Celebrating Altadena!

The holidays are upon us and it was happily evident at Saturday night's North Lake Pole Festival! Everything from the sledding hill with real snow to Santa's cheery presence put fair-goers into a festive frame of mind. Altadenablog at http://www.altadenablog.com has some great photos of all that was going on, so if you weren't there yourself, you can hop right over there and check them out!

This weekend saw two art shows running in conjunction with the Festival - the final ArtBender Weekend at The Gallery At The End Of The World and Altadena Junction's photography exhibit "100-Mile Runners At The Finish Line". Both were outstanding - the photos at the Junction were a powerful experience. One of the proprietors, Marisol Martinez, took part in that race. To see her, photographed just after she ran over that finish line, is to experience the exhilaration of such a thing, if only for a moment. Incredible!

Next week is the Christmas Tree Lane lighting ceremony and with it, another opportunity to rejoice in the uniqueness of Altadena. We'll be there to see those magnificent Deodar cedars lit with their thousands of lights and we hope to see you!

Things are getting mighty holiday-ish at the store. We had a small setback with getting the Christmas trees decorated, however it should all come together these next few days. For retailers, we're seriously behind the prescribed program. I just happen to like Christmas at Christmas, not in July. Can I hear an amen?

Hope you all have a wonderful week, my friends! Don't forget that there are coupons available for use through December on Altadenablog and at the Chamber of Commerce website at http://www.abacus-es.com/altadena We'd love to see you use them!

Lori & Scott

The Once and Future Store

With apologies to T.H. White, I think the title is quite apropos for what we'll be talking about this week. There's a definite parallel between the Camelot of legend and the community of Altadena and Webster's.

Once vibrant, Webster's exemplified the model of the ideal community store. Offering a variety of unique merchandise, Webster's fulfilled the area's wants and needs and became the ad hoc town center. We involved ourselves in the community and the community repaid us handsomely by patronizing the store - truly a win/win situation for everyone!

Reading through some old town newspapers today, it's evident that Altadena had a thriving business district on North Lake Avenue. Those were prosperous times. Times when you kept your business dollars local. The neighborhood store, the local market, the bakery down the street - all contributed to your well being, as you contributed to theirs. Looking at it as a circle, everyone was contributing together to keep their community economically viable.

As time is wont to do, it passes and leaves great change in its wake. Economics, demographics, shopping habits and tastes have changed drastically since these photos were taken. We've seen the rise of corporate businesses and their bid to take over the world. We've seen its effects on our community. We watch as independently owned businesses struggle for viability and we've watched as some succumb, withering away into memory.

Fortunately, time is a circle. We're now seeing the resurgence of people all across the country wanting to preserve their neighborhoods' individuality. Witness what's happening here in Altadena - the birth of our own Altadena/Pasadena food co-op, the success of the Coffee Gallery Backstage, the Gallery At The End Of The World, Altadena Junction, Amy's Patio Cafe and Bulgarini Gelato. We've seen the enormous popularity of Altadenablog, proving yet again that Altadena wants to be a community connected.

We all have our place in this town and our town is poised on the brink of a phenomenon. As resistant to change as Altadena is, we've taken steps toward a paradigm change - can we swing the pendulum back to prosperity? Scott and I think we can.

Working together, people can move mountains. That's what we're counting on, because we've got great plans ahead. All we need is your support - your desire to direct a positive impact on your community. You can start by directing your dollars locally. It doesn't matter which independently-owned business, just make sure your money stays in the community, where it can do the most good.

We know times are tough right now. What we all need to do, though, is rethink our definition of value. Value is not always the lowest price. Value is what you get for your dollar, like excellent service, quality products and the satisfaction of knowing that what goes out of your pocket and into your community can really help move mountains.

Stay with us as we delve further into our plans for the future, support us as we grow toward it....and have a fabulous week!

Congratulations to the AAC For A Fabulous Event!

The evening of Friday, May 15th, the Altadena Arts Coalition's North Lake Avenue Open House brought people out in droves to have fun while re-discovering the delights of the area....and what a party it was! I'm so proud of the founding members of the AAC and their efforts in this endeavor - it just goes to show you what a little creativity and a lot of hard work can do. What's surprising is how well it went off with only a few short weeks of planning, due to the combined talents of Ben McGinty, Lance Anderson, Molly Tierney, Chef Jeff Kline, Ms. Dragon and all the other members who pitched in! Extra kudos to to Ms. Dragon, who spent many hours compiling names and addresses of the businesses involved and printing the maps that were handed out for the evening....all your hard work is genuinely appreciated.

Thanks are also in order for those whose contributions made the evening magical. All our Altadena/Pasadena Bloggers: Karen Bugge (AltadenaHiker), Susan Carrier (OpenMouthInsertFork, TheOrangeCat and CancerBanter), Petrea Burchard (PasadenaDailyPhoto), Tim Rutt (Altadenablog) and Bill Westphal (AltadenaWeatherCam)....all of you rock and thanks so much for lending us your expertise for the evening! Readers, you can find links to all these wonderful blogs below in my blogroll. Thanks to Steve Salinas of Altadena Hardware for fashioning and providing the brackets to hold the banners Scott made and also for rockin' the crowd with his band, The Dispositions....you guys were great! Thanks to Karen and Robert Myers of Karen's Hallmark for donating the balloons that marked each participating business - from New York to Altadena Drive, that was a lot of balloons, and we appreciate it. Special thanks also to Pierre Dupuy, who drove his Jitney up, down and around North Lake Avenue for hours, ferrying people to the different activities. Thanks to all the businesses who participated....this was the first of many events to come and they'll just get better with your help. And lastly, thanks to our Altadena residents....you are the ones who attended and made this an evening to remember....we appreciate it and hope you'll spread the good word about your local businesses!

Be sure to check out all our local blogs....there are pictures posted now and more to come, so don't miss out.