Council Honors Community Trailblazers and Arts Leadership

A longtime restaurateur, a local bookstore founder and a teen-founded recovery organization were honored Monday for work that city officials said strengthened Pasadena through community service, cultural representation and aid to Eaton Fire survivors.

The Human Relations Commission recognized Ali Shirmohammadi, owner of Haider Baba Restaurant; Nikki High, founder of Octavia’s Bookshelf; and Altadena Girls, an organization founded after the Eaton Fire by 14-year-old Pasadena Unified School District student Avery Colvert. The recognitions placed local service, cultural representation and disaster recovery at the center of the council’s formal ceremonial agenda.

The Trailblazer Awards were the formal ceremonial item at the May 11 City Council meeting.

Later, Councilman Jason Lyon made a separate “quick announcement” that he, Councilmember Justin Jones and several members of the city’s Arts and Culture Commission had accepted the Art City Leadership Award 2025 for the City of Pasadena from Art PAC. (See Art, Politics and Possibility on a Spring Afternoon.)

Lola Osborne of the Parks Department introduced Jonathan Horton, chair of the Human Relations Commission, to explain the awards.

Horton said the commission created the Trailblazer Awards to recognize contributions across Pasadena, including by organizations as well as individuals.

“We wanted to make sure that this was an annual award to honor the different trailblazers throughout Pasadena,” Horton said. “These are people who have made a significant contribution in the past year or past few years to Pasadena and it’s not only limited to individuals, we also include organizations.”

Former Human Relations Commission Chair and current Commissioner Nat Nehdar introduced Shirmohammadi.

Nehdar described Shirmohammadi as the owner of Haider Baba Restaurant, “one of the finest in San Gabriel Valley,” and said he had been “a pillar for over 50 years” in Pasadena “in a positive manner.”

Nehdar said Shirmohammadi had helped homeless shelters, religious organizations, events and foreign students. He also said Shirmohammadi had hosted an annual appreciation luncheon for the Pasadena Police Department for the past 13 years, had been named a best small business in Pasadena in 2017 and had been honored by an assemblymember in Sacramento.

Nehdar asked Vice Mayr Jess Rivas to join the presenters for the award presentation before introducing Shirmohammadi to the audience and calling for photographs.

High was recognized for founding Octavia’s Bookshelf, which Horton described as a store dedicated to sharing stories and narratives written by writers who are Black, Indigenous and people of color. Horton said High focuses on authors from minority backgrounds and gives Pasadenans a place to see their diverse experiences reflected in art.

Through the bookstore, Horton said, High had “created a space to celebrate identity, build community, and to nurture belonging.” After the Eaton Fire, he said, High transformed the shop into a mutual aid station that offered water, food, clothing and hygiene products to fire survivors.

Horton said High’s leadership had made Octavia’s Bookshelf “an example for other local businesses in how to lead with values and provide nourishment for our local community.”

The commission’s final Trailblazer Award went to Altadena Girls. Horton invited Lauren Sandidge, Colvert’s mother and Altadena Girls’ co-founder and president, to join the presentation before describing the organization’s founding after the Eaton Fire.

Horton said Altadena Girls was founded by Colvert, a 14-year-old PUSD student, after she witnessed the burning of her school, neighborhood and friends’ homes in the Eaton Fire. After recognizing what Horton described as a gap in support for teenage fire survivors, Altadena Girls focused recovery efforts on girls and young women.

The organization collected and distributed clothing, beauty products and personal care essentials, with an emphasis on dignified offerings. Horton said Altadena Girls later expanded its focus as the impact of the fire evolved in the weeks and months that followed.

Its free boutique remains available to fire survivors, Horton said, but the organization also began emphasizing community, belonging and hope for girls regardless of their direct experience with the fire. Horton said Altadena Girls now creates opportunities for girls to connect, express their creativity and find grounding at its Colorado Boulevard location.

In a later public-comment period, Alex Giragosian of the Pasadena Armenian Festival made a separate community announcement that was not part of the formal ceremonial items. He said the festival would be held Saturday, May 30, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Victory Park after a previous event was rained out. External reporting on the festival identifies the committee member as Alex Giragosian.

Giragosian said the festival had three purposes: to introduce the San Gabriel Valley community to Armenian culture, to raise money for three private Armenian schools in Pasadena and Altadena, and to build collaboration among nonprofit Armenian organizations in Pasadena. He said the event would include about 80 vendors, 17 performers, a kid zone, Armenian students from Webster and Blair performing on stage, and about 25 nonprofit Armenian organizations working together on the festival.