The Arroyo Link

The

Arroyo Link A

P R O P O S A L

T O

R E C O N N E C T

Based on the Work of John Muir , Jeanne Carr , James Scoville and Myron Hunt And the Conversations of Generations of Pasadena Planners, Residents, and Visionaries who are Co-Authors of this Work, Past, Present and Future

Carmelita Water Tower

Site of the Valley Hunt Club 1893-1906

Defenders Parkway

Scoville’s “Zig-Zag” Path

Home of CB Scoville

Colorado St. Bridge

1913 Facing East

Defenders Parkway

The half-buied remains of the “zig-zag� path into the Arroyo Seco

The

Arroyo Link A

P R O P O S A L

T O

R E C O N N E C T

Based on the Work of John Muir , Jeanne Carr , James Scoville and Myron Hunt And the Conversations of Generations of Pasadena Planners, Residents, and Visionaries who are Co-Authors of this Work, Past, Present and FutureÂ

Desiderio Park

Arroyo Vista Condominiums

Historic Scoville Park

HOLLY ST BRIDGE

The Arroyo Seco: c1913

JOHN MUIR

JEANNE CARR

JAMES SCOVILLE

The Route of Colorado Street Bridge is shown by this white line.

In 1913, the landmark bridge will be built following this route.

Arroyo Seco

Arroyo Dr

The Arroyo Seco before the Colorado Street Bridge, c1893

MYRON HUNT

Scoville’s “Zig-Zag” Path

The

Arroyo Link A

PROPOSAL

TO

RECONNECT

Based on the Work of John Muir , Jeanne Carr , James Scoville, and Myron Hunt

And the Conversations of Generations of Pasadena Planners, Residents, and Visionaries who are Co-Authors of this Work, Past Present and Future

Linda Vista Holly St Bridge

r yo D

Arro

The bottom of the “Zig-Zag” Path, which the Colorado Street Bridge will step through as it crosses the Arroyo Seco.

Pasadena Civic Center

Old Pasadena 710 Fwy Stub

Holly St

St

d

en

Blv o

Gre

ad

lor Co

Carmelita Water Tower

710 Fwy Stub Route of the The Norton Simon Museum Colorado (formerly Carmelita Gardens Park) Fwy

Pioneer Monument

Defenders Parkway

COL

Scoville’s “Zig-Zag” Path Arroyo

Orange Grove Blvd

OR A

DO

To Rose Bowl

EE TB RID

G E

Drive

ST R

Arroyo

Blvd

Desiderio Park 2019

Habitat for Humanity Desiderio Park 2019

H i s t o r i c S c o v i l l e P a r k

Route of the Colorado Fwy

6 11/15/19

PL ACES AND PEOPLE THE ARROYO SECO: An 11-mile canyon joining the mountains above Pasadena to the LA River............38 PEOPLE

The Scoville Family and Pasadena’s First Park...................................................... 10, 22-23, 138-157

Jeanne Carr: Chapter 2, The Story of Carmelita................................................... 10, 15-19, 158-189

Myron Hunt and the 1917 Arroyo Park Plan................................................................. 37-38, 40-41

PARKS AND PLACES

Reservoir Park (now Continental Court Condominiums)................16, 23, 38, 40, 42, 56, 66, 144-147

Scoville Park: Below and north of the Colorado St Bridge, 1880........ 22-23, 86-91, 96, 102, 141-157

Carmelita Gardens and Park (1870s-1967)......................................................... 10, 15-19, 158-189

Carmelita Water Tower (c1875-1968, aka Pioneer Square 1951-67)..........55, 66, 116, 119-122, 189

Library Park (now known as Memorial Park)....................................................................41, 67, 149

The Pasadena Museum of Art (now the Norton Simon Museum)...96-101, 104, 107, 112-128, 187-189

Desiderio Park................................................................................. 78-79, 106-109, 112, 114, 136

PATHS AND BRIDGES

Arroyo Drive (now Blvd), at the Arroyo’s Edge, the first road to Pasadena........ 62, 106-111, 144-147

Colorado Street: Now known as Colorado Blvd, Pasadena’s main street and Route 66..............10-193

The Civic Center .........................................................................................40, 67, 93, 97, 137, 139

The Park Place District........................................................................................ 16, 22-23, 144-147

The Colorado Street Bridge................................................................. 26-33, 52-69, 78-82, 102-103

The Valley Hunt Club............................................................................................140, 145, 154-156

The “Zig-Zag” Path: A non-historic name for the path at the end of Colorado St..... 104-111, 155-157

PARKWAYS & FREEWAYS

1922: Defenders Parkway: Between Colorado and Orange Grove and the Bridge...... 34-43, 104-115

1939: The Arroyo Seco Parkway (110) aka Pasadena Freeway (1951-2010), the 1st freeway...30, 46

1952-1970: The Colorado Parkway/Freeway, the 2nd freeway.................................................48-61

1970: The Ventura Freeway (134) (replaced and rerouted the Colorado Fwy), the 3rd freeway...61-62

1972: The Foothill Freeway (210), the 4th freeway.........................................................................62

1968-2018: The Long Beach Freeway (710), the 5th freeway, (now defunct, aka “the Stub)........62-65 Maps and photos colorized for illustration purposes.

White with shadow is added editorial.

7 11/15/19

Scoville’s “Zig-Zag” Path

1940s The Arroyo Seco, Colorado Street Bridge, Vista del Arroyo Hotel and the “Zig-Zag” Path

PREFACE

O

N

T

E

N

T

S

PARKWAYS

C

The Twin Themes: A Passion for Nature and the Drive to Move Forward............ 11

THE Reconnecting Pasadena to the Arroyo Seco.................................................... 72 OPPORTUNITY The General Proposal: Reopening the Gateway to the Arroyo Seco.................. 99

THE ARROYO LINK, PROJECT 1 Defenders Parkway: Completing the Link to the Arroyo Seco.......................... 104 PLAN: Revitalizing the “Zig-Zag” Path to Pioneer Monument.......................... 108

THE ARROYO LINK, PROJECT 2

CARMELITA Carmelita Gardens: Four Remaining Fragments............................................ 116 CONNECTION PLAN: The Carmelita Connection................................................................. 128

CARMELITA PROPOSAL

DEFENDERS PROPOSAL

DEFENDERS PROPOSAL

FREEWAYS How Parkways Became Freeways: The Colorado Freeway Case Study.............. 48

How Pasadena Maintained Its Link to the Arroyo in the 1950s and 60s............ 52

Shifting the Alignment of the Colorado Street Bridge........................................ 58

Moving Mountains........................................................................................ 60 Stopping the 710: After the Ventura, Foothill and Long Beach Freeways............ 62

THE OPPORTUNITY

John Muir Comes to Pasadena and Helps Start a Park..................................... 14 Jeanne Carr and Carmelita Gardens.............................................................. 18 James Scoville Creates Pasadena’s First Park................................................... 22 The Cycleway to Los Angeles by way of the Arroyo Seco................................. 24 The Ballot Initiatives of 1912: A New Bridge and Carmelita Park...................... 26 The Arroyo Seco Parkway Plan of 1912......................................................... 30 The City Beautiful Movement’s Gateway to the Arroyo Seco of 1915................. 34 Myron Hunt’s Connecting of Defenders Parkway to the Arroyo Seco................. 36 The Bennett Plan and the Link to the Arroyo Seco............................................. 40 The Arroyo Seco Parkway: the First Freeway in the West.................................. 46

FREEWAYS

PARKWAYS

CONCLUSIONS Muir, a Map of Pasadena with the Arroyo Link, Regional Connections............ 133

SCOVILLE Scoville: Pasadena’s Oldest Park (in articles)................................................. 141 PARK The Origins of Scoville’s “Zig-Zag” Path........................................................ 155

STORY OF CARMELITA

THE STORY OF The Story of Carmelita Gardens Park (in excerpts and articles)....................... 158 CARMELITA The Story of Building a Museum at Carmelita Park (in articles)....................... 178

Acknowledgements and Credits................................................................... 190

SCOVILLE PARK

APPENDIX

T H E A R R O Y O S E C O

Between the 1880s and 1960s, Carmelita was a nexus of artists, writers and conservationists.

FAIR OAKS AVE

Though the 134 freeway occupies part of its original 42 acres and 9.5 acres became the Norton Simon Museum, other fragments remain. See pages 1519 & 158189.

Memorial Park

Civic Center

COLORADO ST

ve ve A

DEFENDERS

Central Park

S P A C E

Carmelita Gardens

Gro

O P E N

nge

M A I N

Dating to the late 1880s, Scoville Park included the first bridge across the Arroyo Seco, a club house, target range and the adjacent Valley Hunt Club, also funded by the Scoville family. To create work during the 1893 depression, they funded a “zig-zag” path to the park and Arroyo. See pages 22, 140-155.

Ora

THE LINK

P A S A D E N A S

CARMELITA GARDENS

SCOVILLE PARK

FWY STUB

PARKWAY After WWI , landscaping the transition between Colorado St, Orange Grove Ave, and the Bridge, Defenders Parkway had seven parcels including a roundabout and, until the freeways, a connection to the “Zig-Zag” Path into the Arroyo Seco. See pages 34-43, 104-115.

THE 710

With the first freeway in the West, Pasadena was also among the first to experience the decline of its downtown and the advent of smog. By the late 1960s, work on the 710 Long Beach Freeway led to a “freeway revolt” and a fight to stop it altogether, which it finally did in 2019. See pages 62-65.

Base map produced by the Login Printing and Binding Company, September 1948.

10

Maps and photos colorized for illustration purposes.

White with shadow is added editorial.

11/15/19

A PASSION FOR NATURE AND THE DRIVE TO MOVE FORWARD

PREFACE This is a study of how Southern California’s freeway system began as a park system with scenic roads called parkways.

It is a story that begins with the creation of a link between Pasadena and its Arroyo Seco, which helped initiate a park movement to create a greenbelt of tree-lined boulevards and a bicycle path connecting to Los Angeles.

In exploring how this transformation occurred, two persistent themes weave their way throughout; the first a passion for nature and the second the drive to move forward.

The pages that follow tell the story of the link’s development, and in so doing, they seek to find solutions needed to repair the disconnect between city and nature today.

David Robert Wolf 11 11/15/19

PARKS AND PARKWAYS PARKWAYS

12 11/15/19

PARKS AND PARKWAYS PARKWAYS

T H E M OVEM ENT TO C R E ATE

Parks & Parkways

After traveling thousands of miles, crossing countless rivers and valleys, from the plains of Illinois to the deserts of New Mexico and Arizona, Route 66 faced one last hurdle in Pasadena, California.

In this last link to Los Angeles, the road west meets the Arroyo Seco, an 11-mile canyon that runs from the mountains above Pasadena to the Los Angeles River.

13 11/15/19

JOHN MUIR

PARKS AND PARKWAYS PARKWAYS

A Passion for Nature This definitive biography

of John Muir by historian Donald Worster (2008) begins its first sentence with Muir in Pasadena.

“In the summer of 1877, John Muir set out from the irrigated fields of Pasadena, California, where acres of orange trees had recently been planted, on a long solitary hike.…

Although nearly forty years old, he was still relatively unknown to the world. It would be a decade or two before he became celebrated as the nation’s most ardent lover of wild places, …

It would be another century before historians looked to him as the greatest forerunner of modern environmentalism, a powerful influence on people far beyond the West Coast.…

As he followed the trail up Eaton Canyon, he came upon ‘a strange dark man of doubtful patronage’ who had built a cabin in a streamside meadow.…

Because night was approaching, the stranger invited Muir to share a meal and bed down at his campfire, and the two men fell into a conversation that lasted for hours.

That was vintage Muir. Throughout his life he liked to gab only a little less than he liked to hike.

Wherever he went, he started a conversation, and typically it went on and on, Muir doing most of the talking. Those who knew him well thought he was the most engaging talker they ever knew. Certainly he was the most egalitarian. He talked with everyone he met…Mostly he talked, and talked passionately, about nature.…Meeting people like the man in Eaton Canyon had convinced him of the universality of that “inherited wildness,” an equality of passion in which all humans shared.

After getting back safely to Pasadena, he exclaimed, ‘I had a glorious view of the valley out to the ocean, which would require a whole book for description.’…His moment of regeneration he wanted to share with everyone on earth, and characteristically generous of spirit he became a trusting child of nature and a prophet of hope for humanity.”

14 11/15/19

JOHN MUIR

PARKS AND PARKWAYS

PARKWAYS

Naturalist, writer and conservation advocate, Muir founded the Sierra Club. As he helped conceive “America’s greatest idea,” he also came to be regarded as the “Father of the National Park.”

John Muir, 1875 (1838-1914)

Decades before the completion of the road west, John Muir arrived in Pasadena in 1875, a year after the town’s founding as well as the year of Muir’s first published work on the need for environmental conservation.

Muir hiked from Pasadena to the summit of the San Gabriels and returned with a “regeneration he wanted to share with everyone on earth.” *

Jeanne Carr heard Muir’s call and made the move from Northern California to Pasadena. Carr is considered “the most important woman in his life,”** and “more than anyone else” her influence helped shape the intellectual and spiritual growth of both Muir and the city she would come to call home.

Jeanne Carr (ne Smith) (1825-1903)

Seen here when she was 21, Carr served as Muir’s most important mentor, helping shape Muir from a young inventor into the naturalist he became.

*

11/15/19

A Passion for Nature. Donald Worster, p12.

**

p173.

15

CARMELITA

PARKS AND PARKWAYS PARKWAYS

Park Place From the time of Pasadena’s 1874 founding, this area along the edge of the Arroyo Seco was known as Park Place. It included Reservoir Park, a park envisioned through the time of the Bennett Plan in the 1920s and Park Place Reservation (expanded upon as Brookside Park in 1914). The creation of Scoville Park (1888-1890s), Carmelita (1870s-1960s) and Defenders Parkway (1920s - present) would further this vision.

T H E

A R R

Reservoir Park

O Y O

(H

O

LL Y

ST

)

John Muir’s likely walk to the Arroyo Seco S

HOLLY ST

E

DR

C

AR

RR

OY O

O

HOMES

ND AVE

Scoville Park

SCOVILLE

GRA

During Muir’s visits to Pasadena in the1870s and 80s, he stayed at his friend Oliver Congar’s house where the Elks Club (BPOE) is now located on Colorado Blvd.

To walk to the Arroyo Seco the most direct route would have been to simply walk to the end of Colorado and down the “zig-zag path” that led to the Arroyo Seco.

Map of Pasadena, 1898. Pasadena Museum of History.

16

Annotated and highlighted for illustration purposes.

11/15/19

CARMELITA

PARKS AND PARKWAYS

PARKWAYS

John Muir in Southern California Muir explored Southern California extensively, and it was here that he would spend his final days.

With the great persuasive powers that would make him famous, Muir helped orchestrate a generous offering of land for Jeanne Carr.

By inviting Carr and helping initiate the conversation, Muir was also among those who helped set in motion a movement to create parks and gardens in Pasadena, beginning with its link to the Arroyo Seco.

