Pasadena’s Secret Garden

I think I drove by Arlington Garden about ten thousand times before stopping to explore it. From busy Pasadena Avenue, it doesn’t appear as big as it actually is — I just assumed it was someone’s private garden, or a community garden that required a share purchase. But enter from Arlington Ave. between Pasadena and Orange Grove, and you immediately realize what a special place it is. Scents of lavender, eucalyptus and herbal fragrances are everywhere, and Adirondack chairs are scattered around with whimsical care. Its diverse pockets include a butterfly garden, succulent area, citrus grove, wildflower meadow, and lots and lots of drought-tolerant and endangered California plants. Once designated a construction staging area for the 710 freeway (which never made it this far), the CalTrans land was turned into a garden in 2005 with help from the city of Pasadena, Pasadena Water and Power, and a local couple who saw potential in the dirt and weeds.

I am always too busy marveling at all the beauty to try out their special phone app, which lets you scan sign codes to identify plants and other garden features. Maybe next time. As much as I love the Huntington and Descanso Gardens, this is a homegrown place that makes you want to kick off your shoes and revel as if it were your own backyard. Sometimes I bring the kids, who love the labryinth created by Mayfield students, and sometimes I drop them at school and take a walk that always ends with a little R&R on one of those Adirondack chairs.

Tips for Leading a Peaceful Life in Los Angeles

A friend from the East Coast, who recently spent miserable stretches of time on the 101 freeway, asked ‘How can you live here?…With kids??’

My simple answer was ‘I never take the 101 Freeway.’ Here’s the longer answer…

1. Don’t try to go the beach at noon on a summer weekend. The 10 will be a parking lot, guaranteed. Go before 9:30 a.m. or take the day off and go during the week. Better yet, go in October when it’s still hot but everyone’s mind is on school and Halloween. Or go in January, when you’ll probably see more wild dolphins than you ever have in your life.

2. Avoid major freeways between 8 and 10 am or 4 and 7 pm weekdays. If you must go then, check Sigalert before leaving the house and plot your route based on that. I’ve planned spur-of-the-moment day trips to Laguna Beach and Malibu based on red-free traffic patterns.

3. Do a little research before you go…but not too much. Advance prep applies to everything from Disneyland to that mid-summer hike in Topanga Canyon. (It may look close to the ocean, but chances are it’s 15 degrees hotter.) Let yourself be surprised too, by the no-name tamale stand or the spinoff trail that leads to an even better view than the one mentioned on Yelp.

4. Never, ever take the 101 or the 405. Moorpark Street in the Valley parallels the 101 and Sepulveda runs along the 405. They’re usually fast and much more scenic and interesting.

5. Make at least one farmer’s market a part of your weekly routine. Year-round strawberries, live music, pupusas, spit-roasted chicken, croissants, sunflowers…You can pretty much find one somewhere in L.A. at any day or time of the week, and spending even an hour is guaranteed to lift any mood.

6. Open your mind. So many people who hate L.A. base it on their drives from LAX to a hotel in El Segundo or Hollywood. Let’s face it, Cienega and the 5 Freeway are not the city’s best assets. But that strip mall Peruvian restaurant just might have the best ceviche you’ve ever tasted. Get past the stucco and adjacent laundromat and go inside. And the chaparral-covered hillside you pass every day off Avenue 52 might end up being an Audubon Society-sanctioned nature preserve with one of the best outdoor children’s gardens in the city.

Bottom line: Plan a little, make time for detours, and avoid the 101 at all costs.

Stumbling upon Atlantis in San Gabriel

Giant sea serpents. Pink whales. Dragons and lighthouses and pirate ships. Just about everyone who walks into this whimsical park gasps with a delight usually reserved for Disneyland. Master concrete artist Benjamin Dominguez created the park, known as La Laguna de San Gabriel, at the city’s behest in 1965. There have been a few outrageous attempts to raze it, but a non-profit group stepped in, and now it is perhaps the only playground in the state listed on the Register of Historic Places. After a year and a half of renovations, it has finally reopened to the public. The boys and I checked it out this week and it still inspires the same wide-eyed wonder, though the metal rocket ship and other sweet retro playground structures are gone.

Theo, a huge dinosaur fan, cried when we left and asks almost daily when we are going back to “Monster Park.” Soon, mi hijo, soon.

