A big hole in Pasadena

Next year, repertory theater troupe A Noise Within (the name is from a stage direction in Hamlet) will be moving out of the old Masonic temple on Glendale's Brand Boulevard that has served as its home for the past 19 seasons.

Construction site for A Noise Within's new theater in East Pasadena.

Their new state-of-the-art theater is under construction now at 3360 East Foothill Boulevard in East Pasadena, on the site of the Stuart Company Building, the erstwhile live-work-play campus of a major pharmaceutical firm designed in 1956 by Edward Durell Stone, architect of Radio City Music Hall and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Façade of Edward Durell Stone's 1956 Stuart Company Building.

The original building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, was converted into Mad Men–worth mid-century apartments, The Stuart at Sierra Madre Villa, a couple of years ago, with additional new units added behind the original building.

Rendering of the new theater exterior.

While the current Glendale theater has a certain decrepit charm, the new space, designed by Los Angeles–based John Berry Architects, will use Stone's original concrete screen but will rise three stories, with new parts being fabricated to match the building's existing façade. The theater will also provide more backstage space, education facilities and a library.

Construction is in the hands of Matt Construction, who have worked on projects such as the Skirball Cultural Center and the most recent renovation of the Hollywood Bowl.

Rendering of the new theater interior.

I recently attended A Noise Within's season opening in Glendale, a stunning production of Shakespeare's "problem play" Measure for Measure, and was blown away. I can only imagine what the new facility will do to enhance their talent and vision.

Crime of the Week

Bobolini, of Fahrenheit Studios, who occasionally serves as my west-of-the-405 scout, recently found this gem lurking on Abbot Kinney Boulevard.

Abode of the 45° people?

As Bobolini reports: "I am most impressed with the position of the antennae." Indeed, the right-hand aerial seems to be pointed unrelentingly in the direction of the great nebula in Orion, perhaps receiving transmissions from the home planet.

More on the Durand mansion

As you may have noticed, landscape planner Mayita Dinos (who did indeed design Arlington Garden), left a nice comment on that thread.

She was kind enough to forward several photos of the Durand mansion, which once stood on that site.

The Durand mansion.

It was a massive pile—heavy and ornate, would-be casual yet hopelessly ponderous in a late 19th-century way that the Greene brothers and other Craftsman-era architects strove to clear their (and our) heads of.

A carriage ride in Pasadena's year-round summer.

The house looks like a curiosity from a bygone era in the 1961 photo below, in which I assume it must be playing host (somewhat unwillingly, one suspects) to the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts. These ladies seem to be regarding it with the same curious air with which they would have studied a dinosaur skeleton at the Natural History Museum.

The house in 1961.

As Mayita explains, "The Durand house had a planting of Cherokee roses all the way down Arlington Drive. We have planted Cherokee roses along the split rail fence [at Arlington Garden] to commemorate the Durand house."

View of Arlington Drive and other large houses on Orange Grove Boulevard.

A horticultural find

While looky-looing condos (a bad habit I admit I am powerless to resist), I stumbled across Pasadena's very well-hidden Arlington Garden.

Arlington Garden, Pasadena.

The property, on northwest corner of Arlington Drive and Pasadena Avenue, is now owned by CalTrans but was the former site of the 1901 Durand mansion, evidently a victim of the quixotic plan to link the 210 Freeway and the Pasadena Freeway (which has now reverted to its original and much more appropriate monker, the Arroyo Seco Parkway).

If anyone has photos of tnhe Durand mansion, please let me know—I can't seem to unearth any.

As deserted as Gethsemane.

There wasn't a single soul in the place on this late Sunday afternoon, but somebody's corn was high.

An informal planting of truck.

Next time, I will bring a book.

Hidden in plain sight.

More history here. The official website.


Very talented landscape designer Mayita Dinos evidently had something to do with the garden's layout and planting. Visit her website for some photos of other stunning gardens she has created.

Hollywood food shopping, then and now

Hollywood seems to have always catered remarkably well, both in the past and in the present, to the human demand for food and, more particularly, to its residents' demand for good foodstuffs.

Hollywood Farmers Market, then.

Hollywood Farmers Market, now.

A Hollywood market at night, then.

A Hollywood market at night, now.

A little remodel in Pasadena

This two-bedroom on Madia Street in Pasadena's Linda Vista neighborhood has just hit the listings at an optimistic $829,000.

1204 Madia Street, Pasadena

This little charmer is nothing if not cute and seems to be well laid-out in its plan, but I couldn't resist making it a bit . . . well, less ordinary.

1204 Madia Street, Pasadena (concept)

Funny how a remodel can make the spirit—and the sky—more rosy.