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Altadena
KNOWLEDGE OF Altadena
Altadena is a census-designated place located in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2000 census, the CDP had a total population of 42,610. Its census tracts are 4601, 4602, 4603.01, 4603.02, 4610, 4611, 4612, and 4613.
Featuring spectacular views of the San Gabriel Mountains, Altadena was developed as a suburb of Los Angeles in 1887. It has long refused annexation by neighboring Pasadena. Its unincorporated status allowed Los Angeles County to overcome local NIMBYism and build several public housing projects from the 1940s onward. None of these remains in operation, but a sizable African-American community, of varying income levels, remains as a legacy.
The name Altadena apparently derives from the Spanish alta, meaning "upper," and -dena from Pasadena; the area is adjacent to, but at a higher elevation than, Pasadena.
Altadena is located at 34°11'19" North, 118°8'5" West (34.188605, -118.134795).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 22.5 km² (8.7 mi²). 22.5 km² (8.7 mi²) of it is land and none of it is covered by water.
As of the census of 2000, there are 42,610 people, 14,780 households, and 10,671 families residing in the CDP. The population density is 1,891.0/km² (4,898.9/mi²). There are 15,250 housing units at an average density of 676.8/km² (1,753.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the CDP is 47.30% White, 31.42% Black or African American, 0.58% Native American, 4.24% Asian, 0.13% Pacific Islander, 10.19% from other races, and 6.14% from two or more races. 20.39% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 14,780 households out of which 34.1% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.3% are married couples living together, 15.2% have a female householder with no husband present, and 27.8% are non-families. 21.8% of all households are made up of individuals and 7.1% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.82 and the average family size is 3.29.
In the CDP the population is spread out with 26.6% under the age of 18, 6.4% from 18 to 24, 30.1% from 25 to 44, 24.6% from 45 to 64, and 12.3% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 38 years. For every 100 females there are 91.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 86.6 males.
The median income for a household in the CDP is $60,549, and the median income for a family is $66,800. Males have a median income of $49,098 versus $38,054 for females. The per capita income for the CDP is $27,604. 10.6% of the population and 7.4% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 14.1% of those under the age of 18 and 8.3% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
Christmas Tree Lane is a 0.7 mile stretch of Santa Rosa Ave from Woodbury Rd. to Altadena Dr. It has been a holiday attraction since 1920 and is the oldest large-scale outdoor Christmas lighting venue in the world. Each December, members of the Christmas Tree Lane Association festoon the 110 still standing giant deodars that line the street with thousands of Christmas lights. Though many motorists elect to tour the Lane with their headlights turned off, it is strictly advised against for legal and safety reasons. Christmas Tree Lane was placed on The National Register of Historic Places in 1990, and is a California State Landmark.
Among Altadena's Christmas lighting attractions is the Balian Mansion which collects world-wide tours for its Christmas lighting display. The Balian Mansion has been lighted since 1955 and is arguably the pioneer of home holiday lighting. The Balian Mansion is located at the 5-point junction of Medocino Street, Mendocino Lane, Allen Avenue, and Glen Terrace.
The historic Mount Lowe Railway was once a scenic railway that carried passengers to as many as four resort hotels high in the San Gabriel Mountains above Altadena and Pasadena. Although the mountains and the remains of the railway are not strictly in Altadena, the most direct trail to the sites, the Sam Merill Trail, starts in Altadena at the top of Lake Ave and leads to Mount Echo, about 3 miles. Chaney Trail, just west of the intersection at Fair Oaks Avenue and Loma Alta St., is a forestry service road which leads to the old right of way. At pavements end one can choose a moderate .8 mile hike to the Echo Promontory, or proceed straight toward the site of the Mount Lowe Tavern, about 3.5 miles. The Mount Lowe Railway was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.
The Cobb estate at the top of Lake Avenue is now a free botanical garden of the U. S. Forestry Service. It is guarded by its historic gates which are easily bypassed to allow visitors and hikers to ascend its long and winding paved driveway to the site of what was once Altadena's premier mansions. This is found along side the Sam Merill trail which accesses Las Flores Canyon on the way to Echo Mountain.
Altadena is an unincorporated community of the Fifth Supervisorial District of Los Angeles County, California. Bordered by the Sierra Madre Mountains and the Angeles National Forest to the north, the Arroyo Seco (City of Pasadena) on the west, The City of Pasadena on the South, and Eaton Canyon on the East.