A couple of tips: Go early or later in the day, as there is very little shade. Since it’s a hefty drive from just about anywhere in L.A., turn your visit into a day trip, or at least consider having breakfast or lunch out. The park is near the San Gabriel Mission and many well-regarded eateries, including the Golden Deli Vietnamese restaurant and Twohey’s, an old-school breakfast-all-day diner. Also, GO NOW because there seems to be a Phase 2 construction in the works, and that means this fabulous place could be off limits again.

This Tuesday, Aug. 28, is the official Grand Re-opening. There will be food trucks, bocce games, music, and all those wondrous sea creatures on hand to help celebrate.

Last chance for Grand Performances

This is the final week (til next year) for downtown’s free outdoor music series, a must-do event for any card-carrying Angeleno. The California Plaza setting (at the top of Bunker Hill) is not just your basic urban park: framed by soaring skyscrapers, it is super-clean, with lots of amphitheater-type seating (mostly concrete slabs) and sleek water features. The crowd is a mix of Financial District workers and tourists who have stumbled off the Angel’s Flight funicular. There is plenty of space for kids to run around, but lunch-hour folks can also pretty easily find quiet spaces to eat and enjoy the music.

This Friday’s Lunchbox noon set features He’s My Brother, She’s My Sister, whose sound is described as combining the earnestness of folk, the rawness of blues, the theatrics of cabaret and the hip shake of a rock-a-billy. At 8 PM, El Gavachillo y Banda Viento de Oro (a side project of Ozomatli bassist Wil-Dog Abers) takes the stage.

The blackberry blossom when summertime came…

Simi Valley’s Underwood Farms is a rite of passage for most L.A. kids. With its acres of produce, pull wagons and fun outdoor playground and petting zoo, it’s an easy way to show them that strawberries and squash do not begin in a place called Ralph’s. Not everyone knows that the farm has a quieter little sister a few miles away in Somis, one whose pockets start spilling over with raspberries and blackberries right about now. Unlike the main farm, the Somis location only grows blueberries (whose season ended in June), raspberries and blackberries, but here are a few reasons why we like it as much or more than its big sister in Moorpark:

* It’s free. The Moorpark location charges $3-5 per person. Worth it, but some days you just don’t want to pay for entertainment.
* It’s an easy walk to the berry fields from the parking lot. This means a lot to parents who have pulled their kids in wagons across the Moorpark fields.
* It’s usually pretty quiet. Not a field-trip bus in sight when we arrived on a weekday in July.

Last time we went, I watched my picky younger son eat raspberries for the first time ever. There was just something about pulling them fresh off the vine that made them seem less suspicious. Afterward, we ate a picnic lunch, then the kids fed the chickens (25 cents a handful for feed) and played in the shady sandbox. Next time, we’ll check out the alpaca farm directly across the street.

Madrona Marsh: a thousand shades of green

At first glance, Madrona Marsh in Torrance may seem a little pathetic as far as nature preserves go. The dry-as-dust path near the entrance gates leads you past views of sterile office buildings and sounds of cars motoring past, most of them on their way to Plaza del Amo mall across the street.

But give it a chance. Keep walking south toward the trees and in a few minutes you will find yourself surrounded by cottonwoods, wild grapevines, bramble bushes, and a thousand shades of green. This marsh is one of the last remaining wetlands in Southern California. In other words, this is what the South Bay used to look like before Macy’s and Chevron showed up. Despite development’s best efforts, it has somehow managed to thrive thanks to the efforts of some determined preservationists and the city of Torrance.

Madrona Marsh is home to some of the biggest ducks you will ever see, and your children will laugh their heads off when the ducks come charging through the soupy green muck hoping you’ve brought them some grub. Egrets and blue herons also stop by from time to time. Before entering the marsh, stop in the slick nature center for maps, updated wildlife sightings, and the chance to view some pretty cool reptiles. The center runs all kinds of nature hikes throughout the year; it’s almost worth a drive across town in rush hour to experience them. If you don’t want to do that, any weekend morning will suffice for a uniquely peaceful respite from routine.

