Monday, January 18, 2016

Zane Grey’s Amazing Life Retold at Historical Society

Zane Grey and his new bride first saw Altadena on their honeymoon trip from the East Coast in late 1905; like thousands of others, they came to Altadena to enjoy the breathtaking railroad trip to the top of Mount Lowe.

At that time, Grey was a washed-up semi-professional baseball player, an unhappy and unsuccessful Pennsylvania dentist, and an aspiring writer of novels and magazine pieces about outdoor adventure.

Fifteen years later, he was the best-selling author in America, and remembering the pretty town they had seen on their honeymoon, the Greys returned to Altadena and bought a mansion on “Millionaire’s Row,” at the corner of Mariposa and Marengo streets.

Grey’s amazing life as a hugely popular author of Western adventure and romance novels; a record-setting deep-sea fisherman off the shores of Catalina Island, Nova Scotia, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti and the Galapagos Islands; and as a serial adulterer with dozens of women, will be presented to the Altadena Historical Society at its winter quarterly meeting.

Steve Bollinger of Rocklin, Calif., a member of the Zane Grey West Society’s board of directors, will give the illustrated talk at 7:30 p.m. Monday Jan. 25 at the Altadena Community Center, 730 E. Altadena Drive. The program is free and open to the public.

The Historical Society’s offices, archives and new museum featuring the exhibit “Altadena in the Rose Parade” are at the Community Center and are open Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and by appointment at (626) 797-8016.