Pasadena on My Mind

I'm spending a lot of time in Pasadena. It began representing a Craftsman crazed buyer in Northeast Pasadena (see New Frontiers 10/27/2008). Then came Craftsman Weekend, Pasadena Heritage's annual celebration of the American Arts & Crafts movement; and, the various exhibitions devoted to the work of architects Charles and Henry Greene, at the Pasadena Museum of History, Pasadena Museum of California Art, and the Huntington Library.

I fill time between Crown City engagements photographing Shingle Style derivatives, mostly around the Governor Markham and Bellefontaine districts. Kathleen Tuttle's book on Sylvanus Marston, native son and prolific Pasadena Architect, informed my hunting grounds.

The common denominator is my love of wood, the medium through which I like things to be expressed. I appreciate the potential sensuality of plaster and concrete, the attributes of glass, the convenience and intensity of tile, the obvious durability of metals; still, none do I value so much as wood.

I like streets of trees and houses of wood.