Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, February 8, 2020

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Mountain View News Saturday, February 8, 2020 

SCHOOL DIRECTORY


Alverno Heights Academy

200 N. Michillinda Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024

(626) 355-3463 Head of School: Julia V. Fanara

E-mail address: jfanara@alvernoheights.org

Arcadia High School

180 Campus Drive Arcadia, CA 91007

Phone: (626) 821-8370, Principal: Brent Forsee

bforsee@ausd.net

Arroyo Pacific Academy

41 W. Santa Clara St. Arcadia, Ca, 

(626) 294-0661 Principal: Phil Clarke

E-mail address: pclarke@arroyopacific.org

Barnhart School

240 W. Colorado Blvd Arcadia, Ca. 91007

(626) 446-5588 

Head of School: Ethan Williamson

Kindergarten - 8th grade

website: www.barnhartschool.org

Bethany Christian School

93 N. Baldwin Ave. Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024

(626) 355-3527 

Preschool-TK-8th Grade

Principal: Dr. William Walner

website: www. bcslions.org

Clairbourn School

8400 Huntington Drive

San Gabriel, CA 91775

Phone: 626-286-3108 ext. 172

FAX: 626-286-1528

E-mail: jhawes@clairbourn.org

Foothill Oaks Academy

822 E. Bradbourne Ave., Duarte, CA 91010

(626) 301-9809

Principal: Nancy Lopez

www.foothilloaksacademy.org

office@foothilloaksacademy.org

Frostig School

971 N. Altadena Drive Pasadena, CA 91107

(626) 791-1255

Head of School: Jenny Janetzke

Email: jenny@frostig.org

The Gooden School

192 N. Baldwin Ave. Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024

(626) 355-2410 

Head of School, Jo-Anne Woolner

website: www.goodenschool.org

High Point Academy

1720 Kinneloa Canyon Road 

Pasadena, Ca. 91107 

Head of School: Gary Stern 626-798-8989

website: www.highpointacademy.org

La Salle College Preparatory

3880 E. Sierra Madre Blvd. Pasadena, Ca. 

(626) 351-8951 website: www.lasallehs.org

Principal Mrs. Courtney Kassakhian

Monrovia High School

325 East Huntington Drive, Monrovia, CA 91016 

(626) 471-2800 Principal Darvin Jackson

Email: schools@monrovia.k12.ca.us

Odyssey Charter School

725 W. Altadena Dr. Altadena, Ca. 91001

(626) 229-0993 Head of School: Lauren O’Neill

website: www.odysseycharterschool.org

Pasadena High School

2925 E. Sierra Madre Blvd. Pasadena, Ca. 

(626) 396-5880 Principal: Roberto Hernandez

website: http://phs.pusd.us

St. Rita Catholic School

322 N. Baldwin Ave. Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024

Principal Joan Harabedian (626) 355-9028 

website: www.st-rita.org

Sierra Madre Elementary School

141 W. Highland Ave, Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024

(626) 355-1428 Principal: Lindsay LUIS

E-mail address: LUIS.lindsay@pusd.us

Sierra Madre Middle School 

160 N. Canon Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024

(626) 836-2947 Principal: Garrett Newsom

E-mail address: newsom.garrett@pusd.us

Walden School

74 S San Gabriel Blvd

Pasadena, CA 91107 (626) 792-6166 

www.waldenschool.net

Weizmann Day School

1434 N. Altadena Dr. Pasadena, Ca. 91107

(626) 797-0204

Lisa Feldman: Head of School

Wilson Middle School

300 S. Madre St. Pasadena, Ca. 91107

(626) 449-7390 Principal: Ruth Esseln

E-mail address: resseln@pusd.us

Pasadena Unified School District

351 S. Hudson Ave., Pasadena, Ca. 91109

(626) 396-3600 Website: www.pusd@pusd.us

Arcadia Unified School District

234 Campus Dr., Arcadia, Ca. 91007

(626) 821-8300 Website: www.ausd.net

Monrovia Unified School District

325 E. Huntington Dr., Monrovia, Ca. 91016

(626) 471-2000 

Website: www.monroviaschools.net

Duarte Unified School District

1620 Huntington Dr., Duarte, Ca. 91010

(626)599-5000 

Website: www.duarte.k12.ca.us

Arcadia Christian School

1900 S. Santa Anita Avenue Arcadia, CA 91006

Preschool - and TK - 8th Grade

626-574-8229/626-574-0805

Email: inquiry@acslions.com

Principal: Cindy Harmon

website: www.acslions.com


A LOOK AT THE MUSHROOMS 
OF SIERRA MADRE

CHRISTOPHER Nyerges


[Nyerges is the author 
of “Foraging California” 
(which has a section 
on mushrooms), 
“Guide to Wild Foods 
and Useful Plants,” 
“How to Survive Anywhere,” 
and other 
books. He has studied 
mycology, and led 
wilderness trips, since 
1974. He can be reached at Box 41834, Eagle 
Rock, CA, or www.SchoolofSelf-Reliance.
com.]

 NEWS NOTE

A Great Annual Opportunity to Learn about 
Mushrooms

The 36th Annual Los Angeles Mycological 
Society’s Wild Mushroom Fair will take place 
on Sunday, February 9, beginning at 9 a.m., 
at the L.A.County Arboretum, located at 301 
N. Bald-win in Arcadia. There will be a walk, 
mushroom growing demonstration, cooking 
demonstration, and other lec-tures. All day 
long there will be educational displays of wild 
mushrooms, and experts on hand to query 
with your identification questions. 

Admission to the Mushroom Fair is free with 
admission to the Arboretum, which is $9 for adults, $6 for seniors (62 
and over), $6 for students with ID, and $4 for children 5-12. Children 
under 5 are admitted free. Parking is free.

