For more than 20 years, Earthside Nature Center was a place to see California native wildflowers in Pasadena.
The photo above, from the April 7, 1985 LA Times, shows students from Longfellow Elementary wrapping up their field trip to Earthside.
As the Times’ Mary Barber reported, “Earthside Nature Center is bursting into bloom these days. The three-acre one-time dump, wedged between a concrete flood control channel and city streets in East Pasadena, becomes a show place for 500 species of California’s native wildflowers every spring.”
This “showplace” of 500 native wildflowers was the work of a willing City, a hearty group of community volunteers, the Girls Club and local service clubs. The garden occupied several acres on East Del Mar Blvd. behind what is now Exer Urgent Care. From 1971 through at least 1995, Earthside Nature Center was an urban oasis open to the public.
So what happened? Don’t know for sure. But, maintaining Earthside took a tremendous amount of work and many volunteers. Somewhere along the way, the volunteer time and treasure just wasn’t enough to sustain the garden.
Fast Forward to 2008
In 2008, I “discovered” Earthside. That discovery led to a series of blog posts I called the Earthside Story. It was like finding a once grand but now waning secret garden. I was drawn to it and its story.
Though untended for years, the remnants of a great garden were plainly there — native plants with identifying labels, stairs winding over a hillside, a rock-rimmed pond, redwood and sycamore trees, toyon, Spring poppies, a kiosk with faded photos, plaques commemorating volunteers and donors.
I wandered the old garden at will. I took the kids. We looked for frogs in the pond and sampled grapes from a long run of wild grape vine. It was easy to see this was once a truly great garden.
Even in its unkempt state, Earthside was beautiful and intriguing. Local bloggers wrote about Earthside. Pasadena Daily Photo ran a series on Earthside with her stellar photography. A group of graduate planning students from Cal Poly did their own Earthside report. In 2012, the City adopted its Open Space Element noting a community driven effort to reestablish this open space oasis.
Something, it seemed, was going to happen.
But nothing happened.
Fast Forward to September 2024
I decided to circle back to check up on some old blog posts. This month I’ve ventured over to Earthside several times to see how things are going. Not well is the answer.
Like the lonesome outer shell of a gutted historic building, the entrance to Earthside Nature Center still stands. There’s just not much to enter into.
As it was 50 years ago, the trash has returned and is strewn over much of the site. The wild grape vines survive. But most of the garden is history. A giant sycamore, at the garden center, shaded a bench and picnic table. It’s gone. Redwoods too. Gone.
I wave to a man inside the gate. He waves back. I venture inside. We exchange greetings. He tells me he is there with his wife. In the corner of the lot I see some tarps and what looks like a lean-to.
We share an interest in the property, and it is an easy conversation. I know a bit about Earthside’s past. He knows its present.
I tell him about picking the wild grapes. He nods and we both smile. Together we walk the length of the wild grape vine. He and I brush the big leaves aside. We look for grapes.
But we don’t find any grapes. In last week’s heat, the fruit has all withered. Now only raisins remain.
We both lament the lack of grapes. After a few more exchanges about gopher holes, we walk over to the gate. It is time for me to leave. I tell him to be careful and wave goodbye. He smiles and waves back.
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