Pre-Rose Parade Photos

People and pets this afternoon staked out their curbside spots along Colorado Blvd. for the 120th annual Tournament of Roses Parade. This year's parade is smaller and smoke-free. One kitty wished he could be there.

Synchronicity

What a wonderful blogging opportunity for the just-launched, official Old Pasadena Management District blog!

PASADENA - A man who didn't provide a hand-out to a panhandler was stabbed in the hand near Colorado Boulevard and Pasadena Avenue in Old Pasadena, police said.

The attack occurred about 8 p.m. Wednesday, after the panhandler approached the victim and asked for money, Pasadena Police Department Lt. Randell Taylor said.

When the victim said he didn't have any money, the panhandler pulled out a knife and tried to stab him. The victim put his hands up to protect himself and was stabbed in the hand, Taylor said. He was treated at a hospital.

The attacker had a long beard, a military jacket and a military hat and appeared to be in his 20s or 30s, Taylor said.

No folo on that story since Thursday? I don't know whether to blame the fine minds in West Covina or the miserably understaffed satellite bureau they've made of the Star-News through the years.

The headline though ... how do we know the transient was "angry?" I know my share; psychological and emotional problems are one of the few commonalities.

But that, again, is facts interfering with a good narrative. Fear the angry homeless! Fear the angry poor! Their knives will soon be at your daughters' necks.

UPDATE: Was it a year or two years ago the Steve Mulheim last had an ulcer after a drug-deal-gone-bad shooting happened in the middle of the day and boulevard?

Pasadena: Center of the Universe

The Crown City, Pasadena has a rich history and many sources of local pride.

Like John Muir High School, which has produced esteemed alumni such as Jackie Robinson, John Van de Kamp and a football program that keeps the ranks of the Pasadena Denver Lanes well stocked with fresh initiates. My pops - who would go on to launch and head the low-temperature physics department at JPL - attended the school for some time before being kicked out.

Some might not be aware of other famous Muir graduates.

Like Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, who murdered a second Kennedy's White House aspirations with three bullets at the Ambassador Hotel in 1968. Sirhan squared also attended Eliot in Altadena, according to the 'pedia.

Or, even more relevantly, the Muir campus served as the proving grounds for someone many would agree has earned the sobriquet as the "Most Hated Man in America."

I'm talking about Fred Phelps, head of the Westboro Baptist Church, the brilliant mind behind that whole "God Hates Fags" thing. Phelps inspired an entire nation to hate him when, along with his family and a few like-minded believers, he began protesting funerals for soldiers killed in Iraq with signs like "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and "Thank God for IEDs"



"They turned this nation over to fags; they're coming home in body bags"

On June 11, 1951, Time Magazine published a short profile about Phelps' early years cutting his teeth on that Old Time Religion and disseminating the finer points of Christianity as a Muir student:

Fred Phelps's talks drew crowds of up to 100. Over & over he denounced the "sins committed on campus by students and teachers . . . promiscuous petting . evil language . . . profanity . . . cheating . . . teachers' filthy jokes in classrooms . . . pandering to the lusts of the flesh." Such strictures sent Dr. Archie Turrell, principal of John Muir, and most of his faculty into a slow burn. Not only was Evangelist Phelps attacking them, they decided, but conceivably he was violating California's state education code, which forbids the teaching of religion on any public school campus.

...

Students were delighted with the story that Phelps had been ordered to consult the school psychologist, a middle-aged lady, and that he had turned the tables on her by "psychoanalyzing" her. Gloated an admiring coed: "I hope he did. They had no right to suggest that he's off his stick. Just because you're religious, it doesn't mean you have to be crazy."

Sure. But the correlation is hard to argue.

As a caveat, I asked PUSD school boarder Scott Phelps - a bundle of human empathy and Bahá'í Faith adherent - if there was any relation. So sad was I to be told there was not. It's terribly annoying when facts get in the way of a good story.

An open haiku to David Bontempo

Sole draw in Old Pas
14 years you've cut my hair
David where are you?

Seriously, I'm beginning to look like Rod Blagojevich.

Informative Post

So that postcard in the mail advertising the Dec. 2 District 6 Town Hall Meeting lied. It is, in fact, from 7 to 9 p.m. on Dec. 3 in the Maranatha High School Student Center, 169 St. John Ave.

