Time trippin'

Saturday was the day we would take a tour of our old college campus located near the intersection of Orange Grove and Colorado Boulevards in Pasadena.  Late in the 19th century and moving into the early 20th century the area where our small church college eventually was located was called 'Millionaires Row'.  By mid century many of these large mansions had fallen into disrepair and our church began to buy up the properties to form the Ambassador College campus.  While the college no longer exists, the property has been sold to another church group which is utilizing a large part of the original campus for a Christian high school called Marantha.  Here are a few pictures that I think will convey the original grandeur of the campus....

'Lower Garden' where graduations were held (TLE & her sister Phyllis)

 One of the former mansions we called 'Mayfair', which was utilized as a dormitory by our college.

 The 'quad' area

The student center kitchen where TLE toiled her freshman year

The food service staff at Marantha H.S. provided us with a lovely lunch in the dining area of the student center where as young adults we spent many hours many years ago.  It was comforting to see that Marantha is going to great lengths to preserve many of the structures and features of the old Ambassador College Campus.

The old Huet C. Merritt Mansion that was called 'Ambassador Hall'.  My first summer home from the Texas campus I worked on the grounds around this building.

 The planter where I would store my sack lunch until lunch time each day

My first summer home from the Texas campus I worked on the 'landscape crew', and I was assigned to work around 'Ambassador Hall' (shown in the three pictures above) weeding the dichondra lawn.  It was the kind of lawn that looked great in pictures, and from a distance, but required a lot of labor to keep it looking good.....not very practical, but very beautiful.  It was during that summer of 1968 that I developed a friendship with the Lovely Elaine, which blossomed over the years, and the rest is history.

Later in the afternoon I made contact with my brother, Dwyer, who was in town for a few days and made arrangements to meet he and my sister Jill at Congregation Ale House just a half mile from the hotel.  TLE, Phyllis and I walked the half mile over to the ale house about 10 minutes arriving there just after Dwyer had arrived, and Jill arrived about 30 minutes later.  They have a wonderful selection of their own brews, as well as other local brews.  I had their Cocoa Porter for starters, and then had a pint of their Dark of the Covenant Stout, to go along with a basket of their tacos....both were excellent, and is mute testimony to why they get a 4 star rating on Yelp.  It was the perfect venue for our family get together.  We had a wonderful 2 hours of talking and laughing before heading back to the hotel for the evening.

Thanks for stopping by!