CARMELITA BOUNDARY IN BENNETT PLAN

JEANNE CARR’S ORIGINAL 42-ACRE BOUNDARY OF CARMELITA THE CARMELITA WATER TOWER N RTO

NO

BO

PASADENA AVE

(ST JOHN AVE)

SIM

UM

USE

M ON

ARY UND

COLORADO ST

GE

AN

OR VE EA

OV GR

Dr. Orville Conger Muir’s friend sold the land to Jeanne Carr that became Carmelita, even offering to buy it back to entice Carr to Pasadena.

17 11/15/19

PARKS AND PARKWAYS

CARMELITA

PARKWAYS

1930s Carmelita Gardens

Before Huntington Gardens or Caltech, Carmelita was the intellectual and cultural center of

Pasadena. See Appendix 1 (p177) for extended excerpts from “The Story of Carmelita,” (1928) by Charles Saunders.

1928 Carmelita Park

Located between Brookside Park and Central Park, Carmelita was a major park in Pasadena.

1880s Carmelita

This souvenir view from Carmelita shows Pasadena’s burgeoning center at Fair Oaks and Colorado Streets.

18 11/15/19

CARMELITA

PARKS AND PARKWAYS

PARKWAYS

Jeanne Carr and Carmelita Gardens Jeanne and Ezra Carr were considered “the most influential couple in California” in the 1870s.

Writing to Muir, she referred to Carmelita as “the patch called yours.”*

Naming her property Carmelita, Jeanne Carr welcomed a community of artists, academics, writers, horticulturists and conservationists to her Pasadena boarding house, spirited salons and impressive garden.

Muir visited Carr often with cuttings to plant in her garden. Calling her his “spiritual mother,” his letters of florid affection led to speculation about the woman who “introduced me to all my friends.”*

But as she introduced Pasadena to many of its core values, Carr would come to be regarded by Pasadenans as a kind of “spiritual mother” as well, and a movement grew to preserve Carmelita as a public park.

For ninety years that vision and her garden would endure.

*

March 30, 1873. “Letters to a Friend,” by William Frederic Badè, which chronicles the letters between Carr and Muir.

Jeanne Carr also helped lead the Pasadena Library and Village Improvement Society which initiated the city’s public library system.

11/15/19

19

CONNECTING TO LOS ANGELES

PARKS AND PARKWAYS PARKWAYS

John Muir’s friend Orville Conger also had a vision, one to connect Pasadena and Los Angeles by way of a wide “boulevard.”

PARK PLACE

E (NOW

ENU PARK AV

T)

HOLLY S

THE PARK PLACE ADDITION

A

R

R

O

Y

O

S

E

C

O

SCOVILLE PARK AND BRIDGE (LOCATION OF THE COLORADO ST BRIDGE)

20 11/15/19

CONNECTING TO LOS ANGELES

PARKS AND PARKWAYS

PARKWAYS

Conger’s vision sparked a second movement, which ultimately helped create the last link on Route 66 between Pasadena and Los Angeles.

JW Wood: “Pasadena, Historical and Personal,” 1943, page 175

ARROYO

SITE OF THE VALLEY HUNT CLUB 1893-1906

DRIVE

CARMELITA

This is the JAMES SCOVILLE’S “ZIG-ZAG” PATH

end of Colorado Street before the bridge, which will cross the

YO RRO

Arroyo

E

DRIV

where

A

Scoville Bridge is located.

1909

COLOR ADDED

21 11/15/19

SCOVILLE PARK

PARKS AND PARKWAYS PARKWAYS

And so these two visions—one to create parks outside of the growing bustle of both downtown Pasadena and Los Angeles, the other creating a way to access

Pasadena’s First Park Pasadena’s first parks were private initiatives that later became public parks. The first of these began as Scoville Park in the late 1880s. Located below where the Colorado Street Bridge would be built decades later, Scoville Park was the only Pasadena park listed in the LA Times’ “Places of Interest for Tourists” in 1892.

James Scoville (1825-1893) Pasadena’s first great philanthropist, he put the unemployed back to work in the late 1880s and 90s building a park with paths, retaining walls, and a “zig-zag” path from the Valley Hunt Club (which he helped found) to the park he built in the Arroyo Seco (beside which the Colorado Street Bridge was later built).

LA Times: 12-18-1889. Continues on page 148.

“The Scoville Park, west of town, was visited by hundreds of people on Sunday.”

LA Times: 03-12-1894 p9.

LA Times: 03-19-1892

HOLLY ST

The Valley Hunt Club 1893-1906

Then known as Park St

Scoville Park

The Lower “Zig-Zag” Path

c1893 Color is original tinting, labels added.

22 11/15/19

SCOVILLE PARK

PARKS AND PARKWAYS

PARKWAYS

and move through these parks—these themes will weave their way through the efforts of this “small group of thoughtful, committed citizens.”

FUTURE BROOKSIDE

RESERVOIR

PARK

T

UT S

N WAL

C A R M E L I TA GARDENS

T LY S HOL

DO

ORA

COL Scoville Homes

HOLLY ST YO DRIVE RO AR

A

THEN KNOWN AS PARK ST

R

GRA

ND

R

VALLEY HUNT CLUB

RS

DE

FEN DE RE WAY TU FU PARK

AVE

ORA

NG

ST

EG

ROV

EB

LVD

O

Valley Hunt Club Land

S E

BR

IDG E

19 1

O

SCOVILLE’S ORCHARDS

3

C

SCOVILLE’S “ZIG-ZAG” PATH

DO

ST

SCOVILLE PA R K FUT

RA O OL C E UR

ARRO YO DR TO LOS A

NGELES

1903 Note: For illustration purposes, color and white labels have been added.

1890S Scoville Bridge over the Arroyo Seco

11/15/19

23

PARKS AND PARKWAYS

BICYCLES AND AUTOMOBILES

PARKWAYS

c1900 The Cycleway at Hotel Green

c1900 The Cycleway near the Hotel Raymond

In creating parks and ways to move through them, Pasadenans built the world’s first elevated cycleway from Hotel Green bound for Los Angeles by way of the Arroyo Seco, a route that later became the Arroyo Seco Parkway.

c1900

24 11/15/19

PARKS AND PARKWAYS

BICYCLES AND AUTOMOBILES PARKWAYS

1897 A Quartet of Bicycles in the Rose Parade

1901 The first automobiles appeared in the 1901 Rose Parade.

In the late 1890s, Pasadena had 9000 people, 4000 bicycles and 15 bicycle shops. Around 1900, bicycle wheels, motors and buggies began to converge.

By 1915 the city had more automobiles per capita than anywhere in the world.*

1908 *

Pasadena had 5,000 cars and a population of 40,000 in 1915 according to historian Ann Scheid. Pasadena Weekly, June 12, 2012.

25 11/15/19

PARKS AND PARKWAYS

THE CITY BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT

PARKWAYS

1912

The 1912 Ballot Initiative on the proposed Colorado Street Bridge and a proposal to purchase Carmelita for a public park.

The Colorado St Bridge Ballot Initiative

“otherwise travel will go around us.”

The Carmelita Park Ballot Initiative

26 11/15/19

PARKS AND PARKWAYS

THE CITY BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT PARKWAYS

In 1912, the people of Pasadena moved these ideas forward in two ballot initiatives. The first proposed a world class bridge across the Arroyo Seco and the second would create a park at Carmelita.

Although the bridge initiative passed, it would be another decade before Carmelita became a public park.

The bottom of Scoville’s “zig-zag” path linking the end of Colorado Street with the Arroyo Seco.

11/15/19

27

PARKS AND PARKWAYS

THE CITY BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT

PARKWAYS

The construction of the landmark Colorado Street Bridge in 1913 ushered in Pasadena’s “City Beautiful” planning movement in the decade that followed. Blending civic architecture and scenic roads, the landmark bridge also inspired citizens to build momentum for planning parkways to link Pasadena with Los Angeles.

James Scoville’s “Zig-Zag” Path

1913

Scoville Park

28 11/15/19

PARKS AND PARKWAYS

THE CITY BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT PARKWAYS

Historic Scoville Park Steps Built in the 1880s, these steps survive today. See p87 & 90.

11/15/19

Scoville Bridge Destroyed in the flood of 1914. See p154.

29

THE CITY BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT

PARKS AND PARKWAYS PARKWAYS

The planning of Pasadena’s Colorado Street Bridge, in turn, would inspire the LA Park Commission’s “Arroyo Seco Parkway” plan of 1912 to connect the

➊ THE COLORADO STREET BRIDGE The bridge helped inspire a plan to link the parks of Pasadena and Los Angeles with a scenic road.

➋ GRIFFITH PARK The largest urban park in the US, it originally bordered the LA River.

GRIFFITH PARK

➋ ➌

LA River

SILVER LAKE The reservoir was envisioned to have links to Elysian and Griffith Parks.

➌ ELYSIAN PARK

➍

➍

THE TUNNELS AT ELYSIAN PARK Once known as the Figueroa Street tunnels.

WILSHIRE BLVD

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES

30 11/15/19

THE CITY BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT

PARKS AND PARKWAYS

PARKWAYS

mountains above Pasadena to the Los Angeles River, creating a greenbelt of parks and roads linking the two cities and “the mountains to the sea.”

SAN GABRIEL MTNS (ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST)

OAK GROVE PARK (HAHAMOGNA)

➎ DEVILS GATE

COLORADO ST BRIDGE

➎

➊

DEVIL’S GATE DAM AND LAKE Instead of a lake, it filled with sediment.

DOWNTOWN PASADENA

➏ THE ORIGINAL BUSCH GARDENS Once one of the finest gardens in California.

➏ SYCAMORE PARK

➑

➐

➐ SYCAMORE PARK Still in use today as a neighborhood park.

The Arroyo Seco Parkway Plan of 1912

This underlay map is from the LA Park Commission’s plan of 1912. Color, white labels, the LA River and the surrounding images and reference numbers have been added for illustration purposes.

➑ THE ARROYO SECO PARKWAY Renamed the Pasadena Fwy, the name returned in 2010.

31 11/15/19

PARKS AND PARKWAYS

THE CITY BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT

PARKWAYS Swing

1920s

32 11/15/19

PARKS AND PARKWAYS

THE CITY BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT PARKWAYS

The Link that Tells the Story Even as the connecting of roads and parks at the Arroyo’s edge helped initiate a larger park and parkway system, the link between Pasadena and its Arroyo also tells the story of how the central themes of nature and movement would develop and how, in the end, they would come undone.

The “Zig-Zag” Path

The Colorado Street Bridge was designed to step between the upper and lower switchbacks of Scoville’s “zig-zag” path.

These photos show where the bridge crosses over the lower portion of the “zig-zag” path in what is now Desiderio Park with the Vista del Arroyo Hotel (now the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals) in the background.

1936

Though a revitalized “zig-zag” path would approach this point from a different angle, it would re-establish a cherished connection to Defenders Parkway, Carmelita Gardens and downtown Pasadena.

33 11/15/19

THE CITY BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT

PARKS AND PARKWAYS

OR AN GE GR OV

EA V.

PARKWAYS HO

LL Y

ST

CARMELITA & DEFENDERS PKWY Referred to as“Fraternal Hill.”

NOW MEMORIAL PARK A NEW CIVIC CENTER

CENTRAL PARK FAIR OAKS AV.

OD ROY ARR

ROVE AV.

ORANGE G

R

COLORADO ST

CALIFORNIA ST

The “Pasadena Plan” of 1915

34 11/15/19

THE CITY BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT

PARKS AND PARKWAYS

PARKWAYS

Creating the Gateway to the Arroyo Seco In 1915, Dean George Damon and Pasadena’s City Beautiful Association proposed a series of parks linking Carmelita to the Arroyo Seco.

After WWI, those efforts produced Defenders Parkway at Colorado Street and Orange Grove Avenue.

Over the next six decades, this vision of an Arroyo gateway would maintain a link between Pasadena’s main thoroughfare of Colorado Street (Boulevard) and the City’s greatest park, the Arroyo Seco.

The remains of the gateway to the Arroyo today, as described in the Pasadena Plan on the opposite page.

NORTON SIMON MUSEUM

Memorial Flagpole

COLORADO BLVD DEFENDERS PARKWAY

RO EG NG

CO

VE

SE

VD BL

SCOVILLE PARK

RA

YO

HISTORIC

DEFENDERS PARKWAY

O

“ZIG-ZAG” PATH

O RR

A

TREET THE COLORADO S

BRIDG

E

DESIDERIO PARK

35 11/15/19

THE CITY BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT

PARKS AND PARKWAYS PARKWAYS City Hall

Carmelita Gardens Park Scoville Homes Defenders Parkway Defenders Parkway Colorado St Bridge

The “Zig-Zag” Path

1940s

The Arroyo Park Plan called for connecting Defenders Parkway to the Arroyo Seco below, and…

…the bridge Myron Hunt designed below the Colorado Street Bridge connecting to old Scoville Park.

36 11/15/19

THE CITY BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT

PARKS AND PARKWAYS

PARKWAYS

Myron Hunt In 1917, as one of Pasadena’s leading architects of the City Beautiful era, Hunt chaired the “Arroyo Park Plan” effort. He later designed Pasadena’s Central Library and the Rose Bowl stadium.

“The Arroyo—A People’s Park” In 1917, Myron Hunt chaired the first Arroyo Seco master plan, advancing the resulting Arroyo Park Plan which included Defenders Parkway and an extension that connected to the “zig-zag” path’s link to the Arroyo Seco.

*

This 1918 editorial that accompanied the publishing the “Arroyo Park Plan,” chaired by Hunt, continues on the next page.

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THE CITY BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT

PARKS AND PARKWAYS PARKWAYS

...“The Arroyo—A People’s Park,” continued from the previous page.

This editorial from“Southern California Magazine” (January 1918) accompanied the publishing of the “Arroyo Park Plan,” chaired by Myron Hunt.

An unabridged copy and the full detailed plan can be found at mycity.is/ arroyoparkplan.pdf

The Arroyo Park Plan of 1917

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For illustration purposes, color and labels have been added.

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Detail The Arroyo Park Plan’s “park extension policy” of 1917 built on the Pasadena Plan of 1915 (p34), calling for extending Defenders Parkway to include the area of the city-owned “zig-zag” path into the Arroyo Seco.

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PARKS AND PARKWAYS

PARKWAYS

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Defenders Parkway This 1922 municipal map shows Defenders Parkway with six parcels. In 1927, Memorial Flagpole will be added in the middle of the intersection, bringing the total to seven. Though much has changed at this intersection, it still has a circle of parks, memorials and landscaping on all four sides.

By 1921 plans for Defenders Parkway and the Arroyo link were moving forward. Though the city-owned “zig-zag” path was not landscaped as recommended, this link to the Arroyo Seco would continue to be accessed by way of Defenders Parkway through the next three decades.

