 a.m. Tuesday guess "Is Myron Hunt posing by the fountain in the Central Library courtyard at the library's dedication in 1927?"

In the photo above, architect Myron Hunt stands next to the courtyard fountain during dedication ceremonies for the new Pasadena Public Library on Feb. 12, 1927.

During the festivities Hunt gave the $586,000 building's keys to City Librarian Jeanette Drake (left in photo below) and received the Arthur Noble Civic Award from Franklin B. Cole, chairman of the Pasadena Board of City Directors (center).


Here's the award he received.


All of the Arthur Noble Civic Award recipients are listed on a wall plaque in the council chamber at Pasadena City Hall.



Learn more about the library's architecture here.

Myron Hunt designed many iconic buildings and other structures, including this little gem.

To answer Barbara Ellis's question, when the fountain was renovated in 2002, it was dedicated to long-time Pasadena Public Library Foundation volunteers Ann Jarvis Longyear and her husband Douglas McKay Longyear. The $15,000 cost of the renovation was donated by individuals specifically to honor the Longyears for their dedication. The renovation carefully preserved the flavor of the fountain, designed in 1927 to replicate one at the Alhambra in Granada, Spain.


Many thanks to Pasadena Public Library and Los Angeles Public Library.

Mystery History -- Solved

"JM in Pasadena" wins with his 7:48 a.m. Tuesday guess "It appears to be the Arroyo and the Rose Bowl is under construction." JM, you didn't include contact info, so please e-mail me at www.aerdman@cityofpasadena.net or call me at 744-4755 and I'll tell you about the fabulous prize!

In the photo above, workers (human and equine) are doing grading in 1920 in the Arroyo Seco in preparation for construction of the Rose Bowl Stadium.

The City of Pasadena had purchased the 10-acre piece of land in 1897.

Meanwhile, the first post-parade football game was played in 1902 in Tournament Park, pitting Stanford against Michigan. Michigan won 49-0.

With such a bitter loss for the west coast, football in Pasadena was replaced by chariot races for several years as the main post-parade sporting event.

(That's Throop University on the right, which would later become Caltech.)

Football returned as the main post-parade attraction in 1916. Every New Year's Day there was a football game in Tournament Park, but the crowds soon outgrew the park's capacity.

Meanwhile, the Tournament of Roses Association got busy raising the $272,000 needed to build the stadium, including the sale of 10-year subscription tickets for $100 each.

The name "Rose Bowl" was conceived for the stadium by Harlan W. Hall, a local reporter who was also the press agent for the Tournament of Roses Association.

Here's construction in progress in April 1922.


The first Rose Bowl Game -- UCLA vs. USC -- was played on Oct. 28, 1922.

Here's Jim Crowley, one of the legendary Four Horsemen of Notre Dame, carrying the ball against Stanford in 1925. Notre Dame won 27-10.


The stadium originally was a horseshoe shape. This aerial shot was taken in 1926.


The stadium was designed by Myron Hunt, who also designed Pasadena Central Library, Huntington Library and Occidental College.

Many thanks to Pasadena Public Library and the Rose Bowl Stadium for the photographs.

Please note that Mystery History will be on hiatus for the next two Tuesdays because I'll be out of town (but I'll keep blogging to let you know my whereabouts!).