Friday, February 27, 2026

Pasadena Civic Ballet Takes ‘Aladdin’ to the Stage at San Gabriel Mission Playhouse

Nonprofit youth ballet company mounts large-scale production featuring more than 100 dancers

Pasadena Civic Ballet brings its full-length story ballet “Aladdin” to the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse this weekend, with performances Saturday, Feb. 28, and Sunday, March 1.

The production features a cast of more than 100 dancers performing amid lavish costumes, animated sets and aerial artistry — including a magical flying carpet. “This spectacular ballet brings to life a world of romance, comedy, and adventure as Aladdin sets off on a magical journey to win the heart of the Princess and outwit the wicked Sultan,” according to the Mission Playhouse event listing.

Founded in 1980 by Elly Charlotte Van-Dyke, Pasadena Civic Ballet is a nonprofit organization of pre-professional and professional dancers that has trained children and adults in the Pasadena area for more than four decades. The company has been directed since 2000 by Diane De Franco Browne, Tania Grafos and Zoe Vidalakis. Its faculty includes alumni of American Ballet Theatre,

Friday, February 27, 2026

Pasadena’s Handmade Market Comes Home for Its 11th Year Under the Oaks

Butterflies will be the newest artisans at Central Park this spring.

The Jackalope Indie Artisan Fair, which held its first event under the oaks at 275 S. Raymond Ave. in 2015, returns to Old Pasadena on April 25 and 26 with more than 200 juried makers, an interactive butterfly garden — a first for the fair — and free craft workshops run by its nonprofit arm. Admission is free.

The two-day market, open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days, showcases handmade goods only. Co-founder Sara Diederich said that policy is non-negotiable.

“First and foremost, our event focuses on handmade,” Diederich said. “We really want to make sure that artists are creating their work by hand. We’re not looking for vintage or AI-generated work. We want to have work that was hand-created by all the artists that are part of the event.”

Diederich and co-founder Melissa Kohout launched Jackalope in Pasadena after meeting at an international arts organization in Los Angeles in 2014.

Thursday, February 26, 2026

It’s Guitar Night on Lincoln Avenue

By EDDIE RIVERA

In a nondescript industrial park, a ‘backyard’ sanctuary for broken strings and second chances

On a surprisingly cold Pasadena evening, a long line formed outside a warehouse tucked into an industrial park along Lincoln Avenue. Inside, beneath stage lights and the low murmur of guitars tuning up, guitars moved from hand to hand like patients in triage. Some needed strings. Others needed more serious attention—neck resets, wiring repairs, encouragement. Mostly, they needed someone who knew what they were doing.

The gathering, known simply as Guitar Night, was only in its second iteration. It already had the feeling of something inevitable, as guitarists of all ages—boys and girls, men and women—brought their precious guitars in to see the professionals.

Matt Chait, a guitarist who helped organize the event, traced the evening’s origin to the aftermath of the Eaton Fire and a pair of teenage girls who were raising money for fire victims through backyard shows. Matt met their mom,

Thursday, February 26, 2026

Wildfire Recovery Funds Could Put $350,000 Toward Home Purchases for Pasadena, Altadena Residents

A federal program offers forgivable loans to LA County households who lived in fire hazard zones during the 2018 wildfires

Residents of Pasadena and Altadena who were living in the foothill neighborhoods that sit within designated fire hazard zones in 2018 may qualify for up to $350,000 in homebuyer assistance — money that never has to be paid back.

The ReCoverCA Homebuyer Assistance Program, funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and administered by Golden State Finance Authority, provides forgivable loans to low- and moderate-income households in Los Angeles County who lived in High or Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones during the 2018 California wildfires. The zero-interest loans carry no monthly payments and are forgiven entirely after five years of ownership and occupancy. The program does not cover the January 2025 Eaton Fire.

Los Angeles County is one of four qualifying counties, alongside Butte, Lake, and Shasta. The 2018 Woolsey Fire, which burned nearly 97,000 acres across Los Angeles and Ventura counties,

Thursday, February 26, 2026

Pasadena Unified Brings City, County and Community Groups Together for Summer Fair

The district’s third annual resource event lets families explore programs from multiple agencies in one evening

Families trying to figure out what their children will do this summer can get answers from the school district, the city, the county, and a roster of community organizations — all in one room, in one hour.

Pasadena Unified School District’s third annual summer program and resource fair will bring representatives from PUSD, the City of Pasadena, the County of Los Angeles, and local community groups to John Muir High School on March 4 from 6 to 7 p.m., according to a district announcement. The fair is designed to give families and caregivers a consolidated look at summer programs, learning resources, and enrichment options available to their children.

The event takes place at John Muir High School, 1905 N Lincoln Ave., in Pasadena. Families can sign up online through the district’s registration form.