WAY PARK

DEFENDERS “TRIANGLE”

The Scoville Homes

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DEFENDERS PARKWAY

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DEFENDERS PARKWAY

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SCOVILLE’S “ZIG-ZAG” PATH

ORANGE GROVE BLVD DEFENDERS PARKWAY

MEMORIAL FLAG POLE

CARMELITA PARK

1935 COLOR ADDED

Defenders Parkway In 1915, two years after the completion of the Colorado Street Bridge, the east approach was widened and paid for in part by the Scoville family. Landscaped parcels were added by 1922 and Memorial Flag Pole followed in 1927.

39 11/15/19

THE CITY BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT

PARKS AND PARKWAYS PARKWAYS

The Bennett Civic Center Plan of 1923 celebrated the city’s 50th birthday along with three major planning initiatives. The first focused on creating a civic center axis connecting a new city hall, library, and auditorium.

The Bennett Plan and the Arroyo Link

CARMELITA GARDENS Dean Damon of Pasadena’s City Beautiful movement helped lead the effort to create a park at Carmelita in 1923, inaugurating its use as a civic space and arts institute (p177), a campaign later led by Enerst Batchelder.

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George A. Damon

Myron Hunt

THE ARROYO PARK PLAN In 1917-18, Myron Hunt chaired a civic effort that produced the first detailed master plan for the Arroyo Seco. Their “Park Extension Policy” included linking Defenders Parkway with the Arroyo Seco as seen on page 38.

ID

As it was already under construction in the early 1922s, Defenders Parkway was not part of the Bennett Plan. This is its position just outside of the corner of the Bennett plan. See p39 for details.

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DEFENDERS PARKWAY

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COLORADO ST

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White labels, lines and color have been added for illustration purposes.

40 11/15/19

THE CITY BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT

PARKS AND PARKWAYS

PARKWAYS

The second extended an east-west axis to Carmelita, which would finally become a public park. The third advanced Myron Hunt’s “Arroyo Park Plan,” building his design for the Rose Bowl and linking Pasadena to the Arroyo Seco.

THE CIVIC CENTER: A CITY HALL, LIBRARY & AUDITORIUM Astronomer George E. Hale built on the momentum of the City Beautiful Association’s efforts. Design competitions in the early 1920s, produced a new Central Library (by Myron Hunt), a new City Hall (by the architects of San Francisco’s City Hall, Bakewell and Brown) and the Pasadena Civic Auditorium (by Bennett and Haskell).

These three buildings were constructed between 1922 and 1931.

George E. Hale

CENTRAL LIBRARY MEMORIAL PARK

CITY HALL

COLORADO ST

CIVIC AUDITORIUM

The Bennett Civic Center Plan of 1923 Designed by Edward H. Bennett, this plan created a two axis framework for development that Pasadena still endeavors to follow, preserve, and restore a century later.

41 11/15/19

THE CITY BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT

PARKS AND PARKWAYS PARKWAYS

By the mid 1920s, the vision of linking Defenders Parkway and Carmelita Gardens to the Arroyo Seco was fully realized.

BROOKSIDE PARK

RESERVOIR PARK SITE

CARMELITA GARDENS

SCOVILLE’S “ZIG-ZAG“ PATH

DEFENDERS PARKWAY

COLORADO ST BRIDGE

1922 COLOR ADDED

Pasadena’s Link to the Arroyo Seco, 1922.

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THE CITY BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT

PARKS AND PARKWAYS

PARKWAYS

In the 1930s, voters funded the extension of Holly Street for a second civic axis through Carmelita, which then finally became a public park.

CITY HALL

CENTRAL LIBRARY YMCA

MEMORIAL PARK

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Defenders Parkway

THE “ZIG-ZAG” PATH

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c1940 COLOR ADDED

Pasadena’s Link to the Arroyo Seco, c1940.

43 11/15/19

PARKS AND PARKWAYS

THE CITY BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT

PARKWAYS

Just as it had once connected the Valley Hunt Club with the Arroyo Seco, the “zig-zag” path continued to serve as a gateway through the 1920s and 30s.

The “Zig-Zag” Path

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44 11/15/19

PARKS AND PARKWAYS

THE CITY BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT PARKWAYS

During this time plans to build a parkway through the bottom of this part of the Arroyo were no longer being considered as other routes were explored.

The Vista Del Arroyo Hotel became the McCornack Army Hospital in 1943 and later the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

1934 LA Planning Commission Report 11/15/19

45

PARKS AND PARKWAYS

THE ARROYO SECO PARKWAY

PARKWAYS

To preserve the parkland south of the bridge, plans for the Arroyo Seco Parkway shifted to a forked approach. As seen below, Avenue 64 to

Parkways After the Arroyo Seco The vision for creating the Colorado Parkway began in the later stages of planning the Arroyo Seco Parkway in the 1930s, as seen here, extending from the Colorado Street Bridge.

As plans evolved in the 1940s, it soon became clear that the two lane Colorado St Bridge would be insufficient and a wider bridge was needed to cross the Arroyo Seco in Pasadena.

1936 The Figueroa Street Tunnels Constructed in 1925, this portion of Figueroa Street was built for two way traffic and was not part of the Arroyo Seco Parkway until the 1940s when a southbound route was cut through Elysian Park by what is now Dodger Stadium.

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THE ARROYO SECO PARKWAY

PARKS AND PARKWAYS

PARKWAYS

Annandale was one of the two forks, where it was to meet a new east-west parkway that would replace the old Colorado Street Bridge. The next chapter tells the story of this forgotten parkway and its evolution into a freeway.

The Arroyo Seco Parkway Opening in 1940 After hosting the Olympics in 1932 and passing the torch to Germany, the vision of parkways shifted to a model much more in alignment with the Autobahn.

1940

1945

The Arroyo Seco Parkway at the York Street Bridge

47 11/15/19

HOW PARKWAYS BECAME FREEWAYS

FREEWAYS “Zig-Zag” Path

1950

48 11/15/19

HOW PARKWAYS BECAME FREEWAYS

H O W T H E PA R K WAY S B E C A M E

FREEWAYS

FREEWAYS How Southern California’s parkways became freeways is a story best understood by returning to Pasadena’s Arroyo Seco. After World War II, the limitations of the aging Colorado Street Bridge brought about a plan to tear it down and replace it with a parkway connecting Carmelita Park to Griffith Park. The pages that follow chronicle this pivotal change.

1949 The Colorado Parkway by the time construction began in 1950, the name was changed to the Colorado Freeway as the larger vision of a freeway network began to emerge.

1956 The Colorado Freeway This 1956 map highlights the Colorado Fwy from Carmelita to what is now a long offramp in Eagle Rock. The Colorado on and off ramps to the 5 freeway are also remnants of this route.

49 11/15/19

THE PARKWAY VISION

HOW PARKWAYS BECAME FREEWAYS

In planning the Colorado Parkway, three issues needed to be addressed: 1) Maintaining links to parks, 2) Shifting the location of existing roads, and FREEWAYS Griffith Park

The Arroyo Seco Parkway Becomes the Pasadena Fwy Planning for the Arroyo Seco Parkway began in 1912 and construction finally was completed in 1940.

Though it opened as the first parkway in Southern California, when a 1954 extension through the Figueroa Street Tunnels linked it to the Four Level Interchange in downtown L.A., the name was changed to the Pasadena Freeway, considered today as the first freeway in the West.

HOLLYWOOD Echo Park

In 2010, the name was changed back to the Arroyo Seco Parkway.

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THE PARKWAY VISION

HOW PARKWAYS BECAME FREEWAYS

3) Continuing the process, begun in 1913, of carving away at the mountain where the Colorado Street Bridge landed on the Arroyo’s western edge.

FREEWAYS

Angeles Forest Reserve

Carmelita Gardens Park

PASADENA

The Arroyo Seco Parkway

Eagle Rock

Formerly the Colorado Parkway

The Colorado Parkway Planning began in the 1930’s as an extension of the Colorado Street Bridge (p46). The remains of the Colorado Freeway can be found today in the very long, four-laned Colorado off ramps to the 134 freeway in Eagle Rock and to the 5 freeway in Glendale.

Sycamore Pak

Elysian Park

LOS ANGELES

Griffith Park

Parkway Plans This is a composite of three maps.

The dominant, blue-lined “Plan of Parkways” dates to 1939. Layered on top in green is the Arroyo Seco Parkway Plan of 1912. The hatched grey lines represent a supplemental 1912 Assessment District map.

5 Fwy

Formerly the Colorado Parkway

51 11/15/19

ISSUE 1: MAINTAINING PARKWAY LINKS

HOW PARKWAYS BECAME FREEWAYS

Issue 1: Maintaining Parkway Links Introducing a new bridge while preserving connections to the old Colorado FREEWAYS

Street Bridge presented the problem of connecting both the new and the old bridges to the same intersection at Colorado and Orange Grove Boulevard.

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SCOVILLE’S “ZIG-ZAG” PATH

MEMORIAL FLAG POLE

ORANGE GROVE BLVD

CARMELITA PARK

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DEFENDERS PARKWAY

1935 The Arroyo Link in 1935

Maintaining this link would be one outcome of the Colorado Parkway.

52 11/15/19

HOW PARKWAYS BECAME FREEWAYS

ISSUE 1: MAINTAINING PARKWAY LINKS

The Solution: Rerouting the Old Colorado Street Bridge As seen below and on the following pages, by rerouting the eastern FREEWAYS

approach of the old bridge to Green Street, the links between Carmelita Park, Defenders Parkway and the Arroyo Seco would be maintained.

1951 This model shows how the old bridge would be realigned to Green Street, allowing the new freeway off ramp to connect to Colorado Boulevard and the connection to the Arroyo Seco to be maintained.

1951 The two images above come from a 1951 article called “Colorado Freeway” in the January 1951 edition of California Highways magazine. The complete article can be found at mycity.is/colorado_freeway.pdf

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HOW PARKWAYS BECAME FREEWAYS

This model from 1951 shows the landscaping of the link and a footpath into the Arroyo Seco.

ISSUE 1: MAINTAINING PARKWAY LINKS

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1960

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FREEWAYS

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These photographs show the rerouting of the eastern approaches of the

R

Colorado Street Bridge to Green Street and the unbroken link between

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F W Y

1 3 4

This curving sidewalk through Defenders Parkway is a legacy of rerouting of the Colorado St Bridge.

54 11/15/19

HOW PARKWAYS BECAME FREEWAYS

ISSUE 1: MAINTAINING PARKWAY LINKS

G NGE ORA

HOLLY STREET

FREEWAYS

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CARMELITA WATERTOWER PIONEER SQ.

HOLLY ST

CARMELITA PARK DEFENDERS PARKWAY

DEFENDERS PARKWAY

DEFENDERS FLAGPOLE

COLORADO BLVD

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DEFENDERS PARKWAY

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Defenders Parkway and the Arroyo Seco, an approach that continued to be

O R

maintained until the late 1960s when a third freeway was built.

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The Link in the 1950s and 60s

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After the Colorado Fwy, the “zig-zag” path lost its lower walls, but the upper walls remained and a person could still walk on a footpath down from Colorado and Orange Grove Boulevards into the Arroyo Seco. A small building, possibly a water tower, also appears in photos of that era.

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1 3 4

Defenders Parkway 2019

55 11/15/19

HOW PARKWAYS BECAME FREEWAYS

ISSUE 2: SHIFTING EXISTING ROADS

FREEWAYS

1951 Issue 2: Shifting the West End of the Old Colorado Street Bridge With a mountain in the way, the bridges shared the same western approach.

1951

56 11/15/19

ISSUE 2: SHIFTING EXISTING ROADS

HOW PARKWAYS BECAME FREEWAYS

FREEWAYS

FILL

CUT

1951 The Solution: Tear down, realign and rebuild the west end of the Colorado Street Bridge and move the mountain into the Arroyo Seco as described next.

1951

1951

Tearing Down and Rebuilding a Realigned West End of the Old Colorado Street Bridge

57 11/15/19

ISSUE 3: THE MOUNTAIN IN THE WAY

HOW PARKWAYS BECAME FREEWAYS

Issue 3: The Mountain in the Way In 1913, the challenge of building the Colorado Street Bridge included landing on the side of a mountain that needed a shelf carved out of it using only horses and pickaxes. With FREEWAYS

increasingly modern technology, these efforts continued through the 1940s.

CUT

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1913

CUT

FILL

c1893

c1913

58 11/15/19

ISSUE 3: THE MOUNTAIN IN THE WAY

HOW PARKWAYS BECAME FREEWAYS

The Solution: Moving More Mountain In 1950, the carving away of the mountain entered a new phase as the new Colorado Freeway bridge required more space. By the 1960s, plans for a new Ventura Freeway* required FREEWAYS

doubling the width of the new bridge and more of the mountain was moved.

CUT

FILL

1953

1951 *

11/15/19

1952

The Colorado and Ventura Freeways shared similar alignments in Pasadena, but very different routes in Eagle Rock and Glendale.

59

HOW PARKWAYS BECAME FREEWAYS

THE FINAL DAYS OF CARMELITA

Though the Colorado Freeway maintained a pedestrian connection to the Arroyo Seco, its impact on Carmelita Park marked a key turning point in the shift from scenic parkways to concrete freeways. With its gardens greatly FREEWAYS COLORAD

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THE CARMELITA WATER TOWER AKA PIONEER SQ.

CARMELITA PARK

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Carmelita Park and the Colorado Freeway As seen above, the Colorado Freeway of 1952 will cut through Carmelitas Park, ending at the Holly Street axis of Pasadena’s Civic Center.

4

60 11/15/19

HOW PARKWAYS BECAME FREEWAYS

THE FINAL DAYS OF CARMELITA

reduced from the original 42 acres Jeanne Carr had begun with in the 1870s and divided into isolated fragments, the Ventura Freeway of 1971 paved over more of Carmelita and finally broke the link to the Arroyo Seco.

FREEWAYS

T H E

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F R E E WAY:

Appro ximat e loca tion o f the

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wid en

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BRIDG E

REROUTING DEFENDERS PKWY

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BLVD

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CARMELITA GARDENS PARK THE PASADENA ART INSTITUTE

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2019

CLUB

Rebuilding the Freeway The new Ventura Freeway of 1971 will rebuild these approaches to the freeway, cutting off the link to the Arroyo and closing the north sidewalk of the Colorado Street Bridge.

61 11/15/19

REDEVELOPMENT

HOW PARKWAYS BECAME FREEWAYS

In 1970, two more freeways and redevelopment tore through Pasadena.

Carmelita’s Remains In 1969, 9.5 acres of Carmelita Park became the Pasadena Museum of Art (later the Norton Simon Museum). Outside of the lot lines of the museum, other fragments of Carmelita remain public land, including 2.75 FREEWAYS

acres that are studied in the Carmelita Connection proposal (p117).

Approximate Outline of Carmelita as delineated in the Bennett Plan of 1923.

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(FORMERLY CARMELITA, LATER THE NORTON SIMON)

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T H E LO N G B E AC H F W Y: 7 1 0

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S I T E O F PA R S O N S ENGINEERING

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Civic

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MEMORIAL PARK Closing the Civic Center Axis in 1972 In 2019 Holly Street was reopened to Pasadena Avenue.

