Seedy Chic
This was just the kind of thing that the forces of urban renewal were supposed to drive away. But instead, business has never been better at the last pawn, porn and tattoo shops in Old Pasadena.
The jewelry cases at Crown City Loan and Jewelry have never been fuller. The lights inside Le Sex Shoppe have never burned brighter, and the customers at Old Pasadena Tattoo & Body Piercing have never been trendier.
What 15 years ago could have been legally defined as blight has turned into unexpected pieces of Old Pasadena’s past--anachronisms in a successful shopping and entertainment district that remind visitors that this stretch of Colorado Boulevard was once Pasadena’s version of skid row.
“We love those places,” said Ann Erdman, Pasadena’s public information officer. “They are thriving, and some of us do business there--ah, at the pawnshop.”
Under today’s carefully thought-out downtown Pasadena plan, a new porn shop would be banned. Another pawnshop would need a special permit--and then could open only after public hearings and the imposition of strict conditions on its operations. And could a new tattoo and body piercing shop afford this high-rent district? Questionable.
“If these types of businesses were to go in today, there would be a public outcry,” said Richard Breckner, head of housing and development. “But people have gotten used to them. . . . They have learned to live with it.”
So instead of running the businesses out of town or scorning them as “undesirable,” the locals are protective of this trio clustered on the corner of Raymond Avenue and Colorado Boulevard.
“Those businesses are as much a part of the history and fabric of Old Pasadena as the bricks on the building,” said Maggie Campbell, president and chief executive of the Old Pasadena Management District, which manages a $1.1-million maintenance and security budget garnered from special taxes in the area.
City leaders say the pawn, porn and tattoo shops add much-needed variety to a boulevard mix that some lament has become increasingly bland, with national chains.
This is a gentrified district of 100-year-old buildings where visitors can snap up pricey slipcovers at the Pottery Barn, jeans at the Gap, a set of Pilsner glasses at Crate & Barrel and a cheeseburger and fries at Johnny Rockets.
The adventurous can stroll east on Colorado and slip into Le Sex Shoppe for a graphic selection of merchandise; buy another woman’s diamond engagement ring at Crown City pawn, and round the corner for a tongue piercing.
“I would hate for Old Pasadena to be just another outdoor mall with retail stores you can find anywhere,” said Sue Mossman, president of Pasadena Heritage, the stalwart of historic preservation in this city. “These add flavor and spice.”
After listening to leaders--including Pasadena Mayor William Bogaard--talk about the shops, it is as if they are proud that these businesses survived the boom that drove out other family-owned businesses, such as longtime local favorite Ernie Jr.’s Taco House, which sold out to a store that sells aromatherapy oils and indoor fountains. Banana Republic, Miller’s Outpost and Victoria’s Secret replaced small shops that once sold one-of-a-kind dresses and specialty furniture.
“Frankly, the longer the local businesses are able to stay and add their particular uniqueness to the market place, the happier I am,” Bogaard said. “I’ve heard people comment that these kinds of businesses are not appropriate, but I’ve made it clear I don’t agree.”
But there was a time, in the 1960s and ‘70s, when this strip of Colorado Boulevard was the kind of place visitors shunned.
Major Changes in a Seedy Area
“It was pretty gross,” said Marilyn Buchanan, among the largest property owners in Old Pasadena and an early leader of the revitalization effort. “Buildings were boarded up and trashed out. There were seedy old bums drinking out of bottles.”
Slowly, over the last 15 years, thanks to strict planning and public and private investment, the district began to turn around, and a 10-block area--Pasadena’s original downtown--was enshrined in the National Register of Historic Districts. The tacky pawnshops, thrift stores and bars left town.
Except for the last three holdouts at Raymond and Colorado.
And among the locals giving them good marks is Lt. Randell Taylor, a 17-year veteran of the Pasadena Police Department and weekend night watch commander for Old Pasadena:
“I can only speak highly of them. . . . We just don’t get any calls for disturbances that are typically associated with businesses like that. No prostitution, drugs, lewd conduct.”
On a recent Saturday night, visitor Mindy Moreno, 24, said as she walked out of Le Sex Shoppe arm in arm with her husband, “We just went in for fun and entertainment. And to spice up our marriage,” she giggled, nudging her spouse.
The Morenos and three other couples were enjoying a night on the town from Colton. They had just dropped $200 for dinner at Mi Piace restaurant, with its hardwood floors, high ceiling and white tablecloths on smallish tables. But while Moreno could giggle about the shop, others could not.
“You want to go in there?” one young man asked his date.
“Ooooooh no!”
“Come on,” he said. “It’s only a bookstore.”
“No!”
The store has remained open by acting and looking like any mainstream novelty shop. Years ago, a black curtain was hung over the entrance, the windows were blacked out and an arcade offered video peep shows for pocket change. Then in 1994, the city granted a permit to renovate the store, now owned by Goalie Entertainment.
The new business owners tore away the curtain, put up a nice awning and display massage oils, incense and lingerie in the windows. The hard-core books and videos are tucked deep inside.
Just don’t call the store a porn shop--that’s about the only thing that can make the locals bristle.
“I refer to them as an adult entertainment,” Taylor said.
Jim Plotkin, a civic activist and longtime business and property owner in the district, calls it “the dirty bookstore.”
“We’ve never called it a porn shop,” Buchanan said. “Most people call it the bookstore.”
Then there’s the piercing parlor. Last week, Celia Fores, a 28-year-old mother of two, took her family out to Old Pasadena so she could get her tongue pierced.
She walked into the piercing room while her husband and two little girls waited outside. She walked out about five minutes later with two carat-sized silver balls punched through the middle of her tongue.
“I’ve wanted it for a year,” the housekeeper said, after paying $50 for the service. “It’s just something different. Too many people have earrings.”
Like someone choosing a flavor of the month from the ice cream case, 20-year-old nursing student Nicole Boerbon browsed at the tattoo etchings and planned her next indulgence: a Fighting Irish tattoo on her hip.
“It doesn’t feel seedy coming here for a tattoo. Some other places you do,” she said.
Businesses Were Kept in the Family
It’s all in the family at the pawn and tattoo shops. The building at 65 E. Colorado is owned by the Robinson clan. Mary Robinson is a board member of the merchant’s district. Husband Doug and son Mike run the pawnshop. Another son, Todd, runs the tattoo parlor.
Mike, 33, whose wife is expecting twins in about two months, spends his days behind a pawnshop counter that could rival the fine jewelry case at nearby Macy’s.
“Once you buy pawn jewelry, you’ll never buy retail again,” he said.
Admittedly, he said, the building looks crummy and needs a face-lift. Renovation is down the road. In the meantime, the building that he said the family paid $1.5 million for in 1989 has at least doubled in value.
Recently, the sushi restaurant owner a few doors down offered the family $3.3 million for the site. No way, they said.
The pawnshop is their livelihood, Robinson said. They would be hard pressed to find another location and secure the permits needed to open.
“Unless it’s too good to refuse, we are not interested in selling,” Robinson said. “We were here first, and we are here to stay.”
