The drill centered on the former St. Luke Medical Center, a long-vacant hospital campus near Washington Boulevard and Altadena Drive. City officials called the operation a standard military training exercise of a type conducted across the country.
The city alerted media and residents at 5:30 p.m. that the military exercise would take place in “northeast Pasadena,” warning of helicopters and the sounds of explosions and weapons fire. It was scheduled to run until 1 a.m. Thursday.
Pasadena Police Department officers handled perimeter control and pedestrian and vehicle safety, according to city statements and published reports. The exercise was closed to the public and the press.
No publicly released statement identified the military branch, unit or command involved. Pasadena Now found no Department of Defense release or military public affairs announcement that named the unit or explained the operation.
City Chief Communications Officer Lisa Derderian told the Los Angeles Times the first round of noise was expected around dusk, about 8:30 p.m. She said the city pushed alerts through social media, Nixle and Reverse 911.
“We, as a city, try to put out as much messaging on many different platforms — social media, Nixle, reverse 911 — so we can ensure the public is aware,” Derderian said.
But the compressed timeline and thin public notice drew sharp criticism from Councilmember Rick Cole. In a Facebook post Wednesday afternoon, Cole said he was “outraged” by the rollout.
“The city was informed today and was told to not release information until 5:30 p.m.,” Cole wrote. “That is absurd and ridiculous, and typical of the current administration’s contempt for citizens of this country.”
The exercise came one day after California’s June 2 primary. Derderian told the Times officials sought to avoid public alarm given heightened sensitivities during election week.
Urban military training exercises are not unprecedented and have been staged in other U.S. cities.
The former St. Luke Medical Center opened in 1933, served Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre, and closed permanently on Jan. 25, 2002. Its emergency room shut down Feb. 10, 2002. The roughly 18-acre site is listed by the City of Pasadena Planning Division at 2750 East Washington Boulevard, bounded by Washington Boulevard on the north and east, Del Rey Avenue on the west and Woodlyn Road on the south.
Tenet Healthcare sold the property to Caltech in 2003. Caltech sold it in 2007 to Denley Investments, a Beverly Hills real estate company. The site has sat largely abandoned since and has drawn repeated city concern over security and nuisance conditions.
The property also took damage in the Eaton Fire in January, when exterior buildings on and adjacent to the complex were damaged. The main hospital building was reported to have remained relatively intact.
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