Everybody Loves a Big Red Fire Truck!

On Saturday a new ladder truck was dedicated at Fire Station 32, followed by a tour and celebration.

Yours truly with Grant Derderian (kid extraordinaire) and Beverly White (local resident and KNBC-TV reporter):


Grant's mom Lisa Derderian, Pasadena Fire Department's emergency management coordinator:


You should know by now that every time I mention Lisa in this blog, I have to bring up our bitter feud.

Deep cleansing breaths. OK, moving on...

There were families galore, with lots of children:






They queued up for a chance to climb aboard the ladder truck:







Firefighters explained the truck and its contents to visitors:



Fire Chief Dennis Downs chatted with guests:




Ladders:



What a grand afternoon!

Click here for a reminder of the last time fire apparatus was dedicated.

Drop by any Pasadena fire station one of these days and say hello to the men and women who help keep us safe every day!

Looking for Something to Do?

Sunday, March 13 --Change your clocks (and smoke detector batteries) for Daylight Saving Time.



Tuesday, March 15, at 10 a.m. – Come to the dedication of Pasadena's only pocket park, named for former City Councilman Sid Tyler.



Wednesday, March 16, at 1 p.m. – This week’s film in the Donald R. Wright Auditorium at Pasadena Central Libraryis “The Color Purple” (1985, PG-13) starring Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey in the story of an abused and uneducated African American woman’s struggle for empowerment.



Wednesday, March 16, at 1:30 p.m. – The 1,600 remaining vote-by-mail and provisional ballots will be counted.



Wednesday, March 16, at 6 p.m. – The Golden Badge Awards Dinner in the ballroom of the Westin Hotel, 191 N. Los Robles Ave., honors the founders of Tom Sawyer Camps and benefits the Pasadena Police Department’s Police Activities League (PAL), which provides educational, athletic and other activities to develop and maintain a bond between police officers and at-risk youths. Tickets are $175 and there are still several slots left! jill@mhpevents.com or (626) 791-1225.



Thursday, March 17, at 3:30 p.m. – Children will create stretchy, slimy, green goo for St. Patrick’s Day at La Pintoresca Branch Library.



Thursday, March 17, at 4 p.m. – Kids will embark on an enchanted afternoon of St. Patrick’s Day crafts at Hastings Branch Library.



Through March 17 -- Give your plants and lawn as much water as they’ll tolerate so they’ll be well-saturated before the 10-day ban on outdoor watering! And be sure to cover your flower beds with mulch to prevent soil from drying out.



Friday, March 18 -- This is the first day of a 10-day prohibition on outdoor watering in Pasadena.



Saturday, March 19, from Noon to 2 p.m. – Teens will watch anime on a big screen at Pasadena Central Library and see the new manga we’re adding to the collection.



ONE CITY, ONE STORY EVENTS

This year’s One City, One Story novel in Pasadena is Mudbound by Hillary Jordan, which takes place in the deep south after World War II. Related events are planned through March 31. Here are events taking place next week:

Wednesday, March 16, from noon to 1 p.m. – Bring a sack lunch to a Mudbound book discussion group in the Research Conference Hall at Huntington Hospital, 734 Fairmount Ave. (across from the Outpatient Center). Beverages and cookies will be provided. Park in the east parking structure just north of the Research Conference Hall. (626) 744-7270.

Thursday, March 17, at 4:30 p.m. – Mudbound book discussion group at Santa Catalina Branch Library.

Friday, March 18, at 2 p.m. – Mudbound book discussion group at Villa Parke Branch Library.

Saturday, March 19, at 10 a.m. – A panel of Pasadena residents, moderated by Larry Wilson at the Pasadena Senior Center, will share their experiences during World War II and the post-war period of the late ‘40s and early ‘50s.

Saturday, March 19, at 2 p.m. – Mudbound book discussion group at Linda Vista Branch Library.

See more information about Mudbound here.

See more community events (and add your own) here.


Please note all events are free unless otherwise noted.

Mystery History -- Solved!

Carolyn wins with her 9:46 p.m. Wednesday guess "It's the bell that was WWII booty being examined by Warren Dorn and a visitor from the town in Japan that was going to get it back." (Carolyn, you didn't include contact info in your profile, so please e-mail me at aerdman@cityofpasadena.net and I'll tell you about the fabulous prize.)

In the 1955 photo above, Pasadena Mayor Warren Dorn (left) and Japanese Consul Tatsuo Iwama examine an ancient Buddhist bell in the grand entrance of City Hall.

The bell made its first public appearance in this country during an open house aboard the USS Pasadena on June 30, 1946, at the ship's home port of Long Beach.

The 1,300-pound bell, which had hung at the Nishiarai Daishi Buddhist Temple in Tokyo for centuries, was claimed by USS Pasadena sailors after they found it in a wartime scrap metal heap in Japan.

