Comerica Bank Restoration Update

The bank as it looked from circa 1960 to 2009. The clock, over what once was and is now again the main entrance, continued to operate. This was a branch of Security Pacific Bank at some point, but I don't recall that it was used for anything but a furniture store since I arrived in South Pasadena in 1981.

In this photo, taken June 20, 2010, the restoration is complete, and the palm trees have been planted. The one thing they didn't get right in the restoration is the ATM machine, which was much more understated in the 1920s.

In 1920, the First National Bank building on the corner of Fair Oaks and Mission in South Pasadena looked like this. Notice the streetcar tracks in the middle of Fair Oaks:

A careful examination of the back of the building reveals that the stonework is a facade. I presume the original stonework was a facade as well. The folks at the bank say they will display a photo of the 1920 bank on their wall soon. Comerica is only using the front portion of the building. They plan to lease out the rear portion, although from the looks of the raised concrete slab and the concrete room in the center of the rear space, the lessee will have a lot of jack-hammering to do.

Restoration

In 1920, the First National Bank building on the corner of Fair Oaks and Mission in South Pasadena looked like this. Notice the streetcar tracks in the middle of Fair Oaks:

Today, almost completely restored and about to open as a branch of Comerica Bank, it looks like this:

For more information, including a glimpse at what the building looked like in the interim, see today's post on Laurie Allee's wonderful blog Glimpses of South Pasadena.

A careful examination of the back of the building reveals that the stonework is a facade. I presume the original stonework was a facade as well. To see what the building looked like before this restoration, go to Google Maps and look at the street view of Fair Oaks and Mission.

Pasadena City Hall

These photos were taken during Pasadena Public Information Officer Ann Erdman's tour of city hall for several local bloggers. I especially loved hearing about the history of the building, which only cost a little more than a million dollars when it was built in the 1920s.

La Super Rica Taqueria

The Santa Barbara taqueria that Julia Childs made famous. It's at the corner of Milpas and Alphonse. Exit the 101 at Milpas and head toward the mountains. It's tasty, unique, and funky. Most of the time there's a line, but this day it was not as busy as usual.

Twyla

WHY "CUSS-FREE WEEK" IS SUSPECT

I'm always wary of people who think they know what's best for others. When the State Senate refused to go along with the Assembly in adopting "Cuss-Free Week," Brent Hatch, father of the founder of South Pasadena High School's "No Cussing Club" said, "This is basically saying to people, especially kids, 'We don't care what you do.'" That's right, Mr. Hatch. When it comes to my personal conduct, the State Legislature should not care what I do. I wonder about people, like Mr. Hatch, who would love to control my personal life. You just wonder what they're hiding.

Take Republican State Senator Roy Ashburn, for example, whose built a career fighting against gay rights:

Reporting from Sacramento - A Republican state senator from conservative Bakersfield said Monday that he is homosexual, days after a report that he had been at a gay nightclub in Sacramento before being arrested on drunk driving charges while behind the wheel of his state car last week.

Sen. Roy Ashburn returned to work after being on leave since his arrest early Wednesday not far from the Capitol. The incident had touched off speculation about Ashburn's sexual orientation because a Sacramento television station said it occurred after he left a gay club. And Ashburn drew fire from activists for voting against gay-rights legislation.

The senator, who avoided reporters in the Senate chamber Monday afternoon, broke his silence in an interview on Bakersfield radio station KERN-AM (1180) in the morning, saying the episode had led to "restless nights" and "soul searching."

Ashburn told radio host Inga Barks that he owed his constituents an explanation. She responded, "Do you want me to ask you . . . the question, or do you want to just tell people?"

"I am gay," Ashburn answered. "Those are the words that have been so difficult for me for so long. But I am gay. But it is something that is personal and . . . I felt with my heart that being gay didn't affect -- wouldn't affect -- how I did my job.

"Through my own actions," said Ashburn, a divorced father of four, "I made my personal life public."

