Altadena Real Estate

Altadena

With its beautiful location in the San Gabriel Mountain foothills, Altadena has long attracted the wealthy, the artistic and suburban families. It is a multi-ethnic community rich with history, culture, and entertainment.

The homes in Altadena are as diverse as the community. One can find California bungalows, craftsman, and Spanish inspired homes hidden up against the foothills or spread along the elegant tree covered streets. There are cozy tight knit neighborhoods intertwined with mansion-lined streets that give as much privacy as necessary.

Altadena, an unincorporated town adjacent to Pasadena, has a homey country feel. There are few paved sidewalks, hardly any condos, and few apartment buildings. Some areas are horse property. The proximity to the mountains means some backyards open onto trails. Hiking, biking, walking, bird watching, and just nature loving all are here in beautiful Altadena. The friendly southern California weather allows for these exciting activities to take place year round. Encompassing about nine square miles bounded by the Arroyo Seco on the west, Angeles National Forest on the north, Eaton Canyon on the east and Pasadena on the south, Altadena is geographically well defined.

Christmas Tree Lane, a California Historical Landmark, is a 0.7 mile stretch of Santa Rosa Avenue from Woodbury Road to Altadena Drive. Each December, members of the Christmas Tree Lane Association festoon the 110 still standing giant deodars that line the street with thousands of Christmas lights. It has been a holiday attraction since 1920 and it is the oldest large-scale outdoor Christmas lighting venue in the world.

With Altadena’s close proximity to Pasadena, residents are just a few minutes from the some of the finest theater, shopping, and dining in Southern California. In Altadena you can live in the privacy of the lush mountains and still have easy access to the conveniences of a busy city.

HISTORY

In 1880, Capt. Frederick Woodbury and his brother John Woodbury of Marshalltown, Iowa, purchased 937 acres known as the Woodbury Ranch. John Woodbury established the Pasadena Improvement Company in 1887 with a plot plan of residential development referred to as the Woodbury Subdivision. They contacted Byron O. Clark who established a nursery in the foothills in 1875 and had since moved away. He called his nursery “Altadena Nursery”, a name he coined from the Spanish “alta” meaning “upper” and “dena” from Pasadena. Woodbury asked if he could use the name “Altadena” for his subdivision and Clark agreed.

The newly sprouted community of Altadena immediately began to attract millionaires from the East. In 1887 Andrew McNally, the printing magnate from Chicago and his good friend Col. G. G. Green had built mansions on what was to become Millionaire’s Row, Mariposa Street near Santa Rosa. Newspaper moguls William Armiger Scripps and William Kellogg built side by side just east of Fair Oaks Avenue. The grandson of Andrew McNally, Wallace Neff, became a famous Southern California architect. He started his career in Altadena with the design and construction of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church which was dedicated in October 1926.