Cover Story: Building a Future on History, The Story of Old Pasadena

Old Pasadena, the city’s most expansive shopping, entertainment and dining destination, used to be, just, old. That was before a small group of forward-thinking Pasadenans created a host of plans, proposals and policies to build the city’s retail future on the shoulders of its history.

The City’s former Development Administrator, Marsha Rood, detailed the massive 22-year effort in a presentation Wednesday, Oct. 30 to the Pasadena Rotary Club.

Rood served as the Development Administrator for the City of Pasadena for nearly two decades, from 1982 to 2000.

“No one person was responsible for the revitalization of Old Pasadena,” Rood told Rotarians. “What is remarkable is that so many were.”

Moving through the area’s history, Rood explained that “when Old Pasadena was ‘rebirthed,’ the City policy at the time was to demolish and rebuild to better compete with suburbs.”

According to Rood, the policy was based on using Eminent Domain to put together large land parcels and then tearing down the aged buildings to build corporate and office retail.

That policy required enormous public subsidies in the form of redevelopment taxes, and simply created “islands on the land, buildings that turn their backs on the area to create safe spaces so that they look like the suburbs,” said Rood.

Although Rood credited several local activists, preservationists and City employees for the revitalization of Old Pasadena, it was her job to “place“ everything, essentially managing all the pieces and assembling the puzzle.

Rood explained that in the 1970s the City’s newly formed Pasadena Redevelopment Agency (PRA) set out to make findings of “blight” in the area, in order to begin the urban renewal process, which Rood said was “easy to do.”

”There were lots of problems,” she said, “from a bad public image, to a perception of crime and blighted buildings that needed seismic upgrade.”

There was virtually no parking, there was a 70% vacancy rate, there were pressures from other nearby developments, and there was the City’s policy to demolish instead of restore, said Rood.

Although the PRA was effective at demolishing and building, many felt their direction was wrong.

In June 2011, the California Legislature passed Assembly Bill X1 26 (AB 26), which dissolved all redevelopment agencies in California. Pasadena abolished the PRA.

The City was on a new path now, said Rood. Old Pasadena had historic value, and in fact, “represented the very essence of Pasadena.”

The City’s new direction, said Rood, was “characterized by a hunger for community, which meant more people working at home and more one-person households.

“There was a need for a unique marketplace identity,” Rood explained, “and experience-based authentic, unprogrammed places with pedestrian-scale buildings, and a walkable environment with pedestrian amenities.”

In other words, Old Pasadena needed to be Old Pasadena.

As the 70s became the 80s, the City made a 180° turn in its policy, adopting the Old Pasadena Limited development project. This new strategy would focus on co-development, with the City investing in public improvements, and then the private sector investing in the real estate and businesses.

According to Rood, 70% of redevelopment money now went to public parking and improvements, and 30% to affordable housing.

Moving forward quickly in the early 90s, a number of events sent Old Pasadena on its new way — the development of a plan for Old Pasadena by the Arroyo Group, the founding of Pasadena Heritage, the listing of Old Pasadena in the National Register of Historic Places, and the adoption of a new anti-demolition ordinance.

No longer would old buildings be destroyed to build new ones. New design guidelines were created for old Pasadena. Public parking structures were built and a business improvement district was formed.

And then the landmark One Colorado project was opened in the late 90s, which created a new and vibrant center of Old Pasadena, with an open courtyard, restaurants, a movie theater, and a public meeting space.

Another profitable development? Parking meters.

As Rood explained, parking meters in old Pasadena originally raised $5 million to develop streetscapes and alley walkway improvements. During and following the COVID pandemic, many of those alleyways became outdoor public dining areas.

And now what was old is “Old” now, and since its revitalization, Old Pasadena has attracted more than $900 million in private investments, and more than $30 million in public improvements. The original City debt for the public garage has now been paid off and those garages are now a source of income for the City, Rood pointed out.

Old Pasadena now generates $375 million in annual sales volume, and over 150 historic buildings have been seismically reinforced. There are 333 businesses, 85% of them independent with 15% of them chains. And there are now over 4000 new housing units in and adjacent to Old Pasadena.

The area now draws more than 40,000 weekend visitors.

And then there are the awards, said Rood.

Old Pasadena was awarded the National Trust for Historic Preservation‘s “Great American Main Street Award,“ the first in the nation.

It also won the International Downtown Association’s “Downtown Achievement Award,“ along with the LAMBDA Alpha International’s “Skyline Award,“ the Local Government Commission’s “Livable Community” award and Pasadena Beautiful Foundation’s President’s Commendation for the Delacey Avenue parking facility.

“Old Pasadena is, indeed, a national model,” said Rood, proudly, “and is once again a state leader in downtown revitalization.”