Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, June 5, 2021

Mountain Views-News Saturday, June 5, 2021 Mountain Views-News Saturday, June 5, 2021 
City to HoldPride FlagRaising Event 


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 

 June marks the 
celebration of Pride 
Month—a time when 
millions of people come 
together in support of the 
LGBTQ community. Many 
in-person celebrations are 
resuming as COVID-19 
restrictions are lifted 
and more people are 
vaccinated. On Monday, 
Mayor Victor Gordo and 
the city council will host 
a flag raising ceremony at 

12:30 p.m. in front of city 
hall, 100 N. Garfield Ave. 
This ceremony is open to 
the public, community 
members and city staff, 
with masks and physical 
distancing measures in 
place officials said. 
According to city staff, 
Pride Month began in June 
1970, one year after police 
raided the Stonewall Inn, a 
gay club in New York City. 
Though the police claimed 
the bar was operating with 
an improper liquor license, 
the raid was about nothing 
more than violently 
harassing and arresting 
LGBTQ people in one of 
the few places where they 
felt safe. Similar raids on 
gay-friendly businesses 
had been occurring for 
decades, but Stonewall was 
one of the first times when 
the patrons fought back. A 
diverse crowd of lesbians, 
gay men and transgender 
women—many of whom 
were people of color—
clashed with police, threw 
bottles, and refused to be 
intimidated. The six-day 
period of protests and 
demonstrations is now 
referred to as the Stonewall 
riots.

 For more information 
visit: cityofpasadena.net. 

Blood Drive 

 
South Pasadena Public 
Library will hold a 
Community Blood Drive 
Monday form 1:00 p.m. 
to 7:00 p.m. at Library 
Community Room 1115 El 
Centro. 
To schedule your life-saving 
appointment, please visit 
RedCrossBlood.org and enter 
sponsor code: SOPASLIB 

 On the Day of the Drive: 
Streamline your donation 
experience and save up 
to 15 minutes by visiting 
RedCrossBlood.org/
RapidPass to complete your 
pre-donation reading and 
health history questions.

 For more information visit: 
southpasadenaca.gov. 

City Moves Playhouse District Park Forward 

By Dean Lee

 At their last meeting, the 
Pasadena city council voted 
unanimously in favor of 
accepting a bid from Act 1 
Construction, Inc. to build a 
Playhouse District Park and 
Parking Lot with a price tag of 
over $4 million. The new park, 
to be located at Union Street 
and El Molino Avenue has yet 
to be officially named.

 At the request of 
Councilmember Tyrone 
Hampton, the motion included 
that General Contractors 
should utilize local businesses 
and residents as part of work 
allocation for subcontractors.

 City manager Steve Mermell 
cautioned that the city is limited 
by their local charter and state 
law as to what they can do in 
requiring subcontractors to use 
local hiring. 

 “These are our dollars and 
not federal money,” Hampton 
said. “There is opportunity, 
whether it be excavating, it 
could be concrete work, we have 
nurseries. If we’re going to give 
them to general contractors, we 
can ask those contractors... to 
let local businesses participate 
in the subcontracting.” 

 All of the public comments 
were in favor of building the 
park saying the Playhouse 
District lacks open space.

 “There is a serious lack of green 

South Pas Virtual Author 
Talk with Maia Kobabe 

 Maia Kobabe (pictured), a 
nonbinary, queer author and 
artist, will join the South 
Pasadena Public Library 
on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m., 
for a virtual discussion on 
the importance of sharing 
queer stories, the value of 
honesty and vulnerability, 
and living authentically. The 
event, which is appropriate 
for high school students 
through adults, will be held 
via Crowdcast at: crowdcast. 
io/e/maiakobabe.

 Kobabe’s first full length 
book, Gender Queer: A 
Memoir, was published in 
May 2019. Physical copies 
of Gender Queer: A Memoir 
are available for checkout 
at the Library and digital 
copies are available through 
ComicsPlus with a South 
Pasadena Public Library car

 Kobabe’s short comics have 
been published by The Nib, 
The New Yorker online, 
and in many anthologies 
including The Secret Loves 
of Geek Girls, Faster Than 
Light Y’all, Gothic Tales of 
Haunted Love, Shout Out, 
Advanced Death Saves and 
Be Gay, Do Comics. Before 
setting out to work freelance 
full-time, e worked for over 
ten years in libraries. Eir 
work is heavily influenced 
by fairy tales, homesickness, 
and the search for identity. 

space in this part of Pasadena 
and the park will go a long way 
towards rectifying this situation, 
said Linda Vogler, who owns a 
home on Union Street. 
Features of the new park will 
include: 

• Central lawn area for 
recreation and community 
gatherings;
• Shade trellis structure and 
platform for socializing andstaging of community 
events;
• Parking plaza with integrated 
stormwater management 
system;
• Accessible children’s play areawith natural play elements, 
rubberized playsurface, and shade structures;
• Off-leash dog run with 
delineating fence for big and 
small dogs;
• Mature tree plantings;
• New sidewalk along UnionStreet to integrate the pedestrian 
experience with thepark; and
• New two-stall restroom 
building with storage for parkmaintenance and user 
groups. The restroom buildingwas presented as an additivealternate due to the 
project’s budgetary constraints. 
City staff said construction 
is set to begin in August and 
completed in spring 2022.

 Staff is also expected, in the 

Prior to Kobabe’s visit, 
readers are welcome to 
join the Library’s Comic 
Book Club to discuss 
Gender Queer: A Memoir 
at the Thursday, June 3rd 
meeting at 7:00 p.m. The 
Comic Book Club meets 
online on the first Thursday 
of each month to discuss 
selected graphic novels and 
comics. It is intended for 
adult participants, as titles 
discussed may contain 
mature images and subjects. 
Although registration for 
the Comic Book Club is 
required, prior participation 
in the Comic Book Club 
is not required to attend 
Kobabe’s author talk.