More information about LAMS events is available on their Calendar at 
LAMS Events Page.

MUSHROOMS OF PASADENA In the early 1970s, I got involved with 
the L.A. Mycological Association to pursue my education of the mysterious 
world of fungi directly with experts, rather than books. I learned 
how to iden-tify wild mushrooms, and use the edible ones for food. I 
had some great mentors from the or-ganization, such as Robert Tally, 
and Bill Breen, who taught me how to find and cook wild mushrooms. 

 During the 70s, I would eat mushrooms that others in the association 
found or brought to meet-ing that they declared were edible. I would 
study them, take note and photos, and try them when I got home. I 
recall a phrase, “this mushroom is known to disagree with some people.” 
That translates as, “you will be vomiting violently at 2 a.m.” which happened 
a little too often. So I lost my desire to try every wild mushroom. 
Plus, beyond the common mushrooms, most of them began to get categorized 
as the “LBMs,” the “little brown mushrooms, which were never 
identi-fied to genus because it would have taken more time than I cared 
to give to the task.

Not long ago, I led a walk for a member of the Los Angeles Mushroom 
Society near Sierra Ma-dre, with the express purpose of finding and 
identifying mushrooms. I am always hesitant to schedule walks to find 
mushrooms because typically we are scheduling weeks, if not months, 
be-fore the event. And mushrooms are very particular about when they 
pop up. Conditions such as the season, location, amount of moisture, 
temperature, and other variations all need to be just right. 

As it turned out, we had a very successful walk. We walked under oaks 
mostly, where layers of wood chips had been laid down, and in other 
areas as well. Here are just a few of the mush-rooms we found.

PARASOL The first we found was the Lepiota rhacodes (sometimes 
called the parasol mushroom). This one appears as a white gilled mushroom, 
with brown patches on the cap, a ring on the stem, a bulbous 
base, and a hollow stem. It stains orange when cut or bruised. It’s an excellent 
mild-tasting mush-room when sautéed in butter. We also found 
many specimens of the Agaricus campestris and re-lated species, which 
is basically the wild variety of the common store-bought mushroom. 
This one has pink gills which turn a chocolate color as the spores mature, 
a ring on the stout stem, and a stem that breaks freely from the cap. 

BLEWITS

We also found “blewits”, so called because the entire mushroom is an 
unmistakable violet color. The Latin name for this one has changed 
periodically. I first learned it as Tricholoma nuda, then it was Lepista 
nuda, now the mycologists appear to have settled on Clitocybe nuda. It 
has a stout stem with free gills. We all found enough of these that many 
of the participants got to take some home to cook.

INKY CAPS

We found a few of the inky caps, including Coprinus atramentarius, 
which causes vomiting if consumed with alcohol. The inky caps must 
be collected and cooked when they are young and white, because as they 
get old, they decompose into a blank ink.

CHICKEN-OF-THE-WOODS

We also found some fresh chicken-of-the-woods mushroom, one of the 
easiest mushrooms to positively identify, even by beginners. Chicken-
of-the-woods (Laetiporus sulphureus, formerly known as Polyporus 
sulphureus) is a type of shelf fungus. This means that instead of the 
more-familiar cap on a stem, this one grows in horizontal (or shelf-like) 
layers. It is bright yellow as the fungus begins its growth, and then, as 
multiple layers appears, you will also see orange and red. As it grows 
older, it fades to a very faded yellow or nearly white color. 

Typically, the chicken-of-the-woods grows on tree stumps and burned 
trees. It can grow high on the stump, or right at ground level. Though 
it can appear on many types of trees, in our area, it is most common on 
eucalyptus and carob tree. We cut off some of the most-tender sections. 
The portion of the layer closest to the tree will be the most tough and 
less desirable for food.

This one has to be prepared properly or it causes vomiting. I cut the 
chicken of the woods into strips, or bite-size pieces, and then put it into 
a pan and cover it with water. I bring it to a hard boil for at least 5 minutes. 
I pour off this water, and repeat the hard boiling. Some people do 
not seem to need to do this, but a large percentage of people who eat 
this will vomit if they do not do the double-boiling. We then sautéed the 
pieces and everyone found them delicious.

CAVEAT

Mycology is a Science, and it requires a substantial amount of study and 
field work to be able to collect wild mushrooms and eat them without 
getting sick or dying. Case in point, in early Sep-tember, two members 
of an Italian family died from eating the extremely deadly Amanita 
phal-loides mushroom, and other members of the family were hospitalized 
in serious condition. 

This species is found world-wide; I’ve found them growing in the cemetary 
in Altadena!

And in March of 2009, life-long mushroom hunter Angelo Crippa collected 
some mushrooms in the hills above Santa Barbara, California. 
He sautéed them, and ate them, and told his wife they were delicious. 
Unfortunately, rather than an edible species, he collected a close-lookalike, 
Ama-nita ocreata, which is deadly. Even with hospital treatment, 
he died in 7 days.

I often have told my students that they should avoid eating any wild 
mushrooms if they do not devote considerable time to studying mushrooms, 
and learning how to positively identify differ-ent genera and 
species. 

Despite the obstacles, thousands of people collect wild mushrooms 
throughout the United States on a regular basis. Many -- such as myself 
- began the pursuit of mycology by joining a local mushroom group 
which conducts regular field trips. By learning about mushrooms in a 
class, and going on field trips with a group of experienced mycologists, 
you’ll learn a lot quicker than read-ing books and looking at Youtube.


Students and Chicken of the Woods: Medical Students examine a just-found chicken-of-the-woods 
mushroom. This one is edible and prized, but should be boiled a few times before prepa-ration.


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