After months of seeing little piles of wood pellets outside the house and trying to live in denial that we might have termites, I finally called three different exterminators to take a look. The verdict? I was right. Termites. And it was bad enough that everyone recommended tenting, to get as many as possible. So after a summer of staying at the house, even during my actual week off, we were forced to relocate for two nights. And also remove all food and beverage from the house — which was a feat.
Finally, we left the house and spent two nights at the Westin Pasadena, across the street from Pasadena City Hall — or as fans of "Parks and Recreation" know it, Pawnee City Hall. The kids loved that it was also close to California Pizza Kitchen, and Maria and I loved how walkable the area was. (Don't forget, it was right off Colorado Blvd., part of 2019's Great Los Angeles Walk!)
The City Hall, first completed in 1927, was evacuated and reconstructed between 2004 and 2007 for a $117 million renovation and seismic retrofit.
It's truly a beautiful building and worth exploring.
Wrote the LA Times' Cecilia Rassmussen in 2007: "It was first envisioned by civic leaders in 1922 during the City Beautiful movement as the 'Athens of the West,' rising at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains, the centerpiece of the Pasadena Civic Center. The next year, voters approved a $3.5-million bond issue to build the City Hall, a library and a civic auditorium, all linked by grand boulevards. The library was first to open, in February 1927."
Added Rassmussen: "San Francisco architects John R. Bakewell Jr. and Arthur Brown Jr., who had designed San Francisco’s lavish domed City Hall a decade earlier, won Pasadena’s architectural design contest. Influenced by the style of Andrea Palladio, a 16th century Italian architect who favored Renaissance classicism, the team designed a rectangular building with a six-story circular tower."
Meanwhile, I was less thrilled to see so many people out and dining al fresco. Why cant people just take their food to go? This is pandemic escalation waiting to happen. It's odd to see some people act like it's business as usual...
... and then there are things like movie theaters (above), still touting the movies there before everything was shut down.
Especially weird to see the Apple Store devoid of Apple products.
Many ads haven't even changed from March, leaving an early "Onward" poster up for example, almost as if the world stood still starting March 15.
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