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REDEVELOPMENT

HOW PARKWAYS BECAME FREEWAYS

Today the gateway to the Arroyo and Carmelita have been all but forgotten.

Aerial Photograph The large photograph below comes from the redevelopment plan to demolish four blocks for the headquarters of Parsons Engineering. The original photo included the yellow line and white stickers, all

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: 2

FREEWAYS

other annotations have been added for illustration purposes.

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Smog After building the first freeways in the West, Pasadena and the Arroyo Seco suffered from some of the worse smog in the United States.

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SCOTT CHURCH

1972

Displacement Freeways disproportionately displaced African-American and Japanese Pasadena.

Scott Church, where Jackie Robinson worshiped, was demolished for redevelopment. For more information and a map, Google “California Japantowns Pasadena.”

1 3 4

63 11/15/19

STOPPING THE 710 FREEWAY

HOW PARKWAYS BECAME FREEWAYS

When construction began on the 710 freeway in 1969, the city that hosted the West’s first freeway was also among the first experiencing urban decay.

FREEWAYS

The Freeway Revolt Fifty years after the Old Neighborhood Church was torn down for the new 710 Long Beach Freeway it remains an empty lot (bottom right).

Star News c1968

COLORADO BLV

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Freeway #5: The 710 Freeway Stub

64 11/15/19

HOW PARKWAYS BECAME FREEWAYS

STOPPING THE 710 FREEWAY

By 1970 citizens began a five decade effort to stop progress on the 710 freeway, stalling and finally terminating the plan in 2019.

FREEWAYS

LA Times May 26, 2017

Pasadena Now Sept 14, 2019

Pasadena Now 2017

65 11/15/19

CONSEQUENCES

HOW PARKWAYS BECAME FREEWAYS

FREEWAYS

Pasadena’s Lost Parks after the Freeways The underlay map is from the Bennett Civic Center Plan of 1923, see page 40.

Reservoir Park Planned as a

Pioneer Square Carmelita’s 1870s

park, but developed with condos.

See pages 15, 40, 56, & 144.

water tower survived until 1969 and the Ventura freeway. See p116-122 & 189.

The Valley Hunt Club, located here 1893 to 1906, had a grand set of steps here into the Arroyo Seco to Scoville Park. See pages 23, 70 and 156.

E BL VD

Belvoir Steps

RESERVOIR

WALNUT ST

ORA

NG

EG ROV

PARK

The “Zig-Zag” Path This is where the Colorado Street Bridge now crosses the Arroyo Seco.

Today, some of these walls survive on a plot of land owned by the City of Pasadena. This link is retrievable.

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Pioneer Monument

Carmelita Park, now known as the Norton Simon Museum.

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The Closed North Sidewalk on the Colorado Street Bridge

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COLORADO BLVD

In the late ‘60s, this sidewalk was closed when the 134 freeway cut its connection to the intersection at Orange Grove Blvd.

Carmelita Park and the Norton Simon Museum Once Pasadena’s most elaborate garden and a public park, originally 42-acres. Today 2.75 acres remain outside of the museum grounds, that can reconnect to the Holly St Civic Axis.

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CONSEQUENCES

HOW PARKWAYS BECAME FREEWAYS

Civic Auditorium Photo: Walt Mancini

FREEWAYS

1979 The Plaza Pasadena Mall Though the mall was supposed to keep the Civic Center axis open with an open arch,

the view was lost in the reflection of its glass enclosure. When the mall was torn down and the axis reopened in 2000, the two Civic Auditorium parks that the mall had consumed (as seen at the bottom of this page) were not brought back.

Y

4 13

FW

PARSONS ENGINEERING

NOW PARKING

MEMORIAL PARK

NOW PARKING

CENTRAL LIBRARY

SR. CTR

CITY HALL

HOLLY STREET AXIS: 1941-69

The Holly Street Axis Though paid for by taxpayers to link City Hall to the Arroyo Seco, the link to Carmelita was broken in 1972. In 2019, it was reopened to Pasadena Avenue.

PLAZA PASADENA MALL (NOW THE PASEO)

GREEN ST CIVIC AUDITORIUM

The Civic Auditorium Parks Within 20 years of the Plaza Pasadena’s construction, the mall was torn down. The two parks were not replaced, and by 2019 the mitigating open space at Green St and Los Robles Ave was developed as well.

Civic Auditorium

1940

Civic Auditorium

The Civic Auditorium Parks

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HOW PARKWAYS BECAME FREEWAYS

CONSEQUENCES

FREEWAYS

1940 Plans for Downtown LA Parkways Nine parkways with 4-6 lanes each were planned.

From the perspective of the 1950s, the pre-WWII parkway vision was unrealistic, romantic and would not stand the test of time and progress.

Viewed from today, planners and citizens tend to hold a more nuanced perspective, that transportation, circulation, and public parks require a less singular and more complete solution. Relinking connections to nature is once again being recognized as essential to the quality of life.

A Proposal for Connecting the Elysian Park Tunnels to LA’s Civic Center with a Parkway, 1934

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HOW PARKWAYS BECAME FREEWAYS

CONSEQUENCES

FREEWAYS

2019 Downtown LA Freeways Today Limited arterial freeways often leads to congestion and gridlock.

Transportation policy now recognizes the concept of induced demand, that “traffic congestion rises to meet maximum capacity” and that adding new roads encourages people to drive more and ultimately creates more traffic.

Looking back, instead of 8 to12 lane freeways prone to gridlock, the plans for twice as many scenic parkways of 4 to 6 lanes might have been more effective at adjusting to traffic fluctuations as well as being more beautiful.

L.A. Drivers Spend 90 Hours A Year Stuck in Traffic according to a study reported in Time Magazine.

Time Magazine. “L.A. Drivers Spend 90 Hours A Year Stuck in Traffic, Study Finds.” June 4, 2014.

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HOW PARKWAYS BECAME FREEWAYS

CONSEQUENCES

ARROY

FREEWAYS

O DR

The West Pasadena Approach

The Belvoir Steps

The “Zig-Zag” Path

Both ends of the bridge had connections

These grand steps into the Arroyo Seco

Before these walls were built in the early

into the Arroyo Seco. Today, there is no

were at the original Valley Hunt Club

1890s, photos indicate a path into the

way to walk from Annandale or North

where the 134 freeway now crosses the

Arroyo that might even date back to before

San Rafael down into the Arroyo Seco.

Arroyo (opposite page, bottom right).

the time of the first settlers in Pasadena.

This link was lost to freeway expansion.

This link is now the 134 freeway bridge.

Isolated by freeways, but can be restored.

A R R O Y O

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Historic Scoville Park

Scoville Park

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Norton Simon Museum

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The Gateway to the Arroyo Seco It is rare for a city to have a major park at the end of its main thoroughfare and to not have a direct path into the park. Today, Pasadena’s original “zigzag” path into the Arroyo Seco has been cut off by the 134 Freeway. A narrow sidewalk beneath the freeway on Holly Street is the most direct route from Colorado Boulevard into the Arroyo Seco.

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HOW PARKWAYS BECAME FREEWAYS

CONSEQUENCES

Today, in order to walk from Colorado and Orange Grove down into the Arroyo Seco, a person must walk north and cross over the 134 Freeway on Orange Grove, then walk west down Holly Street and turn back south under FREEWAYS

a dark freeway. The following chapter details the Arroyo link today and the opportunities to reopen and reconnect Pasadena to its Arroyo Seco once again.

The Rose Bowl

A R R O Y O

S E C O

Brookside Park

➌ Looking South on Arroyo Drive from Holly Street

71 11/15/19

THE OPPORTUNITY

THE OPPORTUNITY These stone walls are the relics of James Scoville’s “zig-zag” path into the Arroyo Seco.

In the zeal to modernize, cities around the world discarded the plans of their past and what made them special to begin with. Today, cities everywhere are successfully reclaiming, repairing and reconnecting to that lost heritage.

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THE OPPORTUNITY

I N T R O D U C T I O N PA RT I I : O P P O RT U N I T I E S

RECONNECTING PASADENA TO THE ARROYO SECO

THE OPPORTUNITY

For Pasadena, the gateway to the Arroyo has been all but forgotten. However, what was not destroyed can be revitalized. These vestiges of original parkland tell the larger story of their disconnect and point to their potential resurrection.

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THE OPPORTUNITY

THE “ZIG-ZAG” PATH

The upper “zig-zag” wall today

THE OPPORTUNITY

These walls are among the few relics of Pasadena’s pioneer era. John Muir likely walked this path on his way from Carmelita into the Arroyo Seco.

Detail of the Upper “Zig-Zag” Wall While most Arroyo walls use whole stones, these split-faced stones created work for unemployed Pasadenans, one of James Scoville’s many philanthropic efforts.

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THE OPPORTUNITY

THE “ZIG-ZAG” PATH

Defenders Parkway Triangle

THE OPPORTUNITY

The lower “zig-zag” wall today

The remains of the “zig-zag” path provide an opportunity to relink the City of Pasadena to its greatest park, the Arroyo Seco.

Detail of the Lower “Zig-Zag” Wall It appears that over time, the mortar of these walls has been repaired and the photographic record indicates that the “zig-zag” path evolved over the decades.

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THE OPPORTUNITY

THE ARROYO LINK TO ARROYO DRIVE

THE OPPORTUNITY

Today, the link from the end of Colorado Boulevard into the Arroyo Seco is hazardous for motorists, cyclists, joggers and walkers alike.

Arroyo Drive

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THE OPPORTUNITY

THE ARROYO LINK TO ARROYO DRIVE

THE OPPORTUNITY

Raymond Ave

Arroyo Drive

After six decades of building freeways, indoor cycling has become popular in Pasadena.

77 11/15/19

THE OPPORTUNITY

THE ARROYO LINK TO LOST PARKS

THE OPPORTUNITY

Closed

Where people once walked arm-in-arm...

The north sidewalk of the bridge has been closed since 1969.

Strolling arm in arm across Pasadena’s landmark bridge was once a common sight. Today, due to fencing and barriers, pedestrians are restricted to a narrow, single file portion of the sidewalk.

Since 1969, the north sidewalk of the Colorado Street Bridge has been closed. On the remaining sidewalk new barriers have left people no other option but to walk single file where they could once walk arm-in-arm.

Today, Desiderio Park has been built on this former Army Reserve Center site.

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THE OPPORTUNITY

THE ARROYO LINK TO LOST PARKS

Installing New Fencing on the Bridge

Among the bridge’s great features were the many benches to sit and take in the spectacular views.

With a park planned for the land below the bridge and more people jumping, the City was left with few options in 2017.

The City plans to replace these barriers with a better solution.

THE OPPORTUNITY

No place to sit...

Desolate areas attract despondent people, a cycle that seems to feed on itself.

But more barriers tend to create more isolation, which in turn can lead to more desolation and potentially a greater sense of despair.

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THE OPPORTUNITY

THE ARROYO LINK TO LOST PARKS

THE OPPORTUNITY

The Colorado Street Bridge Today

The periodic putting up and taking down of fences is a repeating theme in Pasadena. The Colorado Street Bridge has seen many fences come and go.

With Desiderio Park opening below and more people jumping, the City had few options and 10-foot high fences were installed, the highest to date.

The Rose Parade Today After sitting in grandstands, visitors board idling busses on the Colorado

Street Bridge to drive them for a ride of less than a mile to sit in the bleachers of the Rose Bowl.

80 11/15/19

THE OPPORTUNITY

THE ARROYO LINK TO LOST PARKS

THE OPPORTUNITY

Jeanne Carr’s opinion about fences puts the present into sharp focus, “I think it is bad enough,” she wrote, “to be forced to spend so large a portion of one’s life under roofs, but it is even worse to be constantly reminded of our ‘fallen estate’ by man’s efforts to keep out intruders and prevent trespass.”5

Fear of incidents at the parade has brought increased security to add to the efforts of the Pasadena Police Department.

Homeland Security at the Rose Parade Today: January 1, 2019

5

11/15/19

“The Story of Carmelita” by Charles Francis Saunders, page 61.

81

THE OPPORTUNITY

THE ARROYO LINK TO LOST PARKS

THE OPPORTUNITY

In an effort keep out intruders, the fencing of the Arroyo has made access to

82 11/15/19

THE OPPORTUNITY

THE ARROYO LINK TO LOST PARKS

THE OPPORTUNITY

the park difficult. Under the Colorado Street Bridge there is a gated-off street.

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THE OPPORTUNITY

THE ARROYO LINK TO LOST PARKS

THE OPPORTUNITY

“But unless we bestir ourselves, our artists and our horseman, our nature lovers who can still walk, and our bungalow dwellers will have been crowded off the most beautiful section of the city’s environs, and ‘no admission’ will greet all who try to forget their cares and troubles by close contact with Nature in the natural restingplace good fortune set within the confines of this favored town.”

“The Arroyo—A People’s Park” 1918*

*

84

From a Southern California Magazine editorial that accompanied Myron Hunt’s “Arroyo Park Plan” in January 1918.

See page 38 or mycity.is/arroyoparkplan.pdf for an unabridged version of this article and plan.

11/15/19

THE OPPORTUNITY

THE ARROYO LINK TO LOST PARKS

Behind these gates and fences there is a bridge directly below the Colorado Street Bridge. Designed by Myron Hunt, it leads to the most beautiful section of the Arroyo Seco and THE OPPORTUNITY

the remains of a forgotten park, cut off in the name of public safety and largely hidden from the streets around it.

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THE ARROYO LINK TO LOST PARKS

THE OPPORTUNITY

Photo: Walt Mancini, Pasadena Star News

THE OPPORTUNITY

Scoville Park Today The Arroyo Trail from Brookside Park is one way to reach Scoville Park.

Historic Scoville Park Today See Appendix 1, page 144 for a history of Scoville Park.

86 11/15/19

THE OPPORTUNITY

THE ARROYO LINK TO LOST PARKS

Historic Scoville Park Steps These steps can also be found on pages 29, 90, 141 and 152.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Historic Scoville Park Steps

It is here that the relics of Scoville Park can be found, Pasadena’s first park of the pioneer era. From the top of Scoville’s “zig-zag” path at the end of Colorado Street, one could walk or ride from where the Valley Hunt Club once stood to his park below where “hundreds of people”* could be found on a Sunday afternoon and few can be found today.

Scoville Park Steps The oldest elements of park architecture in Pasadena today (see page 141). * 11/15/19

The LA Times (March 12, 1894, p9) which can be found on page 22 of this document.

87

THE OPPORTUNITY

THE REMAINS OF THE PARKWAY VISION

Since the late 1930s, the Arroyo Seco has been lined with a concrete channel, with the exception of this gap at the Colorado Street Bridge.

THE OPPORTUNITY

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THE OPPORTUNITY

THE REMAINS OF THE PARKWAY VISION

Here, along the paths and parks where John Muir likely hiked and explored, the cautionary tale of disconnect between cities and nature is also told.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Historic Scoville Park 89 11/15/19

THE OPPORTUNITY

THE REMAINS OF THE PARKWAY VISION

From the remains of the “zig-zag” path to Scoville Park, a broken link exists between Pasadena and the most beautiful section of the Arroyo Seco.

