Eye Level Pasadena

Guitars

Lots of guitars

Guitar closeup

South Pasadena Music
1017 Fair Oaks Ave
South Pasadena, CA 91030
(626) 403-2300
southpasadenamusic.com

Family Fair tree at night

On the way in to Roma Italian Deli

Through the door

Groceries

Deli counter

When I walk into this store, I feel folded into my community — automatically a part of something bigger and warmer than a collection of houses. This store feels human and comfortable. I like to walk in and smell the produce and cheeses and to ask the owner, Rosario, for the cheese and meat I’m shopping for. He cuts them behind the deli counter and gives generous samples.

Roma Italian Deli & Grocery
918 N Lake Ave
Pasadena, CA 91104
(626) 797-7748

Rattling the Kettle: Bye-Bye, Wild Oats

Dansko keychain charm

This picture is for Chez Shoes’s Dansko Love flickr group. I got a pair of Dansko mary janes at Lucha’s in South Pasadena a couple of years ago, and when I did they gave me this, too.

South Pasadena Music

South Pasadena Music feels like a third place. It’s a great place to buy an instrument and to take lessons, but it’s more than a store. It feels good to be there. It feels kind of like a low key community hub. When I walked in this week, they had a copy of the South Pasadena Downtown Redevelopment Plan on the counter, and people (including me) looked at it and got into discussions about it. It felt like something out of a Ray Oldenburg book.

Kathy of Aphrodite in Jeans likes it there, too.

South Pasadena Music
1017 Fair Oaks Ave
South Pasadena, CA 91030
(626) 403-2300
southpasadenamusic.com

Inside The Majestical Roof

I’d been looking for a place to buy No Sweat Apparel sneakers—I heard they ran large, so I wanted to try them on—and look what I found! The Majestical Roof is hidden away in a courtyard accessible through a sort of mid-block tunnel off of Fair Oaks north of Union (which is north of Colorado). It carries artisan-made and fair wage products including purses, jewelry, clothes and No Sweat Apparel shoes.

The Majestical Roof
88 N. Fair Oaks Ave. Ste 102
Pasadena, CA 91103
(Between Holly and Union St.)
626-844-8886
www.themajesticalroof.com

Street sign

Through the tunnel

In the courtyard