 This program is presented 
by the South Pasadena 
Public Library with generous 
support from the Friends of 
the South Pasadena Public 
Library. 

next few months, to conduct 
a public outreach effort for 
naming of the new park. criteria 
will include Geographical 
location, Cultural or historical 
significance or name of an 
individual who has made a 
significant contribution to the 
community, country, state, or 
the field of parks and recreation. 

Pasadena 
HeritageVirtual SpringHome Tours

 Pasadena Heritage is 

proud to present a new 

version of our annual 

Spring Home Tour. Instead 

of a one-day event, tours 

of six architectural works 

of art will be offered as a 

series. Part 3, Revival-style 

Architecture, will premiere 

on the last Sunday of June 

and all three recordings will 

be available through July 

4th.

 Premiering June 27th, 

we will visit the charming 

Lansing Beach House, a 

French Norman-style home 

built in 1927 by David 

Witmer and Loyall Watson. 

The original owners of 

this house, Lansing and 

Katherine Beach, met in 

France during WWI. It is 

said that they had this home 

built in this style as a tribute 

to their courtship. We will 

also virtually visit architect 

Everett Phipps Babcock’s 

own home. This home, 

known locally as the “fairy 

tale castle” then, has the 

feeling of a medieval manor. 

Built in the English Tudor 

style in 1926 for the architect 

and his wife Clare, it served 

as Babcock’s residence and 

home office for a period. The 

home is a City Landmark 

and is part of the recently 

designated Arden Road 

Historic District.

 Parts 2 and 3, April and 

May, recordings are now 

available. 

 Pasadena Heritage is a 

nonprofit organization 

founded in 1977 and 

dedicated to historic 

preservation in and around 

Pasadena, California. The 

organization advocates on 

behalf of historic resources, 

educates the public about 

local history and the benefits 

of preservation, provides 

referrals and consultations 

to those restoring historic 

buildings, and demonstrates 

quality restoration through 

its own preservation 

projects.

 For more information visit: 

pasadenaheritage.org. 

Tournament Celebrates 100 
Birthday of 1940 Rose Queen 

 The Pasadena Tournament 
of Roses celebrated Tuesday 
the 100th birthday of 1940 
Rose Queen Margaret 
Huntley Main. Queen 
Margaret (pictured) is the 
oldest living Rose Queen and 
treasured by the Tournament 
of Roses. She has the distinct 
honor of having met every 
Rose Queen; from the first 
in 1905 to the 2020 queen. 

 A 100th birthday party was 
held for Queen Margaret 
near her home in the city 
of Auburn last month. She 
was presented with 100 
roses and a birthday cake 
by 2022 Tournament of 
Roses President Bob Miller 
on behalf of the volunteer 
members and staff. Queen 
Margaret was surprised 
when Miller revealed that her 
1940 crown was borrowed 
from the archives for her 
to wear during the Zoom 

Ancient Egyptian History isTheme of the Masters Series 

 The June term of The Masters 
Series, which embraces lifelong 
learning and is presented by the 
Pasadena Senior Center, will be 
virtual via Zoom for people 50 
and older Tuesdays, June 8 to 
29, from 2 to 4 p.m. 

 Dr. Timothy Doran, associate 
professor of ancient history 
at Cal State LA, will guideparticipants through a 
compelling examination of 
Egypt beginning in prehistoric 
times and continuing through 
the death of Cleopatra in 30 
BC. 

 The cost for the seven-week 
term is only $50 for members 
of the center and $60 for 
nonmembers. Membership 
at the center and Pasadena 
residency are not required. 

To register, visit: 
pasadenaseniorcenter.org and 
click on Masters Series Lifelong 
Learning or call 626-795-4331. 
Everyone who registers will 
receive an email link to access 
each event. 

Doran, a scholar of Greco-
Roman culture, teaches Greek, 
Roman, ancient near-eastern 

birthday party. Joining her 
on the birthday Zoom were 
past Rose Queens and other 
well-wishers.

 In 1939, as a young co-ed 
at Pasadena Junior College, 
Margaret walked before 
a Tournament of Roses’ 
committee not knowing 
her life was about to 
change. With her infectious 
personality and charm, she 
exemplifies what it is to be a 
Rose Queen.

 The Tournament of Roses 
is a volunteer organization 
that hosts America’s New 
Year Celebration with the 
Rose Parade presented 
by Honda, the Rose Bowl 
Game and a variety of 
accompanying events. The 
Association’s 935 volunteer 
members drive the success 
of these annual events. For 
more information, visit: 
tournamentofroses.com. 

and Egyptian history with a 
focus on political, cultural and 
social topics. He also teaches 
big history – everything 
from the Big Bang Theory to 
theory on the ultimate fate 
of the universe, drawing on 
anthropology, history, political 
science, astronomy, geology 
and biology. 

 He is the author of “Perspectives 
in Ancient History: Spartan 
Oliganthropia” (Oliganthropia 
means shortage of males) 
and is working on his second 
book, “The Spartan Genos: 
Eugenics, Consanguinity and 
Hereditarianism in Ancient 
Sparta.” 

 In addition to online 
classes and other activities, 
members and nonmembers 
are encouraged to visit the 
Pasadena Senior Center website 
regularly for COVID-19 
updates for older adults and 
other timely information, 
a weekly blog, monthly 
magazine, ongoing activities 
throughout the year and more. 
For more information visit: 
visit: pasadenaseniorcenter.org.