The indigenous inhabitants of Altadena — and Pasadena — were the Hahamog-na, a Tongva Native American tribe who lived in the Arroyo Seco. Hahamog-na, the Chief, was met by General Portola of the Mexican Army in 1770 as he was making an exploratory expedition of Alta California. With the establishment of the San Gabriel Mission (1773) and the Pueblo de Los Angeles (1781), the south lands of California were properties claimed in the name of the King of Spain.
Altadena is the northernmost portion of Rancho San Pascual as established by the Mexican Government in 1826 after they had claimed independence from Spain. California was annexed in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 and became a state in 1850. The Mexican Ranchos were then open to settlement from other parts of the Country. Rancho San Pascual was settled by the Indiana Colony in 1874 and incorporated as Pasadena, a Chippewa name derived from a translation for "Crown of the Valley", in 1886. The highland areas, such as Altadena, remained undeveloped areas of the Los Angeles County.
In 1880, Capt. Frederick Woodbury, cavalry retired, and his brother John Woodbury of Marshalltown, Iowa, purchased 937 acres known as the Woodbury Ranch. John Woodbury established the Pasadena Improvement Company in 1887 with a plot plan of residential development referred to as the Woodbury Subdivision. To attach a name to the community, they contacted Byron O. Clark who had established a nursery in the foothills in 1875 and had since moved away. He called his nursery "Altadena Nursery", a name he coined from the Spanish "alta" meaning "upper" and "dena" from Pasadena 4. Since Clark had moved away, Woodbury asked if he could use the name Altadena for his subdivision. Clark agreed.
The 1930's idea that Altadena came from an Italian concoction of "alta-eden" was contrived by members of the newly organized Altadena Chamber of Commerce (1924) in order to glamorize the burgeoning community. It has no basis in history. The original development rendering shows an Altadena Hotel, a railway yard that ran south to San Pedro and north onto Salt Lake City, and streets named for California counties running east and west, and avenues named for Spanish female saints running north and south. Some of these street names still exist today: Mariposa, Mendocino, Calaveras, Alameda, Sacramento, Santa Rosa, Santa Anita. El Molino was named Santa Clara, Fair Oaks was Santa Margarita, Olive Street was Santa Barbara. Lake Avenue was named for a lake that existed in Pasadena, not Lake County. But names like Shasta, Humboldt, Tulare, Santa Inez, Santa Maria and Santa Isabela were never realized.
The first home built on the ranch was that of Col. Jabez Banbury in 1882, a beautiful Italianate Victorian home that was razed in 1919. Banbury was a neighbor and comrade-in -arms of Frederick Woodbury, who built his home on the Ranch two months later. It still stands at the top of Madison Avenue in Altadena behind the Sheriff's Department on El Molino. A plan to build a mansion for John Woodbury at the northwest corner of Santa Rosa was proposed with a long driveway leading up from the Pasadena limit. The drive was planted with two year old Deodar cedar trees grown by Frederick behind the house from seeds brought from Italy by John. This mile long drive of trees has become the world famous Christmas Tree Lane.
The newly sprouted community of Altadena immediately began to attract millionaires from the East. In 1887 Andrew McNally, the printing magnate from Chicago and his good friend Col. G. G. Greene had built mansions on what was to become Millionaire's Row, Mariposa Street near Santa Rosa. Col. Jabez Banbury, a comrade-in-arms of Frederick Woodbury, built a gorgeous Italianate Victorian house near the west end. Newspaper moguls Armiger Scripp and William Kellogg built side by side just east of Fair Oaks Avenue.
The Southern California land boom busted in 1888, not before the L.A. Terminal Railway was laid through town. But the high ideal of Altadena becoming a real estate dividend all but dwindled for the Woodburys. Still the community grew with wealthy speculators from the East, some seeking fairer weather, some better health, some real estate opportunities, some retirement. The community would grow, but at a slower pace than the Woodburys expected.
The Woodbury development accounts for that which happened west of Lake Avenue and south of Altadena Drive, what they called the Piedmont. Parts of the east side, generally passed Pepper Drive was a west portion of Rancho Santa Anita, essentially Arcadia today. Judge Eaton and Dr. Griffin purchased the land that ran to Eaton Canyon to add to the Ranch communities that settled the east side. Craig Ranch, Grogan Ranch, Fair Oaks Ranch and the Sphinx Ranch were all major contributors to the settlement of East Altadena. Moving into the twentieth century, the vanguard of Altadena pioneers began to change, and with it came more community development, more philanthropy, more services, and more venues. Lafayette S. Porter (from 1887-1932) bought and developed large parcels near the Rubio Wash. The Altadena Country Club (from 1911-1944), now the Altadena Town & Country Club since 1946, had an 18-hole golf course that extended to Allen Avenue. There was an airport adjacent to the country club (1919-1921) that was established by Cecil B. DeMille.
