Pasadena Becomes a City: 1886-1920
In
1886 Pasadena incorporated, largely as a measure
to rid the city of its saloon. In the ensuing
decade, amenities such as sewers, paved streets,
and electric street lighting were installed. On
January 1, 1890, the Valley Hunt Club initiated
a mid-winter festival with a procession of
flower-bedecked horses and carriages. This
became a yearly tradition that in 1898 was
formally sponsored by the
Tournament of Roses Association. An added
tourist attraction was the Echo Mountain incline
railway which opened in 1893 and included a
mountain chalet resort and the Alpine Tavern at
Crystal Springs.
The cultural and educational
side of the city was not
neglected. The educational system expanded
in both the public and private sector. Throop
Polytechnic Institute (first named Throop
University) was founded in 1891 and later became
the California
Institute of Technology. Pasadena had a
Shakespeare Club and a Grand Opera House
(never very successful) and numerous civic and
cultural organizations.
In the early 1900's more grand
hotels were built. The city government was
reorganized and in 1901 Pasadena became a
charter city with an elected mayor. The city
population grew from 9,117 in 1900 to 30,291 by
1910. The population included Chinese and
Mexicans, who were brought in to work on the
railroads, and Blacks, who moved in and started
small businesses or worked as servants in the
big houses and hotels. The area of the city
increased through annexations, first of sections
to the north and east, then in 1914 San Rafael
Heights and Linda Vista, which had been
physically linked to the city by the Colorado
Street Bridge in 1913. Some of the best
architects settled in Pasadena, which became
known for its fine architecture, particularly
the Craftsman style, perfected by Greene and
Greene.
All photographs courtesy of
the
Pasadena Public Library unless otherwise
noted
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Pasadena's Golden Age: 1920-1930
Through
the end of the 1920's, Pasadena continued to
enjoy a reputation as a tourist center and
winter resort for the wealthy. The city had much
to offer culturally. The Pasadena Community
Playhouse was incorporated in 1917 and moved to
the new
Pasadena Playhouse in 1925. A 100-inch
telescope was installed atop
Mt. Wilson
under the direction of Dr. George Ellery Hale in
1917. The Pasadena City Junior College
District was created in 1924. The Grace
Nicholson Gallery (which became the Pasadena Art
Institute in 1943 and is now the
Pacific Asia Museum) was completed in 1926
and the Pasadena Civic Symphony Orchestra and
Civic Chorus was founded by Tuesday Musicale in
1929. The city government, which changed to a
Board of Directors/City Manager structure in
1921, expanded municipal facilities. The
Rose
Bowl stadium and Brookside Park recreation
facility were built. A 1923 city bond issue
financed the construction of a handsome Civic
Center, consisting of the Central Library
(opened on February 12, 1927), City Hall (opened
on December 27, 1927) and the Civic Auditorium
(which opened in 1932).
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Pasadena Endures the Depression and War:
1930-1950
The Depression signaled the end
of an era for Pasadena, disrupting its tourist
economy which never resumed at its previous
level. The number of industrial establishments,
which numbered only 159 in 1929, decreased even
further to 83 in 1933. In 1930, the city
population was 76,086. Ten years later it had
increased by less than 8% to 81,864. Despite
this, a 1939 study conducted by Dr. Edward
Thorndike of Columbia University on the general
goodness of life in U.S. cities rated Pasadena
as the best city of all in which to live.
World War II ushered in a turnabout, and set
Pasadena on the path to modern industrial
growth. During the war, hotels in Pasadena were
used as military command headquarters. The Vista
del Arroyo Hotel was purchased by the Army and
became a convalescent hospital for the wounded.
Led by Caltech and the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, which became focal points of
research and development for the war effort,
Pasadena evolved into a center for industrial
research and light manufacture of scientific and
electronic precision instruments. By 1954 there
were 394 industrial establishments in Pasadena.
The
completion in 1940 of the Arroyo Seco Parkway,
the first freeway in the west, provided a fast
and direct route from Pasadena to Los Angeles.
Pasadena became an attractive place to live for
people working in industrial areas in Los
Angeles. In the postwar boom, newcomers flocked
to Pasadena.
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Pasadena Faces the Challenge:
1950-1970
By 1950 the population was 104,777, including
a significant increase in the Black population
(from 3,900 in 1940 to 7,800 in 1950). In the
mid-'40's and early '50's, to relieve the
housing shortage, new housing tracks were opened
in the Linda Vista, San Rafael and Allendale
areas and to the east in the Hastings Ranch and
Coronet areas. Retail sales showed a steady
increase and in 1947 the opening of Bullock's
heralded what was to become an exclusive
shopping area on South Lake Avenue. A new
shopping center opened in Hastings Ranch in
1956.
