Mountain Views News, Sierra Madre Edition [Pasadena] Saturday, August 18, 2018

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Mountain View News Saturday, August 18, 2018 

WALKING SIERRA MADRE... The Social Side By Deanne Davis

PROFILES: A Look At The People Behind The Scenes

 MATT VIDIMOS @ BEANTOWN


By Rebecca Wright

With 12 years under his belt, Matt Vidimos has 
worked at Beantown longer than almost everyone 
else there. Only the chef has been there longer. In 
12 years, a lot has changed. The layout inside has 
changed. There are now tables where the couches 
used to be. While some might say that the loss of the 
couches has changed the feel of Beantown, Matt says 
that he has seen more families come in because there 
is more room to sit now. And families are the biggest 
group that has changed in the 12 years that Matt has 
been here. He has seen children grow up and some 
of them have even had children of their own. Even 
Matt’s drink of choice has changed. While he used to 
drink vanilla lattes, he now likes his coffee black. 

 Not everything has changed though. The pastries 
are still made fresh, “Not just off a truck or in a bag.” 
And Matt’s favorite shift has not changed either. He 
likes the morning shift because even though it means 
starting around 5AM, he is done by noon and has the 
rest of the day to himself. This often means going to 
work at his second job: screen printing. 

 Matt’s connection to Sierra Madre runs deep. He 
has lived in town for 30 years and he grew up in a 
family that was highly involved in the community. 
His mom, Pat, worked in the office at Sierra Madre 
Elementary and his brother Joe worked as a security 
guard at Sierra Madre Middle School. Matt loves 
spending time at the local events and festivals such 
as the Art Fair and the Wisteria Festival because the 
whole community comes together, and it feels like 
a huge event. Matt also likes the fact that Beantown 
often gets involved in the community by donating 
coffee to events and auctions. 

 As a 
child, Matt 
spent a lot 
of time in 
Pasadena, 
visiting his 
grandmother. As a result, he was not involved the 
same way his younger brothers got to be. Still, even 
though he did not play Little League himself, he went 
to many of his brothers’ games, and admires the level 
of commitment that Sierra Madre families have to 
the organization to this day. 

Matt is one of the most committed baristas at 
Beantown. Next time you are there, make sure to say 
hi

“Success…What’s Your Definition?”

“Success,” according to Michelle Griep, a fellow 
author of several splendid Christian adventure 
novels, “is harder to pin down than simply slapping 
a dollar sign in front of a number and then running 
headlong toward that amount. There are other 
things to take into consideration when defining if 
you’re successful at any given task, things such as:

Contentment

Joy

Contribution to Society

Knowing you’re doing what God wants you to do

Putting a smile on someone’s face”

Have you noticed how many succulent gardens 
are showing up all over town? I have a bunch of 
containers filled with them and even part of our 
front yard. These things are so cool, I just break 
pieces off of one that’s already doing well, stick 
them in somewhere else and, voila! they grow. I 
actually started with a couple of tiny pots from 
Home Depot and now they’re everywhere. I’d 
really like one of those Golden Barrel Cactuses 
like they’ve got at the Huntington Library Desert 
Garden, but they’re prickly and I’m a little 
concerned that somebody might fall into it, most 
likely me.

 It’s tough to see all the trees that were mortally 
wounded on that horrible 116 degree day. The 
avocadoes especially have taken a hit. I have three 
that, hopefully, will recover. Have you seen the one 
up on Grandview and Santa Anita in front of that 
house that has been for sale forever? It looks like 
someone took a flamethrower to it. My son-in-law, 
Chuck’s, azaleas were also hit hard. His geraniums 
– he is an award-winning geranium propagator, 
btw – seemed to have done OK. The citrus trees 
are thirsty, but what isn’t. Rain would be wonderful 
as water is just not available anymore to give all the 
trees what they need.

 I’m sure you’ve read one of those adorable books 
that well-meaning people write for children about 
crickets and other unpleasant varmints? Tailored, 
of course, for the well-meaning people who buy 
them for children because they are so adorable…
the varmints, that is…well, the children, too. The 
Very Quiet Cricket, Oscar and the Cricket, and, 
of course, that all time favorite: Cricket on the 
Hearth. Obviously, these authors, sterling folk 
though they may be, have never actually HAD a 
Cricket on their Hearth, in the bedroom or in their 
kitchen. Did you know that you can actually buy 
Cricket Cages on Amazon.com? I suspect these 
cricket cages were created for a darker purpose, 
such as keeping crickets alive so one can feed them 
to a larger, quieter and more sinister pet.

 I have had, on more than one occasion, a cricket 
in the bedroom and the little creep could drown out 
a helicopter. Here’s some extraneous information 
you can consider while wishing you didn’t have 
a cricket anywhere near you: Did you know that 
they make their chirping sounds by rubbing their 
wings together, and that only male crickets can 
chirp? Fascinating, huh. Especially at 2:00 a.m. 
when you wonder what God was thinking on this 
cricket thing. Trying to find a chirping cricket is an 
exercise in futility. 

 Bears occasionally wander through our town, 
many of them spending these hot days relaxing in 
various fish ponds and pools, especially up in the 
Canyon. Robert Gjerde has taken many splendid 
photos of visiting bears. Deer, coyotes, raccoons, 
skunks also roam about here and we even had a 
fox living under our garage for a while. He (or 
she) would venture out each evening around 
cocktail time to see what was going on in the 
neighborhood. The day a very large bear walked 
down our driveway, stepped over a four foot gate 
like it was a stepping stone and proceeded through 
our yard was memorable and a little terrifying. But 
I’ll take the bear in our pool yard over a cricket 
in my bedroom any day of the week. Here’s to a 
cricket free week! And a little monsoonal rain 
would be really nice to see, wouldn’t it! The picture 
is a few monsoonal clouds...just hoping!

 My book page: Amazon.com: Deanne Davis 

Kindle books of all sorts and hardcover 
“Tablespoon of Love” are on there, as is “Star of 
Wonder.”

 Star of Wonder the CD is now on TuneCore! 
Take a look!

Blog: www.authordeanne.com

 Follow me on Twitter, too! https://twitter.com/@
playwrightdd


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com