PASADENA EDITION

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2016

VOLUME 10 NO. 51

Tournament of Roses set 
to Hold Bandfest at PCC 

Local Area 
News Briefs




 The Tournament of Roses 
will again hold Bandfest, 
the pre parade event, where 
parade fans can catch a sneak 
peek of the 2017 Rose Parade 
bands as they perform their 
award-winning field shows 
that led to their selection. 
This is a chance to see these 
talented musicians, dancers, 
and auxiliary performers in 
action before they complete 
the 5.5 mile march down 
Colorado Boulevard. 

 Over the course of these two 
days, each band, along with 
its auxiliary performers, will 
present the field show that 
has led to its success.

 Three Bandfest events will 
take place at Pasadena City 
College:

 Bandfest 1: December 30, 
starting at 1 p.m.

 Bandefest II: December 31, 
starting at 9:30 am

 Bandfest III: December 31, 
starting at 2:00 pm

 In February, Tournament 
President Brad Ratliff 
announced the 21 marching 
bands that will participate 
in the 128th Rose Parade, 
themed “Echoes of Success.” 
The bands hail from across 
the United States as well as 
from Japan and Mexico.

 Bands are selected by the 
Tournament based on a 
variety of criteria including 
musicianship, marching 
ability and entertainment or 
special interest value.

 Advance tickets are 
available through Sharp 
Seating Company (children 
5 and under are free). Tickets 
may also be purchased at the 
venue beginning 30 minutes 
prior to the performance 
time, pending availability.

 For more information 
about Bandfest and a 
complete list of marching 
bands to participate in the 
128th Rose Parade visit 
tournamentofroses.com.

Police Seek Package Thief 

 South Pasadena Police 
are asking for the public’s 
help Identify a man caught 
with a surveillance camera 
Wednesday stealing a large 
package off the porch of a 
home in the 1400 block of 
Milan Avenue.

According to police, at 
about 12:07 p.m. man pulled 
into the victim’s driveway, 
walked up to the front porch 
and dragged a large box, 
containing a trampoline, back 
to his car and drove off. 

The man described as 30 to 35 
year old Hispanic man with 
brown hair and a mustache, 
was wearing a brightly colored 
safety vest. Police also said he 
had on a black shirt, blue jeans 
and black and white Converse 
tennis shoes.

Anyone with information 
should call 626-403-7280.

Police Air Operations , Santa, Deliver 
Toys to Pediatric Patients at Huntington

 The Pasadena Police Air 
Operations Section and 
the Foothill Air Support 
Team (FAST) held their 
11th annual Christmas Toy 
Drive Wednesday morning 
at the Pediatrics Ward of 
Huntington Memorial 
Hospital. Pasadena Police 
Chief Phillip Sanchez helped 
Santa Clause and his “elves” 
as they bear gifts and holiday 
cheer in their own special 
rotor-equipped sleigh. 

 After visiting the hospital, 
the flight crews conducted a 
second ground based mission 
where children impacted by 
domestic violence visited the 
Police Heliport. This event 
was be held in conjunction 
with Peace Over Violence. 
Peace Over Violence is an 
organization committed to 
serving domestic violence 
and sexual assault survivors 
in our community. “We 
are so appreciative of their 
generosity and commitment 
to serving survivors,” 
comments Peace Over 
Violence Program Director 
Sandy Monroy about the 
event.


Union Station 
Homeless 
Services 
to Feed 
Hundreds

 Two people die in separate 
car accidents last week

 Authorities named two 
people who died in separate 
car crashes in Pasadena last 
week.

 Police indentified Maria 
Luciana Gomez as the female 
passage killed Saturday 
morning after the driver 
identified as Javier Placensia, 
Jr. of Pasadena lost control 
of the vehicle they were in 
striking a pole near Seco 
Street and Rosemont Avenue. 
Gomez was pronounced dead 
at 6:25 a.m.

 In a separate crash Monday 
in the 1400 block of South 
Oak Knoll Avenue, authorities 
identified Zarzand Peetrosyan 
of Altadena as the person 
killed when his hit a tree. 
Police said the single car crash 
occurred about 10:30 a.m. 
Peetrosyan died at the scene. 

Caltech Develops App 
Recognize Birds from Pics


Cheeseburger Week 
Returns to Pasadena

 Due to Health 
Department regulations, 
Union Station Homeless 
Services cannot accept 
turkey or prepared food 
donations at the event.



 Pasadena honors Lionel 
Sternberger’s during
Cheeseburger Week from 
January 8th to January 13th, his 
genius was being the first to put 
cheese to hamburger and serve 
it at the Rite Spot in Pasadena 
in 1924. 

 Forty of Pasadena’s favorite 
restaurants, lounges and burger 
joints offer their signature 
burgers, some special creations 
during Pasadena Cheeseburger 
Week. Some, such as El Portal 
and Del Frisco’s Grille offer 
specially created burgers for 
Cheeseburger Week. Some 
surprising entries this year 
come from El Cholo and True 
Food Kitchen.

 Pie ‘n Burger and Lucky 
Baldwin’s have deals for 
Cheeseburger Week. Dog Haus 
and Dog Haus Biergarten are 
adding an additional patty 
and cheese slice to every 
cheeseburger order.

