Secure Special Access

Altadena Heritage sponsors activities in many of the special and hidden places in this diverse and unusual community. Each spring we hold a Garden Event in one of Altadena’s outstanding private gardens.

In 2010, even though the Angeles Forest was closed, we arranged to take members to adjacent private land to see spectacular display wildflowers that bloom only following a fire. When we find a really worthy theme, we host a home tour.

In the fall of 2008 we staged a two-day event in beautiful Mountain View Mausoleum to recall the Altadena of the 1950s, where, in an era of crew cuts, the Red Scare and conformity, an alternative universe was in flower— a loose group of artists and JPL and CalTech scientists who partied together, attended concerts, and debated the issues of the day.

We illustrated the partisan debate about the legitimacy of Jazz v. Classical that was then raging with a gallery show of drawings by Jirayr Zorthian and quotes from chemist/music critic Gus Albrecht, a reception, lectures, and several concerts featuring both jazz and classical music.

One Sunday morning in early spring, 2008, we hosted a Breakfast at Nuccios, high above Altadena. It was a cloudless day, the Pacific Ocean was shining in the distance; we served pastries and a variety of teas (Camelia sinensis leaves).

Julius Nuccio spoke about 60 years experience propagating and hybridizing camellias and azaleas, and historian Michele Zack spoke of Altadena’s nurseries past, when horticultural nurseries were one of our town’s major industries.