A Town's Fight History: Saloons to Freeway : South Pasadena: Children play on quiet, tree-lined streets where the "neighbors know each other."

By KAREN DARDICK

Sept. 27, 1992 12 AM PT

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David and Judith Buchon moved to the Los Angeles area from Washington, D.C., in 1989, when they were married and bought a condominium in Glendale.

A year later, expecting their first child, they undertook an informal nationwide study to find the best city in which to pursue their careers and to raise their family.

They evaluated the major cities in the United States and visited Atlanta, Philadelphia and Chicago.

“We considered all factors,” David Buchon said. “Since we’re both lawyers, we decided Los Angeles, even with all its problems, still couldn’t be beaten because of the career opportunities here.”

After deciding to remain here, they narrowed their house hunt to La Canada Flintridge, South Pasadena and Mt. Washington, because all had good elementary schools and were within a half-hour drive of their jobs--David works in downtown L.A. and Judith in Glendale. They searched for five months and looked at 100 houses before buying their three-bedroom and 1 1/4-bathroom house in South Pasadena.

“Our real estate agent, Liz Johnson, warned us it was the worst fixer-upper she had ever seen in South Pasadena, but it was the only way we could afford to buy a house here,” David said.

They bought the 2,400-square-foot California bungalow built in 1906 for $305,000.

The couple was not intimidated by the numerous structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, roofing and cosmetic repairs that it required.

“This is a diamond in the rough,” Judith said. “We’re delighted to be living on a street lined with majestic trees, where children play outdoors and neighbors know each other. The houses have porches that are actually used.”

South Pasadena, with 26,000 residents in 3.44 square miles, is renowned for its pleasant, tree-lined streets, low crime rate, excellent schools and small-town, Midwestern atmosphere.

The city is bordered by Pasadena to the north; the Monterey Hills on the southwest define its border with Los Angeles, the Arroyo Seco traces its western boundary, Alhambra is to the south and San Marino on the east.

Like most towns in the San Gabriel Valley 100-plus years ago, South Pasadena was covered with orchards and vineyards. Housing subdivisions flourished in the 1880s, but it was taverns that became the catalyst for the city’s incorporation in 1888.

Settled by staunch Methodist and Presbyterian Midwesterners, the inhabitants were troubled by the proliferation of taverns in their midst. In 1887, saloons had been forced out of Pasadena by a city ordinance and many relocated to the adjacent community. The majority of residents voted to incorporate and remove the offending taverns.

The residents have long prided themselves on their city. A 1906 advertisement referred to the community as “The City of Happy Homes. All the advantages of City Life, plus a Purer Atmosphere, Better Water and a quiet home among the native songbirds.”

This remains a quiet, suburban community, and the current housing prices reflect the community’s popularity.

Mainly residential, with a small amount of light industry, South Pasadena consists chiefly of single-family residences. Prices range from $179,000 to $1.8 million, with $500,000 as the average price.

About 20% of the housing is apartments and condominiums; many are located along Huntington Drive, a major thoroughfare linking the city with San Marino and Los Angeles. The average price for a condominium is $224,500, with the highest selling for just under $400,000.

South Pasadena has gained national prominence for its resistance to the controversial completion of the Long Beach Freeway. The city has the distinction of being listed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as an endangered historic place, the only city in the United States to gain such a dubious honor.

“Don’t Let Them Break the Heart of Our City” is a slogan seen on brochures, T-shirts and wall maps depicting the city in the shape of a heart with a jagged line marking the freeway route through its center.

Caltrans’ proposed route, called the Meridian Variation after Meridian Avenue, will skirt the city business district on Fair Oaks Avenue by a few blocks to the west. More than 3,000 people will be displaced from the houses along the route, which includes 599 in South Pasadena, 675 in El Sereno, and 152 in Pasadena. These include 51 historic properties, including several Greene and Greene Craftsman bungalows. More than 7,000 mature trees will also be removed.

South Pasadena Mayor Amedee Richards predicts a continuing fight on the part of South Pasadena to block the freeway, even though the recent publication of the long-awaited Environmental Impact Report (EIR) indicates the showdown is almost at an end.

“The Federal Highway Administration has yet to approve the project and Caltrans is indicating that it won’t have the necessary funding until the year 2000 before the freeway work can begin,” Richards said. “My personal opinion is that it will never be built.”

The proposed freeway became a hot community issue in 1955 when it was first proposed. At that time, it was slated to run through San Marino, but that city’s influential residents successfully blocked the proposal.

