Altadena Heritage

A Very Short History of Altadena

Altadena is an unincorporated community of Los Angeles County, next to and within the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. It is bounded on three sides by wilderness (the Arroyo Seco, Angeles National Forest, and Eaton Canyon), and on the south by the city of Pasadena.

Altadena’s Commercial History

This paper was written by Michele Zack as part of Altadena Heritage’s Lake Avenue Committee, formed to study aspects of our community’s commercial life.

Altadena Is 125 Years Old – 2012

Altadena Heritage and Altadena Historical Society, would like to invite all Altadena civic institutions, groups, businesses, schools, faith communities, and individuals to become co-sponsors in commemorating our community’s 125th birthday.

Where Your Water Comes From

You buy your water from a Mutual Water Company. It is a non-profit corporation, not a government. You and your neighbors own your Mutual. It is unlikely that the media will ever report on your Mutual. If you want to know what it is doing, you need to ask the Mutual’s board…

In Memoriam

In Memoriam James Edward DeLong, AIA, Taliesin Fellow, architect of more than 100 beautiful homes in the Los Angeles area, passed away April 10 at 92. Jim DeLong was a long-time supporter of Altadena Heritage and was instrumental in organizing its 2003 Modern Home...

Walmart in Altadena: White Paper

All the words, feelings, and media storming around the proposed Walmart Neighborhood Store at the southeast corner of Lincoln Avenue and Figueroa made it hard to separate signal from noise the past several weeks.

Why Support Altadena Heritage?

At Altadena Heritage we put on events and programs every year. Our board of directors – a varying group who have joined because they love where we live and want to help Altadena become a more lively and vibrant community – gather once a month and we plot.

We ask ourselves: How can we raise awareness of what we have here in our community? How can we help our citizens become more connected to each other, to this place and to its history? What would make our community better and how can we promote positive change?

Members propose ideas for programs, events, and newsletter articles to address these questions, and our board works together to make things happen. This is the community service we do at Altadena Heritage, we find it enjoyable and deeply gratifying.

The fact is, our unincorporated community needs Heritage; we have no city government – and maybe that’s good – but this means we have to advocate for ourselves, to lobby for the community we want, and to work with others in a positive, constructive way. Because we’ve been active for over 30 years, and incorporated as a non-profit 501(c)3 organization since 1987, we have gained respect and standing. We give Altadena a voice that is heard in town and by the County.

In our office at the Community Center we maintain an archive on most buildings in Altadena, and virtually all built before 1940. Please make an appointment to research the history of your (or any) home. We are currently working to organize and update the archive and to migrate our computer database on to a modern platform.