The fair also offers families a chance to connect with PUSD’s Family and Community Engagement team,

Thursday, February 26, 2026

West Altadenans Plan Ceremonial Walk Through the Burn Zone, First of Five Annual Processions

Hands in the Soil leads a route-based healing arts experience at Loma Alta Park on February 28

Its scarred path through West Altadena bears the marks of the Eaton Fire — cleared lots, rebuilt foundations, stretches of sidewalk where the oaks are charred. On Saturday, February 28, a procession of neighbors will walk throughthat path together, not in protest, and not in parade, but in what organizers describe poetically as a ‘ceremony in motion.’

The Through the Fire Procession, organized by the Pasadena-based nonprofit Hands in the Soil, will route participants through the burn zone from Loma Alta Park with curated moments of sound, prayer, and land-based offerings along the way, according to the organization.

It is the first of what organizers envision as five annual processions intended to support long-term recovery through arts-based healing and collective presence.

“We gather to honor what was changed, what was lost, and what continues to endure,” the organization states on its event page.

Thursday, February 26, 2026

New Walking Group Draws 50 Altadena Residents to Post-Fire Community Outing

Free monthly club founded by a crisis counselor turned construction liaison aims to rebuild neighborhood bonds

More than 50 Altadena residents walked together through their neighborhood on February 15, the first outing for a new community walking group created to help neighbors reconnect more than 13 months after the Eaton Fire.

The Altadena Walk Club, a free monthly group, was founded by Mathew Rahban, who served as a crisis counselor for fire survivors before becoming Client & Community Relations Director at Rahban Development, his family’s Beverly Hills-based construction firm that has been rebuilding homes in Altadena. Rahban said the group was created to give residents a low-barrier way to move and reconnect in a community still recovering from a fire that destroyed more than 9,400 structures.

Participants — families with children, residents with dogs, community members of various ages — gathered at Unincorporated Coffee on Lincoln Avenue before walking toward Good Neighbor Bar and back, according to a press release announcing the event.

Thursday, February 26, 2026

Altadena Business Owners Get Another Shot at Recovery Guidance Tonight

A Pasadena-based wildfire law firm hosts a roundtable for entrepreneurs still navigating the Eaton Fire’s aftermath

More than 13 months after the Eaton Fire wiped out roughly half of this community’s businesses, a Pasadena-based plaintiff law consortium is holding a roundtable tonight aimed at helping surviving business owners understand their recovery options.

LA Fire Justice — a consortium of wildfire attorneys that has filed lawsuits against Southern California Edison on behalf of Eaton Fire survivors — is hosting the Business Roundtable from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Altadena Design Works Resource Center, 409 E. Woodbury Rd. According to the organization’s website, all guidance will be educational and non-legal, and no direct negotiation or communication with insurers will take place at the event.

The Altadena Chamber of Commerce, founded in 1924, is promoting the event through its social media and events calendar, listing LA Fire Justice as a chamber member. Chamber posts on February 21 described it as “LA Fire Justice presents Business Roundtable.”

Thursday, February 26, 2026

Eaton Fire Displaced Eliot Arts Students Raise Funds for Broadway Trip

A GoFundMe campaign seeks $15,000 in scholarships so no student misses out on seeing three shows in New York

Thirteen months after the Eaton Fire destroyed their school campus, theater students at Eliot Arts Magnet Middle School are raising money to experience Broadway in New York City — a dream that began when the students performed their spring musical on one of Los Angeles’ most prominent stages.

Drama teacher Mollie Lief and dance teacher Billy Rugh launched a GoFundMe campaign on Feb. 10 seeking $15,000 to fund scholarships for the trip, called Eliot Arts Broadway Bound. Sixty students are set to go to Manhattan, where they would see three Broadway shows, attend workshops and explore the city, according to the campaign page.

As of Thursday, the campaign had raised $5,271 from 73 donors.

The funds will go to families who cannot afford the full cost of the trip, according to the GoFundMe page. For many of the students,

Thursday, February 26, 2026

Pasadena School Closures: A District at a Crossroads

The Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education is scheduled to vote Thursday on the guiding principles for a committee that could recommend the closure of several schools, a move driven by a severe financial crisis and years of declining student enrollment. This vote represents a critical juncture for the district, which is grappling with a multimillion-dollar budget deficit, the devastating aftermath of the 2025 Eaton Fire, and a history of contentious school closures.

The immediate decision before the board is the approval of “Desired Outcomes and Factors” that will steer the newly formed Superintendent’s School Consolidation Advisory Committee (SCAC).

This committee, which held its first meeting on February 23, is working with an external consultant, Total School Solutions, under a $233,300 contract. It is tasked with analyzing the district’s landscape and presenting potential school consolidation scenarios to the board by May 2026, with a final board vote on any closures scheduled for June 25, 2026.

Pasadena Unified is facing a difficult financial situation,