Friday, July 10, 2026

Fire-Damaged New York Drive Medians Restored as City Presses Wider Eaton Recovery

The New York Drive medians were restored with new landscaping designed to create a healthy, resilient, and visually appealing environment. [photo credit: City of Pasadena]

The Parks department has replanted a corridor that serves as a 9/11 memorial, one small piece of recovery from a fire that killed at least 18 people and destroyed thousands of homes.

The City has completed the replanting of the fire-scarred landscaped medians along New York Drive, restoring a corridor on Pasadena’s northeastern edge that burned in the Eaton Fire and that has long served as a living memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Koko Panossian, director of Parks, Recreation and Community Services, said the fire damaged the existing landscape and the underground drip irrigation system along the medians. Crews assessed the damage, removed the ruined irrigation and installed a new water-efficient drip system with new valves, lateral lines and emitters, then replanted the medians with trees, shrubs, perennials and mulch, working alongside the City’s landscape maintenance contractor.

New York Drive, which runs along the boundary between Pasadena and Altadena near Eaton Canyon, was planted as a Sept. 11 memorial beginning more than a decade ago, when a local retired pilot planted roughly 140 native oak trees along the roadway to honor those killed in the attacks. Signs designate the boulevard as “a memorial to 9/11/2001.”

The City maintains a broad Eaton Fire recovery program covering debris removal, rebuilding guidance and financial assistance, and has said recovery work will continue across affected neighborhoods for years.