Friday, May 22, 2026

Resource Fair Targets Artists Who Lost Tools, Studios, and Livelihoods in Eaton Fire

A free daylong event at Altadena’s Collaboratory will offer workshops, wellness services, and networking for fire-impacted creatives on May 30

The Eaton Fire took more than homes. It took cameras, ceramics, computers, woodworking tools, paint supplies, production equipment, and entire studios — the physical infrastructure of creative lives built over years and sometimes decades.

On Saturday, May 30, a free resource fair called Creative Workers Rising will bring fire-impacted musicians, dancers, storytellers, filmmakers, and visual artists together at the Collaboratory, the Eaton Fire Collaborative’s recovery hub at 540 W. Woodbury Road in Altadena. The event, organized by the Arts & Culture Coalition of Altadena and the Eaton Fire Collaborative, responds to what organizers describe as persistent, unmet needs among the region’s creative workers nearly 17 months after the January 2025 fire. Family and friends of affected creatives are also welcome, according to the organizers.

A survey conducted by the coalition in March 2026 found that many artists are still struggling without financial support,

Friday, May 22, 2026

Vote Centers Open Saturday in Pasadena for June 2 Primary

Two locations begin in-person voting May 23, with nine more across the city opening May 30

Two Pasadena Vote Centers will open Saturday for the June 2 Statewide Direct Primary Election, the first of 122 sites that Los Angeles County is opening countywide for 11 days of in-person voting.

The centers will accept in-person ballots, voter registrations, and Vote by Mail returns daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. through June 1.

On Election Day, June 2, all sites will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The Pasadena ballot includes three Pasadena City Council seats, the California governor’s race, and Measure ER, the Essential Services Restoration Act — a countywide half-cent sales tax increase for five years, projected to generate an estimated $1 billion per year to offset federal cuts to Medi-Cal.

The two Pasadena sites opening Saturday are the Armenian Cilicia Evangelical Church (Derian Hall) at 339 S. Santa Anita Ave. and Morning Star Christian Church (Robinson Hall A-C) at 980 E.

Friday, May 22, 2026

Stephen Schwartz Headlines Pasadena Benefit for Altadena Music Theatre’s Comeback

The “Wicked” composer leads a one-night gala Sunday at the Manoukian Performing Arts Center to help rebuild a company that lost its stage in the Eaton Fire.

Sarah Azcarate built her theater company in a nearly 90-year-old outdoor amphitheater in Altadena. The Eaton Fire took both. On Sunday, May 24, Altadena Music Theatre stages “An Evening with Stephen Schwartz,” a benefit gala headlined by the three-time Academy Award-winning composer and lyricist of “Wicked,” “Pippin” and “Godspell” at the AGBU Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Performing Arts Center in Pasadena, with the goal of funding the company’s return.

The January 7, 2025 blaze destroyed the Charles S. Farnsworth Park Amphitheatre, the home of Altadena Music Theatre since 2022, and burned through the Altadena neighborhood where Azcarate and her co-director and husband, Oliver Azcarate, had built their lives. Their home was gone. So was the stage. Fifteen months later, the Azcarates have lined up a one-night Broadway summit to help bring back the company.

Schwartz,

Friday, May 22, 2026

Five Pasadena Councilmembers Endorse Becerra for Governor

Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo and Councilmembers Rick Cole, Justin Jones, Jason Lyon and Steve Madison jointly announced their ‘enthusiastic endorsement’ of Xavier Becerra as the next Governor of California.

“Xavier has dedicated his life to public service, fighting for working families, expanding opportunity, and standing up for our communities when it matters most. His integrity, experience, and steady leadership make him the right person to lead California forward,” declared Mayor Gordo.

Becerra, the former California Attorney General, Secretary of Health and Human Services and Congressman, is the leading choice among Democrats in the race, according to recent polls.

Councilmember Jones declared, “California needs steady, experienced leadership, and Xavier Becerra has spent his career fighting for working families, health care access and communities that too often get left behind. I’m proud to endorse Xavier because he understands that government has to deliver real results: safer neighborhoods, stronger infrastructure, climate action and affordable communities that work for everyone.

Councilmember Lyon noted, “Xavier Becerra’s record of service to the people of California is long and diverse.

Thursday, May 21, 2026

County Office of Education Has Received No Complaints Against PUSD Board

By ANDRÈ COLEMAN, Managing Editor

According to a spokesperson, the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) has not received any complaint against Pasadena’s Board of Education regarding potential legal action that could lead to litigation, causing the district to incur more debt.

LACOE threatened to take over the school district earlier this year amid a financial crisis and warned the district not to incur new debt.

Four school board members remain under fire for allegedly violating the state’s open meeting laws and for working with a consultant before the district had hired the firm to handle school closures.