“Some inhabitants of South Pasadena sold their homes in 1955 and moved elsewhere because they feared the freeway would disrupt the community,” Richards said.

In 1973, the city of South Pasadena and environmental groups obtained a federal injunction to prevent Caltrans from acquiring land in preparation for freeway construction. This is still in effect. If the Federal Highway Administration approves Caltrans’ EIR, the coalition opposing the freeway plans to challenge the project in state and federal courts under historic preservation and environmental laws.

Although Caltrans estimates that the eight-lane freeway will cost $630 million to complete, Richards disagreed.

“The real cost will be closer to $1 billion when litigations by homeowners are factored in,” he said.

Meanwhile, the past 20 years of freeway uncertainty has depressed the prices of houses in the affected area.

“We’ve lived with the threat of this freeway for so long that the prices of houses along the route have already been adjusted,” said Orville Houg, a realtor with Coldwell Banker and a longtime resident of the city.

“If a house is priced correctly for today’s market, it will still sell, even if it’s along the Meridian Variation,” he said. “If they can buy a house along the freeway route for 15% less than elsewhere in this city, they will.”

During the past year, three houses sold along the route, including one for $975,000. Another nine are on the market, out of a total of 137 listings in the city.

When Louise Ravatt was divorced and became a single mother of two girls, she sought a community where she felt they would all be safe.

She decided to buy a house in South Pasadena, even though the one she selected was directly in the path of the freeway, because she couldn’t have afforded anything else in the community.

In 1985, she purchased a 1,350-square-foot, three-bedroom, one-bath California bungalow built in 1914 for $119,500.

“When I bought it, I knew it was in the path of the freeway,” she said. “My reasoning was that if the freeway does go through, my children will be out of school by the time it’s built.”

Ravatt is concerned that if the freeway is built and the state buys her property at its current market value, she won’t be able to buy another house in South Pasadena because the remaining houses sell at higher prices than she’ll be able to pay.

Her desire to stay in town is typical; when people move to South Pasadena, they tend to stay.

William and Margaret Kelly first moved here in 1947. They had lived in the Mid-Wilshire area of Los Angeles when a pediatrician recommended a different climate for their asthmatic child.

“I was working for a property and casualty insurance company and had traveled throughout the San Gabriel Valley,” Bill Kelly said. “I knew South Pasadena had good property values because of its excellent school system, so I decided to move my family here.”

Their first house in the city was a small, two-bedroom house purchased for $11,500. As the family size increased to five children, they moved to a 2,900-square-foot Colonial house on a nearby street. By 1975, after the children had established homes of their own, the large house required more upkeep than they wanted.

“It was too big a house for just the two of us, and I didn’t want to trim the 275-foot hedge anymore,” Bill Kelly said.

But his wife insisted that they remain in South Pasadena. “When Bill said we have to scale down, I told him you’re not moving me out of South Pasadena.”

Instead, they purchased a triplex in 1973 for $42,500. The Kellys live in the upper apartment and rent the two bottom units. The triplex is located near the proposed freeway route, although their property is not in its direct path.

“The noise and toxic fumes from the freeway won’t be pleasant, but since it can’t be built until 2005 at the earliest, we probably won’t be here to see it,” Bill Kelly said.

They sympathize with the community residents who are trying to block its construction.

“This has always been a quiet, residential community with a real feeling of neighborliness and a caring attitude toward the children,” Margaret Kelly said.

That caring is reflected in the quality of the city’s schools. In 1992, South Pasadena High School was one of 45 in the state designated as a distinguished high school by the California Department of Education.

“Our dropout rate is less than 1%, and more than 80% of our students attend college,” said Principal Ben Ramirez.

But the town has changed over the decades, Margaret Kelly said. “When we first moved here, we’d notice a strange car on the street. But now there are so many more apartments that you can’t tell whose car it is.”

Despite the growth of population and traffic, South Pasadena still is recognized as a safe city.

“This is one of the safest places in which to live in Los Angeles County,” said Police Chief Tom Mahony.

“We have 30 police officers on the force, and the response time to any emergency is three minutes or less,” he added.

He noted that there are no gangs indigenous to the city, although gang members enter from surrounding communities.

“Our officers can actively patrol the region,” Mahony said.

Car break-ins are the most numerous crimes, and residential burglaries are low because of Neighborhood Watch groups and home security systems.

“We’re a small, well-policed town, and we’re proud of it,” he added.

At a Glance Population

1991 estimate: 24,323

1980-91 change: +3.6%

Median age: 36.1 years

Annual income