THE OPPORTUNITY

HISTORIC SCOVILLE PARK

90

Historic Scoville Park Steps 11/15/19

THE OPPORTUNITY

THE REMAINS OF THE PARKWAY VISION

Since the late 1930s, the Arroyo Seco has been lined with a concrete channel, with the exception of this gap at the Colorado Street Bridge.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Scoville’s “Zig-Zag” Path

) lvd

B ow

(n rive

D oyo Arr Desiderio Park

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THE OPPORTUNITY

THE PARKWAY VISION TODAY

After a century of eroding the original vision of a regional park system, the LA River is now being revitalized, and formerly lost links are being restored.

THE OPPORTUNITY

A Plan to Bridge the LA River at Griffith Park

LA RIVER RECREATION ZONE, 2013

LA River Vision

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THE OPPORTUNITY

THE PARKWAY VISION TODAY

In 2019, Pasadena reopened the Holly Street axis of its civic center and is beginning the planning process to reclaim the land of the 710 freeway stub.

Reopening the Holly Street Axis of Pasadena’s Civic Center THE OPPORTUNITY

Holly Street once connected Pasadena’s City Hall with Carmelita Park. In 1969 that axis was closed. As shown here, Holly Street reopened between Fair Oaks and Pasadena Avenue in 2019.

Arroyo Seco Bike Path This path now connects the Montecito Heights Rec. Center, Hermon Park, Debs Park, Sycamore Park and the Arroyo Seco Stables.

The Arroyo Seco Bicycle and Pedestrian Path In 2018, South Pasadena extended the Arroyo Seco Bicycle Path, which now runs 2.25 miles from Los Angeles.

The Vision for the Los Angeles River

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THE OPPORTUNITY

THE ARROYO SECO MEETS THE LA RIVER

THE OPPORTUNITY

The Confluence of the Arroyo Seco and the Los Angeles River As seen below the 110 freeway tunnels, this rendering shows the potential of the Army Corps of Engineers’ vision for naturalizing the Los Angeles River and its confluence with the Arroyo Seco.

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THE OPPORTUNITY

THE ARROYO SECO MEETS THE LA RIVER

This is the confluence of the Arroyo Seco and the Los Angeles River, just below the Elysian Park tunnels. Plans call for THE OPPORTUNITY

transforming the existing concrete channel, making it possible for more natural conditions to return and recreational opportunities in a park-like setting, while still allowing for flood-control.

When this plan was adopted by the Army Corps of Engineers in 2015, people in Pasadena started to envision the restoration of Pasadena’s Arroyo Seco as well.

This study was developed to help explore that potential.

Pasadena Star News May 2, 2017

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THE OPPORTUNITY

THE GOAL

PUBLIC LAND & PRESENT CONDITIONS

See page 136 to view the proposed Arroyo Link Plan.

The goal of this study is to relink and reconnect the parks and fragments of forgotten parks that once connected the Arroyo Seco with Pasadena and its Holly Street Civic Center axis.

The goal is to reconnect the Arroyo Seco and these parcels with....

THE OPPORTUNITY

Public Land

COLORADO BLVD ORA NGE VD E BL

V GRO

The Arroyo Seco

Defenders Parkway

The Remains of Carmelita

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THE OPPORTUNITY

THE GOAL

Using existing public land, the Arroyo Link includes two projects.

The first

(p105)

is called “Reconnecting Defenders Parkway”

and the second

(page 117)

is called “The Carmelita Connection.”

....downtown Pasadena and the Holly Street Civic Center Axis (as seen on page 136).

THE OPPORTUNITY

CENTRAL LIBRARY

MEMORIAL PARK

CITY HALL

HOLLY ST

COLORADO BLVD

CIVIC AUDITORIUM

CENTRAL PARK

710 Freeway Stub

Old Pasadena

The Civic Center

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THE OPPORTUNITY

A

THE PROPOSAL

R

R

O

Y

O S

DESIDERIO PARK

E

C

O

HISTORIC SCOVILLE PARK

“ZIG-ZAG” PATH

THE THEOPPORTUNITY PROPOSAL

DEFENDERS TRIANGLE

DEFENDERS PARKWAY

GR

EE

N

ST

GRAND AVE

PIONEER MONMUMENT

DEFENDERS PARKWAY

DEFENDERS PARKWAY

MEMORIAL FLAG POLE

E BLVD

DEFENDERS PARKWAY

COL ORA

DO

DEFENDERS PARKWAY

BLVD

ORANGE GROV

NORTON SIMON MUSEUM

The Arroyo Link Project 1: Reconnecting Defenders Parkway to the Arroyo Seco................................ 105 Project 2: The Carmelita Connection....................................................................... 117

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THE OPPORTUNITY

THE PROPOSAL

THE PROPOSAL To utilize the existing parks and fragments of lost parks where the end of Pasadena’s main thoroughfare of Colorado Boulevard meets the Arroyo Seco as a set of scenic, linked landscapes.

THE THEOPPORTUNITY PROPOSAL

THE OPPORTUNITY Since John Muir’s arrival in 1875, Pasadena’s abiding reverence and love of nature continues to endure.

A connection linking the end of Colorado Blvd to the Arroyo Seco existed for nearly a century, from the time of the founding of the Valley Hunt Club through the time of Pasadena’s second freeway.

As parkways gave way to freeways, a 50-year effort to defeat the 710 freeway proposed mitigation measures.

Access to the Arroyo Seco and improved circulation are core principles of Pasadena’s General Plan.

With the defeat of the 710 connection, $780 million of public money is now available for projects such as the Arroyo Link.

Today, reconnecting the fragments of Carmelita Gardens, Scoville Park and the “Zig-Zag” Path present a unique opportunity.

The reopening of the west end of the Holly Street at Fair Oaks as well as the 710 stub present adjoining opportunities.

The Arroyo Link offers a unique opportunity to reconnect Pasadena to the Arroyo Seco by utilizing existing public land.

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THE OPPORTUNITY

ORIENTATION

ORIENTATION To set the scene and orient to these forgotten landscapes, Google the words “carmelita gardens map” and these maps will appear.

THE OPPORTUNITY t

Defenders Parkway Triangle Defenders Parkway

BR I

DG

E

yo D

r to H

olly S

The “Zig-Zag” Path

TH

E

CO

LO

RA

DO

ST

Arro

Arro

yo Bl

vd

to Rose Bowl

Google “carmelita gardens map” Though Google labels Carmelita Gardens a bit too far to the west, its maps are a good starting point to understand these landscapes, including the line north of the Norton Simon Museum, an area explored in the Carmelita Connection proposal, pages 116-139.

The “Zig-Zag” Path and Defenders Parkway as seen in Google Maps* Today The heart of the Arroyo Link begins here. On a computer, if you click and drag with Command or Control, you can rotate from a plan view and navigate these landscapes in three-dimensions.

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THE OPPORTUNITY

ORIENTATION

These Google maps are a good compliment to understanding the public land explored in the two studies found on the pages that follow.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Public Land This diagram shows all of the parks and fragments of lost parks that remain public land and hold potential for the Arroyo Link and reconnecting Pasadena to the Arroyo Seco.

710

The Norton Simon Museum (formerly Carmelita Park)

134 The “Zig-Zag�

Path

COLORADO ST Defenders Parkway

Defenders Parkway

An Overview of the Lands of the Arroyo Link With the Arroyo Seco on the left and the 710 freeway stub on the right, this study explores the potential of reconnecting these landscapes once again.

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THE ARROYO LINK: PROJECT 1

DEFENDERS PARKWAY

E

IDG

L

CO

DO

A OR

R TB

S

A R R O Y O

S E C O

SCOVILLE’S “ZIG-ZAG” PATH

DEFENDERS “TRIANGLE” DEFENDERS PARKWAY

COLO

RADO

ST

DEFENDERS PROPOSAL

GRAND AVE

DEFENDERS PARKWAY

DEFENDERS PARKWAY

MEMORIAL FLAG POLE D

ORANGE GROVE BLV

DEFENDERS PARKWAY

Scoville Homes ORANGE GROVE BLVD

COLO R

DEFENDERS PARKWAY

ADO

ST

DEFENDERS PARKWAY

C A R M E L I TA PA R K

1933

Defenders Parkway and the Arroyo Seco: Looking West With Memorial Flagpole in place, the seven parcels of Defenders Parkway can be seen in this view with the Defenders Parkway triangle connecting to the “zig-zag” path and the Arroyo Seco.

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THE ARROYO LINK: PROJECT 1

RECONNECTING

Defenders P

A

R

K

W

A

Y

DEFENDERS PROPOSAL

Carmelita Gardens

1927 Facing East

Memorial Flagpole Designed by architect Bertram Goodhue and executed by sculptor Lee Lawrie, it occupied one of seven parcels creating a scenic parkway linking Carmelita to the Bridge.

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THE ARROYO LINK: PROJECT 1

DEFENDERS PARKWAY

The goal of this proposal is to reconnect Defenders Parkway and the remaining fragments of Carmelita Gardens to the Arroyo Seco by first linking

Site of the Valley Hunt Club

DEFENDERS PROPOSAL

DEFENDERS PARKWAY “TRIANGLE”

Central Arroyo Seco

“ZIG-ZAG” PATH

Ex ist ing

Desiderio Park

iv e

DEFENDERS PARKWAY

yo Arro

r D

e

dg

St

r

lo

Co

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i Br

Why this Proposal and Study focuses on the North Side of Defenders Parkway To connect to the fragments and remains of Carmelita Park, this study focuses on creating a path through the north-side of Defenders Parkway in order to connect through to the Holly Street Civic Center Axis that has been reopened. Adding an approach through the lawns on the south side of Defenders Parkway was considered problematic, but could still compliment a north-side approach.

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THE ARROYO LINK: PROJECT 1

DEFENDERS PARKWAY

Desiderio Park to the “zig-zag” path, then connecting to Pioneer Monument where the Scoville Homes and Defenders Parkway began.

O

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THE NORTON SIMON

p am

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nr

MUSEUM (CARMELITA)

d

Blv

y

Fw

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4

13

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to

PIONEER MONUMENT

DEFENDERS PROPOSAL

MEMORIAL FLAGPOLE

DEFENDERS PARKWAY

Colorado Blvd

DEFENDERS PARKWAY

DEFENDERS PARKWAY

e d Av

Gran

Defenders Parkway During the City Beautiful Movement After the completion of the Colorado Street Bridge in 1913, a parkway connection was planned as a scenic link with a circular set of landscapes surrounding the intersection of Colorado and Orange Grove (see page 40). Seven parcels made up this connection, including the Defenders Parkway “triangle” adjacent to the “zig-zag” path.

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THE ARROYO LINK: PROJECT 1

REVITALIZING THE “ZIG-ZAG” PATH

Like the streets, bridges and freeways that surround it, Arroyo Drive has seen several iterations, widenings and realignments. This is the current alignment of Arroyo Drive and the two remaining walls of the “zig-zag” path today.

T H

E

E C O

OLD DEFENDERS PARKWAY TRIANGLE

L

CITY OF PASADENA PROPERTY

O R A D O T R

ing

ist Ex

H

alls ag” W all Zig-Z ”W The “ Z - ag g i Z “

S

T

Colorado Street O ff ramp

The “Zig-Zag” WallsWall “Zig-Zag”

E T

th

ERTY CITY OF PASA DENA PROP

tpa

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foo

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B R I

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DEFENDERS PROPOSAL

4

CU

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PR O PE RT

E

Y PERT PRO R OYO NA AR DE

R

A PA SA D EN CI TY O F

F

CIT Y

A Y

To the Rose Bowl

A R R O Y O

B L V D

DESIDERIO

CURRENT

PARK To So. Pas & LA

The Remains of the “Zig-Zag” Path and the Current Alignment of Arroyo Drive This is the current alignment of Arroyo Drive as it makes its way up to Holly Street from Arroyo Boulevard below. As the oldest road in Pasadena and the original route to Los Angeles, Arroyo Drive has—like all of the streets and bridges that surround it—seen several iterations and realignments.

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THE ARROYO LINK: PROJECT 1

REVITALIZING THE “ZIG-ZAG” PATH

With a goal of linking Desiderio Park to a revitalized path, this potential configuration shifts Arroyo Drive so that a revitalized “zig-zag” path can once again connect to Defenders Parkway.

T H

EXIS

E C O

OLD DEFENDERS PARKWAY TRIANGLE

L

CITY OF PASADENA PROPERTY

O R

Path to Orange Grove

A D O T R

ing

ist Ex

H

alls ag” W all Zig-Z ”W The “ Z - ag g i Z “

S

T

Colorado Street O ff ramp

The “Zig-Zag” WallsWall “Zig-Zag”

E

DEFENDERS PROPOSAL

D G E

CIT Y

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OF PA SA

RR

T

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DR.

Y

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PR O PE RT

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CU

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A PA SA D EN CI TY O F

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T

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ERTY CITY OF PASA DENA PROP

tpa

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PR O PO

A Y

To the Rose Bowl

A R R O Y O

B L V D

DESIDERIO

PROPOSED

PROPOSED

PARK To So. Pas & LA

A Revitalized “Zig-Zag” Path and Proposed Realignment of Arroyo Drive Shifting Arroyo Drive to reconnect Defenders Parkway to the Arroyo Seco allows for a path calculated to comply with ADA guidelines for a gentle slope. A realigned driveway at the Arroyo Vista homes with an embedded signal for those on the path to stop would allow for improved safety and access for all.

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THE ARROYO LINK: PROJECT 1

REVITALIZING THE “ZIG-ZAG” PATH

Proposed Alignment of a Revitalized “Zig-Zag” Path Showing the Shifting of Arroyo Drive With the advantage of a different point of view, this second study looking west compliments the more detailed before and after views found on the previous pages.

“ZIG-ZAG” PATH

TO BECOME PARKLAND

DEFENDERS PROPOSAL

“ZIG-ZAG” WALL

Landscaping and Parkland New trees and landscaping has been left out of this study to highlight the alignment of the “zig-zag” path. As shown in the study on the previous page, the landscaping of the path with trees would screen the Arroyo Vista condominiums.

EXIS

TING

“ZIG

-ZAG

”W ALL

The Lower “Zig-Zag” Path is highlighted by this part of the illustration.

Arroyo Drive’s Current U-Turn Bottleneck With Arroyo Drive shifting away from the condominiums, this section would become a landscaped park, a side-benefit to those who live in the Arroyo Vista condominiums.

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THE ARROYO LINK: PROJECT 1

REVITALIZING THE “ZIG-ZAG” PATH

EET EDGE OF REALIGNED STR T O P O F NEW W A LL

NEW WALL

WALL TOP OF NEW

E

CU

TL IN E

DEFENDERS PROPOSAL

“ZIG-ZAG” PATH

Realigned Arroyo Drive is highlighted above and can be found in detail on page 109.

