Pictured: Miles Corwin

Corwin’s sister Leni wrote Altadenablog that Obama’s speechwriter contacted Corwin to ask permission to use his 1993 LA TImes story about his father’s friendship with “Frank,”

And now, some editorializing: one third of a dog’s brain deals with smell — they smell better than they see.  We’ve had a rash of lost dogs during this rainstorm.  When it rains,

The tree that fell over on Maiden Lane last night knocked out the power in a sizeable section of Altadena, including businesses on the east side of Lake Ave. — right on a big holiday purchase day.

Reader Mala lets us know that the Star of Palawoo is lit tonight.  Here’s the view tonight from Bill Westphal’s Altadena weathercam.

Christmas season starts tomorrow, and we enjoy the frivolity of the season (as well as its seriousness, about which more tomorrow).  Gary Altadena shares an … interesting local Christmas display in this picture, and our favorite hometown thespian John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell do a remake of a now-classic Christmas moment.

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Don’t forget — next Tuesday, the Dulcet Singers and Handbell Choir of the Pasadena First United Methodist Church will present a holiday program in the community room of the Altadena Library, 600 E. Mariposa, starting at 7 PM.

Join guest host Michele Zack tonight on Arroyo Channel 32 at 9 PM for Our Town. Michele will interview two leaders of the Arroyo Time Bank, a local group that has  devised an alternate currency, "Time Dollars," to get people and needs together in ways that cut out greenbacks.

The Arroyo Time Bank (along with Gloria Putnam and Steve Rudicel) is bringing us such innovative events as The Altadena Urban Farmers Market — one of many examples of how applying this concept can help bring together people,

The emerging issue for the next few months is easily going to be our neighbor, the Hahamongna Watershed Park, located in the city of Pasadena but adjacent to Altadena and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

First, the good news: congrats to Karin Bugge, Petrea Burchard,

Disclaimer: We tried doing this story without editorializing, but couldn’t — so we made it into an editorial!

A website has been set up to survey local residents about the kind of businesses they would support in Altadena.

The website: surveyaltadena.com —

Sat. Dec. 11

• It’s all about Christmas Tree Lane today.  The Altadena Library, 600 E. Mariposa, will be the site of the Lane’s Art and Crafts Festival, starting at 2 PM. At 6, join us for the 90th annual Tree Lighting Ceremony, an Altadena tradition with music, warm drinks, and lots of entertainment, followed by a walk down the lane.  Santa Rosa will be closed at 4 PM to allow pedestrian traffic,

We're doing another format experiment:  we've received a lot of complaints about slow loading, and we think we've traced it to the weather bug, which is provided by Weather Underground.  While we like having the temperature live on the site, weather sites just seem to have a tendency to slow down page loading. Weather Underground is the third provider we've used,

• Crown City News has a well-done video feature on the purchase of the former Bienvenidos Children’s Center on Palm St. by the Arroyo Pacific Academy. 
• Melanoma Diagnostics, a high-tech firm operating out of the Business Technology Center in Altadena, is involved in a deal to sell its technology to Myriad Genetics, a provider of molecular diagnostic products.
• Local mom-blogger and righteous babe Jennifer Cowie King was a runner-up in the Shield of Honor,

As part of the evening’s festivities, a Silent Auction / Raffle will be held and light refreshments will be served. This event takes place on Sun.,

(Just a reminder that we're looking to post your church or organization's Christmas services in our Holi-Dena page. Write to: altadenablog@gmail.com)

This is the schedule for St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 1014 E. Altadena Dr.

Sun., December 12:

10:00 AM: Christmas Pageant (please note start time!) No Sunday School!

The job of the Citizen of the Year means never resting on your laurels, so Carolyn Seitz is sharing this information about next week's activities preparing for the Sheriff Station Food and Toy Drive:

Many of you have asked how you can help the Sheriff's Department this year with the packing of the boxes of food for distribution and the sorting and packing of toys for each family that will receive them.

Altadena Town Council chairman Gino Sund has written a letter about the possibility of opening a farmer's market in Altadena, and the steps taken thus far:

About the Proposed Farmers Market

The issue of a farmer's market came to Town Council a couple of months ago when someone posted a notice near Farnsworth Park indicating that a Farmer's market would be coming to that location. 

Via Nixle.com, the Pasadena Police Dept. is senting out this notice that's worth sharing about holiday crime prevention:

SIGNIFICANT BURGLARY TRENDS NOTICED AND HELPFUL CRIME PREVENTION TIPS – PLEASE BE ALERT!

The Pasadena Police Department would like to remind all or our, constituents, families, friends, and neighbors,

Over the border, the city of Pasadena will hold a community meeting to look at the a draft plan to transform the Lincoln Avenue corridor from an industrial and commercial area to a vibrant neighborhood-oriented district on Wed., Dec. 15, at 6:30 PM at the Northwest Education Center, 2050 Lincoln Ave.

There will be arts and crafts, games, a holiday carnival, coloring contests, and live entertainment.

Gifts will be given away during games, and Santa is expected to show.  Channel 4 anchor Chris Schauble will be the master of ceremonies.

Children must register by Dec.

