Visitors to the Pasadena Museum of History can see, among 100 other works in a centennial exhibition, these views of a Pasadena hillside by Orrin A. White (1883-1969); Santa Clarita’s Vasquez Rocks, a contemporary view by Arline Helm; and the Flintridge hills by Elmer Watchel (1864-1929).
It was Kathy’s idea to visit the museum this afternoon. The centennial exhibit contains works over the years by members of the Pasadena Society of Artists, of which Orrin White was a founding member. The works by current PSA members in another gallery include “Mariposa Queen” by Art Carrillo.
The centerpiece of the grounds is a Beaux Arts mansion facing Orange Grove Blvd. that a Hungarian physician named Adalbert Fenyes built in 1905. His granddaughter married a Finnish diplomat; and so the mansion became Finland’s consulate general. The house is open twice a week for tours.
The whole property, including the museum, is still in the family. A small archives downstairs, conveniently open Friday through Sunday, contains a map showing city of Pasadena annexations through 1972, including number 78, the Pasadena Boys Club annexation, which came as close as any had by that time to our little unincorporated enclave of Chapman Woods. Pasadena may have wanted the Boys Club but not all those peafowl.