With growth came problems. The city once famed
for its salubrious climate was now inundated
with smog. As the business district moved east
of Fair Oaks and Colorado, the area that was
once the heart of the city became dilapidated,
with high vacancy rates and declining property
values. In much of the city's pre-1929 housing,
middle income families moved out and low income
families moved in. Minority populations were
heavily concentrated in the older sections of
the city. The early '60's saw some major
companies leave Pasadena due to lack of land for
expansion. Although the problem of central city
decline was pointed out in a major report in
1959, little was done to remedy it until the
early seventies. An April 27, 1969 Los Angeles
Times article on Pasadena was entitled
"Pasadena's Crown City Image Tarnished: White
Flight, Urban Blight, School Problems."
The
year of 1969 marked the opening of the Pasadena
Art Museum of Modern Art (now the
Norton Simon Museum of Art) and the closure
of the renowned Pasadena Playhouse, sold at
auction after years of financial difficulties.
Plans for the Foothill and Long Beach Freeways,
which would link Pasadena to major arteries on
the east, west and south were underway, removing
parcels of land from the tax rolls as well as
low-priced housing occupied by minorities, the
elderly and low-income families.
The seventies were a period of economic
revitalization, primarily under direction of the
Pasadena Redevelopment Agency. Large
corporations relocated their headquarters to
Pasadena, the Conference Center was built, and
the Plaza Pasadena retail shopping mall was
completed. Millions of square feet of office
space were created, as well as many new
condominium projects and commercial buildings.
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Pasadena Seeks to Balance
Growth & Preservation: 1970-Present
With growth and new
development came concern for preserving the
unique quality of life in Pasadena. Neighborhood
and preservation groups joined forces in 1981 to
defeat a proposal to build two high-rise towers
in downtown Pasadena. That same year, the
Pasadena Redevelopment Agency was disbanded. A
citizen initiative to restrict growth was passed
in 1989. It was later repealed by voters in
1992, in conjunction with revising the General
Plan to respond to growth management issues.
An
awakened respect for the city's architectural
treasures led to the renovation of historic
homes and buildings throughout the city. Nowhere
was this more apparent than in Old Pasadena,
where the city's business district first
started. Revitalization of this area occurred
throughout the eighties, and culminated at the
end of 1992 with the completion of the One
Colorado historic block. Transformed into a
restaurant and entertainment center, Old
Pasadena has become a major attraction in
Southern California.
In the eighties, population growth accompanied
development. Between 1980 and 1990, the
population of Pasadena increased by 11%,
becoming more racially and ethnically diverse.
The largest increase was in the Hispanic
population, which grew to 27.3% of the total
city population by 1990. A charter amendment,
approved by voters in 1980, changed Pasadena's
election system from citywide runoffs to
district only elections. This paved the way for
the election of minority candidates and a
greater emphasis on neighborhood concerns. In
1993, the name for Pasadena's elected
representatives was officially changed from
Board of Directors, a term associated with
corporations, to City Council, a term prevalent
in most city governments. A mayor was selected
on a rotating basis from the senior City
Councilmembers. The City Manager, however, was
responsible for the day-to-day operation of the
City. And in 1998, Cynthia Kurtz become
Pasadena's first female City Manager. The same
year voters decided it was time to elect a Mayor
who could represent Pasadena on a city-wide
basis. A former city Councilmember, Bill Bogaard
was elected in 1999.
In 1994, the Northridge earthquake, the most
severe quake in a series to hit Southern
California, left Pasadena relatively unscathed.
The finial atop City Hall's dome was knocked
askew and several residential chimneys were
damaged. The world's leader in seismic research,
the California
Institute of Technology was consulted
frequently during this time by the media.
Between 1970 and 2005, Caltech's faculty and
alumni garnered 14 of the
Institute's 31 Nobel prizes. The most recent
award went to Robert H. Grubbs in 2005 in
chemistry, along with Yves Chauvin (Institut
Français du Pétrole) and Richard R. Schrock
(MIT), for their work in the development of the
metathesis method in organic synthesis. Perhaps
best known for its research in physics, the
Institute's faculty and alumni have also
received Nobel Prizes in the fields of
Physiology or Medicine, Economics and Peace.
Caltech's
satellite laboratory, The
Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), was responsible
for several of
NASA's
successes in the 1980s and 1990s including deep
space navigation and communication, digital
image processing, intelligent automated systems,
and microelectronics. Despite recent set backs
in the loss of the Mars probe Orbiter and the
Mars Polar Lander, it is the memory of the Mars
Pathfinder Mission that still remains fresh in
the minds of many. In July of 1997, the world
was able to watch as Rover, a robot on four
wheels with a camera and extendable arms, moved
over the surface of the red planet. The robot
took photographs, collected rock and soil
samples and transmitted scientific data back to
the earth. Rover lasted considerably longer than
it was originally designed before it fell silent
in September 1997.
As
Pasadena looks toward the future it seeks to
balance growth with community needs, historic
character, a diverse economic base, and a safe,
healthy family community. The Colorado Street
Bridge, designed in 1913 as a "work of art" and
renovated in the early 90's to conform with
seismic safety standards, symbolizes the
commitment of Pasadena to integrate its rich
cultural heritage with the challenges of the new
millennium.
The Pasadena Public Library has an extensive
collection of materials about Pasadena in the
Pasadena Centennial Room at Central Library.
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