 Patrons can vote for your 
favorites in the Cheeseburger 
Challenge. Who makes your 
favorite lunch counter burger? 
Who serves your favorite 
turkey burger? Who makes 
your favorite veggie burger? 
Who serves your favorite white 
table cloth burger? Who serves 
your favorite craft beer with 
a burger? You decide during 
Cheeseburger Week, January 
8th through January 13th.

The story goes that sixteen 
year-old Lionel Sternberger 
burning a hamburger on the 
grill and covering his mistake 
with cheese rather than throw 
the burger away. The customer 
was delighted and a new 
culinary treat was added to the 
menu, the Aristocratic Burger: 
A Hamburger with Cheese sold 
for fifteen cents at The Rite Spot 
in Pasadena.

 The Pasadena Chamber of 
Commerce hosts the sixth 
Cheeseburger Week and 
Cheeseburger Challenge 

 Plan to come to Pasadena for 
a Cheeseburger Crawl, take the 
Cheeseburger Challenge and 
celebrate Lionel Sternberger’s 
culinary legacy in the city where 
the cheeseburger was first 
served. Suggested Cheeseburger 
Crawls can be found at www.
pasadenarestaurantweek.
com. Voting in the 2017 
Cheeseburger Challenge opens 
January 8, and ends January 14.

 
In a show of compassion 
and holiday spirit, hundreds 
of volunteers of all ages will 
gather together on Christmas 
Day to serve meals and cheer 
at Union Station Homeless 
Services’ first annual 
Christmas at the Station.

 For the past several 
years, Union Station has 
held Christmas dinner in 
Pasadena’s Central Park. 
This year, however, instead 
of holding the event in the 
park, Union Station will 
begin a new tradition by 
moving the festivities to their 
Adult Center on Raymond 
Avenue, a 56-bed emergency 
shelter for men and women. 
Volunteers will help prepare 
and serve meals--including 
Christmas ham, macaroni 
and cheese, corn, green 
beans, dinner rolls and pie-
-to all who are hungry at 
Union Station’s Adult Center 
on Christmas Day.

 “Christmas at the Station 
is another brilliant way in 
which the community comes 
together to let our most 
vulnerable members know 
that they are valued and cared 
about,” said John Brauer, 
Union Station’s new CEO. 
“We’re blessed to have so 
many wonderful volunteers, 
donors and sponsors come 
together to provide a great 
meal for individuals and 
families experiencing 
homelessness and poverty.”

 Volunteer registration for 
this event is now closed, but 
community members are 
invited to help Union Station 
collect the ingredients and 
kitchen supplies needed to 
prepare a great Christmas 
meal! The wish list of much-
needed items is available 
at unionstationhs.org/
christmas. Donors may 
drop off these supplies in the 
indicated sizes at the Adult 
Center (412 S. Raymond Ave. 
in Pasadena).

Photo Drew Weber/Cornell Lab of Ornithology

 Scientists at Caltech announced Wednesday the launch 
of the Merlin Bird machine-learning technology photo 
ID mobile app that can identify hundreds of North 
American species it “sees” in photos.

 According to a statement by the school, the app was 
developed by Caltech and Cornell Tech computer-
vision researchers in partnership with the Cornell Lab 
of Ornithology and bird enthusiasts.

 Merlin Bird Photo ID can go anywhere bird watchers 
go—even places without cell service or Wi-Fi.

 “This app is the culmination of seven years of our 
students’ hard work and is propelled by the tremendous 
progress that computer-vision and machine-learning 
scientists are making around the world,” said 
Perona, the Allen E. Puckett Professor of Electrical 
Engineering in Caltech’s Division of Engineering and 
Applied Science. “A machine that recognizes objects 
in images, like humans do, was a distant dream when I 
was a graduate student and now it’s finally happening.”

 Caltech and Cornell Tech computer scientists trained 
Merlin to recognize birds by showing it nearly 1 
million photos that were collected and annotated by 
birders and volunteers mobilized by the Cornell Lab. 
Annotations include the species of the bird as well as 
key points identifying physical elements such as wings, 
beaks, and claws. When a user of the app presents 
it with a bird to identify, Merlin selects species that 
closely match those characteristics. Like any good 
birder, the system considers species that would be 
found at that specific time of year and in that location 
using information from eBird, an online bird resource 
that collects and records an average of 7 million bird 
observation records each month from around the 
world.

 “When you open the Merlin Bird Photo ID app, 
you’re asked if you want to take a picture with your 
smartphone or pull in an image from your digital 
camera,” said Merlin project leader Jessie Barry at 
the Cornell Lab. “You zoom in on the bird, confirm 
the date and location, and Merlin will show you the 
top choices for a match from among the 650 North 
American species it knows.”

 The updated Merlin Bird Photo ID may be 
downloaded free for iOS or Android systems from the 
Apple iTunes and Google Play app stores. It is paired 
with the original Merlin app, released in 2014, which 
uses a few short questions to help users narrow down 
the identity of a new bird.

 For more information visit caltech.edu.

CALENDAR Pg. 2

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WORLD AROUND US 

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