We’re spending an hour to batten down the hatches and do some preparation (yet again) for another potential emergency evacuation in Altadena, CA. This one due to potential mud slides and debris flows expected in the Eaton Fire burn scar areas with impending heavy rains this afternoon. I suspect we’re probably reasonably safe due to our neighborhood’s location with respect to Eaton Canyon (i.e. the mountain and the canyon walls should divert flow to the Southeast of our neighborhood). This being said, having endured one catastrophe this year, I know to anticipate the worst.
The notice came at about noon as dark clouds impinge on us from the mountains North of us and from the East. Weather reports began last night and some have predicted intermittent rain, highly uncommon for us this time of year, which may see rates as high as 2 inches per hour. We have several evacuation routes and plans ready (including escape to the roof if necessary).
The sun is still shining overhead with a sustained breeze of about 5 miles per hour.
As a 50 year old with a 13 year old daughter living in Octavia Butler’s neighborhood of Altadena, CA, it was eerie when I re-read The Parable of the Sower last summer. Today following the devastating Eaton Fire, the opening of chapter four just doubles down on the dystopia in which we’re living.
Tonight, for the first time since January 7th, I made the depressing choice to drive from a friend’s on Lincoln across town on Altadena Drive. The utter devastation of the Eaton Fire is truly ghastly. So much of my town just doesn’t exist anymore. As I got to Altadena Drive and Washington, it began to rain…
Over the weekend I had the good fortune to hear about a little stationery shop 10 minutes from my house. Baum-kuchen is a spectacular little space hiding over on Lincoln in Altadena with a warm, wabi-sabi (わびさび) charm. The business began in 2010, but opened up their physical location in 2019. Obviously not the most fortuitous time to have opened a brick and mortar location, they’re primarily still online, but have regular open hours usually from 12-5pm on Sundays.
The space, while modest, is rich and well-appointed, as one would expect a fine stationery store to be. I spent almost as much time appreciating the small touches of hardware for merchandising purposes as I did lusting after the stationery, pens, pencils, cases, bags, washi tape, stamps, paper twine, and miscellanea. I think the first three things I asked for prices on were store fixtures. (But with a lush, rare Wabash Cabinet on display, who wouldn’t?)
If you’re looking for the corporate, completist, and cramped feel of something like Kinokuniya, this is assuredly not that. This is a place to luxuriate in stationery and spark some creativity away from the madding crowd.
Of particular note, they’ve got one of the most beautiful, well-appointed, and fully stocked pigeonhole displays I’ve ever seen for Traveler’s Notebooks. They also offer a nice selection of The Superior Labor products to which they also offer customization touches you can easily add on to make your notebook “Truly Yours”.
They seem to have a full selection of MIDORI paper products, lots of Stalogy, and PERPANEP. Also on offer were analog planners like Jibun Techos, Roterfaden, and Nolty along with brands like Classiky, Kokuyo, Kuretake, Mizushima, Postalco, and ateliers PENELOPE among others.
I’ll take a moment to note that this was the first time I’ve ever seen Roterfaden for sale in a physical shop. They truly are lovely analog items with a high level of tactile joy. I find myself needing more thick felt in my life beyond the large grey mat I use for shodo.
This also reminds me that the shop does a fantastic job of providing physical samples of nearly almost every product that you can open, play with, and try out (including samples of most of the notebook paper!) It’s small touches like this that will keep the stationery afficionados coming back every time.
Community
In addition to all the spectacular things I saw, I would be remiss not to mention one of the kindest touches in the whole shop. Front and center in the main room is a fantastic wooden and metal table with several fine chairs. They invite the community to come in with their journals to sit and write with each other.
I arrived on the early side of their store hours, but just after, two people showed up who browsed for a bit, but then sat down to write and try out some of the available stamps on the table in their own journals. Wakako even invited me to feel free to bring my typewriter to sit and write for a bit in the future. Anyone up to join me? With such a nice space, why not use it on a Sunday afternoon to plan out your week or reflect on the week past?
