Monday, July 27, 2026

Judy Chu To Open the Altadena Chamber’s Speaker Series in a National Register Landmark

U.S. Representative Judy Chu at the “No Kings” 2 demonstration in Pasadena on Saturday, October 18, 2025. [Paul Takizawa/Pasadena Now]

The Ways and Means Committee member takes questions Friday morning at the Maxwell House in Pasadena.

The Altadena Chamber of Commerce launches its Legislative & Government Affairs 2026 Speaker Series on Friday with the member of Congress whose district has absorbed the region’s hardest year. Congresswoman Judy Chu speaks from 9 to 10:30 a.m. at the Maxwell House in Pasadena.

Chu represents California’s 28th Congressional District, which covers Pasadena and the west San Gabriel Valley. Elected in July 2009, she was the first Chinese American woman elected to Congress, and she serves on the House Ways and Means Committee — with jurisdiction over taxes, revenues, Social Security and Medicare — as well as the House Budget Committee. Her subcommittee assignments include Health, and Worker and Family Support.

Her recent local work has run through Eaton Fire recovery. Chu convened a roundtable at the Altadena Library with officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, where a dozen organizations serving fire survivors pressed for expanded housing assistance. She has also co-introduced legislation to help incarcerated firefighters move into professional firefighting careers after release.

The venue carries its own history. Built in 1929 by East Coast litigator and philanthropist George H. Maxwell, the 13,000-square-foot Mediterranean Italianate house was designed by architects Marston and Maybury on the grounds of the old Vista del Arroyo Hotel. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and now serves as headquarters of the Western Justice Center, the conflict-resolution nonprofit founded in 1987 by Ninth Circuit Judge Dorothy W. Nelson.

Organizers ask attendees to reserve a spot in advance.

The Altadena Chamber of Commerce Legislative & Government Affairs 2026 Speaker Series with Judy Chu will be held Friday, July 31 from 9 to 10:30 a.m. at the Maxwell House, 55 S. Grand Ave. in Pasadena. For more information, call (626) 794-3988 or visit altadenachamber.org. Reservations requested.