The View from West Altadena: The Spirit of Altadena

What is the overall feeling of Altadena?  The spirit of the town? When you think of Altadena is there any particular thing that stands out as a signature?  

Pasadena has its Old Town draw. Monrovia has their evening out walking Old Town. Montrose has its own thing, Glendale, La Canada and on and on, but what is the draw or distinction that we can claim as our own?  

Apparently the same things that have been happening or not happening in this town have been consistent for a long time so there does not appear to be many new vibrations here.  

One thing that seems to be bringing a new spark to Altadena is the exciting once a month. This presents an opportunity for neighbors who may be total strangers to come out and have decent conversations with each other once a month.  

Although there are a few notable mentions such as the Jazz Series at Farnsworth Park, the lighting of Christmas Tree Lane, the National Night Out, the Parade down Lake Avenue, I can’t think of many other attractions that give us a local draw.  

Probably one of the most popular attractions we have around here that goes relatively unmentioned is the hiking trail up through the Mount Lowe Gate. Every weekend and even on weekdays you have a constant stream of hikers coming here, starting from early sunrise to sunset, on a hike that is not just beautiful but also has an amazing local history that many don't know about. 

People come here from many of the nearby towns to hike our mountain trails. Unfortunately we don’t seem to get much credit or mention for this great attraction. 

One of the problems seems to be in the lack of central leadership as mentioned in an earlier article titled  

There does not appear to be a central leadership or committee that is charged with the challenge of coming up with new innovative ideas so therefore not much new happens, at least not often. Without the zestful enthusiasm coming from the youth, things just seem to remain the same.  

As I look at my colleagues on the Town Council, please forgive me, guys and gals, but the average age seems to be over sixty. So not much youthful exuberance seems to be emanating from that group. In fairness to us, the Council, that is not how the group was instituted. We are merely an advisory committee with very little clout to initiate things or funds with which to bring them into manifestation.  

Looking around town how much “new” anything do you notice? The buildings are older, most of the homes are older, there are no jazzy new shops, our supermarket is older, and everything just seems to have a low hum instead of a ZING!  

Most of the movers and shakers here are older because the younger generation does not seem to be highly motivated to take over the leadership roles around here. Right off the top I can’t see anything motivating them to step up to the plate.   

With this new social media there are many new possibilities to stir up things around here. The kids know how to plan a happening and post it through their social networks and have tons of people showing up.  

People who follow the Gourmet Food trucks do so through Twitter. On Facebook you can add an event and invite people. We need new people in leadership that are up to date with the social networks if we are to grow. We need new people proposing new ideas or otherwise this town will continue to look like it did 30 years ago, 30 years from now.  

I’m just putting it out there in the mix looking for anyone with ideas about how we can jazz up this town. People want to do new things but no one is leading. Where are our youth today?  

In my heyday, during the 1960s, we were fighting against the Viet Nam war, fighting the draft, fighting for racial equality, fighting for women’s rights; demanding that our government listen to the youth, and because of our enthusiasm we caused many things to change.  

My generation, the Baby Boomers, is too old to put up that sort of fight these days, but when is the next generation going to step up to bat and start hitting homeruns?  

Does anyone have a beat on the Spirit of Altadena? Does anyone care? Who is going to step it up for the youth around here?