Who Has The Best Decorations? Is It You? Or Your Neighbor? 

Submit your entries for our 2nd annual Holiday Decorating Contest! Enter the address of homes we should consider for our 
2nd annual contest. We’ll drive and evaluate the entries in our service area from Pasadena, Altadena, Sierra Madre, Arcadia, 
Monrovia and Duarte on Monday and/or Tuesday, December 13-14 between 5-9 p.m. So…. If you’re entered, make sure your 
lights are on for us to take photos and make the awards! Send your submission addresses with street address, cross street and 
town name to C.Bertrand@MtnViewsNews.com 


SATURDAY NOVEMBER 27, 2010

VOLUME 4 NO. 47

Dickens 
Village 
to Kick 
Off the 
Holiday 
Shopping 
Season 
in Sierra 
Madre

The Sierra Madre Chamber of 
Commerce will host Sierra Madre’s 
annual Dickens Village festivities 
to kick off the holiday season this 
Saturday, Nov. 27th from 3pm to 8pm 
in the downtown village shopping 
district. The City tree will be officially 
lit in Kersting Court shortly before 
6pm, and Santa will arrive right after 
that at 6pm. There will be carolers 
downtown, (including the Sierra 
Madre Playhouse Carolers, warming 
up for the evening’s performance 
of “A Christmas Carol” at 8pm, 
immediately after Dickens Village), 
horse and carriage rides from 3:30 
to 7:30pm, and snow sledding from 
3 to 8pm. The sloped drive-thru 
driveway at the Bank of the West 
on Sierra Madre is transformed to 
a winter wonderland of “snow,” and 
youngsters of all ages can ride sleds 
down the slope to the their heart’s 
content. Local non-profit and other 
organizations will have booths in 
the street selling holiday fare, some 
homemade, at the Chamber’s second 
biggest single day event of the year, 
behind only the Wistaria Festival.

 Downtown stores will stay open 
late and offer their holiday best to 
shoppers taking advantage of the 
first ever Small Business Saturday, 
a follow-up to Black Friday, the 
traditional shopping kickoff when 
shoppers fill department stores and 
malls the day after Thanksgiving. 
Small Business Saturday is a day to 
support the local businesses that 
create jobs, boost the economy and 
preserve neighborhoods around the 
country. Small Business Saturday is a 
national movement to drive shoppers 
to local merchants across the U.S.

 So avoid the mall crowds and 
corporate atmosphere’s and visit 
Sierra Madre’s old-fashioned, small 
town, small business village shops. 
Downtown restaurants will be open 
so you can enjoy a nice meal while 
shopping, instead of a hurried trip to 
the food court. MAP ON PAGE 3

MacGillivray ‘Gift’Raises Eyebrows - 
Concerns by Susan Henderson

America Not So Long Ago

These people are talking about the 
former Arvin Farm Labor Supply 
camp, a migrant farm labor camp 
in California during the Great 
Depression. When John Steinbeck 
used this setting in this Grapes of 
Wrath, where the Joad family arrived 
scared, bone tired, dirty, hungry and 
broke in the southern San Joaquin 
Valley, he gave it the fictitious name of 
Weed Patch. During the making of a 
movie from the book, the scenes in the 
migrant camp were filed there. After 
the movie came out, it has been known 
as Weed Patch ever since.

 You’ll remember the “Okies” poured 
into California penniless, escaping the 
Dust Bowl, willing to work anywhere 
for any wage. As a result of the movie 
making this place famous, three of the 
original buildings were saved. There 
is still a work camp here, though with 
newer buildings and more amenities.

 Every year, now, by this camp in the 
small community of Lamont south 
of Bakersfield, a Dust Bowl Festival 
takes place on the third Saturday in 
October. As this festival there is lots 
of music; there is food, such as biscuits 
and gravy with sausage and chili over 
corn bread; there are many displays of 
rusty, old-timey kitchen utensils, work 
equipment and tools. There are also 
tables and tables filled with displays 
having to do with Weed Patch: old 
newspaper articles and photos; one 
very long table full of books, their 
authors seated behind them pen in 
hand ready to autograph one when 
you buy it.

 But best of all is the tour of the 
remaining buildings from the days 
when Grapes of Wrath was filmed, led 
by some of those who lived there as 
children. One of the old timers who 
arrived here as a motherless little kid, 
shared with us that when his Father 
got them to Weed Patch, his dad 
became a “professional alcoholic”. In 
the morning he would poke his son in 
the ribs and say, “Buck, put the coffee 
on!” As the father swigged his coffee 
he would swear off alcohol, but later in 
the day would go back to the bottle. 