The arrest, widely discussed on Internet blogs, in newspapers and on TV, brought accusations of hypocrisy against the senator.

In 2005, Ashburn, like all but one other Republican in the Senate, voted against a bill that would have allowed same-sex marriage in California. The bill was later vetoed by the governor.

Ashburn also voted no, along with most of his GOP colleagues, on legislation passed last year that designated May 22 of each year as Harvey Milk Day, in honor of the slain gay-rights leader.

"It is unfortunate he helped spread the bigotry that forced him to stay in the closet," said Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California, a group supporting gay marriage. "We hope he now takes this opportunity to educate people in his district and throughout the state that his sexual orientation is irrelevant."

Ashburn said his votes "reflect the wishes of the people in my district."

The senator announced months ago that he would not seek reelection this year. He had been under fire from conservative leaders in his district for voting with Democrats a year ago to approve tax increases.

"His recent drunk driving incident certainly adds to the concerns about his personal responsibility and his regard for the taxpayers whose vehicle he was driving," said Martin Bertram, president of the nonprofit Republican Assembly of Kern County.

He said the senator's revelation that he is gay "will not win him favor among conservatives," but he did not see Ashburn's past votes as hypocritical.

Ashburn faces arraignment next month in Sacramento County Superior Court on two misdemeanor counts involving driving under the influence of alcohol.

Ugly City Government

This is from the Ostrich Feeder (http://cheynegateley.com/wordpress/)

He Who Must Not Be Named: Joe Payne

"I’d like to thank those of you who got in touch with me. And I heard roughly the same story enough that it’s worth posting. The South Pasadena Review already wrote that Joe Payne, a reserve officer for the South Pasadena Police Department, said he was approached by David Sifuentes months ago about the police chief position. I haven’t heard a bad thing about Payne. He’s well-liked among the ranks, and he worked for the SPPD for 35 years before he retired two years ago. The South Pasadena Police Officers Assn. maybe thinks he’d push for pay hikes. That helps to make sense of Mike Ten’s presentation, which implied South Pasadena is the deadliest place on Earth for a cop. That’s an assertion that seems to contradict the recently released Uniform Crime Report showing (yet another) significant drop in crime under Chief Dan Watson’s leadership.

Payne isn’t entirely without baggage. According to the L.A. Times, he’s one of six who sued the city after being demoted in the wake of scandals that plagued the department in the late 1990s. There’s nothing to suggest he was a bad cop, it’s just that when former Chief Michael Berkow came in to clean house, he thought there were too many cooks in the kitchen.

Anyhoo, here’s what I’m hearing is raising the hackles of residents:

• The perceived arrogance of council members who plan the ouster of — and the successor to — the city’s police chief behind closed doors.
• Elected officials who are giving the appearance of ignoring their constituency in favor of deep-pocketed campaign donors."

That’s pretty much the story we’ve been hearing for months. My question is: If South Pas is so much in the grips of dangerous criminals, why would we get rid of an experienced police chief and put in a man who has never run a department? Rumor has it that Joe Payne was planning to run for City Council, but changed his mind. Do you think that David Sifuentes or his man, Jeff Monocle, convinced Payne not to run for Council in exchange for the Police Chief job? That would explain why the Council needed to move Dan Watson out, in spite of his good record. That’s the rumor that’s going around, and it’s known that Sifuentes and Monocle have tried to convince other candidates not to run in the past. So far, every single rumor in this ugly mess has proved true, so I think it’s a safe bet that there was a deal in place all along. I would have thought that the exposure of Joe Payne’s name would cause the Council to back off of him, but it’s now clear that the Council is so arrogant and unconcerned about what the citizens want or what’s good for South Pasadena, they simply are beyond caring how bad anything looks. And this looks bad. The Council members will do what they want to do, no matter what the public outcry is. The question is whether the citizens of South Pasadena will accept a town run by unions and a City Council whose purpose is to do the unions' bidding. - Earl