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Alisa Hayashida
Alisa Hayashida is an arts and culture columnist and critic for South Pasadenan News, covering the greater Pasadena Metro area and Los Angeles Metro area. She is a valuable arts advocate in South Pasadena, with an extensive background in theatre arts. She has been a proud South Pasadenan for over 27 years.
Bold & Fierce “Phenomenal Woman”
Thursday evening saw the dancers of South Pasadena High School’s dance department deliver a bold and powerful performance of their Winter Dance Concert, “Phenomenal Woman”. It was the final product following a series of...
ALMOST, MAINE Steals Your Heart
John Cariani’s cleverly written, heartbreaker of a play told in nine vignettes gets a beautiful production by South Pasadena High School Drama. It’s a snowy December night in the small town of Almost, Maine...
Lloyd & Lane Holiday Mixer
Bonnie Hargett, proprietor of the eclectic and cozy home décor shop, Lloyd & Lane, hosted a holiday mixer to kick off the holiday season along with her partner, Alexander Tovar. Chamber members and clients...
A Christmas Carol Delights at A Noise Within
A Noise Within continues a tradition of bringing us A Christmas Carol like no other. Innovative in every aspect of the production from the lush set design and the sumptuous, nature based costumes to...
Congratulations Heatherbloom on 25 Years
There were gifts, prizes, desserts and bubbly as shoppers and friends descended on Heatherbloom to celebrate 25 years of providing beautiful fashion to our community. Owner, South Pasadena resident Michelle Round, is a bubbly...
SPHS DANCE Presents Phenomenal Woman – Thursday Dec. 7
On the evening of Thursday December 7, South Pasadena High School Dance Department is performing their 2017 Winter Dance Concert entitled Phenomenal Woman at the SPHS Auditorium at 7pm. Thirty dancers are performing thirteen...
ELF JR. Delivers Holiday Magic
Young Stars Theatre is back with a holly, jolly, sparkly, twinkly production of ELF JR., the adventures of Buddy the Elf! The story follows Buddy, a human who was found and raised by the...
South Pasadenans Meet Hillary Clinton
The line wrapped around the block as over 1200 people waited in line for a chance to meet former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the former First Lady and first woman to run for...
South Pasadena Fire Department Holds Badge Pinning Ceremony and Awards Medal of Valor
On Saturday November 18, 2017, South Pasadena Fire Department held the first of its kind Badge Pinning Ceremony at the firehouse. Family members, friends, colleagues and city officials gathered to honor promotions of Eric...
Oxley Building Neighbors Hold Happy Hour Shebang
DeepMix Productions, Brad Colerick’s production company, who is responsible for the ever popular Wine & Song and Blue Guitar evenings at the golf course, also is the instigator of weekly happy hour “shebangs” at...
ALMOST, MAINE Set To Open at SPHS
South Pasadenans, it’s time to break out the boots and gloves and take a trip to Almost, Maine, the delightful fall production that SPHS Drama is about to share with the community. It’s a...
Holy Family and Community Give Out Over 500 Turkeys for Thanksgiving
Dozens of volunteers and several of our South Pasadena Firefighters were on hand bright and early Monday morning to hand out over 500 donated turkeys along with all the fixings to families facing hardship...
Happy Thanksgiving To Our Seniors From SPPD
It's a South Pasadena tradition. Every year, the day before Thanksgiving, the South Pasadena Police Department sponsors a full Thanksgiving spread for the seniors who come to South Pasadena Senior Center. The event is...
Henry Privett-Mendoza Headed To U.S. Figure Skating Championships
Local South Pasadenan, Henry Privett-Mendoza has claimed a spot at the 2018 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in San Jose, CA, which will be held December 29-January 7 by placing 4th at the 2018 Pacific...
Making South Pasadena More Beautiful
Over 30 volunteers for South Pasadena Beautiful were out bright and early Saturday morning to set about planting what looked to be at least a hundred plants or more all around the South Pasadena...
An Eclectic RETREAT for South Pasadena
It’s hard to believe Diane Staples and her beautiful shop have only been here for six months because when you talk to Diane it’s as if she’s lived here all along. In fact, one...
Verdi Chorus Presents Love’s Passion & Potions
The Verdi Chorus will present its Fall 2017 concert “Love’s Passions and Potions” for two performances only at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica on November 18th and 19th led by Founding...
Meet Jane Soudah – Author of Delightful Desserts
South Pasadena Mom, pastry chef extraordinaire and winner of Spring Baking Championship, Jane Soudah, has come out with her first cookbook called Delightful Desserts. We sat down with Jane to talk about her busy...
Peltier Home Celebrates Two Years on Mission Street
This Wednesday evening from 5pm-8pm, Amy Peltier and her team will be celebrating their two year anniversary of their beautiful home décor and interior design shop at 1011-A Mission Street. It’s been a whirlwind...
King Charles III – Directed by Michael Michetti
Camilla, William, Kate and Harry join Charles in Mike Bartlett’s “future history play,” exploring the people beneath the crown in King Charles III at Pasadena Playhouse. This “contemporary Shakespearean drama”, directed by Michael Michetti,...
David Simmons Shanks A Lot Chili Wins at Chili Cookoff!
It was a humdinger of an night as South Pasadenans gathered at the War Memorial Building celebrate South Pasadena Rotary's 80th anniversary and eat some fantastic, homemade chili! The giant chili cookoff was a...
Spooktacular SPHS Homecoming 2017
What an incredible Homecoming it was! We may not have beaten our rival, San Marino, but the spirit at Ray Solari stadium was palpable. The stands were filled to capacity with Tigers past and...
Final Weekend of The Government Inspector at Parson’s Nose
Parson’s Nose Theater (PNT), the acclaimed classical comedy theater company, will close their production of Nikolai Gogol’s comedy The Government Inspector this weekend. The play marks their first Full Production in the company’s new...
Carmen Cusack is Luminous in BRIGHT STAR
There is still time to catch the Tony-nominated, incandescent performance of Carmen Cusack in Bright Star at The Ahamanson, and catch it you should. It’s a rare opportunity for Angelenos to see not only...
A Tale of Two Cities – Last Chance to See Frederick Stuart’s Tour de...
You’ve waited long enough so do not miss Frederick Stuart’s dynamic and thoroughly mesmerizing performance as Sydney Carton in Tony-winner Mike Poulton’s adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens at A...
Do You Partini?
Partini! Don’t you love the name? It sounds like a fizzy, pink cocktail of a party that everyone wants to go to. The brainchild of local entrepreneur Anne Bagasao, Partini comes to the rescue...
Stories Under The Stars – SPHS Drama performs at Calvary & Marengo
It’s become a tradition at Calvary Pre-school to have South Pasadena High School drama students act out children’s books as families gather to picnic under the stars. Pre-schoolers and their families arrived early to...
ACTOR INVASION at SPHS!
SPHS Drama teacher, Nick Hoffa, started a new program last year where he invites a group of professional actors to come in and work on scenes with the drama students. He calls it Actor...
Legally Blonde Jr. Will Make You Stand Up and Cheer
Who knew a frothy musical about a Malibu blonde looking for love at Harvard Law School could make you feel so much and make you want to stand up and cheer? Young Stars Theatre’s...
Art! Music! Food! South Pasadenans Come Out For The Crawl!
What a splendiferous night it was in South Pasadena for the Fall Arts Crawl. We couldn’t have asked for more perfect weather combined with a genuine feeling of bonhomie among neighbors as they enjoyed...
