Feeling quaint in the foothills

The San Gabriel Mountains make for an impressive backdrop, looming over the carpet of trees and rooftops of Monrovia’s Old Town. Less visually striking but equally salient: free eight-hour parking.

Monrovia’s Old Town doesn’t have as many trendy stores as Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade or Pasadena’s Old Town, but it has the squeaky-clean and intimate feel of a small town.

A family theme runs through Old Town as surely as its two trolley cars, Myrtle and Mabelle, named after the daughters of city founder William Monroe, ply its streets. It’s evident at the candy store, doll shop, the place that sells Radio Flyers and model trains. Behind the coffee pot at the Monrovia Bakery, there’s a photograph from 1900 of the owners’ grandfather, Charles Mueller, proud and determined, armed with a rolling pin.

“We try to be a very family-oriented town,” says Dick Singer, spokesman for the city of 38,000. “The slogan we’ve been using is ‘quaint sophistication.’ It’s not Mayberry, but it maintains those kinds of values.”

History

Situated at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains, about eight miles east of Pasadena, Monrovia has had two particularly famous residents. The first was writer Upton Sinclair, who lived in a Spanish Colonial Revival house on Myrtle Avenue for 24 years. More recently a bear named Samson moved in and enjoyed digging through garbage and soaking in hot tubs.

Samson, who was captured in 1994 and spent his last seven years at the Orange County Zoo, is honored with a wooden sculpture at the Nature Center at Monrovia Canyon Park, which has picnic facilities, hiking trails and the 50-foot Monrovia Falls.

Like many downtowns, Monrovia’s suffered as shoppers took their money to malls and discount stores. The vacancy rate reached 40% before the city began to redevelop in the mid-’80s. The much-revived Old Town is now the heart of the community.

Special Events

Spring arrives in Old Town with the return of the Family Festival and Farmers Market, which runs Fridays 5 to 9 p.m. (open until 10 p.m. from Memorial Day to Labor Day) March through December. Along Myrtle Avenue, the aroma of flowers and food, the sounds of music and children -- laughing, whining, slurping -- signal the end of winter as reliably as a field of daffodils or sky of swallows.

The streets take on an average of 200 vendors, including kids’ rides, food from local restaurants and arts and crafts, along with live entertainment. The county-certified farmers market attracts up to 40 fruit and vegetable stands. At any one time, there might be up to seven varieties of avocados and five types of grapefruit offered, depending on the season.

“We like to have at least one, if not more, of everything that’s in season in California,” says the event’s co-founder, Dave Gayman, who also owns Valley Hardware, Toys and Trains and Jake’s Roadhouse in Old Town.

A recent survey indicated that 62% of the town’s residents visit downtown at least once a week. During the summer, there are free Sunday evening concerts at the Library Park band shell. Starting in June, you can dance in front of the stage while children occupy themselves at the playground. The park includes picnic tables and shade trees, including a Morton Bay fig nearly 100 years old.

Monrovia Day, celebrating the city’s 118th anniversary, will be May 15-16, with its wonderfully corny parade, horseshoe competition, chili cook-off, classic car show and the Soap Box Classic, which draws about 200 entries. On the Fourth of July, residents spread their blankets in the middle of Myrtle Avenue to watch fireworks.

Restaurants

Of the 20 or so restaurants in Old Town, Cafe Mundial and Restaurant Devon have garnered the most critical praise. In Spanish, “mundial” means universal, and the menu there offers a variety from pastas to crab cakes in mustard sauce and lamb rack in rosemary sauce. Restaurant Devon offers seasonal California-French cuisine, with such exotic dishes as black bear ravioli, caribou and blue cheese ice cream.

Other local restaurants offer diverse fare, from the Argentine cuisine at Empanada’s Gourmet & Pizza to the jambalaya and catfish at Frank and Joe’s Southern Smoke House to the eclectic menu at the Tidal Wave Seafood and Oyster Bar. Many places offer sidewalk seating, but if you don’t want to advertise your love of meatloaf to every passing pedestrian, more private patio settings, like the one at Bella Sera, are available.

Shopping

Typical of the family theme is the Dollmakers, owned by three sisters and operated with the assistance of other family members. Pam Fitzpatrick says her family ignored all the warnings about working with relatives and turning a hobby into work.

The shop attracts people from all over, says Fitzpatrick, and many times customers come searching for more than a doll. “So much of the business we do is because people gave away their dolls, or something happened to them, and they’re trying to replace not just the dolls but their childhoods.” If you’re more interested in belly dancing or learning to play the dulcimer or purchasing a handmade poodle purse, the sisters can set you up there too; and on many weekends the Kattywompus String Band, also composed of family members, performs in front of the store.

People from across Southern California also trek to Monrovia to visit Historic Lighting, which offers home furnishings inspired by the Craftsman movement as well as lighting and interior decorating services.

Scattered among specialty shops, antiques stores and boutiques are businesses more reflective of real life. There’s a place that repairs vacuum cleaners, a pet store with puppies in the front window, three shoe repairmen and a pawnshop owned by the mayor.

There are no Borders Books, Pottery Barns or other chain stores; and there are no liquor stores in Old Town. The closest thing to one is the Wine Shoppe, which offers fine wines as well as tastings on Fridays, 6 to 8:45 p.m. and Saturdays, 2 to 7 p.m.

Night Life

With the exception of the Krikorian Cinema 12, which prides itself on the largest screen in the San Gabriel Valley -- a six-story Large Format Experience screen -- Old Town stays quiet at night. The Fourth Dimension offers food, drinks, billiards and dancing, and there’s jazz on the first and third Fridays of the month at Cafe Mundial.

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Old Town Monrovia

1. Fourth Dimension

326 S. Myrtle Ave.

(626) 303-8656

2. The Wine Shoppe

116 W. Lime Ave.

(626) 303-6041

3. Krikorian 12 Cinema

410 S. Myrtle Ave.

(626) 305-7469

4. The Dollmakers

412 S. Myrtle Ave.

(626) 357-1091

5. Tidal Wave Seafood and Oyster Bar

414 S. Myrtle Ave.

(626) 303-7338

6. Bella Sera

422 S. Myrtle Ave.

(626) 359-1399

7. Restaurant Devon

109 E. Lemon Ave.

(626) 305-0013

8. Empanada’s Gourmet & Pizza

113 E. Lemon Ave.

(626) 359-0946

9. Monrovia Bakery

506 S. Myrtle Ave.

(626) 357-1895

10. Cafe Mundial

514 S. Myrtle Ave.

(626) 303-2233

11. Historic Lighting

114 E. Lemon Ave.

(626) 303-4899

12. Frank and Joe’s Southern Smoke House

110 E. Colorado Blvd.

(626) 357-1616

13. Valley Hardware, Toys and Trains

612 S. Myrtle Ave.

(626) 359-2529

14. Jake’s Roadhouse

622 S. Myrtle Ave.

(626) 599-9453