Steve Madison and recently installed City Manager Michael Beck will be representin'

"Free parking is available in the covered lot on St. John Avenue between Green Street and Del Mar Boulevard," says Ann Erdman.

Welcome to Nicetown

A long time ago there was a place called Nicetown. Not to say everything was perfect in Nicetown, but it was a very nice place to live.

There may have been some crime. Not everyone did as well as their neighbor, and the schools were shamefully bad. But it was a community, and it took some bad with its good. For there was boldness in its culture, spirit in its diversity, vitality in its struggles and vigor in its youth.

But the people who made the rules in Nicetown (Who were neither diverse, struggling nor young) dreamed of something more. Nice wasn't nice enough for them and their friends. They tried using their trusted authority as rule-writers to edit out the errors and fix the broken syntax of a community. To correct the dangling participles of its residents and eliminate any unscripted ad-libbing.

Essentially, their singular obsession: Remaking Nicetown into Supernicetown.

Unfortunately, they had long forgotten what it was to be young, or poor or human and for the most part, sexually active. So with bulldozers and sweetheart deals, minor graft and a lazy myopia, they peeled away the soul and the occasional slop and unintended rougher edges one layer at a time, like an onion. Without the crying.

Their only opposition came from flawed antiheroes and fringe voices who only served to reinforce the rulemakers righteous certitude.

And soon it was Supernice Town. A Supernice town for soulless consumption by Supernice people. Supernice town did so well, it could fly silk banners from every lamp post. It did so well, the rulemakers could spend much of the people's money not on the people -- but on making and remaking greater monuments to themselves and insuring there were no tits to be seen anywhere in town. The social complexities -- once shouted in vigorous debate -- were laminated and hung from a wall as relics of the past. Not the "Nicetown Way."

Problem was, most of the nice people who lived in Nicetown had left. Their unique businesses gave way to corporate outposts peddling bland experiences. Fewer Supernicetown residents had any notion where they were and stopped investing in its future. Things grew kinda stagnant. Social division and ignored ills of the community fueled anger and unrest. Although crime became less common, it became more vile, desperate and ugly.

And the schools? They were still shamefully awful. Despite more than a decade of leeching blood and treasure with platitudes and promises, the hangers-on so dear to the rulemakers had only improved their own futures. But the Supernice people and their friends were either too old to care or placed their children into corporate academies.

Still certain of their mission, they tried to divert attention elsewhere. If only they could unearth the sources of such unpleasantess, dig them up like earthworms and leave them to rot in the sun.

So, they crusaded against everything they could find left that some people considered Not the Nice Way. Issued hastily considered Final Solutions for the Real Ills of Supernicetown! Throw out tits! Snuff smokers! Clean out coal! Move out massages! Shutter liquor stores! Quash protest and dissent! Eliminate anguish by hosting biannual Art Nights and adding a marathon!

In the end, they got everything they wanted. A Supernicetown for themselves and their friends, as long as they stuck to certain streets at certain times of the day and tuned out the voices of dissent. A Supernice town for themselves and their friends, at least for as long as it would take them to die.

The Count '08?

During the Asian meltdown of 1998, authorities took to putting axle grease on bridge cables to deter one-way ticket climbers. Ten years later, perhaps Pasadena should consider the same:

Three police officers pulled a 52-year-old woman to safety this morning when she threatened to jump off the Colorado Street Bridge in Pasadena, reportedly because she was experiencing financial problems, authorities said.

...

"The woman told officers she had lost her job and that her house was in foreclosure," Givens said.

Degrees of Trek

Who can America thank for ushering in humanity's new era of peace, harmony, equality and racial reconciliation as per the election of Barack Obama? Gene Roddenberry, of course.

Follow:

In 1966, Roddenberry created "Star Trek," which depicted a utopian future where black women, Commie Russians and gay Japanese-Americans could work together as equals under the enlightened authority of a womanizing white guy.


In 1997, nerd sex object Jeri Ryan was brought in to boost ratings for the foundering spin-off series Star Trek: Voyager as sexbot "Seven of Nine."


In 2003, Ryan's investment banker ex-husband, Jack Ryan, sought and won the Republican nomination to seek the seat being vacated by Republican incumbent Sen. Peter Fitzgerald.


