The area's first inhabitants called the area between Devil's Gate Dam and the Los Angeles River "Hahamongna: flowing rivers, fruitful valleys." The Spanish, who arrived during the dry season, had another name for it: "Arroyo Seco".
The Arroyo Seco, literally "dry creek", is the most prominent feature of the northeast Los Angeles landscape. The canyon of the Arroyo Seco extends from the foot of the San Gabriel mountains and along the west edge of South Pasadena. It borders an area called the Garvanza district, and continues south through Highland Park until it joins the Los Angeles river - near Elysian Park.
The Arroyo Seco served as a hunting ground for the area's earliest residents. Bears and coyotes, roamed among live oaks, sycamores and grassland that lined the stretch of the canyon.
In Pasadena's early days the Arroyo Seco was a village with orchards of walnuts, olives and citrus trees. Because of its beautiful scenery and climate, the Arroyo Seco became a favorite spot for hiking, fishing and hunting.
In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt supported keeping the Arroyo Seco a natural park. When the bond to do so failed to pass, wealthy citizens bought the remaining land and built mansions that are still situated on the hills today.
In the early 1800s, the wilderness area became a den for outlaws, where they assembled, divided and buried their booty, and established bases from which they attacked travelers and settlers.
The Arroyo even became identified with a herd of camels, before the Civil War - in the 1850s, imported for the U.S. Army Camel Corps. The little-known idea was to use the animals for Army transportation in the dry Southwest. The camel drivers brought the animals to the Arroyo for water and pasture.
In the early 1900s the Arroyo became a center for the artistic and intellectual, a home to the Arts and Crafts Movement. Rebelling against industrialization, Movement followers built houses and built most of their environment by hand. Many of these creative craft-homes can be seen in Northeast Pasadena.
Before the historic Colorado Street Bridge was built in 1913, crossing the Arroyo Seco was a difficult task. Horses and wagons descended steep slopes, crossed the stream over a smaller bridge, and then climbed up and through Eagle Rock Pass. The curves of the Colorado Street Bridge resulted from difficulty in finding a foundation on the Arroyo ground – therefore making the design a work of art.
Go To Page: 1 2
