Rick Thomas
Author Rick Thomas is the former museum curator and vice-chair of education for the South Pasadena Preservation Foundation. He served on the South Pasadena Natural Resources Commission, helping to maintain a strict policy protecting the city’s great old-growth trees. Using touchstone photographs from his own collection—one of the San Gabriel Valley’s largest accumulations of historical images and artifacts—as well as national, state, and local historical archives, Thomas provides a window to his city’s past and an understanding of why its preservation is so important.
Throwback Thursday | What Once Was
Desiderio Neighborhood Park recently appeared on the site of the former Desiderio Army Reserve Center.
In 2013, the City of Pasadena acquired the property. According to the Pasadena Star-News, “It involved property transfers from the...
Throwback Thursday | The Legacy of Charles Lummis
In 1884, Charles Fletcher Lummis came to Los Angeles by walking the entire distance from Ohio. After his arrival, Lummis became a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, Times editor, magazine editor, writer, poet,...
Throwback Thursday | Dinner at The Raymond
Walter Raymond’s hotel staff was recruited every season from the grand resort hotels of the Northeast (closed during the winter). His son Arthur Raymond wrote in his unpublished autobiography, “The guests, mostly New Englanders,...
Throwback Thursday | When There Was Nothing
The San Gabriel Valley (Spanish: Valle de San Gabriel) derives its name from the San Gabriel River which got its name from the Spanish Mission San Gabriel Arcángel (est. 1771).
In 1886, Pasadena became the...
Throwback Thursday | Meet Mr. Cawston
It’s sad but true: community interest in historic places fades over time. Sometimes they are forgotten entirely. The Cawston Ostrich Farm was the largest employer in South Pasadena for over 30 years. And yet,...
Throwback Thursday | Four Lives of the Vista del Arroyo
The Vista del Arroyo hotel and bungalows once graced the Arroyo Seco near the Colorado Street Bridge. From 1943 to 1949, however, it served another purpose, and then two more after that!
If this building...
Throwback Thursday | Making the World’s Largest One-Egg Omelet
Actress Helen Jerome Eddy flew to Los Angeles from her home in Santa Barbara. She was met at the airport by Herbert Vatcher, superintendent of the Cawston Ostrich Farm and his son Herbert Vatcher...
Throwback Thursday | Why The Raymond Faced Southwest
Walter Raymond’s prominent hotel on South Pasadena’s Bacon Hill faced away from the mountains for a reason. And that reason may surprise you.
Nearly all the guest room windows faced the rolling hills and the...
Throwback Thursday | Everybody Loves the Raymond
In 1892, Professor C. F. Holder addressed Valley Hunt Club members announcing, “In New York, people are buried in snow. Here our flowers are blooming and our oranges are about to bear. Let’s have...
Throwback Thursday | The Greatest Supercross in History!
The NFL’s Super Bowl XIV was held at the Rose Bowl on January 20, 1980, between the Los Angeles Rams and Pittsburg Steelers. Pittsburgh beat L.A. 31-19 for their second straight NFL Championship.
However, did...
