Building Freeways, Dividing Communities

Freeways connect cities yet divide communities. Pasadena is no exception. It built the nation’s first freeway to connect to downtown Los Angeles and also cut itself in half to ease access to the suburbs.

In the late 1960s and 1970s, thousands of people living in Pasadena’s central and northwest neighborhoods were forced to move or sell their homes under eminent domain. Used by governments to acquire private property for “urban renewal” and infrastructure projects, eminent domain uprooted this entire neighborhood and permanently altered the city’s landscape and community life.

Photos

John Muir High School, about 1930

Although Pasadena’s public schools weren’t segregated as a matter of law, they were segregated in practice, especially in the upper grades. As Donald Mims, a local Pasadenan, recalled: “The only thing that wasn’t really segregated were the schools. They were segregated, but … if you happened to live where you did, you could go to that school.”

Exploring Pasadena’s Past

“ Well, the first thing to hit me [after returning to Pasadena in the early 1970s] was physical. I didn’t know that you had freeways bisecting the city. Of course, you know, I have feelings about that. I know that freeways always follow the path of least resistance and that would mean through the homes and backyards and the property of poor people. It has to follow the line of least resistance.”

— Reverend Wilbur Johnson

Photos

Bird’s-eye view of Pasadena, 1903 Pasadena’s economic geography is already visible in this early view. Large estates line Orange Grove Boulevard—“Millionaire’s Row.” Working-class neighborhoods— for the cooks, chauffeurs, gardeners, and housekeepers who ran the big estates— are concentrated on Vernon Avenue, parallel to the railroad tracks. Easements for these tracks justified taking the “path of least resistance” through this neighborhood when it came time to build freeways.

The Heart of Pasadena’s Communities of Color

Pasadena’s Black population grew from just 75 people in 1890 to 24,000 in 1990. Most of these families arrived during the Great Migration (1915–1970), when millions of Black people left the South to escape the rise of Jim Crow laws. But in Pasadena and elsewhere, racist policies and practices continued to dictate where people of color lived, worked, and went to school.

This map illustrates Pasadena’s central corridor—sandwiched between Orange Grove’s mansions on the west and Fair Oaks’ businesses on the east—that was the heart of a multiracial, working-class community for most of the 1900s. As residents were forced out of central Pasadena, most moved into northwest Pasadena or west Altadena as the only welcoming neighborhoods.

Keeping the Faith

Nearly a half-dozen churches anchored this neighborhood’s communities: Scott Methodist Church on Mary Street (close to where you’re standing), Japanese Union Church on Kensington Place, First AME on Vernon, Friendship Baptist on Dayton, and St. Andrews on Raymond. As places of worship, moral leadership, and cultural identity, these churches have helped people create community and combat prejudice.

Photos

Soon after the First AME Church moved to Kensington Place and Vernon Avenue in 1910, members of the congregation had to protect their church against repeated arson attempts, standing guard at night until the threat subsided. The First AME Church is now located at 1700 North Raymond, after being forced to move for freeway construction.

Martin Luther King at Friendship Baptist Church, 80 West Dayton, 1960

Established in 1913, Japanese Union Church served the growing community of Japanese Americans who lived and worked in this neighborhood. Now called First Presbyterian Church Altadena, the church relocated in 1968.

DID YOU KNOW?

You’re walking on hallowed ground. Scott Methodist Episcopal Church, 55 Mary Street, 1956

One of several local African American churches in Pasadena, Scott Methodist Episcopal Church was originally located near here. “Parsons sits on ground that we used to own,” recalled Rev. Wilbur Johnson. He insisted that the Pasadena Redevelopment Agency

“treat us better” than others whose property the city acquired through eminent domain. The strategy worked: Scott Methodist rebuilt on a nice lot on Orange Grove.

At Home in Old Pasadena

Beginning in the late 1800s, generations of African Americans, Japanese Americans, Mexican Americans, and other residents lived in this neighborhood. They raised families, ran businesses, built churches, and shaped Pasadena’s social fabric while combating racial prejudice and discrimination.

These exhibits honor the memories of everyone who lived and worked here before “urban renewal” forced them from their homes. They are dedicated to envisioning a more just future for all Pasadenans.

Pioneers & Entrepreneurs

Cattle drivers, entrepreneurs, health-seekers: Pasadena’s Black pioneers arrived with a host of skills and high hopes for a better life. Joseph Holmes drove cattle from Nebraska to Los Angeles in 1883, buying a vineyard in Pasadena with the proceeds. William and Frank Prince left Tennessee in 1886 to find work in Pasadena’s wealthy neighborhoods. Like thousands of other early migrants, Booker and Carrie McAdoo came here for health reasons. From a population of 200 in 1900, Pasadena’s Black population grew to 24,000 by the 1970s.

Photos

Reginald and Arthur Prince, 1916

Opening of Woods-Valentine Mortuary, about 1956

Carrie McAdoo’s grocery store, about 1910 Booker and Carrie McAdoo left Arkansas for California, settling here in 1899. They ran a restaurant together until Booker died in 1909, after which Carrie opened a grocery store at 679 South Fair Oaks Avenue and continued to raise her growing family.

DID YOU KNOW?

One of Pasadena’s oldest Black-owned businesses started here. James Woods operated a shoeshine at Union and Fair Oaks Avenue in the 1920s, across the street from a white-owned mortuary where he worked part time. After finishing mortuary studies in 1926, Woods opened his own mortuary. The family-owned business has continued to serve the community for generations.

James Wood’s shoeshine shop, North Fair Oaks Avenue, 1927

Places Change, People Endure

It’s hard to envision this neighborhood before freeways sliced through the landscape. Instead of massive overpasses, imagine quiet streets, busy churches, and small businesses. Although their family homes and familiar places have been erased, the people who once called this neighborhood home have left their marks in countless ways.

Photos

View from City Hall before the freeways, 1966

First AME Sunday School, 1933

The few people pictured here honor the many whose stories we honor.

Alice Brown grew up in this neighborhood, ran track for John Muir High School, and won medals in the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games.

Fred Hiraoka worked at Lincoln Market, was interned during World War II, and became the first Japanese American engineer at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1957. Arthur Prince’s family helped establish the First AME Church. Arthur later served as superintendent of the Enterprise School District in Redding.

Jesusita Mijares (seated center) started making tortillas out of her home on South Fair Oaks Avenue, expanding her business into the family-owned Mijares Restaurant.

Pasadena Union Presbyterian Church (formerly Japanese Union Church), 1962

Before the Freeways

Before freeways bisected this neighborhood, the corner of Lincoln and Fair Oaks—called by locals the “the Point” or the “the Triangle”— was a busy shopping hub, with Lincoln Market, a shoe repair place, a drug store, and a Winchell’s Donut House nearby. Public transit routes intersected there too, making it a convenient crossroads for getting around town.

Photos

Detail from aerial photomap of Pasadena, First National Trust and Savings Bank of Pasadena, 1922

Lincoln Market, 270 North Fair Oaks, 1929 Harold H. Parker Studio Collection of Negatives,

Parsons employee Yvonne Fernandez at 11th floor window, about 1974

One of the last Pacific Electric Red Car runs from downtown Los Angeles to Pasadena, 1950

DID YOU KNOW?

The Point had the best chili mac in town. Starting out with a hamburger stand in front of her home on Pasadena Avenue, Clara Allen took over a bigger space near the Point for the Green Buck, where she served the best chili mac in town. She shut it down after Parsons moved in and changed the neighborhood forever.

The Green Buck restaurant, 263 North Fair Oaks Boulevard, about 1974