FIL

LL IN

REET REALIGNED ST EDGE OF STREET

EET REALIGNED STR EET REALIGNED STR

“Arroyo Bank Reclaimed”—Terraces This circa 1900 postcard to the right reads “Arroyo Bank Reclaimed, 108 ft. from foreground to summit, Pasadena, Cal.” The area shown in this postcard is just above what is now Desiderio Park. Terracing is how most of the parks that have lined the banks of the Arroyo Seco have been developed, including old Busch Gardens. By comparison, a revitalized “zig-zag” path would rise only 45 feet, requiring far fewer stepped terraces.

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THE ARROYO LINK: PROJECT 1

CONNECTING TO PIONEER MONUMENT

d ra lo Co

THE NORTON SIMON

MEMORIAL FLAGPOLE

vd Bl

(CARMELITA)

o

MUSEUM

1970 DEFENDERS PARKWAY

Orange

lvd Grove B

DEFENDERS PARKWAY

The connection to the remain-

DEFENDERS PARKWAY

ing fragments of Carmelita is

Pioneer Monument

explored in the next chapter.

DEFENDERS PARKWAY

o pt

4 13

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Fw

ram On

Offra

Colorado mp to

DEFENDERS PROPOSAL

DEFENDERS PARKWAY “TRIANGLE”

THE “ZIG-ZAG” PATH

Desiderio Park

From the “Zig-Zag” Path to Defenders Parkway and Pioneer Monument The path from Desiderio Park would pass under the Colorado Blvd off ramp of the 134 freeway with a lighted passage that is 25-feet long, 16-feet wide and 8-feet tall.

The connection then passes under the Orange Grove Boulevard on ramp as shown on the opposite page.

Public Art and Landscaping Underpass Infrastructure Although this section of the Arroyo Link draws close to the freeway, similar connections in other cities have been made a great success through design elements that create a pleasant experience for people passing through.

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THE ARROYO LINK: PROJECT 1

CONNECTING TO PIONEER MONUMENT

BEFORE Existing Orange Grove Blvd onramp

Long Beach, CA

DEFENDERS PROPOSAL

Coimbra, Portugal

AFTER Potential multiuse path before additional screening

Coimbra, Portugal

Inspired Solutions for Shade, Light and Safety Artful design elements help cities create an attractive interface between highway infrastructure and multi-use paths connecting adjacent areas that are needlessly separated. Design and architecture firms can provide solutions that work here as well.

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THE ARROYO LINK: PROJECT 1

THE DEFENDERS PARKWAY PLAN

RECONNECTING

TO THE ARROYO SECO

“ZIG-ZAG” PATH

AR

RO

YO DR

DEFENDERS PROPOSAL

“DEFE TRIAN

T

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AR

RO

YO

SE

CO yo

The

ro Ar

HISTORIC

eco

S

l

i Tra

YO

VD BL

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A

SCOVILLE PARK

THE COLORADO STREET BRIDGE

Existing bicycle route on Arroyo Blvd

DESIDERIO PARK

Path to the Arroyo Seco Trail

Habitat for Humanity and “Uncle Charlie”

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THE ARROYO LINK: PROJECT 1

THE DEFENDERS PARKWAY PLAN

Carmelita Gardens

the

7.

has p11 Defenders Parkway in 1928 Surrounding the flagpole ter Cen also er. See c y i a v t Ci in the center of the intersection, its seven parcels included rkw Cen he r Pa Civic to t e d g “Defenders Triangle” which led to the “Zig-Zag” en the tin o Def nec ed king t t Con e l path into the Arroyo Seco (p39, 100). n p i l m f o NORTON A c ntial o e pot SIMON MUSEUM (CARMELITA) PIONEER MONUMENT

PARKWAY

DEFENDERS PROPOSAL

DEFENDERS FLAGPOLE

ENDERS NGLE”

COLORADO BLVD

ORA

DEFENDERS PARKWAY

PARKWAY

VD E BL

ROV

VE ND A

GRA

EG

NG

DEFENDERS

9TH CIRCUIT COURT

Pioneer Monument

“In Proud Rememberence,” Memorial Flagpole

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THE ARROYO LINK: PROJECT 2

A

THE CARMELITA CONNECTION

R

R

O

Y

O

S

E

C

O

SCOVILLE’S “ZIG-ZAG” PATH

Defenders Triangle

rs Parkw

Defenders Parkway

Defende

GRAND AVE

ay

Defenders Parkway

ORANGE GROVE AVE

Memorial Flagpole

COL O

RAD

O ST

CARMELITA PROPOSAL

Defenders Parkway

CARMELITA

The Water Tower

GARDENS PARK

The Pasadena Art Institute 1920s-1960s (Now Norton Simon Museum)

1930 Facing West

Carmelita Gardens, Defenders Parkway and the Arroyo Seco: Looking West In 1929, Pasadena voters approved a bond initiative that would finally turn Carmelita into a public park. Today, a Carmelita Connection would relink the fragments that remain to the Arroyo Seco.

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THE ARROYO LINK: PROJECT 2

THE

Carmelita C

O

N

N

E

A R R O Y O

C

T

I

O

N

S E C O

CO

LO

RA

D

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ST

BR

ID

GE

LLY

HO

“Zig-Zag” Path

ST

Defenders Parkway

➋

LVD

GROVE B

COLORADO BLVD

ORANGE

➌ ➍

THE NORTON SIMON MUSEUM

PLAN

➎

CARMELITA PROPOSAL

ETT E BENN TA IN TH

CARMELI

➊

UNION ST

ST JOHN AVE

2019 Facing West

Although freeway construction divided Carmelita Park, five pieces survived.

This project seeks to reconnect three of these fragments to the Arroyo Seco.

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THE ARROYO LINK: PROJECT 2

THE REMAINS OF CARMELITA

1928

This drawing was made during the campaign to turn Carmelita into a park.

The left side is now a freeway and the right side is the Norton Simon Museum.

CARMELITA PROPOSAL

The middle, where City Hall is visible, this is a slice that remains public land.

This project seeks to relink these parcels and reconnect to the Arroyo Seco.

Pioneer Square & Carmelita’s Water Tower, p120

➋

HO

➎

ST

NGE ORA

LLY

St John Av Parcel, p125

The Connection, p122-129

LVD

VE B

GRO

➍

➌

Pioneer Monument, p121 To the Bridge

➊

Norton Simon Museum, p119

Rusnak Auto Group

COLORADO BLVD

The Remains of Carmelita as Delineated in the Bennett Plan, page 40.

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THE ARROYO LINK: PROJECT 2

REMAINS OF CARMELITA #1: THE MUSEUM

Pioneer Square and the Carmelita Water Tower

1968

CARMELITA PROPOSAL

The Art Museum at Carmelita From John Muir’s 1875 invitation to bring Jeanne Carr to Pasadena to create Carmelita (p17), to the 1912 intiative to create a park and cultural center (p26), to the growing momentum of Ernest Batchelder’s work in the 20s and 30s (p180), the creation of the museum was a collective effort. As plans grew more ambitious in the 1950s and 60s, the mounting debt of construction allowed the public museum to survive for only five years before the philanthropist Norton Simon was approached to rescue the museum. Today, the Norton Simon Museum is the pride of Pasadena.

THE NORTON SIMON MUSEUM ➊ With its world class art collection—Rembrandt, Monet, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Renoir, and Picasso to name but a few—the Norton Simon Museum is among Pasadena’s most respected and venerated cultural institutions.

Though it occupies 9.5 acres of former Carmelita Park, as a private institution, is not in the public realm in the same way as the other remaining fragments. This proposal respects the property lines and boundaries of the Norton Simon Museum.

The Thinker

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THE ARROYO LINK: PROJECT 2

âž‹

REMAINS OF CARMELITA #2: THE WATER TOWER

PIONEER SQUARE & THE WATER TOWER (1941-1969)

When Holly Street was extended through Carmelita in 1940, its water tower was isolated to a 1.58 acre parcel with a monument added to the pioneers of Pasadena. Surviving for 29 years, until the Ventura Freeway came through, it speaks to the benefits of utilizing the fragments of Carmelita that remain.

CARMELITA PROPOSAL Pasadena Star News July 6, 1969

Pioneer Square and the Carmelita Water Tower In 1969 the Orange Grove at Holly Street offramp of the 134 freeway was routed through this fragment of old Carmelita.

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➌

REMAINS OF CARMELITA #3: PIONEER MONUMENT

PIONEER MONUMENT

In the Bennett Plan’s vision for Carmelita, there were to be three fan-shaped gardens west of Orange Grove. After the demise of Pioneer Square, one of those parcels became Pioneer Monument.

Carmelita in the Bennett Plan had Four Pie-Shaped Parcels and One Survived This 1923 Civic Center master plan included a museum at Carmelita (page 40). When the Colorado Freeway sliced through in 1952, this parcel remained and in 1970 it was renamed Pioneer Monument.

The Norton

CARMELITA PROPOSAL

E BLVD

Defenders Parkway

E GROV

PIONEER MONUMENT

ORANG

➌

Simon Museum Defenders Parkway COLORADO BLVD

Defenders Parkway

Defenders Parkway

Pioneer Monument is a vestige of the Bennett Plan as well as Defenders Parkway This parcel is where the two Scoville homes were located. Part of the parcel also appears as Defenders Parkway in the 1922 map of Pasadena (see page 40). C.B. Scoville’s widow lived here until 1948.

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THE ARROYO LINK: PROJECT 2

REMAINS OF CARMELITA #4: THE CONNECTION

The Colorado Freeway As described on pages 48-51, the 1953-1970 Colorado Freeway had two segments, one that ran from Carmelita through Eagle Rock Park, and another short segment at Griffith Park. As seen here in 1969, the museum was built up against the lot line boundary with the Colorado Freeway.

The Carmelita Water Tower and Pioneer Square

The Ventura Freeway Also known as the Ventura-Colorado, this area marks the zone where the new rerouted 134 would be built.

OR

RO

EG

G AN

D

BLV VE

DO

RA

LO

CO

CARMELITA PROPOSAL

VD BL

c1969 The Pasadena Museum of Art (later the Norton Simon Museum)

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REMAINS OF CARMELITA #4: THE CONNECTION

➍

THE CONNECTION

The fourth fragment of Carmelita is a relic of the now abandoned Colorado Freeway (seen here) Preparing to Construct the Ventura Freeway

that was built across the middle of Carmelita in 1952.

In 1970, the Ventura 134 Freeway was built parallel THE

to it, leaving a 75-foot wide COL

ORA

DO

strip of land between the new FRE

EWA Y

134 freeway and the northern boundary of the museum.

As shown on the following CARMELITA PROPOSAL

page, this connecting strip of land was a central part of Jeanne Carr’s original Carmelita.

Continued on the next four pages

ST

GE G

N ORA

LLY

HO

ROV

➍

E BLV D COLORADO BLVD

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THE ARROYO LINK: PROJECT 2

➍

REMAINS OF CARMELITA #4: THE CONNECTION

THE CONNECTION (CONTINUED)

This fourth fragment forms the “connection” that is the focus of this proposal.

The LA County Assessors Map below shows part of the abandoned Colorado Freeway (and Carmelita) as outside of the Norton Simon Museum’s lot line, public land that is not within the bounds of the 134 Freeway or the museum.

The Remaining Fragments of Carmelita

➎

LA County Assessors Map

➍

CARMELITA PROPOSAL

The Norton Simon Museum Though the Norton Simon Museum is a private institution, this parcel was once Carmelita Park, and as indicated on the LA County Assessors map’s “CITY” label, the land occupied by it is still owned by the City of Pasadena. This Arroyo Link proposal seeks no changes to this arrangement.

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THE ARROYO LINK: PROJECT 2

➎

REMAINS OF CARMELITA #5: THE ST JOHN ST PARCEL

FORMER HOLLY STREET TO ST JOHN AVENUE

The map below shows where the former Colorado Freeway once ended at Holly Street, a public easement currently used by Rusnak Auto Group.

Three alternatives (below right) explore connecting to the land of the 710 freeway stub which was terminated by the state legislature in 2019.

Former Holly St

St John Ave

710 Stub

Alternative A, a new bridge completes the Arroyo Link, all with public land.

CARMELITA PROPOSAL

Alternative B, a short easement to the existing publicly owned bridge.

Alternative C, a longer easement links to St John Ave without a bridge. With the city’s plan to reclaim the lands of the 710 stub moving forward, other options can be found on page 131.

Rusnak Auto Group This parcel is reportedly owned by the Norton Simon Museum. In recent years, Rusnak has started storing inventory in East Pasadena. The back half could change in use from storing cars in the 2020s and 30s. Other potential configurations could include an entry at Union St and St John Ave, which could also link to the Carmelita Connection. More on this potential can be found on page 131.

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THE ARROYO LINK: PROJECT 2

SECTION AND INSPIRATION FROM OTHER CITIES

NY’s High Line When proposed, it seemed like a far-fetched idea. Today it is a resounding success.

New York’s High Line Park has a width of only 30–50 feet, occupying a strip far narrower than the 60-90 feet available for the Carmelita Connection.

The Carmelita Connection, by comparison, is a strip of land that is 50-100 feet wide, with buffers of more than 20 feet on either side.

CARMELITA PROPOSAL

134 FWY

23FTFT 23

12 FT

8 FT

22 FT

MUSEUM

BUFFER

CYCLE WALK BUFFER ~ 75 FTbut instead a key link, a five-minute walk, a oneThe Carmelita Connection is not a destination, minute ride—possibly with sculptural elements, possibly with a gateway to the museum,* providing a much needed multi-use path reconnecting Pasadena and the Arroyo Seco once again.

126

*While maintaining a secure perimeter, the Norton Simon Museum could option to create a gateway open during museum hours.

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THE ARROYO LINK: PROJECT 2

INSPIRATION FROM OTHER CITIES

The Golden Gate Bridge

With adjacent traffic, the Golden Gate Bridge draws crowds to sidewalks that are only 10 feet wide. The Carmelita Connection’s paths would be twice as wide and would have a bermed, landscaped buffer of 23 to 30 feet.

Below is Madrid’s Parasala Bridge, a solution not being proposed here, but CARMELITA PROPOSAL

one that speaks to the kind of inspired design possible in Pasadena.

Madrid, Spain

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THE

THE CARMELITA CONNECTION PLAN

Carmelita C

O

N

134 FWY

N

23FTFT 23

12 FT

BUFFER S

CARMELITA PROPOSAL

ass,

erp Und

E

E

C

8 FT

T

I

22 FT

CYCLE WALK ~ 75 FT C

T

O

N

MUSEUM

BUFFER I

O

N

2

p11

THE NORTON SIMON MUSEUM

Connection into the Arroyo Seco, see page 115.

PIONEER MONUMENT

DEFENDERS PARKWAY

COLORADO BLVD

NGE

DEFENDERS PARKWAY

VD E BL

V GRO

PARKWAY

ORA

DEFENDERS

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THE ARROYO LINK: PROJECT 2

THE CARMELITA CONNECTION PLAN

By utilizing fragments of forgotten public parks and public land, this gateway connection between Pasadena’s

Pasadena’s Civic Center axis and Defenders

cross-town bicycle route

Parkway completes the Arroyo Link.

on St John Ave and another on Pasadena Avenue create other linkages.