The Altadena Country Club Parks development, where the Balian mansion (of Christmas lighting fame) stands, was opened in 1912, and Altadena Woods, where the "president" streets are, was developed in the late 1920's. Famous western novelist Zane Grey bought the 1907 Woodward house near Marengo and Mariposa in 1920. Mrs. Grey helped establish the Altadena Library District in 1926, and was its first Board President.
Prof. Lowe's world famous Mount Lowe Railway, opened in 1893, became part of the Pacific Electric Red Car system until 1936, and the Red Car ran into Altadena until 1941. Gen. Charles S, Farnsworth developed an uninteresting piece of Forestry Department property at Lake and Concha in 1928 to become Altadena (now Farnsworth) Park. In 1934, the Recreation Building on Mount Curve, later to be named the William B. Davies Building, was added to the park through funding by the WPA. In 1938, Davies also secured WPA funding for the Altadena Library Building on Lake Avenue. The library moved to its present location on the corner of Mariposa and Santa Rosa, replacing the Col. Greene mansion in 1968.
The grandson of Andrew McNally, Wallace Neff, became a famous Southern California architect. He started his career in Altadena with the design and construction of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church ( parish est.1918) which was dedicated in October of 1926. A companion parish, The Sacred Heart of Jesus, was established on the west side in 1957. The Church at the northeast corner of Calaveras and El Molino was originally a Methodist-served community church until 1934 when during the depression a Baptist society took over forming the Altadena First Baptist Church. The Altadena Community Church on Altadena Drive just east of Lake was dedicated in 1948. St. Marks Episcopal Church was begun as a mission in 1909, but grew to finally building a parish church on Altadena Drive just east of Lake in 1948.
Altadena school, known as the Calaveras school has been at its present location, given some expansion, since 1906. St. Elizabeth Parish School opened in 1919. Eliot Middle School was completed in 1931 and named for Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard College. Eliot had visited Altadena in the past looking at establishing observatories on Mt. Wilson and Mt. Harvard.
Over the years Altadena has been subject to annexation by Pasadena. Annexation was stopped in 1956 by the collective will of the community though it has been resurrected several times since without success.
Featuring spectacular views of the San Gabriel Mountains, Altadena was developed as a suburb of Los Angeles in 1887. It has long refused annexation by neighboring Pasadena. Its unincorporated status allowed Los Angeles County to overcome local NIMBYism and build several public housing projects from the 1940s onward. None of these remains in operation, but a sizable African-American community, of varying income levels, remains as a legacy.
The name Altadena apparently derives from the Spanish alta, meaning "upper," and -dena from Pasadena; the area is adjacent to, but at a higher elevation than, Pasadena.
Altadena is located at 34°11'19" North, 118°8'5" West (34.188605, -118.134795).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 22.5 km² (8.7 mi²). 22.5 km² (8.7 mi²) of it is land and none of it is covered by water.
As of the census of 2000, there are 42,610 people, 14,780 households, and 10,671 families residing in the CDP. The population density is 1,891.0/km² (4,898.9/mi²). There are 15,250 housing units at an average density of 676.8/km² (1,753.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the CDP is 47.30% White, 31.42% Black or African American, 0.58% Native American, 4.24% Asian, 0.13% Pacific Islander, 10.19% from other races, and 6.14% from two or more races. 20.39% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 14,780 households out of which 34.1% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.3% are married couples living together, 15.2% have a female householder with no husband present, and 27.8% are non-families. 21.8% of all households are made up of individuals and 7.1% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.82 and the average family size is 3.29.
In the CDP the population is spread out with 26.6% under the age of 18, 6.4% from 18 to 24, 30.1% from 25 to 44, 24.6% from 45 to 64, and 12.3% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 38 years. For every 100 females there are 91.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 86.6 males.
The median income for a household in the CDP is $60,549, and the median income for a family is $66,800. Males have a median income of $49,098 versus $38,054 for females. The per capita income for the CDP is $27,604. 10.6% of the population and 7.4% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 14.1% of those under the age of 18 and 8.3% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
Christmas Tree Lane is a 0.7 mile stretch of Santa Rosa Ave from Woodbury Rd. to Altadena Dr. It has been a holiday attraction since 1920 and is the oldest large-scale outdoor Christmas lighting venue in the world. Each December, members of the Christmas Tree Lane Association festoon the 110 still standing giant deodars that line the street with thousands of Christmas lights. Though many motorists elect to tour the Lane with their headlights turned off, it is strictly advised against for legal and safety reasons. Christmas Tree Lane was placed on The National Register of Historic Places in 1990, and is a California State Landmark.
