Old Pasadena: A Small Town in a Big City : Neighborhood: Although many visit, few live there. Those who do consider it ‘the Crown of the Valley.’

Thousands flock to Old Pasadena on weekend evenings to sample the movies, restaurant fare and vibrant street life of the quarter some consider a kind of Westwood East.

But only a few call the district home.

Before Old Pasadena’s redevelopment started in the late 1970s, the neighborhood was noted for its artists who had set up easels and cots in second-story lofts and apartments. But rising rents and commercialization forced the artists out.

Today, residents of the area are a motley group. They include a couple of shopkeepers who live above their stores; some renters in apartments over the Crown City Loan and Jewelry Shop on Colorado Boulevard; a formerly homeless man who lives above a Colorado Boulevard restaurant while the owner looks the other way; four priests who live in the rectory of St. Andrew’s Catholic Church on Raymond Avenue, and nine nuns living around the corner in the church convent on Chestnut Street.

Most of Old Pasadena’s inhabitants, however, occupy the 52 cooperatively owned units of the Castle Green Apartments on South Raymond Avenue, and the 139 units of its annex, the Green Hotel Apartments, subsidized as housing for senior citizens and the disabled by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“Living here is a little taste of New York City right in the heart of Pasadena,” said publisher Jack Woody, 35, whose co-op in Castle Green has great views of Pasadena’s Central Park.

Neighbor Nick Williamson, 28, who has decorated his unit with Victorian antiques and furniture, said, “Living in Castle Green is like being in a small town in the middle of a big city.”

Woody said the co-ops--once primarily occupied by senior citizens--have had their own renaissance. “There are still several people here in their 80s and 90s,” he said, “but Castle Green has turned into an enclave for a much younger crowd of artists, writers, editors and photographers. Old Town has come full circle.”

But next door at the Green Hotel, where the population is still mainly senior citizens, there are longtime Pasadena residents who have witnessed an even greater metamorphosis in the area.

“When I was a girl,” said Helen Cowan, 92, a Pasadena resident since childhood, “there were only a few places to go that were interesting. Now, no matter how many times I walk around the block, there’s always something interesting to see.”

Not everyone shares her delight.

“This used to be the center of Pasadena, and people dressed elegantly when they came here. Now they dress as though they’re going to the beach,” said Stanley Andersen, 73, who for about 12 years has lived with his wife, Avon, above his antique store on Colorado Boulevard.

Old Pasadena is where the present-day city of Pasadena was first settled. In 1873, a circle of friends from Indianapolis formed the California Colony of Indiana, and began buying up land between the Arroyo Seco and Fair Oaks Avenue for $6.31 an acre.

A new community was formed, and called itself “Pasadena”--a name derived from several Chippewa Indian words meaning “Crown of the Valley.”

With the construction of two hotels in 1883, Fair Oaks and what is now Colorado Boulevard--the hub of present-day Old Pasadena--became the center of town.

In 1886, St. Andrew’s Catholic Church, notable for its eight-story tower, was founded. It stands today at the northern border of the Old Pasadena Historic District.

At the turn of the century, the railroads, trolleys and climate made Pasadena a mecca for tourists.

But after 1900, said Msgr. James Hourihan, retired priest of St. Andrew’s, “The development was to the east (of Old Town), and the major businesses moved there. The result was that the center of town lost its elegance. There was a lot of erosion over the years.”

Sister Gemma Fisher, who lives in the convent of St. Andrew’s, said that though the church is in a quiet part of Old Pasadena, it’s still very much a part of the neighborhood. “We do business with some of the shopkeepers, and many of the business people come here for noon service every day,” she said.

And Msgr. Tobias English, who moved into the rectory 14 years ago, said: “Today, Old Pasadena is alive, vigorous and youthful. It’s a wonderful place to live.”

CLOSEUP: Old Pasadena and vicinity Total (1990 est.): 16,680

1980-90 change: +13.7% Median Age: 32

Racial/ethnic mix: White (non-Latino): 51.4% Latino: 30.2% Black: 10.0% Other: 8.4%

Per capita: $20,805 Median household: $29,516 Average household: $40,874

Income Distribution: More than $150,000: 3.2% $100,000 to $149,999: 4.9% $75,000 to $99,999: 5.6% $50,000 to $74,999: 13.5% $40,000 to $49,999: 1.11% $25,000 to $39,999: 18.8% Less than $25,000: 43.0%