Are you aware that eHarmony is moving its headquarters and 250+ workforce to Santa Monica in November? The reason is some of the executives live in the Santa Monica area. eHarmony also cites a superior tech labor pool in Santa Monica, which is complete baloney.  What’s equally concerning is the City of Pasadena leaders shrugged it off citing that eHarmony didn’t provide much tax revenue to the city.  What about the 250+ people who are no longer shopping at our stores in S. Pas and Pas?  I’m a S. Pas resident and I know several S. Pas residents who work for eHarmony and are affected.  This whole thing stinks.  The City of Pas is apathetic towards losing a marquee business, we are losing 250+ workers and families in S. Pas are adversely affected.

And if you’d rather just pick up your books on the cheap at Costco, well, shame on you.

• There’s art in them thar walls.
• Chair of the 710 Freeway Coalition: “The MTA board acted courageously and decisively where public bodies had cowered before.” … Steve Hymon has the nitty gritty on the May 27 vote.
• While Radhika’s seems to be faring well since their Mother’s Day opening, Pat at Eating L.A. noticed a “promising” new Thai place snuck into town.
• “So few people I know were born in Pasadena and have lived here their whole life. But I have, baby, I have.”
• And speaking of … “You know you grew up in South Pas in the ’80s if … “
• Dr. Gary Seto gets a mention in USA Today.
• Is it the fool’s Gold Line?
• Fork off of the median.

It has now been moved to the War Memorial building due to some sentiment that it should be held within the city. This, which appeared in the Star-News today, apparently fueled the fire:

“Maybe it wasn’t their brand of sauce, but South Pasadena city officials skipped over Gus’ (sic) Barbecue (sic) in South Pasadena in favor of Pasadena’s Barn Burner Barbecue (sic) to host Police Chief Dan Watson’s going-away party. Fans of the departing police chief can stick a fork in Watson and some slathered ribs on June 30, with the proceeds going to a parting gift for South Pasadena’s top cop, now headed for a similar position at Mammoth Lakes.”

I’m told it’s the same date and time. I can’t imagine 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on a Wednesday is the most convenient time for a party, but then again I’m not an event planner. I added the sics to the story. I could have just corrected them, but a newspaper should know how to spell the names of the businesses it covers. So there. The original brief is here (second item).

*UPDATE: I was just told: “Contact Jeannie Chiu at the City Manager’s office to sign up.  Cost is $20 per person.”

• First and leastmost, an upstart literary magazine is looking for a Web designer. The post contains this blatantly ageist gem: “We’d prefer someone age 35 or younger since the magazine is run by a group of people who are all in their 20s, and we’re looking for someone with a similar artistic and stylistic sensibility.” To paraphrase, young people are all hip in some universal sense, old people notsomuch. If you’re thinking to yourself, “Wow, that’s pretty illegal,” be comforted by the fact that it’s an unpaid gig. Also, since I’m feeling righteous, I’ll point out that the literary magazine can’t spell complement.
• Wild Thyme is looking for a weekend line cook.
• Gus’s is looking for servers and bartenders.
• Bristol Farms is hiring for a few positions.
• Blog for a marketing company.
• And, of course, South Pasadena is still accepting applications for a police chief to replace Dan Watson. But the deadline is Monday. Here’s a link to the brochure (pdf).

SATURDAY

SOPA Studios is having an artists’ reception Saturday from 7 to 9:30 p.m.

Also, Ken Kulhken will be at BOOK’em Mysteries on Saturday at 3 p.m. to sign copies of “The Biggest Liar in Los Angeles.” What it’s about:

In 1926, when musician Tom Hickey reads in a broadside about a lynching the Los Angeles newspapers failed to report, and discovers the Negro victim was an old friend, he goes to his neighbor Leo Weiss, an LAPD detective.  Leo confirms that, officially, the lynching didn’t occur. Yet Tom decides to investigate the murder. The lynching occurred across the street from evangelist Aimee Semple Macpherson’s Angelus Temple. He goes there looking for clues and is watched by an usher who shadows him after the service and daily.

