Arlington Garden is located on 3 acres of the former 10-acre estate of Chicago-born wholesale grocer John Milton Durand, whose mansion stood at the corner of Pasadena's "Millionaire's Row" (Orange Grove Boulevard) and Arlington Drive from 1904 to 1964.
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Then located in an area of Pasadena known as Arlington Heights, the now-demolished 50-room, three-story French château was designed by architect Frederick Roehrig, a.k.a. "The Millionaire's Architect."
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Pomegranate amphitheater
It was a 17,000-square-foot, French Normandy-style manse made out of Red Arizona sandstone, which had fallen into disrepair and sold at public auction in 1961 after Durand's son's death the year prior.
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Pomegranate amphitheater
Caltrans ended up gobbling up the property during the agency's expansion of the 710 Freeway—and used it as a staging area to store equipment. (Before 1964, the 710 was SR-15; after the 1964 renumbering by the California Division of Highways, it was renamed SR-7. It didn't become the Interstate 710 until 1983.)
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The 710 project through that particular area was never completed, and—despite once being the site of a lushly landscaped tropical paradise, with a hedge of Cherokee roses—the parcel had become a weed-infested eyesore.
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The City of Pasadena leased the vacant lot from Caltrans—and the city-funded public garden was officially founded in 2005 by next-door neighbors Betty and Charles "Kicker" McKenney, the latter a former Pasadena city councilman (1972-1978).
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The couple worked with landscape designer Mayita Dinos to plant a mediterranean climate zone garden of drought-tolerant plants and trees, arranged in dozens of different garden "rooms"...
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In background: Craftsman Commons Fountain by artist Cha-Rie Tang
...including a formal allée of olive trees, the St. Francis succulent garden...
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...a pine forest...
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...a Washingtonia Palm Quadrant, a vernal pool, a seasonal wash...
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...an oak grove, a meadow...
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...and a citrus grove, the only such grove now near Orange Grove Boulevard or anywhere in Pasadena.
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Local schoolchildren planted its Washington Navel orange trees in 2005—and now, Girl Scouts pick the oranges annually so they can be processed into and sold as a sweet orange marmalade, made by E. Waldo Ward & Son in Sierra Madre.
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All of the hardscape, including the retaining walls, were designed by Marco Barrantes of La Loma Development—using a sustainable material called "urbanite," which is essentially comprised of leftover (and sometimes broken) pieces of concrete.
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Local residents gifted much of the benches, pottery, fountains, and statuary that adorn the garden "rooms" and pathways.
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Some of them are broken, too—but that just adds to the ambiance.
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The McKenneys became known as "the constant gardeners" of Arlington Garden for all the volunteer time they spent there maintaining the gardens.
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Unfortunately, Charles died in 2015. Betty retired from the garden shortly thereafter and passed away in 2018.
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There's more than just plants at Arlington Garden, too, as it also is home to a classical seven-circuit rock labyrinth...
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...and the Wish Tree for Pasadena installation that was relocated there from Pasadena's One Colorado in 2008.
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It's one of many such installations by Yoko Ono—an example of living art, in which handwritten wishes hang from crepe myrtle trees (which were replanted from One Colorado as well).
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It's quite the evolution from the weedy lot it started as—with just seven palm trees, two coast live oaks, a California pepper tree, a jacaranda tree, and a lot of trash.
Now, it's got so many treasures, it bears repeat visits. (My photos above are a combination of two visits nearly five years apart, 2016 and 2021.)
Adapted from my SoCal Wanderer article "Five Most Peaceful Solo Excursions in SoCal" on KCET.org.
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