Shaped by Fire

Pasadena began life in 1880 as the Indiana Colony, developed and populated by high-spirited people who considered themselves on the right side of things. The right side of the law, the right side of history, the right side of god.

Known as “The Corners,” the intersection of Fair Oaks and Colorado boulevard formed the hub of this community, and produced a series of firsts: First school, library, market, telephone, power company.

In another first, The Corner’s own Fair Oaks was the first major artery through the three Denas. Traffic, such as it was, flowed southward to South Pasadena and northward to Altadena, in each direction for quite different reasons.

The northern flow was intended to service the quick and the dead.

Most of the quick were very quick indeed, and demonstrated this by making, or amassing or at least hanging on to, a fast buck. These millionaires were quick to build mansions, and quick to lay tracks along Fair Oaks, bringing the railroad cars up the hill and into their own backyards.



The dead can still be found (slow as they are) in the Mountain View cemetery, some taking a century-long breather. If you walk around the cemetery, you’ll notice among the dead, some of the erstwhile quick. But it appears to be a democratic kind of place, with many ethnic groups represented, and monuments ranging from mausoleums to a single stone.

Altadena burns, a lot and often. In fact most of the early history is written in flames. Half the fantastic mansions of the last century never celebrated their own centennial. And a quarter never made it to sterling silver. Maybe that’s why many of the wealthy pulled up stakes, both their own and the railroad’s. Of course, the depression didn’t help.

But given time, Altadena has been known to renew itself, rising from chaparral, or ashes, or poverty.

Our most recent real estate boom never reached the southern part of Fair Oaks, so neither did the bust. How can you bust what is already broken? Just bust it more?

But now I digress. You thought I was going to show you another smashed gas station or blighted alley. No, today, we dedicate to the quick. And why not? Speed may take you far and fast, but it will never take you past the finish line.