Jane Brackman at the Altadena Historical Society writes us:
With the recent posting about the demise of the Altadena Nursery, we here at Altadena Historical Society thought readers might be interested in some background.
Altadena Nursery, on the east side of Lake about a block north of New York, was organized in 1906 by Clyde Colby. According to an article in the 1924 booklet, Pasadena and Pasadenans celebrating Pasadena’s fiftieth anniversary, the nursery ranked second to none in the entire Southwest. “The stock of this nursery consists of … row upon row of trees, shrubbery, vines and plants of every description, waiting to be transplanted to the grounds that will surround the many beautiful homes now under construction (p 40).”
Today some of those very saplings shade our neighborhoods, but the nursery is gone. It closed its doors in late 2009 after 103 years in business. The picture on the right is the front view of the nursery, from Lake Avenue looking east down the driveway. The picture on the left is the reverse view of the nursery looking back toward Lake Avenue. (The vacant building that exists today is approximately where the evergreen tree stands.)