The ship donated it to the City of Pasadena, and it hung on display in the grand entrance of City Hall for nine years.

In this 1951 photo, Mayor Alson Abernethy and his secretary stand at the bell.


After Buddhist religious groups in Japan urged their government to demand the bell's return, the U.S. State Department got involved and smoothed the way.

In May 1955 the Board of City Directors (now called the City Council), headed by Dorn, authorized City Manager Don. C. McMillan to prepare a letter of disposition.

Here's the portrait of Mayor Dorn from the Hall of Mayors:


And Mayor Abernethy:


Pasadena Independent -- June 23, 1955:

Pasadena's controversial Japanese temple bell began the long journey home yesterday -- or did it?

Japanese Consul Tatsuo Iwama took delivery of the centuries-old relic from Mayor Warren M. Dorn in ceremonies at Pasadena City Hall at 10 a.m. But the moving men aren't scheduled to cart it away until 8:30 this morning.

The bell was hung in the rotunda since men of the cruiser USS Pasadena gave it to the city in 1946.

Serving as agent for the transfer is David P. Bushnell, Pasadena importer of Japanese binoculars, who announced receipt of the following telegram from Priest Hamano of the temple:

"Sincere appreciation your thoughtful service for hastening bell's return, from all our members and parishioners. Restoration ceremony will be held on arrival."

Donating their services in transporting the relic are Republic Van and Storage Inc., which will take it to Los Angeles Harbor; Packers Ltd., which will crate it; and the Daldo Line and General Steamship Corp. Ltd., which will carry it to Japan on the SS Kochi Maru.

Many thanks to the fine research staff at Pasadena Public Library.

Mystery History

Where are we? And what's happening?

The first person to guess correctly will win a fabulous prize!

I'll have the full scoop on Thursday.

The Coundown Has Begun

The ban on outdoor watering begins next week!

From March 18 to 27, the F.E. Weymouth Water Treatment Plant in LaVerne will undergo a seismic retrofit, during which a major MWD water pipeline through the San Gabriel Valley that supplies about 40 percent of Pasadena's imported water will be shut down.

Everyone in Pasadena will be prohibited from doing any outdoor watering, with very few exceptions.

Beginning this Friday and through March 17, give your gardens and shrubs as much water as you like so they'll be well-saturated during the March 18 to 27 shutdown, then cover flower beds with mulch to prevent the soil from drying out.


If you have a gardener, be sure that person is aware of the watering restrictions! You don't want your gardener to unknowingly put you at risk of a citation and fine.

If you have a sprinkler system, be sure to set the timer so it's turned off from March 18 to 27.

If you don't have a sprinkler system, that doesn't mean you're off the hook! All methods of outdoor watering with city tap water, including by hand, hose, drip, manual and automatic sprinklers, will be strictly prohibited during the shutdown, at all times.

See more information, including tips and answers to frequently asked questions, here.

Ten days will pass quickly, I promise!

Oh, and don't go saying the shutdown isn't necessary since we've had a lot of rain lately. A few inches of rain has done little for our natural supply of water in Pasadena and certainly has nothing to do with 40 percent of our water supply from an outside source.

I'm just sayin'...

Mystery History -- Solved!

Jean wins with her 7:36 a.m. Tuesday guess "Caltech with Charles Richter, showing off his seismographs."

In the photo above, Dr. Charles Richter makes a post-retirement visit in 1976 to the Seismology Lab at Caltech, where his Richter Magnitude Scale was in full swing for quantifying the size of earthquakes.

Richter, who died in 1985 (and is buried at Mountain View Cemetery), was a Caltech seismologist for 42 years until his retirement as professor emeritus in 1970.

A year before finishing his doctorate degree in 1928 in theoretical physics, he applied for an opening for a physicist at the new seismological laboratory.


He invented the Richter Scale in 1935.

He never won the coveted Nobel Prize, but it has been awarded to more than 30 Caltech professors and researchers.

And now the spotlight is on the Caltech Men's Basketball Team, which finally ended its 310-game, 26-year losing streak last week when the freethrow shot heard 'round the world earned the Caltech Beavers a 46-45 victory over Occidental in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (SCIAC).

What, you didn't know there were sports teams at Caltech? Well, look again.




Last year Caltech competed in the first annual Pasadena Collegiate Field Tournament against Art Center College of Design, Fuller Theological Seminary, Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts, Pacific Oaks College and Pasadena City College:



Caltech seized the day!



The 2011 Pasadena Collegiate Field Tournament will be on Friday, April 8, at 6:30 p.m. at Pasadena City College's Robinson Stadium. Come cheer on your favorites!


Many thanks to Caltech for the photos of Dr. Richter and the Men's Basketball Team.

Mystery History

Where are we? And what's happening?

The person to guess correctly will win a fabulous prize!

I'll have the full scoop on Thursday.