Former Holly Street, see page 127.

Options for connecting across the transition road from the 134 to the 710

Caltrans

stub are explored on

Bridge

page 125

G A T E W A Y PROPOSED

T O

HISTORIC

T H E

A R R O Y O

S E C O

MARKERS

Ezra Carr

Abbott Kinney

H.H. Jackson

Along the multi-use path of this link and gateway to the Arroyo Seco, historic markers have the potential to honor the contributions of some of the many great minds who worked at Carmelita.

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.”

CARMELITA PROPOSAL

Jeanne Carr

ST JOHN AVE

John Muir

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THE ARROYO LINK: PROJECT 2

THE 710 FREEWAY STUB

The Arroyo Link with the Present 710 Stub This drawing shows how the Arroyo Link meets and connects to the 710 freeway stub as it exists today.

The Arroyo Link is not contingent on the development of the 710 freeway stub. A multi-use path can connect across the Union Street bridge to the open space along the east side of Pasadena Avenue to where it meets the Holly Street Civic Center axis.

Though the Arroyo Link is not contingent on Pasadena’s plan to fill in the abandoned 710 freeway stub, it compliments this vision, creating a link from an alignment of potential future parks along Pasadena Avenue to a terraced community garden at the end of the Holly Street axis.

Somewhere along this link, either on the civic axis, or at the top of the “zig-zag” path, or in the Arroyo itself, there is a place to honor both John CARMELITA PROPOSAL

Muir and Jeanne Carr and the generations past, present and future who worked to shape the potential of the Arroyo Seco. Here is to both their great passion for nature and the drive to move forward.

The Arroyo Link together with a Schematic Proposal to Develop the 710 Stub The Arroyo Link would be of great benefit to the vision of developing the 710 freeway stub and potential neighborhoods in this area. This composite with a schematic design by Moule and Polyzoides illustrates its potential.

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THE ARROYO LINK: PROJECT 2

ST

NA DE SA PA E AV

GREEN

THE 710 FREEWAY STUB

T

JO

HN

ST LVD

DO B

ON

UNI

ED

PEN

Y ST OLL

ST

AVE

PAS TO

O

SN

AXI

LINK

AV E

RA COLO

EO WR

OYO

RR HE A

H

T

LINK

CARMELITA PROPOSAL

OYO

RR HE A

LVD

DO B

RA COLO

INK

D

E PEN

O S RE AXI T S Y OLL

L OYO ARR

H

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CONCLUSIONS

CONCLUSIONS

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CONCLUSIONS

CONCLUSIONS

C O N C L U S I O N S

Historic Scoville Park 11/15/19

The Arroyo Link connects to the hiking paths of the Central Arroyo Seco.

133

CONCLUSIONS

THE ARROYO LINK

CONCLUSIONS

“This Arroyo would make one of the greatest parks in the world.” Theodore Roosevelt, 1911

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CONCLUSIONS

THE ARROYO LINK

CONCLUSIONS

A PASSION FOR NATURE AND THE DRIVE TO MOVE FORWARD

CONCLUSIONS “Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.”

John Muir

This is the Arroyo Seco today, just above NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

A century and a half after John Muir explored the forests above, scientists use probes to explore the frontiers of space. But as they do, many find wisdom in taking a periodic walk up the Arroyo, to clear the mind, to ground and restore.

Muir, like the scientists at JPL, believed in looking to nature for answers and solutions. Today, as in the time of Muir, there is a reawakening to his belief that getting out into nature is essential to physical, mental and spiritual well being.

Creating parks in the middle of a city is rarely an act of preservation. More often it is the result of an intentional plan of action, of finding options and making choices. Compared to building bridges, moving mountains and constructing freeways, reopening the Arroyo Link is a relatively simple choice.

Planning is a conversation of generations, passed down from one to the next.

Each leaves a civic inheritance that last decades, if not a century or more.

The Arroyo Link is an opportunity to return a legacy for future generations.

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CONCLUSIONS

THE ARROYO LINK

THE ARROYO LINK PLAN

The

Arroyo Link

A PROPOSAL TO RECONNECT USING PUBLIC LAND

The great potential of the Arroyo Link and reopening the gateway to the Arroyo Seco compliments Pasadena’s plans to reclaim the 710 freeway stub, but is not contingent upon that plan. A larger version of the map below can be found on pages 192-195.

THE CARMELITA CONNECTION

Carmelita Park grew out of the gardens John Muir and Jeanne Carr set in motion in the 1870s. After the parkways became freeways, three fragments remain public land. This project is the key to relinking civic Pasadena to the Arroyo.

See pages 117-131 for details.

A

Terraced Gardens

R R O Y O

1

C

E

S

ST JOHN AV

WAY

REE 34 F

p112

NORTON SIMON MUSEUM

COLORADO BLVD

THE “ZIG-ZAG” PATH

O

GREEN ST

LVD

VE B

GRO

Reconnecting Pasadena’s first parks and revitalizing James Scoville’s “zig-zag” path reopens the gateway to the Arroyo Seco, Pasadena’s greatest park.

See page 105-115 for details.

NGE

PARK

ORA

DEFENDERS PARKWAY DESIDERIO

THE 710 STUB

Pasadena is now reclaiming the terminated 710 freeway stub. This schematic scenario is detailed on page 131.

THE 710 STUB

Cities, like people, often create a vision for themselves, but over time become distracted, lose their way and forget what they originally set out to do.

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CONCLUSIONS

THE ARROYO LINK

THE ARROYO LINK PLAN

The Arroyo Link reconnects Pasadena’s civic axis to the Arroyo Seco by uniting the remains of Carmelita Park and completing the vision of Defenders Parkway.

CENTRAL LIBRARY WALNUT ST WALNUT ST

MEMORIAL PARK PARSONS REDEVELOPMENT LINCOLN HOUSING PASADENA AV

CITY HALL

HOLLY ST

HOLLY ST

UNION ST CYCLE TRACK

UNION ST

MARENGO AV

ARROYO PKY

RAYMOND AV

FAIR OAKS AV

COLORADO BLVD

COLORADO BLVD

T H E

O L D PA S A D E N A

P A S E O

GREEN ST

CIVIC AUDITORIUM

CENTRAL PARK PARK

Reopening the Arroyo Link rekindles Pasadena’s original vision as it relinks the connections laid out by Jeanne Carr, James Scoville and Myron Hunt.

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CONCLUSIONS

THE ARROYO LINK

REGIONAL CONNECTIONS

THE ARROYO LINK AND ITS

CONNECTION

DODGER S TA D I U M ELYSIAN PARK ER IV R .

L.A

TH E V I S I O N FO R TH E L. A . R I V ER

DEBBS PARK

HIGHLAND PARK

S. PASADENA

L.A. STATE H ISTORIC PA R K

THE ARROYO SECO BIKE PATH

The Arroyo’s Confluence with the L.A. River

The Arroy Seco Bicycle Path

With the L.A. State Historic Park now underway, attention to this gap closure project begins to complete the original parkway plan of 1912.

Running 2.25 miles from LA to S.Pasadena’s new extension, this route follows part of the route planned for Dobbins 1900 Cycleway.

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CONCLUSIONS

THE ARROYO LINK

REGIONAL CONNECTIONS

N

METRO STATION

TO THE LARGER ARROYO SECO

HAHAMONGA

SAN GABRIEL

M O U N TA I N S

JPL

ROSE BOWL

THE ARROYO SECO

THE ARROYO LINK

71

0

CARMELITA

B STU PA S A D E N A CIVIC CENTER

MEMORIAL PARK

C ALTEC H

PCC

YWCA

YMCA HOLLY ST

The Union Street Cycle Track Now in the final stages of design, this bicycle path will run 1.5 miles from Hill Street near PCC to the Civic Center and Old Pasadena.

c1966

Holly Street from City Hall to Carmelita Once a four-lane artery, today a Metro Station and the reopening of Holly Street to the 710 stub provide the opportunity to reconnect to the Arroyo Seco.

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APPENDIX 1: SCOVILLE PARK

PA R K P L AC E H OT EL

THE VALLEY HUNT CLUB

At the end of the road from Los Angeles, the Park Place Hotel was among the first Arroyo Hotels.

Sponsored by James Scoville, its lodge was located here between 1893 and 1906 and the Rose Parade originated with the club.

SCOVILLE PARK

c1891

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APPENDIX 1: SCOVILLE PARK

APPENDIX 1

SCOVILLE: PASADENA’S FIRST PARK

WALKING PATHS

EQUESTRIAN TRAILS

Some walking paths date to Native American trails, making the valley popular for hiking, camping and hunting.

A legacy of the pioneer era, the Arroyo Seco continues to have equestrian trails throughout the valley floor.

Brid ge

Fu

tu r eR o

f th

Stre et

ute o

Col ora do

S

Rout e of the

eC o l o rad o

Futur e

idg e

tree t Br

SCOVILLE PARK

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APPENDIX 1: SCOVILLE PARK

SCOVILLE PARK The Upper Arroyo Seco Today

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APPENDIX 1: SCOVILLE PARK

The Nature of the Arroyo Seco

by Tim Brick Tim Brick is the founder of the Arroyo Seco Foundation and a leading advocate for the Arroyo Seco. The following three pages are excerpts from an article he wrote that can be found at: brickonline.com/NatureofArroyoSeco.pdf

What was the special magic that has drawn people to Pasadena and the west San Gabriel Valley? And how can we preserve and cultivate that magic?

It’s the richness of nature in our region. It’s those grand mountains out the window and our glorious climate. California’s pioneers found gold, but those who really struck it rich discovered water, and in this region they round the Arroyo Seco. The Tongva or Gabrielino Native Americans referred to the region between the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers as Hahamongna, “the land of flowing waters, fruitful valley,” a wonderful concept appropriately linking the prosperity of our region with the nature that makes it possible. They settled on bluffs overlooking the stream that linked the San Gabriel Mountains to the Los Angeles River.

When the settlers came here they crowded the banks of the Arroyo Seco and created a culture and lifestyle that was vigorous and alluring. Gardens, craftsman bungalows, hand-printed books, tile, outdoor competition, athletic events enriched the lives of our early settlers with an enthusiasm they trumpeted across the county.

Let me offer the testimony of Charles Holder, the renowned sportsman, outdoorsman, hunter and fisher of Southern California, one of the founders of the Tournament of Roses.

SCOVILLE PARK

At the mouth of Millard Canyon and along the rim of the Arroyo they built their settlements. The Spaniards got there in the late summer, because they gave our grand canyon the name “Arroyo Seco,” dry riverbed.

In 1873 Eaton gave Daniel Berry, representative of the California Colony of Indiana in Indianapolis, the grand tour of Rancho San Pasqual. Berry wrote back enthusiastically to his backers: “Found tract of 2,800 acres at $10 an acre . . . (here he describes the Arroyo) . . . about 500 acres, a wooded and watered canyon, suitable for wood and cattle grazing. The wood is plenty, the water delicious and cool, leaping out of the rocks on the side in little cascades.”

Continued on the following page

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APPENDIX 1: SCOVILLE PARK

PARK PLACE

Continued from previous page.

In a delightful little book published in 1893, “All About Pasadena,” [Charles Holder] wrote: “To the west of Pasadena extends the cañon of the Arroyo Seco, which means literally, a dry river. In the summer there is in the bed a little stream which now and then disappears, really forming a good body of water, though out of sight, and in the winter, after a rain, bearing in its torturous channel a rushing torrent of great power, the drainage of the great cañon of the Arroyo that extends a third of the way across the Sierra Madre range.

(no

w

Or an g

eG rov e)

Reservoir Park

w

Ho

llly

St) o Dr

(no

Park Place Hotel

(now Hollly St)

Arroy

“At Pasadena the Arroyo forms a complete jungle, a most attractive resort for the walker or equestrian. Tall sycamore trees rear their graceful forms, while over the limbs and branches are festoons of the wild grape, clematis, and other vines, so luxuriant that they form a complete bower in many places.

The Reservoir

SCOVILLE PARK

Charles Greene’s Home 1901

Later Brookside Park (1914) T H E

144

A R R O Y O

S E C O

PARK PLACE: The central Arroyo Seco includes some of Pasadena’s first walking paths.

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APPENDIX 1: SCOVILLE PARK

PARK PLACE

Live oaks, the willow, alder, and a variety of trees grow here, with vines and flowering plants innumerable, so that in the winter season the Arroyo becomes a literal garden.

Brookside Park

In and out among the trees, a trail has been worn, often leading down to the bed of the brook; and here one can wander for hours at Christmas time in this leafy retreat, with the birds singing all about, and trout darting from the horse’s feet.

Between the point known as Park Place and that a mile or two south, the Arroyo is thickly wooded”

CONTINENTAL COURT CONDOS

rove

ge G

Oran

This flowing water and rich soil conditions has endowed the Arroyo Seco communities with a rich natural heritage. Theodore Roosevelt saw it in 1911 when he rode through the Arroyo and proclaimed, “This Arroyo would make one of the greatest parks in the world.”

Blvd

Ho llly

The Architecture of Greene and Greene

t

ly S

Holl

Ar

ro

yo

Dr

St

The ten homes by Greene and Greene in and around the Park Place Tract represent some of the finest works of the Arts and Crafts Movement to be found anywhere.

Raymond Hotel

Carmelita

Belvoir Arroyo Drive Steps

“ZigZag” Future Route of the Colorado Street Bridge Path

SCOVILLE PARK

Park Place Hotel

Arroyo Dr Park Street (now Holly St)

Scoville Park

T H E

A R R O Y O

Site of current Holly Street Bridge 11/15/19

S E C O

145

APPENDIX 1: SCOVILLE PARK

ARROYO DRIVE

When founded in 1874, Pasadena had a reservoir at Park Place, where the City’s first parks were planned. Its first street was Arroyo Drive, which

With water piped from Devils Gate up the Arroyo Seco, the reservoir was located as the current intersection of Orange Grove and Walnut Street.

ORANGE GROVE AVE Its oaks were featured in the city’s first plan, ultimately giving way to age and cars.

SCOVILLE PARK

1874

ARROYO DRIVE, the first street in Pasadena, dates back to at least 1872, two years before the city’s birth. As depicted in red in both maps, Arroyo Drive (today Arroyo Blvd) is the road from Pasadena to Los Angeles and served as the first proposed route of the Arroyo Seco Parkway.

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APPENDIX 1: SCOVILLE PARK

ARROYO DRIVE

continued to serve as the main road to Los Angeles (see map below) through the decades that followed, known today as Arroyo Boulevard.

A.V.= The Arroyo Vista Boarding House, which became the Arroyo Vista Hotel and is now the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

SCOVILLE PARK

1883

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APPENDIX 1: SCOVILLE PARK

A PASADENA PARK

LA Times Dec 18, 1889

SCOVILLE PARK

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APPENDIX 1: SCOVILLE PARK

A PASADENA PARK

This last paragraph describes James Scoville’s support to adopt Abbott Kinney’s and Jeanne Carr’s library effort.

By expanding its grounds on Raymond Ave, Memorial Park was created in 1902.