 This kid, now an elderly man took 
us into the still standing Community 
Hall, containing a very large room with 
a stage. The walls inside and out were 
so weathered, that no paint remained.

Earl “Buck” Shelton explained that 
the building had been used for 
activities such as meetings, dances and 
entertainment. He told us one of one 
of their (continued on page 3)

WEED PATCH, U.S.A. 

Story and Photos by Nan Kaesar

 Former Sierra Madre Mayor Mary 
Ann MacGillivray left a ‘gift’ for every 
other member of the city council 
on Tuesday night and that gesture has 
raised more than a few eyebrows.

 During the break at Tuesday’s meeting, 
MacGillivray gave them a copy 
of the controversial book, “Sharia 
Law For Non-Muslims” along with a 
printed copy of an excerpt from the 
‘stopsharianow’ website. According 
to one of the recipients, it is believed 
that MacGillivray was attempting to 
‘enlighten’ the other members of the 
threat of Sharia Law to the City of Sierra 
Madre. 

 Sharia Law is part of the Islamic faith 
and many who prescribe to demonizing 
Muslims have labeled it a threat to 
the United States. 

 The book, written by Bill Warner has 
been described as a ‘must have’ for 
right wing legislators and, says one 
outside source, “Nothing in this book 
is fact based. There is little to no command 
of history or context. This book 
is clearly intended to fuel hate and 
feed into the fear (cont. page 3)

“My Mama died before we left Oklahoma for California, but when we lived in 
Weed Patch, I didn’t lack for a Mom. I had many Mamas to look out for me here 
in camp.”

“I was born here, we had the best time!”

“We went to school in an old airplane parked in the field.”

“If we didn’t have something, we just made do.” 

Savings Bonds Are “On Their Way”


During a recent trip north to the Dust Bowl Festival, Sierra Madre 
resident Fran Kaesar visited Weed Patch, a landmark reminder of 
America during a very difficult time. Pictured above is an abandoned 
airplane that served as the ‘schoolhouse’ for children living 
in Weed Patch during the Great Depression.

 Pictured above are Tom Brady, Chair of A Taste of Sierra Madre, with Chase 
Bank Manager Christina Gonzalez and Personal Banker, Edison Bautista. They 
met on Wednesday to complete the processing of the savings bonds for winners 
of the TOSM Art and Essay contest. The winners were chosen and announced 
in September.

 "There was a delay in receiving back all the applications for the bonds from the 
winners' parents. We've now purchased them, and the Treasury Department will 
send the bonds directly to the recipients”, says Brady. “We appreciate the winners' 
patience and thank the staff at Chase Bank in Sierra Madre for their help." 

 The inaugural TOSM event was the brainchild of Brady and brought together 
a variety of local community organizations and volunteers to raise more than 
$12,000 for the Sierra Madre Youth Activity Center and the Rotoplasty Foundation. 
Winners of the Arts and Essay contest, a part of the event, were students 
in local elementary, middle and high schools. 

 A check for the YAC was presented at a recent city council meeting. For further 
information, please contact Brady at 626-355-3471.

Sunset Magazine Recommends A Visit

When the December issue of Sunset 
Magazine hits the newsstands in a few 
days, it will have a pleasant surprise 
for Sierra Madre residents and local 
businesses. It lists Sierra Madre as a 
destination “Day Trip” noting that 

“Holiday Charm is this town’s forte.”

 It also mentions shopping at local 
shops like Leonora Moss, Savor the 
Flavor and Wildflour Baking Company, 
Brown’s Classic Interiors and dining 
at Ugo’s.

Dickens Village 
Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010 
3pm to 8pm 
Shopping 
Santa Claus 
Sledding 
Horse and Buggy Rides 
Caroling 
Tree Lighting Ceremony 
JOIN US!! 
www.SMDickensVillage.info 
Thank you to our sponsors: 
Silver Sponsor: Athens Services 
Leonora Moss 
Osti Tree Service 
Rotary Club of Sierra Madre 
Sierra Madre Playhouse 
Additional sponsorships available, (626) 355-5111 
Inside This Week...

CALENDAR Page 2 

SIERRA MADRE Page 3

PASADENA/ALTADENA

 Page 4

ARCADIA Page 5

MONROVIA/DUARTE

 Page 6

FEATURES

Education & Youth Page 7

Good Food & Drink Page 8

Legals Page 9

Left Turn/Right Turn Page 10

Opinion Page 11

The World Around Us Page 12

The Good Life Page 13

Homes & Property Page 14

SPORTS Page 15

 Bobby Eldridge - On The Course

 FYI Page 16 


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