According to emails obtained by a district parent and sent to news outlets, Pasadena Unified School District Board President Tina Fredericks and board members Scott Harden, Kim Kenne and Yarma Velázquez allegedly coordinated privately with consultants and one another ahead of the district’s public school consolidation process, prompting accusations they violated California’s Ralph M. Brown Act.

Several parents told Pasadena Now they planned to complain about to LACOE about the incident.

Thursday, May 21, 2026

Pasadena Transit, Metro, Metrolink Waive Fares Today for Bike Day

Four agencies offer free rides Thursday across Los Angeles County; a pit stop at City Hall greets cyclists with coffee and giveaways

Riders can board any Pasadena Transit bus today without paying a cent — and the same goes for Metro buses, Metro trains, and Metro Micro across Los Angeles County — as four transit agencies waive fares for Bike Day, Thursday, May 21.

Pasadena Transit, Pasadena Dial-A-Ride, LA Metro, and LADOT Transit are charging nothing for the day. Metrolink, the regional commuter rail system, is offering free rides to anyone who boards with a bicycle. The coordinated promotion covers bus routes, rail lines, on-demand shuttles, and bike-share stations from Pasadena to the coast.

Bike Day falls during Pasadena Bike Month 2026, which runs Saturday, May 2, through Sunday, May 31. The City of Pasadena Department of Transportation, in partnership with Day One and the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition, is hosting 15 free events throughout the month, according to a city press release.

Thursday, May 21, 2026

Guest Opinion | Calmatters’ Kim Alexander: With So Many Candidates And Options In California, When’s The Right Time To Vote?

By Kim Alexander, CALMATTERS

There has been a lot of coverage about the crowded field of candidates seeking to become California’s next governor.

It’s especially crowded because this is an open-seat contest, with no incumbent running. Also California conducts state elections under “open primary” rules where all candidates from all parties appear on the primary ballot, so voters can vote for any candidate they wish, regardless of the voter’s party preference.

In the general election the top two vote-getters face off and may be of the same party. This has happened in the past. But what has never happened before is two Republicans running against each other statewide.

Democratic Party strategists have been worrying about that. While party leaders have pressured candidates with low polling numbers to bow out — which they technically can’t do because their names are on the ballot — others are urging voters to “vote late” and wait to see if any candidates stand down their campaigns.

Thursday, May 21, 2026

What Are They Trying To Hide? California Lawmakers Kill Lobbying Transparency Bills

By Ryan Sabalow, CALMATTERS

California lawmakers are poised to kill legislation that would have forced them to immediately release lobbying letters from business and advocacy groups and given the public a new window into the secretive world of Capitol lobbying.

Two bills that would have required the Legislature to post the letters lawmakers receive from registered lobbyists and groups trying to influence legislation never received a hearing in the California Assembly.

CalMatters has been trying for more than a year to get real-time access to these public records to add transparency to the legislative process.

The letters detail the concerns or approval groups express about the hundreds of bills lawmakers introduce each year, often passing them after just a few minutes of debate and public testimony.

Now, the Democratic lawmaker in charge of the committee that would have to approve the measures for them to advance says the Legislature doesn’t need a law to put the letters online.

Thursday, May 21, 2026

Volunteers to Unveil Murals and New Outdoor Spaces at Odyssey Charter School South in Altadena

Disaster-relief nonprofit All Hands and Hearts will join Odyssey Charter Schools leadership, students and families at OCS South on Thursday afternoon to unveil murals, painting and new student-centered outdoor spaces completed at the Altadena campus, which reopened in January 2026 after the Eaton Fire destroyed the school’s original site. 

The reveal runs from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the school’s campus at 575 W. Altadena Drive, marking completion of a volunteer project at a school that has been rebuilding since one of the most destructive wildfires in California history tore through Altadena 16 months ago. 

The completed project includes murals, painting and new student-centered outdoor spaces, according to the event announcement. 

Volunteers, school leadership, students and families are expected to participate. 

OCS South lost its original campus at 119 W. Palm Street when the Eaton Fire swept through Altadena on January 7-8, permanently displacing the school’s 375 students. At least 40 percent of OCS South families lost their homes in the fire,

Thursday, May 21, 2026

Altadena Arts Collective Returns With Second Fair at Eagles Hall

The free June 6 event brings local artists, food and music to the Fraternal Order of Eagles, building on a post-fire inaugural gathering last fall

Three years after its founding, ALTA Arts Collective is doing what it set out to do: getting artists and neighbors in the same room.

The collective will hold its second art fair on Saturday, June 6, from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Fraternal Order of Eagles Hall is a free, family-friendly gathering featuring a juried selection of local artists, food vendors, live music and interactive art activities, according to a press release from the organization. The event follows an inaugural fair at the same venue in October 2025 that ALTA described on its website as “a meaningful moment of reconnection” after the Eaton Fire.

That fire, which started January 7, 2025, destroyed more than 9,400 structures in Altadena and killed 19 people. In its wake, ALTA expanded its mission to include what the organization calls opportunities for “healing,