Beyond the warm and inviting space, they keep things in stock in the store which seem to be marked as sold out in their online storefront. On first blush this could be written down as a potential accounting error or maybe delays in updating the website, but I suspect that they’re carefully holding onto stock for their local community to be able to see items and purchase things in person.
As rare as it is to see a shop revel in the idea of analog, it’s even more refreshing and heartening to see one doing its best to strive towards kindness within its own community the way that Baum-kuchen does.
Next time, with money in my pocket
I usually make a habit of leaving my wallet at home on first visits to nearby stationery stores. (Those inflicted with the gentle madness like me will know why.) But I’ve started a list on my pocket notebook with a few things I must have on my next visit…
There are too many things to like about Baum-kuchen, and I haven’t even mentioned the pastry origins of the German-named shop. Some will scream that I’ve buried the lede in this whole story when I mention the following exciting revelation: This fall, Baum-kuchen will be carrying a wide variety of Hobonichi products!!! I’m only aware of a tiny handful of US-based stores which carry or ship Hobonichi (JetPens anyone?), but Baum-kuchen will be one of them. I’ve generally ordered these directly from Japan in the past, but it will be ever so nice to be able to place an order to a physical shop that’s just a few minutes away. I’m hoping they’ll open up the store on announcement day and have a little party to celebrate. If they do, I’m definitely baking them a homemade tree cake!
Yes, I live in Altadena, CA. Yes, I’ve purchased lottery tickets from Joe’s before. No, it (sadly) wasn’t me that won 2.04 billion dollars in the Powerball Lottery.
In addition to our neighborhood LFL, you can find it at the local branches of the Altadena Library (they just re-opened for curbside pick up today) and at select Little Free Libraries around Altadena.
If you love zines, they’ve got a collection of others to check out. They’ve also been hosting a regular zine workshop on the third Saturday of the month. You should be able to pick up a zine kit for the next meeting, which I’m hoping to attend. Maybe I’ll put together a zine featuring some of our local neighborhood Little Free Libraries?
34.1778517-118.1013212
Listened toEpisode 2 - Zines! by This Is Altadena from This is Altadena (Podomatic)
What is a zine? The name "zine" is a shortened version of "fanzine" which is a portmanteau of the word "fan" and "magazine". Most people that think of zines think of punk rock and the punk community, where the DIY (do-it-yourself) ethos is more than just a slogan, it's a way of life. In truth, "zines" have been around for centuries, going back to Thomas Paine's famous pamphlet "Common Sense". These homemade publications can be about anything their creators desire - music, art, politics, or something personal. Chloe Cavelier sits down for a conversation with library staffer and resident zine expert Alice Wynne to discuss the past, present and future of zines and Altadena Public Library's very own zine collection. Later Chloe speaks with Bob Lucas Branch manager Diana Wong to discuss Bob's new and improved demonstration garden. Subscribe to This Is Altadena at any and all of the places you get podcasts including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
I got a copy of the library’s zine last Friday. This is such a cool project. They’ve reached out to me briefly as a steward of a Little Free Library, but I’ll have to stop in and pick up a few copies to have in my library.
I’d like to join the next session to see what I might add to help people bring their zines into online spaces as well. I see a lot of overlap here with some of my work with the IndieWeb.
Welcome to This Is Altadena, a podcast hosted by the Altadena Libraries, celebrating people’s life experiences and stories, and the hidden histories of Altadena, California. In our inaugural episode, we look at the life and times of Altadena legend, artist Charles White. Library staffer Chloe Cavelier sat down with community members Veronica Jones, Keni Arts, and Eugene Hutchins for 3 in-depth conversations about Charles White, his art and legacy, and his ties to our thriving local art community. Then later, our own Aaron Kimbrell chats with resident Teen Librarian Isabelle Briggs about the amazing programs and services offered in the teen department here at the Altadena Library District. For more about Charles White, don't hesitate to reach out to the Altadena Library: https://www.altadenalibrary.org For more about Keni Arts, visit his website: https://keniarts.com
This podcast is simply awesome! It makes me proud to be a resident of Altadena, CA. Can’t wait to see what they continue to come up with.