Only in L.A.: Hollywood Bowl Rehearsals

Hollywood Bowl season is in full swing here in L.A. and there is nothing that showcases the city’s personality better than the bench seats at dusk. They are filled with all walks of Angelenos, often enjoying a glass of wine and a picnic dinner. Just about everyone seems to be soaking up the pre-show view of the mountains and the wonder of being so close to a stage that has hosted the Beatles and so many other great performers.

A lesser-known (but cheaper and just as enjoyable) way to experience the Hollywood Bowl starts this week. It’s not widely known, but anyone can sit in on the Philharmonic’s weekday rehearsals at the Bowl. It’s free (as is parking) and you’ll likely get a seat that goes for $75 and up in the evening. The first-tier Garden box seats are reserved for Friends of the Philharmonic, but walk-ins have access to the Terrace box seats on back. The musicians may stop mid-piece and be partially blocked from audience view by shade curtains, but you will still get to experience top-shelf music under near-perfect skies with fewer than 100 other people.

A tip: It’s always a good idea to call the Bowl box office early in the week to confirm that rehearsals are on. They are usually Tuesday and Thursday from about 9:30 a.m. to noon, but sometimes the schedule changes or a Friday rehearsal is added.

The rehearsals never lose their only-in-L.A. charm or the giddy feeling that you’re in on a very cool secret while the rest of the city is working or stuck in traffic.

The library and the beach

The words Marine Research Library and kids just don’t seem like a good match. So I have always avoided the stairs leading up to the library at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro. Between the whale fossils and touch tanks, authentic shark recordings and nearby beach access, it always seemed like a full day anyway by the time we reached that sign.

Boy, were we wrong.

The library is an oasis from the Cabrillo Beach crowds that just happens to understand exactly what kids need to settle down. Its oceanfront reading table, which is as long as a dining table at Versailles, is full of sea creature sketches and boxes of beautiful crayons and markers, just beckoning the little ones to sit down and check them out. Surrounding it all is a decade’s worth of National Geographic magazines, books on marine life and displays on the damage plastic can do to the ocean (I guarantee you will never purchase a disposable umbrella again). Half a dozen computers are available, too, also with ocean views.

Harbor seal haven in Carpinteria

It isn’t often that you hear about a great California coastal destination by word of mouth. Seems like it has all been written about, photographed, and visited before. But my neighbor recently told me about a little-known place her Santa Barbara-based daughter had shown her: the Carpinteria Seal Rookery. About 100 harbor seals make their home at the bottom of the Carpinteria cliffs south of town. In December, they give birth and from a viewpoint atop the cliff, anyone can watch the mamas and babies frolic, waddle, argue, dive for fish, and sleep. It’s a beautiful show and worth the half-mile walk from the parking lot. It’s also an ideal place to stretch your legs to or from a trip up the coast. Be sure to stop and say hello to the friendly hot dog vendor near the entrance.

More information: http://www.carpinteria.com/points_of_interest/thesealrookery.

A wilderness preserve in Glendale

Gas prices and apprehensive curiosity brought me to the trails of Deukmejian Wilderness Park last Saturday. I wanted to test out a new phone application (more on that to follow in a separate post), but didn’t want to drive across town to do it ($4.29 a gallon!?).

The Station Fire ripped through this park in 2009, turning it into an apocolyptic wasteland, and it was closed for more than a year. I had heard parts of it had reopened, but was reluctant to check it out and destroy my peaceful memories of the place.

News flash: it’s as beautiful as ever.

Tucked into the northernmost Glendale, the park is named after George Deukmejian, former governor of California. Some serious money went into spiffing it up before the economy tanked. There is a wide lawn with picnic tables overlooking the Verdugo Mountains for post-hike relaxing and a restored barn surrounded by robust rows of grapevines.

The main loop trail (LeMesnegar) is slightly shorter than I remember (about 1.8 miles), but it’s in good condition and has a couple of nice turnoffs that lead to viewpoints. Half the trail has distant views of the 210 Freeway and the other half views of chaparral-covered hillsides that make you forget civilization is just around the bend. Charred oaks dot the landscape, but in hopeful contrast, wildflowers and wild fennel also coat the hills and illustrate nature’s power to fight back and survive. Interestingly, while cars jammed the pullout next to the La Tuna Canyon trails just across the freeway, Deukmejian only had a handful of cars in its ample lot. The longer and more strenuous Rim of the Valley trail is closed for the time being, so that may be one of the reasons.