• If you’re a Loma Alta or Burbank Elementary school parent,  The Pasadena Education Network has maps of the new school district boundary maps available (pdf documents) on their website to confirm where your new residential school is.  Priority open enrollment begins Monday for siblings of current “school of choice” students, ‘Linked Learning Pathways” students, dual language immersion students, and certain district employees.
• Will there be some kind of final deathmatch between the Altadena teachers of the month and the Altadena teacher of the year?

Our first haiku headline.

Sharpen up your quill: if you're a poet who lives in Altadena or environs and would like to be a part of the Altadena LIbrary's annual Poetry & Cookies program and anthology, you're on a deadline.

Submit your G-rated poems,

Neighbors, deputies, and sheriff volunteers waiting to collect donations.

Altadena Sheriff Capt. Steven McLean in a nonregulation hat.

Of course,

Jim Curry, who has performed his John Denver tribute at the Coffee Gallery Backstage many times, will be performing in a two special shows in the venue this weekend.

Jim Curry’s tribute to the Christmas music of John Denver will have a 2 PM matinee and 7 PM performance tomorrow, Dec. 12.  In addition to his band (wife Anne on vocals and mandolin, Diane Ireland on flutes and Marty Hillman on keyboard),

There are classes in pee-wee karate (ages 3-5), children ages 6 and up, and adults age 18 and up, on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.

Call for complete enrollment information: 323-423-9089. 

Altadena is never more like a small town than it is during the Christmas Tree Lane lighting ceremony that heralds the holiday season.  We have pictures of the festivities after the jump.

… which is about all the information we can get at 5 PM.  More as it develops.

It’s the end of the week, time to have a little fun! Teens and tweens come out to the Altadena Library, 600 E. Mariposa,  and we’ll open up the Community Room, set-up traditional and video games and put out some snacks just for you. Come and hang out, have fun,

Christmas is not a joyous season of celebration for everyone. If you’ve experienced the loss of a loved one, your health, a relationship, your job, or a deeply held dream, if you are far from those you love, or if you have painful memories of Christmas in years past, the holidays can be agonizing and isolating. Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church will offer a “Blue Christmas” service. Our worship will be quiet and reflective,

• Steve Gerow, whose photography we’ve featured from time to time, has one of his pictures of the interior of the Mt. Wilson Observatory’s 100-in. reflector in the December issue of the Mt. Wilson magazine, Reflections.  Steve’s photos first appeared right here, and editor Marilyn Morgan (an Altadenablog reader) was so impressed with them that she used the best one (the one we featured) to illustrate one of their articles.  Congratulations, Steve!
• Michael Portantino,

Two Temple City men, age 21 and 22, were out hiking without backpacks, food, water, or particularly hike-worthy clothing, according to Williams.  The 22-year-old fell from the path down the mountainside, close to the edge of a cliff, and hung on to brush to prevent falling further.

He called the Crescenta Valley sheriff’s station on his cell phone,

• The rather directly-named firm Small Business PR Course, whose signature product is called …. The Small Business PR Course (and we bet it’s a .. small business PR course), has announced that the two hour online course is coming out of beta test and going live.  They get a positive quote from one of their beta participants, The Coffee Gallery’s Julie Sandoval, in the Small Business Trends website.
• Fionn James, an Altadena native and third grader at St.

Meredith and Michael Miller, the new owners of Webster's Community Pharmacy, 2450 N. Lake Ave., are hitting the ground running, joining Webster's Fine Stationers with a customer meet-and-greet  this Sat., Dec. 18, 11 AM-2 PM.

There will also be a sample sale for Pokerchip Girl, Meredith Miller's clothing/jewelry line,

According to Angie Calleros of the LA County Parks and Recreation Dept. at the park, the popular program — which depends on community donations to give toys and Christmas goodies to underserved children ages 5-13 —

Keep your nose clean if you're going down the hill: the Pasadena Police Department has issued two press releases about Friday, Dec. 17:

One: they will  will be conducting a Red Light Enforcement Program on Friday from 1-8 PM.  Stop where you're supposed to on the red light,

Christmas trees are among the most flammable items in homes and businesses at this time of year.  A dry tree may literally explode and be consumed by fire in a matter of seconds.

When the trees and other holiday decorations are placed in any area where the public may gather,

• We open with PSN’s Larry Wilson and a meditation on Webster’s Pharmacy, past, present, and future, and finding a great, good place to hang out.  Larry seems to be ignoring the Coffee Gallery as a hangout, but it DOES seems to attract a certain type — and Altadena needs other places, for other types of people to hang out.  As faithful contributor Elliot Gold points out, PSN is paying more attention to Altadena these days.

The Altadena Library hosted the Pasadena First United Methodist Church Bell Choir and Dulcet Choir in its annual holiday program last night, joining bells and voices in a celebration of the Christmas season.

(The phrase “heart strangely warmed” comes from John Wesley, the founder of Methodism — occasionally we have to show off our otherwise-unused fancy theological education …)

Altadenans love their Christmas lights (Christmas Tree Lane, Balian Mansion, what more proof do we need?), and we captured a couple as we were out and about last night.  Here, the top of Webster’s Fine Stationers, a beacon for the Lake Ave. shopping district.

The corner of Devonshire and Mariposa brightens up with Christmas spirit.

It’s a blue Christmas on Marengo, with an animated Santa sleigh.