In 2004, a judge ordered the release of custody files from the Ryans' divorce. According to those files, Jack had taken Jeri to a number of sex clubs in different cities and tried coercing her into screwing him in public for people to watch. He subsequently dropped out of the race.

Later that year, his unchallenged opponent, state senator Barack Obama, won the race handily.


In truth, the GOP did sub in carpetbagger Alan Keyes, but like I said, Obama ran unchallenged. So unchallenged he was able to begin building his brand outside of the Land of Lincoln and was featured as the DNC's keynote speaker where he overshadowed nominee John Kerry.

Hungry for Justice

Their bodies were weak. But their spirits were strong.

Dozens of Fast For Our Future hunger strikers, including Neidi Dominquez, 21, of Pasadena, today celebrated the end of an immigration rights fast that ran from Oct. 15 through Election Day. They marched from Olvera Street, where many had camped out in tents, to downtown L.A.'s Federal Building, where hundreds of immigrants face deportation.

Beginning on Oct. 15, more than 400 people of all ages, ethnic and religious backgrounds participated in one of the largest hunger strikes in America's history. Some fasted for one day. Twelve fasted on water continuously for 21 days. Neidi fasted for four days.

And while the fast is over, the fight is not.

The group still actively seeks at least 1 million people to sign their pledge for immigration reform. Neidi hopes those supporters include Pasadena City Councilmember Victor Gordo. She plans to bring the cause to his attention in the hopes that the Pasadena City Council will pass a resolution, similar to one backed by the L.A. City Council last Friday.

Obamerica

So we were like Mary and Joseph looking for a place to give birth to our electoral experience. At about 6 p.m. I along with Mother Todd and Ms. Vanity wandered around town looking for a dope place for electoral viewing. The Hilton wasn't happening yet. Madeleine's Wine Bistro was a bunch of damn geeks. It turned out to be Jack's Bar Celona that provided the coolest election hangout.









Pasadena Councilman Victor Gordo showed up. We soon ended up at the Pasadena Hilton at Adam Schiff's re-election party.







Ms. Vanity admits to some B. Hussein lust.




But the true grassroots boogy was going on in the ballroom. Many of these nerds were the ones that actually did the work to get the guy elected.























10:20 p.m. Barry just sent what I hope is his final text:

"We just made history. All of this happened because you gave your time, talent and passion to this campaign. All of this happened because of you. Thanks, Barack."

Very special. All these texts just because I wanted to know who his damn running mate would be.

Give me Widgets or Give me Death!

This just in!

Trying to confirm reports my second favorite Pasadena reporter and one of my favorite humans André "Andre 1000" Coleman could be an Election Day father today!

Refreshing

Beginning at 8 p.m., you can do exactly what reporters do and visit the Los Angeles County Registrar's results page and pound the "refresh page" button until your finger hurts.

Then there's results for the entire state.

Just do it

Walked over to Throop to vote at about 11 a.m. and it only took about 10 minutes of waiting. There were about 30 people there. There were supplemental ballots in seven languages. Except English.

Fairer and Balancederer

Dunno what their plans for the day are but the local Republican outpost is right here in the Playhouse District:

Pasadena Republicans
600 E Green St
Pasadena, CA 91101
(626) 793-2018

Election Day Volunteers Still Needed!

Amid busy phone banking tonight, John Fuhrman, co-manager at the Pasadena Area United Democratic Headquarters on South Lake Avenue (between Del Mar and California, next to Pier 1 Imports) tells me confidence is "very high" here. Although more than 250 volunteers turned out here Saturday, he encourages supporters to show up tomorrow beginning at 5:30 a.m.
Pasadena Area United Democratic Headquarters(PAUDH), 414 S. Lake Ave., Pasadena, CA 91101, Phone: (626) 449 - 2008. (Parking in the back)
General e-mail: info@pasadenademocrats.com