Welcome to This Is Altadena, a podcast hosted by the Altadena Libraries, celebrating people's life experiences and stories, and the hidden histories of Altadena, California.
The Altadena resident, who passed away from heart failure on October 23, 1939, still remains a presence in the region.
Renowned for his “Wild West” storytelling, Zane composed volumes of work that were later produced into motion pictures after migrating to California from Ohio and Pennsylvania, where he was born and raised.
The Altadena Filming Committee has prepared a report addressing accountability in Los Angeles County’s filming permit approval and enforcement processes. The report was prepared in response to the issue raised most often to the Committee: the lack of accountability by County departments.
A local attorney contends that an element of a settlement offer made by the Altadena Library Board of Trustees to embattled Library District Director Mindy Kittay would bind future boards in choosing a qualified person to run the library.
In a letter to Jeffrey Thompson, lawyer for the Library District, Kittay’s attorney Dale Gronemeier said his client, who is currently on administrative leave, would not agree to a $501,000 settlement offer if it included a clause prohibiting Kittay from accepting future employment at the library.
“Director Kittay does not assert an entitlement to be the next full-time director, but she will not agree to prevent the new board from bringing her back if it chooses to do so,” Gronemeier wrote.
Sounds like she’s a relatively innovative librarian following the trends of many local libraries in the US to redefine themselves. It’s sad to have a contentious outcome like this with such a huge settlement in which the money could have been far better used for public good instead of in-fighting like this. We deserve better from our public officials.
I’ve been thinking more about local news lately, so I’ve taken some time to aggregate some of my local news sources. While I live in the Los Angeles area, it’s not like I’m eschewing the Los Angeles Times, but I wanted to go even more uber-local than this. Thus I’m looking more closely at my local Altadena and Pasadena news outlets. I’m a bit surprised to see just how many small outlets and options I’ve got! People say local news is dying or dead, so I thought I would only find two or three options–how wrong could I have been?
In addition to some straightforward journalistic related news sources, I’ve also included some additional local flavor news which includes town councils, the chamber of commerce, historical societies, etc. which have websites that produce feeds with occasional news items.
Going forward you can see these sources aggregated on my following page.
For those who are interested I’ve created an OPML file which contains the RSS feeds of all these sources if they’d like to follow them as well. Naturally most have other social media presences, but there’s usually no guarantee that if you followed them that way that you’ll actually see the news you wanted.
If anyone is aware of other sources, I’m happy to add them to the list.
Here’s the initial list of sources:
ColoradoBoulevard.net – Daily news and events magazine for Pasadena and Greater Pasadena area.
Pasadena Now – Where else can you get this much daily news and information about Pasadena?
The Outlook – Local news for Pasadena, La Canada/Flintridge, and San Marino areas
Pasadena Weekly – Greater Pasadena’s Free News and Entertainment Weekly
Pasadena Star News – Local news source for Pasadena and the surrounding area providing breaking news, sports, business, entertainment, things to do, opinion, photos, videos and more from the west San Gabriel Valley
Pasadena Magazine – Pasadena is the bi-monthly magazine of Pasadena and its surrounding areas – the diverse, historically rich and culturally vibrant region.
Altadena Historical Society – AHS, a non-profit organization, was founded to gather, preserve, and make available information about the people, places and events that have shaped our community in the past.
Octavia Butler
ColoradoBoulevard.net
Pasadena Now
The Outlook
Pasadena Independent
Pasadena Weekly
Pasadena Star News
Pasadena Magazine
Altadena Chamber of Commerce
The Pasadena / San Gabriel Valley Journal
Altadena Town Council
Altadena Patch
Altadena Heritage
Altadena Filming
Altadena Historical Society