Altadena Junction: Walmart market is the talk of the town

Walmart Neighborhood Market: Walmart’s June 21 announcement that it would open a Neighborhood Market — the retailer’s smaller-footprint grocery store — in Altadena has been the big buzz in town this week.

When construction began this spring at a derelict, empty grocery store at 2408 N. Lincoln Ave., the rumors flew. But there wasn’t anything you could pin down. The building owner and his representatives made noises that they were looking for a tenant, but otherwise weren’t talking. Earlier this year, Walmart announced it was moving Neighborhood Markets into the Los Angeles area — one will open in Panorama City this year and another in Chinatown in 2013 — and speculation began to swirl around the Altadena site. But Walmart wasn’t talking, either.

The company’s hand may have been forced this week when websites where contractors post jobs sought bidders on a project named “Wal-Mart NM Altadena.” We looked at the contractor website thebluebook.com and found plans, sporting the Walmart logo, for remodeling the Lincoln Avenue property.

In fact, even though the property owner and Walmart were cagey and noncommittal for months, the cover sheet to the project manual (which has a Walmart logo) is dated Sept. 12, 2011. We think this means the Altadena Neighborhood Market has been an almost-done deal for at least a year.

What’s next? Well, the site is zoned for a grocery store and has the necessary conditional-use permit, so there won’t be any public hearings unless something changes. There’s some support for the project — after all, the alternative is keeping the building as a large graffiti magnet — but there’s also vocal opposition, citing Walmart’s alleged predatory business and employment practices. But for now, it’s only the talk of the town. Stay tuned.

Bungalow goes to the dogs: American Bungalow Magazine this month features the Keyes bungalow in Altadena. The 100-year-old home is a near-perfect example of an “airplane bungalow,” a single-story California bungalow with an additional room above, like the cockpit of an airplane. The home now belongs to Emmy Award-winning director Rod Holcomb and Altadena Historical Society President Dr. Jane Brackman, a science writer who specializes in the cultural history of the domestic dog. She writes for Altadenablog on dog, coyote, and related issues under the pseudonym “Dr. Barkman.”

Holcomb, Brackman and the previous owners devoted decades to restoring the house to its original Arts and Crafts splendor. Brackman has spent the past decade turning the landscape into something that can better withstand Southern California’s droughts, so now it’s time for the home’s close-up.

The Altadena Historical Society will hold a tour of the house on Aug. 12, featuring a lecture by Brackman on “how the Arts and Crafts movement aesthetic historically influenced the way we interact with companion dogs today,” she writes for Altadena.blog. “Owning a purebred dog was strictly upper crust in the Victorian era, but the aesthetic was claimed by the middle class when ready-cut bungalows from companies like Sears meant regular folks could have a single-family dwelling, a garden and a purebred family dog.”

Only 30 tickets are available, on a first-come, first-served basis, at a cost of $30 for nonmembers and $25 for members of the Altadena Historical Society. Reservations must be made in advance. To obtain tickets, call the Altadena Historical Society at (626) 797-8016 or send a check with your request to Altadena Historical Society, 730 E. Altadena Drive, Altadena, CA 91001. Tickets will be issued on the day of the event.

Guerrilla gardener: Every year, Altadena Heritage honors some of Altadena’s outstanding gardens with the Golden Poppy Awards. One of this year’s Golden Poppies went to Cody Howard. A horticulturalist who works at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, Howard is an apartment dweller with no garden of his own.

Inspired by the British “guerrilla gardening” movement — where gardeners go onto property they don’t own, and maybe shouldn’t be on, to plant vegetables or flowers — Howard adopted a stretch of Altadena Drive just south of Canyon Close Road, a weedy area next to a sound wall. Starting on Thanksgiving Day 2010, and fearing arrest, Howard worked under cover of darkness to put drought-tolerant plants into the county-owned strip. Growing braver, he began working in the daytime and soon attracted the help of the neighbors. It was while he was working in the garden that a member of Altadena Heritage saw him, pulled over and made introductions.

Except for a handful of plants, Howard said, the succulents and cactus he planted are watered only by Southern California rainfall. It’s still a work in progress, but drive by sometime. It looks nice.

Co-op at 500: The Altadena-centric Arroyo Food Co-op will soon welcome its 500th member. The co-op is a collection of visionaries looking to put together a community-centered, member-owned grocery store that concentrates on local products, organic produce, humanely raised meat, fair trade and items free of GMOs, or genetically modified organisms. Since coming together several years ago, the co-opers have looked at successful co-ops around the country to incorporate best practices and are researching suppliers and potential locations. They are planning a drawing soon to designate exactly who are their 499th and 500th members, and you still have a chance to get in on that. Membership is $300, but an installment plan is available. For more information, go to www.arroyofoodcoop.com.

TIMOTHY RUTT is the publisher and editor of Altadenablog, at www.altadenablog.com.