Meanwhile, volunteers are greatly needed tomorrow beginning at 5 a.m. at the Northeast Democrats campaign office, PAUDH's nearby sister headquarters off the 110 freeway, where I will be tomorrow. Show up and Francis Garcia, California Democratic Party volunteer coordinator, will treat you like family. Bring you coffee. Snap photos of you and e-mail them to you. Even wipe potato chip crumbs off your shirt. She says "volunteers are the heart of the campaign."
Northeast Democratic Headquarters, 6100 N. Figueroa St. #E, Los Angeles (in the Highland Park community), CA 90042. For more information, call (323) 257-0227, or e-mail erick@cadem.org
Directions from Pasadena:
110 South
Exit York Ave. Continue on Salonica St.
Turn LEFT on San Pascual Ave.
Turn RIGHT on York Blvd.
Turn LEFT on N. Figueroa
Headquarters on left hand side near Taco Bell and Smart & Final. (Park beside or behind Smart & Final)

Celebrating already

I'm about three blocks from Lake Avenue, where impromptu Obama honking crowds have set up with signs. I'm hearing a lot of honking. Do these people forget they live in California? Meanwhile, a few blocks down Del Mar at Throop corner, two people held "No on 8" signs in a much less celebratory mood.

Tricks and Treats

Not that Hindu spirituality doesn't have a tradition of mystical eroticism, but my second neighbor anecdote swings wildly to the profane. Presented here in thematically appropriate, Poetastic verse:

Once upon a 3 a.m. dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over World of Warcraft and insomniac diversions galore,
While I quested, gaining some levels, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my apartment door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `Maybe it's Proctor looking to crash on my floor?'

Ah, distinctly I recall there was no light in the hall,
So, annoyed, I muzzled my greeting through the door.
'Yeah?' I gave reply - 'What is it?' I did inquisite,
For any visit at this hour could only be a menace or a bore.

"Hi, it's Tiffany" came a voice most lilting - "You called for someone to come over" offered a presumption of rapport.
And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
`'Tis a prostitute at my chamber door' - 'She thinks I want to score.'
Though no recollection of calling, what followed was more appalling,
she then argued with me through the bolted door.

'I think you've got the wrong address,' I thought would send her packing,
'No, this is the one you gave me,' was her retort. (silent "t")
At that point I made to disengage, for I could grasp her smoldering rage,
when I heard another voice call from the second floor.

Spinning thoughts into my brain's fore, I soon realized the matter's core -
my new neighbor, he loves sex with Asian whore(s)!

Seriously, I don't even know his name -- he's strenuously anti-social. But I've learned one thing all too well: He just loves to have sex with Asian prostitutes.

I also have a feeling he's a big Pasadena Weekly fan, at least of the last four pages.

Happy Diwali

It seems only a couple days ago I was discussing the implosion of the Pasadena blogosphere over a beer with Frank "Crime Scene" Girardot. There was a crowded local blog community one year ago, but it's quieted significantly since Proctor re-imploded and The Foothill Cities blog pulled the plug and left behind an unlikely excuse.

But in fact it was two weeks ago, and despite life's ambient insanity, I'm guilty of blog neglect.

So I share two anecdotes from life here in the Playhouse District.

First, I came home this evening to find arcane whorls of sand punctured by unctuous, ruddy leavings outside my kitchen door. At first, I considered the real possibility my Cthulhu-cultist neighbors left these burnt offerings as a reminder of my species' pending doom.

Then I remembered they loved their gods many-limbed, not many-tentacled. Which could mean only one thing: Diwali had begun!

If I learned anything short of life's purpose, nearly a year in India taught me that Hindu holidays are an excellent opportunity to score invitations to eat tasty food. So I grabbed my sitar and stepped next door to hustle some curry. I abused a few dissonant sounds out of the thing in parallel to their wireless laptop's stream of a Diwali-themed Youtube video.


About where my desk sits on our adjoining floorplan, we made puja at their little altar and implored Laxmi to be good to us. Being that their Diwali guest-list was made of fail, they demanded I bring Ms. Vanity over because a guest-free Diwali is some bad mojo.

Their too-cute 4-year-old was too shy for a photo.

So if your Hindu friends seem extra smiley during the next five days, or they start stringing up Christmas lights, just wish them a Happy Diwali.

Book It

Comadres, compadres, ... all are invited to the Pasadena Las Comadres & Friends National Latino Book Club meeting Tuesday, October 21(tomorrow!), at Borders, 475 South Lake Ave, 626.304.9773. This small, fun, informal group will gather upstairs to discuss this month's book pick: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, winner of the fiction Pulitzer Prize for 2008.
BRIEF BOOK DESCRIPTION: Encapsulating Dominican-American history, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao opens our eyes to an astonishing vision of the contemporary American experience and explores the endless human capacity to persevere-and risk it all-in the name of love.