Among Altadena's Christmas lighting attractions is the Balian Mansion which collects world-wide tours for its Christmas lighting display. The Balian Mansion has been lighted since 1955 and is arguably the pioneer of home holiday lighting. The Balian Mansion is located at the 5-point junction of Medocino Street, Mendocino Lane, Allen Avenue, and Glen Terrace.
The historic Mount Lowe Railway was once a scenic railway that carried passengers to as many as four resort hotels high in the San Gabriel Mountains above Altadena and Pasadena. Although the mountains and the remains of the railway are not strictly in Altadena, the most direct trail to the sites, the Sam Merill Trail, starts in Altadena at the top of Lake Ave and leads to Mount Echo, about 3 miles. Chaney Trail, just west of the intersection at Fair Oaks Avenue and Loma Alta St., is a forestry service road which leads to the old right of way. At pavements end one can choose a moderate .8 mile hike to the Echo Promontory, or proceed straight toward the site of the Mount Lowe Tavern, about 3.5 miles. The Mount Lowe Railway was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.
The Cobb estate at the top of Lake Avenue is now a free botanical garden of the U. S. Forestry Service. It is guarded by its historic gates which are easily bypassed to allow visitors and hikers to ascend its long and winding paved driveway to the site of what was once Altadena's premier mansions. This is found along side the Sam Merill trail which accesses Las Flores Canyon on the way to Echo Mountain.
Altadena is an unincorporated community of the Fifth Supervisorial District of Los Angeles County, California. Bordered by the Sierra Madre Mountains and the Angeles National Forest to the north, the Arroyo Seco (City of Pasadena) on the west, The City of Pasadena on the South, and Eaton Canyon on the East.
The indigenous inhabitants of Altadena — and Pasadena — were the Hahamog-na, a Tongva Native American tribe who lived in the Arroyo Seco. Hahamog-na, the Chief, was met by General Portola of the Mexican Army in 1770 as he was making an exploratory expedition of Alta California. With the establishment of the San Gabriel Mission (1773) and the Pueblo de Los Angeles (1781), the south lands of California were properties claimed in the name of the King of Spain.
Altadena is the northernmost portion of Rancho San Pascual as established by the Mexican Government in 1826 after they had claimed independence from Spain. California was annexed in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 and became a state in 1850. The Mexican Ranchos were then open to settlement from other parts of the Country. Rancho San Pascual was settled by the Indiana Colony in 1874 and incorporated as Pasadena, a Chippewa name derived from a translation for "Crown of the Valley", in 1886. The highland areas, such as Altadena, remained undeveloped areas of the Los Angeles County.
In 1880, Capt. Frederick Woodbury, cavalry retired, and his brother John Woodbury of Marshalltown, Iowa, purchased 937 acres known as the Woodbury Ranch. John Woodbury established the Pasadena Improvement Company in 1887 with a plot plan of residential development referred to as the Woodbury Subdivision. To attach a name to the community, they contacted Byron O. Clark who had established a nursery in the foothills in 1875 and had since moved away. He called his nursery "Altadena Nursery", a name he coined from the Spanish "alta" meaning "upper" and "dena" from Pasadena 4. Since Clark had moved away, Woodbury asked if he could use the name Altadena for his subdivision. Clark agreed.
The 1930's idea that Altadena came from an Italian concoction of "alta-eden" was contrived by members of the newly organized Altadena Chamber of Commerce (1924) in order to glamorize the burgeoning community. It has no basis in history. The original development rendering shows an Altadena Hotel, a railway yard that ran south to San Pedro and north onto Salt Lake City, and streets named for California counties running east and west, and avenues named for Spanish female saints running north and south. Some of these street names still exist today: Mariposa, Mendocino, Calaveras, Alameda, Sacramento, Santa Rosa, Santa Anita. El Molino was named Santa Clara, Fair Oaks was Santa Margarita, Olive Street was Santa Barbara. Lake Avenue was named for a lake that existed in Pasadena, not Lake County. But names like Shasta, Humboldt, Tulare, Santa Inez, Santa Maria and Santa Isabela were never realized.