SCOVILLE PARK

1890 Scoville’s Pumphouse and the First Bridge Across the Arroyo Seco This modest bridge marks the first of eight bridges to be built, rebuilt and expanded upon in this part of the Arroyo Seco.

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APPENDIX 1: SCOVILLE PARK

MR. SCOVILLE’S ARROYO IMPROVEMENTS

Pasadena Weekly Star Nov. 25, 1891, p7.

SCOVILLE PARK

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APPENDIX 1: SCOVILLE PARK

MR. SCOVILLE’S ARROYO IMPROVEMENTS

SCOVILLE PARK

c1892 151 11/15/19

APPENDIX 1: SCOVILLE PARK

THE ARROYO LAKE

THE ARROYO LAKE

Pasadena Weekly Star August 24, 1892

SCOVILLE PARK

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APPENDIX 1: SCOVILLE PARK

SCOVILLE’S POWER PUMP

SCOVILLE’S POWER PUMP Pasadena Weekly Star July 13, 1892

7/13/1892

SCOVILLE PARK

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APPENDIX 1: SCOVILLE PARK

SCOVILLE BRIDGE

Pasadena Weekly Star Feb 24, 1891

SCOVILLE BRIDGE AND THE VALLEY HUNT CLUB

THE VALLEY HUNT CLUB When well-to-do Eastern and Midwestern visitors came to Pasadena for its healthy climate in the 1880s, these wealthy and well-educated early settlers brought with them a love of hunting, fishing, social gatherings and picnics in and around the Arroyo Seco.

Founded in 1890, it was the Valley Hunt Club that created the Tournament of Roses as a New Years celebration, featuring rose-covered carriages proceeding down Colorado Street from this location as well as competitive sport in the Arroyo Seco itself. With funding from James Scoville, the club was based here between 1893 and 1906, when a fire caused the club to move to its current location on Orange Grove Boulevard.

SCOVILLE PARK

154

The second Scoville Bridge repurposed a train trestle from further down the Arroyo Seco in Garvanza, where the train had been on top, an example of how transportation infrastructure transforms in unexpected ways.

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APPENDIX 1: SCOVILLE PARK

THE “ZIG-ZAG” PATH

SCOVILLE’S “ZIG-ZAG” PATH In August 1892, James Scoville improved a footpath from the end of Colorado Street down into the Arroyo Seco, creating a link to Scoville Park and Bridge. The Colorado Street Bridge was designed to step between its lower switch-

1890s

The Valley Hunt Club

backs and over the decades, the path and its walls were maintained and improved upon. The name “zig-zag” is not a historic name and is used descriptively to provide a way of identifying this connection from Colorado Street into the Arroyo.

1920

1940s

The “Zig-Zag” Path

1893-1906

SCOVILLE PARK

1890s Scoville Park and Bridge

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APPENDIX 1: SCOVILLE PARK

THE “ZIG-ZAG” PATH

This photo of the eastern edge of the Arroyo Seco was taken before the construction of the Colorado Street Bridge. James Scoville, who lived at

VALLEY HUNT CLUB (1893-1906)

The Belvoir Steps

SCOVILLE PARK

1890s

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APPENDIX 1: SCOVILLE PARK

THE “ZIG-ZAG” PATH

the corner of Colorado and Orange Grove, put unemployed Pasadenans to work constructing this path, the remnants of which still exist today.

CARMELITA

SCOVILLE’S “ZIG-ZAG” PATH

SCOVILLE PARK

Arroyo Drive and the Arroyo Seco in the 1890s

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APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

STORY OF CARMELITA

The Entrance to Carmelita Gardens and the Pasadena Art Institute from Colorado Street

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APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

C ARMELITA GARDENS

The Story of Carmelita

by Charles Francis Saunders Published by Vromans Bookstore in 1928, during the campaign for an initiative to turn Carmelita into a public park, the excerpts that follow come from this publication, which tells the story of Carmelita from its inception in the 1870s.

The Pasadena Art Institute

COLOR ADDED.

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STORY OF CARMELITA

1929

In 1922, citizens gathered to resurrect Carmelita as a garden, art museum, library and school of fine arts. The second half of this chapter covers their efforts, which helped turn Carmelita into a public park in 1941.

APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

Ezra Carr

STORY OF CARMELITA

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APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

Jeanne Carr

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STORY OF CARMELITA

161

APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

Ezra Carr, 1870

STORY OF CARMELITA

162

Looking East from Carmelita to Downtown Pasadena at Fair Oaks Avenue, 1886 11/15/19

APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

John Muir, c1868

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STORY OF CARMELITA

1886

APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

STORY OF CARMELITA

The Main House of Carmelita, 1880s

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APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

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STORY OF CARMELITA

165

APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

1880s

STORY OF CARMELITA

1926 The Gardens of Carmelita

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APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

1880s

The Boarding House at Carmelita

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STORY OF CARMELITA

1880s

APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

THE CARMELITA SALON

Abbott Kinney Conservationist, founder of Pasadena’s library system and Venice, CA

Helena “Madam” Modjeska Famed actress

Barney Williams Store: Site of the first Library

Helen Hunt Jackson

STORY OF CARMELITA

Author of Ramona

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APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

Margaret Collier Graham Author and speaker on women’s suffrage

Charles Holder Naturalist, conservationist and founder of Pasadena’s Rose Parade

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STORY OF CARMELITA

The Mulberry Tree at Carmelita

APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

Ezra Carr, 1880

STORY OF CARMELITA

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APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

Jeanne Carr, 1880 Helen Hunt Jackson worked on Ramona at Carmelita and consulted with Jeanne Carr, who would guide not only John Muir, but many writers, artists and Pasadena (in many profound ways), exerting an influence that endures to this day.

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171

STORY OF CARMELITA

Carmelita Buildings

APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

STORY OF CARMELITA

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APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

Log Cabin at Carmelita with Belle Jewett, 1885

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STORY OF CARMELITA

“Gold of Orphus” growing over Log Cabin at Carmelita, 1898

APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

STORY OF CARMELITA

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APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

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STORY OF CARMELITA

Ezra Carr in front of the Log Cabin at Carmelita

APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

STORY OF CARMELITA

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APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

Color added for illustration purposes.

Edward H. Bennett’s Plan for Carmelita, September 1924

Dean George A. Damon

Pasadena Star News November 1, 1924

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177

STORY OF CARMELITA

Dean of Engineering at Caltech (three years before it changed its name from Throop) and the leading voice of Pasadena’s City Beautiful Association.

APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

STORY OF CARMELITA

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APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

Edward H. Bennett’s Rendering for Carmelita, September 1924

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STORY OF CARMELITA

“Pasadena Center of Arts”

APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

Pasadena Star News, March 29, 1929

Ernest Batchelder A leading artist of the Arts and Crafts Movement, Batchelder’s hand-crafted tiles were enormously popular in the 1920s and 30s and still revered today. He was also involved in the founding of the Pasadena Art Institute and taught there.

From a 1920s Tourist Map

STORY OF CARMELITA

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APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA Pasadena Star News, March 30, 1929

Map of Pasadena, 1929

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STORY OF CARMELITA

The Water Tower, 1929

APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

Pasadena Star News, 1929

STORY OF CARMELITA

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APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

Pasadena Star News, April 1, 1929

The Gardens of Carmelita, 1929

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STORY OF CARMELITA

183

APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

Pasadena Star News December 16, 1945

STORY OF CARMELITA

184

Pasadena Star News December 12, 1936 11/15/19

APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

1935 “Carmelita Garden Developed for Public Use” Pasadena Independent, September 16, 1935 “An architect’s sketch of Citizens Committee plan for making Carmelita Gardens a public music and art center...[with a] drama building and theater nearby.”

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STORY OF CARMELITA

Path at Carmelita Park

APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

STORY OF CARMELITA

Pasadena

186

Star News January 25, 1962 11/15/19

APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

Edward Durell Stone’s Proposal for the Pasadena Museum of Art Edward Durell Stone was also the architect of Caltech’s Beckman Auditorium, Stuart Pharmaceuticals, the Kennedy Center in New York City and Pasadena’s Bank of America building on Marengo Avenue.

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STORY OF CARMELITA

Carmelita Park included golfing in the 1940s and 1950s.

APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

STORY OF CARMELITA

Pasadena Star News 1967

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APPENDIX 2: THE STORY OF CARMELITA

1967

Carmelita The Ground Breaking for the Pasadena Museum of Art The museum was designed by Pasadena architects Thornton Ladd and John Kelsey.

Construction of the Pasadena Museum of Art beside the Colorado Freeway

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STORY OF CARMELITA

1968

Credits and Acknowledgements Joyce and Robert Wolf moved to the Arroyo Seco in 1962, where they built their first home overlooking the canyon. A few years later they moved to the home where they still reside near the Colorado Street Bridge, raising Michael Auer, Linda Beth, David Robert and Wendy Elizabeth, all of whom would attend John Muir High School.

This study was produced by their third child. It is dedicated to his mother and father, who brought him to the opening of the Pasadena Museum of Art in 1969 and taught him the value of community service and a great pride in Pasadena. When the Pasadena Museum of Art became the Norton Simon Museum, Joyce Wolf served as an elementary school docent for PUSD for over forty years.

David Robert Wolf is a graduate of UC Berkeley, where he earned a Masters of Architecture degree. After a career in teaching and design, he began three projects on Pasadena: Pasadena Passages (a proposal to link existing pedestrian passages); “My City,” (the story of Pasadena’s City Beautiful Movement) and now The Arroyo Link.

Great appreciation is extended to all who have given advice, encouragement, time and editorial input. To Stefanos Polyzoides whose constant guidance and support has been instrumental to this proposal, to Annaly Bennett for her generous editorial help, to John Fode for his great wealth of knowledge and research skills, to the help of Anuja Navare and the Pasadena Museum of History, to the support of Fred Dock, Blair Miller, Greg Gunther, Morey Wolfson, Don Kirby, Margaret

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Schermerhorn, Kathleen Blanchard, Michele Zack, Mark Goldschmidt, Cody Lowry, Misch Anderson, Colin Bogart, Vinayak Bharne, Gary Cowles, Christine Goethels, Wade Frazier, Carol Soucek King, George Falardeau, Larry Wilson, Mic Hansen, Tim Brick, Tom Seifert, David Reyes, Laura Cornejo, Bill and Claire Bogaard, Pasadena Heritage, City Manager Steve Mermell and Pasadena City Council: Andy Wilson, Gene Masuda, John Kennedy, Margaret McAustin, Steve Madison, Tyron Hampton, Victor Gordo and Mayor Terry Tornek. Thank you for all you have done.

To the Norton Simon Museum, this project is a gift of gratitude to the many years spent enjoying art within your walls. It is hoped that this project will be received in the spirit of appreciation for which your much revered and cherished Pasadena institution is held.

To the Pasadena Unified School District, this project would not exist without the excellent education received at Linda Vista, Cleveland, McKinley, Elliot and John Muir High School.

To the Pasadena Civic Center, from swimming lessons at the YWCA to timeless hours in the children’s reading room of the Central Library, from both learning to dance and working as an usher at the Civic Auditorium and to the great City Hall itself, where the majesty of its arcades and gardens became inspiration for this project. And finally, to the beauty of Scoville Park, where this project begins, home to the most wonderful tree house one could imagine.

David Robert Wolf david@pasadenapassages.org

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The

Arroyo Link A

P R O P O S A L

T O

R E C O N N E C T

PROJECT 1:

RECONNECTING DEFENDERS PARKWAY ����������������105 PROJECT 2:

THE CARMELITA CONNECTION ������������������������������117

DEFENDERS PARKWAY

192

Reconnecting Pasadena’s first parks by completing Defenders Parkway and revitalizing Scoville’s “zig-zag” path reopens the gateway to the Arroyo Seco, Pasadena’s greatest park.

See page 105-115 for details.

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THE CARMELITA CONNECTION

Carmelita Park grew out of the gardens John Muir and Jeanne Carr set in motion in the 1870s. After the parkways became freeways, three fragments remain public land. This project is the key to relinking civic Pasadena to the Arroyo.

See pages 117-131 for details.

134 FWY

23FTFT 23

12 FT

8 FT

22 FT

MUSEUM

BUFFER

CYCLE WALK BUFFER ~ 75 FT The Carmelita Connection is not a destination, but instead a key link, a five-minute walk, a one-minute ride—possibly with sculptural elements, possibly with a gateway to the museum,* providing a much needed multi-use path reconnecting Pasadena and the Arroyo Seco once again. *While maintaining a secure perimeter, the Norton Simon Museum could option to create a gateway open during museum hours.

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193

PARSONS REDEVELOPMENT LINCOLN HOUSING

O L D

P A S A D E N A

THE 710 STUB

Pasadena is now reclaiming the terminated 710 freeway stub. This schematic scenario is detailed on page 131.

CENTRAL

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T H E

C I V I C

C E N T E R

CENTRAL LIBRARY

POLICE

M E M O R I A L PA R K

COURTS

PLANNING

YMCA

CITY HALL

YWCA

POST OFFICE

T H E

P A S E O

CIVIC AUDITORIUM

PA R K

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P A S E O

ALTERNATIVES

T H E

P L A Y H O U S E

D I S T R I C T

PARKLETS (SEE PASSAGES DOCUMENT)

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P A S A D E N A

P A S S A G E S

Building on the City Beautiful Association’s “Pasadena Plan” of 1915, the Passages Project is a proposal to link existing pedestrian passages from Old Pasadena to the Playhouse District, reintegrating the struggling Paseo mall back into the urban fabric of Pasadena once again.

MEMORIAL (LIBRARY) PARK

MEMORIAL PARK HOLLY ST.

HOLLY ST.

UNION ST. UNION ST.

COLORADO BLVD.

GREEN ST.

GREEN ST.

STATS

CENTRAL PARK

THE 1915 PROPOSAL

The plan for a“promenade between the parks” where the Gold Line is buried.

The full Passages document and an eight minute over view movie can be found at:

pasadenapassages.org/passages

THE SAME SPACE TODAY

Orange line shows path of “promenade connecting the parks” today.

A PROPOSAL TO REVITALIZE

The

Arroyo Link

RECONNECTING TO THE ARROYO SECO The City Beautiful Movement’s connection from the end of Colorado Blvd to the parks of the Arroyo Seco was maintained until the 1960s.

This proposal reopens this link, improving access and circulation to the Arroyo Seco.

Rose Bowl

The

Carmelita Connection

Brookside Park

Holly

St Bri

In the 1870-80s, John Muir helped start Carmelita Gardens with his mentor Jeanne Carr. For 90 years, a civic movement preserved Carmelita as a public park.

This proposal seeks to connect the remaining fragments as a link to the Arroyo Seco.

dge

Holly St

an

ge

Gr

ov

eB l Pioneer vd Monument “Zig-Zag” Path

Arro

yo D r

134 Freeway

Historic Scoville Park

Or

rid Street B Colorado

ge

Defenders Pkwy

Norton Simon Museum Colorado Blvd Defenders Pkwy