Craftsman weekend

As always, there's a lot gwin-on. I'll be adding things throughout the day:

• Fans of all things Greene² will be interested in "A New and Native Beauty" opening at the Huntington:

The Huntington, in partnership with the Gamble House, USC, will present the most comprehensive exhibition ever undertaken on the work of Arts and Crafts legends Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Greene—the first such exhibition to travel outside of California.

“A ‘New and Native’ Beauty: The Art and Craft of Greene & Greene” will be on view from Oct. 18 through Jan. 26, 2009, in the MaryLou and George Boone Gallery at The Huntington. It then travels to the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C. (March 13– June 7, 2009), and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (July 14–Oct. 18, 2009).

• If that whets your appetite for more, it's also "Craftsman Weekend" in Pasadena, promising "a full weekend of events including bus and walking tours of historic neighborhoods, a Craftsman House Tour that visits five distinctive Craftsman-era homes, exhibits of contemporary and antique Craftsman furnishings and accessories, plus special evening events in historic sites."

"It was nobody's fault; it was everybody's fault."

Much has been made recently of very personal, jarring consequences to Hard Times of the like that we as Americans have by and large been immune to for decades. By and large, the Good Times narratives have drowned our daily tragedies, but now the BBM (Big Bad Media) has its antennae up for outrageous stories of hardship.

Pasadena added its own narrative Monday with the death of Wanda Tubbs, a 53-year-old Wilson Avenue resident who lost her home after taking out a bad loan, continued to live there under its new owners, and then facing eviction after their foreclosure precipitated her eviction, decided she'd rather die than leave.

From the L.A. Times:

Early Monday, the day of her expected eviction, firefighters pulled her body out of the house as it burned. She apparently had set it on fire before shooting herself in the head, authorities said.

"We knew it was going to happen," said Steve Brooks, who lived across the street. "It was nobody's fault; it was everybody's fault."

As Brooks watched the flames, he noticed that Dunn had left two of her plants on his porch, along with a note: "Please take good care of us or find us a good home." She also had left several inexpensive toys, along with the name and address of a charity organization.

Photo courtesy Los Angeles Times.

Pasadena Arts Ride Roller Coaster Stock Market

The Pasadena Playhouse celebrated a $3 million donation, its largest gift ever. Meanwhile, the Pasadena Symphony Orchestra today announced the cancellation of its November 15 concert. The stock market volatility has affected the Symphony and its donors. Full stories in the Los Angeles Times and Pasadena Star-News.
The Pasadena Symphony's performance, "Celebrating Mexico," will continue as scheduled this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets, which start at $20, are still available via its website or by calling (626) 793-7172, ext. 16 Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm.

Channeling Da Vinci

During a time when digital media has revolutionized the way we live, it was refreshing to see art rooted in classical forms at Sunday's Pasadena ArtMarket, the grand finale of the three-day Pasadena ArtWeekend. They included Kirk Shinmoto(featured above) who sold life drawings on toned paper. (Check out his Intro to Figure Quick Sketch blog.) Transit artist Cha-Rie Tang displayed hand-crafted tiles. (Her work is featured on the Pasadena ARTS buses). Pasadena City College artist Eddie Ysais (website in the works, he says) celebrates Austrian Expressionist Egon Schiele in some of his woodcuts.

Pasadena ArtMarket featured art for sale by more than 100 artists, mostly alumni, faculty and students from Art Center College of Design and Pasadena City College.

More than 5,000 people throughout the day strolled through One Colorado in the heart of Old Pasadena for Pasadena ArtMarket and ArtPerformance, Kershona Mayo, marketing manager of Old Pasadena Management, said today.

The event is one of the few art markets in the country that offers free space to artists, who can negotiate art sales with customers without taxes or commission fees.

Money miscellany

Here's a breakdown of where your Pasadena electeds' dollars have gone:

Bill (& Claire) Bogaard, Democrat, Mayor
Barack Obama $3,000
MoveOn.Org $250
Adam Schiff $1,500

Jacque Robinson, Democrat, District 1
Barack Obama $2,300

Margaret McAustin, Republicrat, District 2 (Margaret's been described as a "Huckabee Democrat")
Barack Obama $250

Chris Holden, Democrat, District 3
Barack Obama $500

Steve Haderlein, Republican, District 4
No records found

Victor Gordo, Democrat, District 5
Barack Obama $500
Daniel Seals, 10th District, D-Ill. $500 (??)