The first home built on the ranch was that of Col. Jabez Banbury in 1882, a beautiful Italianate Victorian home that was razed in 1919. Banbury was a neighbor and comrade-in -arms of Frederick Woodbury, who built his home on the Ranch two months later. It still stands at the top of Madison Avenue in Altadena behind the Sheriff's Department on El Molino. A plan to build a mansion for John Woodbury at the northwest corner of Santa Rosa was proposed with a long driveway leading up from the Pasadena limit. The drive was planted with two year old Deodar cedar trees grown by Frederick behind the house from seeds brought from Italy by John. This mile long drive of trees has become the world famous Christmas Tree Lane.
The newly sprouted community of Altadena immediately began to attract millionaires from the East. In 1887 Andrew McNally, the printing magnate from Chicago and his good friend Col. G. G. Greene had built mansions on what was to become Millionaire's Row, Mariposa Street near Santa Rosa. Col. Jabez Banbury, a comrade-in-arms of Frederick Woodbury, built a gorgeous Italianate Victorian house near the west end. Newspaper moguls Armiger Scripp and William Kellogg built side by side just east of Fair Oaks Avenue.
The Southern California land boom busted in 1888, not before the L.A. Terminal Railway was laid through town. But the high ideal of Altadena becoming a real estate dividend all but dwindled for the Woodburys. Still the community grew with wealthy speculators from the East, some seeking fairer weather, some better health, some real estate opportunities, some retirement. The community would grow, but at a slower pace than the Woodburys expected.
The Woodbury development accounts for that which happened west of Lake Avenue and south of Altadena Drive, what they called the Piedmont. Parts of the east side, generally passed Pepper Drive was a west portion of Rancho Santa Anita, essentially Arcadia today. Judge Eaton and Dr. Griffin purchased the land that ran to Eaton Canyon to add to the Ranch communities that settled the east side. Craig Ranch, Grogan Ranch, Fair Oaks Ranch and the Sphinx Ranch were all major contributors to the settlement of East Altadena. Moving into the twentieth century, the vanguard of Altadena pioneers began to change, and with it came more community development, more philanthropy, more services, and more venues. Lafayette S. Porter (from 1887-1932) bought and developed large parcels near the Rubio Wash. The Altadena Country Club (from 1911-1944), now the Altadena Town & Country Club since 1946, had an 18-hole golf course that extended to Allen Avenue. There was an airport adjacent to the country club (1919-1921) that was established by Cecil B. DeMille.
The Altadena Country Club Parks development, where the Balian mansion (of Christmas lighting fame) stands, was opened in 1912, and Altadena Woods, where the "president" streets are, was developed in the late 1920's. Famous western novelist Zane Grey bought the 1907 Woodward house near Marengo and Mariposa in 1920. Mrs. Grey helped establish the Altadena Library District in 1926, and was its first Board President.
Prof. Lowe's world famous Mount Lowe Railway, opened in 1893, became part of the Pacific Electric Red Car system until 1936, and the Red Car ran into Altadena until 1941. Gen. Charles S, Farnsworth developed an uninteresting piece of Forestry Department property at Lake and Concha in 1928 to become Altadena (now Farnsworth) Park. In 1934, the Recreation Building on Mount Curve, later to be named the William B. Davies Building, was added to the park through funding by the WPA. In 1938, Davies also secured WPA funding for the Altadena Library Building on Lake Avenue. The library moved to its present location on the corner of Mariposa and Santa Rosa, replacing the Col. Greene mansion in 1968.
The grandson of Andrew McNally, Wallace Neff, became a famous Southern California architect. He started his career in Altadena with the design and construction of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church ( parish est.1918) which was dedicated in October of 1926. A companion parish, The Sacred Heart of Jesus, was established on the west side in 1957. The Church at the northeast corner of Calaveras and El Molino was originally a Methodist-served community church until 1934 when during the depression a Baptist society took over forming the Altadena First Baptist Church. The Altadena Community Church on Altadena Drive just east of Lake was dedicated in 1948. St. Marks Episcopal Church was begun as a mission in 1909, but grew to finally building a parish church on Altadena Drive just east of Lake in 1948.
Altadena school, known as the Calaveras school has been at its present location, given some expansion, since 1906. St. Elizabeth Parish School opened in 1919. Eliot Middle School was completed in 1931 and named for Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard College. Eliot had visited Altadena in the past looking at establishing observatories on Mt. Wilson and Mt. Harvard.
Over the years Altadena has been subject to annexation by Pasadena. Annexation was stopped in 1956 by the collective will of the community though it has been resurrected several times since without success.
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