MONDAY

If you’re not worried enough about the state of our schools, you can go see a screening of “Race to Nowhere” on Monday. Macaroni Kid says they added a 3:30 p.m. show at St. James Church after the 7 p.m. show sold out. Via an email:

This documentary is igniting a national conversation about the unintended consequences of the stress on young people and teachers in our current achievement focused education system and culture. Parents and schools have the best intentions for children, but in many ways these intentions are backfiring. Between homework requirements and extracurricular activities, children are missing the guilt-free down time that they need for physical and mental health.  Teen suicide and stress-related illness is on the rise at alarming rates; cheating has become commonplace, and students arrive at college unprepared and burned out.  This film is a call to action for parents, teachers and school administrators.

• The Highland Park Heritage Trust is asking Caltrans to stop all that construction on the 110.
• The Eclectic Music Festival & Art Walk will have oh-so-hip food trucks. Phew. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like an odd decision for the chamber to hire out-of-town food trucks, which would compete with local businesses.
• I dig South Pas history. I really dig it.
• SPHS student store suffering because they can’t sell crap anymore.
• Finally, the cuss kid is still in the news. I’m not linking to any of it, but yeah, he’s still in the news.

• First and foremost, Eating L.A. has the scoop on Mix ’n Munch. Two thoughts on this: There is no way this can possibly live up to the expectations I’ve built for it; and why would they pick South Pas, instead of something a little closer to a dispensary?
• Speaking of Eating L.A., Pat was quick to pick up on Radhikas moving in at the (jinxed?) spot formerly inhabited by Little Parlor and 750 ml.
• John Rabe talks about Shakers.
• Adding insult to injury? The closed Rialto is now super-closed.
• Pretty awesome Q&A with Videotheque’s Mark Wright.
• And finally, the Chamber of Commerce reminds us that we’re not exactly full.

As the datelines of the most recent entries attest, it’s been some time since I’ve posted anything on South Pas Blogs. The demands of life have relegated this website to the back burner for a while now. If you’re a south pas rez and have any interest in taking over the website, drop me a line at southpasblogs@yahoo.com.

Let’s hope someone out there has an interest. And let’s hope they do it because they love South Pasadena, not because they think they have a viable business model. There’s enough of those already.

Related: Do you want to blog and get paid in South Pasadena? SLS Consulting is looking for a Blog Editor/Poster. Here you go.

Since the original operator folded, who has been running the Farmers Market in the interim?

Raw Inspirations has been running the market since mid-October.

Why is the South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce interested in running the Farmers Market?

The Chamber wants to keep the market local. We think that a Farmers’ Market run by the Chamber benefit from our roots in the community. For instance, we’ll work hard to complement neighboring businesses and restaurants, not compete. We’ll extend connectivity with the public schools through gardening programs, fundraising efforts and community service hour opportunities. And we’ll open up the Market to become a virtual town square for Green ideas by highlighting City and Community outreach on sustainability.

We’re also interested in ploughing proceeds from an effective Farmers’ Market back into the community by promoting the market as well as the community.

What, if anything, would the Chamber like to improve in the Farmers Market?

The Chamber hopes to expand the produce and agricultural offerings, especially in the organic arena. We want to retain the festive environment and the food because families and friends love it. But we think it has perhaps become a bit too much of a food court over the years, and not enough of a mecca for foodies and healthy living devotees.

We’d also like to see the Market become a gathering spot and an idea exchange. This is why we’ve made inroads with PCC, USC, California School Gardens Network and others to prepare the “Environmentality Tents” where new ideas and green living products and services can be introduced.

Finally, we’d like to offer local business people a spot in the Market. The Farmers are essentially guests for a day on the local business doorstep. Yet they pay no local sales tax, property tax or Business Improvement Tax, or any of the freight that local merchants do. So we hope that operators who want to take an evening away from their usual storefront and set up a tent to talk to the Farmers’ Market patrons will do so.

What kind of timeline are you looking at for this application process? Is there another step if you get approval from the citizens committee?

We made the first cut for interviews, so we’ll do that on April 1, alongside two others. After that there are negotiations, and a public meeting at City Council. Whoever is selected will probably assume control of the Market — or retain control of it as the case may be — starting in May 2010.