Steve Madison, Democrat, District 6
Adam Schiff $2,500
Pasadena Foothills Democratic Club $250
Barack Obama $33,100

Sid Tyler, Republican, District 7
No Records Found

Random names that caught my eye:

Potts, Annie
$2,300 Obama

Paul Rusnak
$2,500 Schiff
$2,300 48th District incumbent John Campbell, R-Irvine.

Barry Gordon
DNC

Bradley Whitford
Obama

Jane Kaczmarek
Obama, Al Franken

William "Bill" Crowfoot (Former D5 Councilman)
Obama

Phyllis Currie
"AMERICAN PUBLIC POWER ASSOCIATION PUBLIC OWNERSHIP OF ELECTRIC RESOURCES PAC"

Matt Fong
- Rico Oller (State senate candidate who dropped out one month later when Tom McClintock decided to seek the same seat)

And my favorite:

Phil Spector
Donated $500 to Franken, received a $1,000 refund, records show.

Voting with their pocketbooks

Consistent with the anecdotal evidence of lawn signs and bumper stickers, Pasadena political dollars have broken overwhelmingly -- more than 2-to-1 -- toward Democratic candidate Barack Obama, according to the Federal Election Commission.

Of the $1.6 million sent to headliner presidential candidates since January 2007, Obama has taken in $714,137 from 987 Pasadenans, compared to the 253 who've donated $295,031 to Republican John McCain.

Altogether, local contributions of more than $2.6 million -- more than $50 per resident -- have favored Democrats in campaigns at all levels.

If money is a measure of enthusiasm, Israel-born filmmaker Rod Lurie is Obama's biggest fan, with nearly $60,000 contributed to the Illinois senator. Not far behind Lurie is City Councilman Steve Madison, to the tune of $33,100.

Topping McCain's list of donations is Deborah Lanni, who donated $37,000. Combine that with contributions from the rest of the Lanni family for about $60,000 in support for the Arizona senator.



Presidential candidate contributions from Pasadena from 1/07 through 8/31/08:

Barack Obama	$714,137.00
John McCain	$295,031.00
Hillary Clinton	$233,524.00
Mitt Romney	$118,350.00
John Edwards	$78,300.00
Rudy Giuliani	$49,950.00
Bill Richardson	$40,600.00
Ron Paul	$21,903.00

More comings than goings

Speaking of the Playhouse, it was epic sad to walk up El Molino Avenue last week to find Caravan Serai Bazaar had gone out of business. Not that it ever seemed to have any (business), but the food was tasty, the hookah accessible, the location sublime and its couple/owners, in Ms. Vanity's parlance, were "most sexy."

I can imagine fewer locations nearby worth the setting alone, but despite the theatre and theater crowds, nothing seems to last there. Meanwhile, across the street, El Portal keeps asses in the seats most every night.

Night of Art

Parking tickets. Coagulated traffic. Hideous development replacing beloved institutions. Ignored communities and deep-seated interracial enmities.

Wait, why do we live in Pasadena?

Lots of reasons, including Pasadena Art Night, which makes its biannual happenin' this Friday. But LO, Friday is only the first day of Pasadena Art Weekend. Boo-yah.

Check the links for a comprehensive catalog of the major happenings, here's some of the Playhouse/Central District highlights:

Confucianism in the age of Melamine at Pacific Asia Museum, "complex and fragile site-specific installations at Pasadena Museum of California Art , and possibly most interesting, the site of the much-anguished, much-delayed, much-manipulated Heritage Square affordable housing development hosts "Mogility."

What's conspicuously ABSENT from the Art Night particulars is our very own Pasadena Playhouse, which typically serves up some form of performance to compliment the static-yet-usually-not-uncool installments across the street at the furniture store.

What's up w/our PP?

Those unable to contain their appetite for kulture another day need look no further than Castle Green, where an opening night (6 to 10 p.m.) on Thursday unleashes hundreds of original and sometimes eclectic work of E. Milton Wilson, progenitor of Star-News editor Larry Wilson, in the form of hand-painted postcards.