As the 19th century turned, Pasadena was booming, and so was this building. It soon became a freight depot for the Pasadena and Los Angeles Railroad, a key stop for goods riding the rails-long before the age of Amazon Prime! If you peek at the south wall today, you might just make out the faded “Pasadena and Los Angeles” sign, a whisper from those railway days.
Now, let’s flash forward to the early 20th century, when the building took on a new persona as the Hotel Mikado, serving Pasadena’s Japanese American community. The air would have been filled with the mingling aromas from kitchens cooking up favorite recipes from two worlds, the sound of laughter and conversation in multiple languages, and the energy of a community making itself at home.
But change, as always, was around the corner! In the 1940s, Percy Carter and his family bought the building and made history: this became Pasadena’s first black-owned hotel, renamed the Hotel Carver in honor of George Washington Carver. Pause here for a moment-directly across from the Hotel Green, which was famous for hosting Pasadena’s elite (as long as they were white). If walls could talk, these ones would sing tales from the Blue Room upstairs, where guests dined and dreamed, and from the basement’s Onyx Club-later the Club Cobra-where the jazz was hot and, rumor has it, many famous musicians played deep into the smoky night. They say the music was so good back then, even the ghosts stuck around just for the after-party.
But Pasadena’s progress had sharp edges. In the 1950s, the city decided that Fair Oaks Avenue needed to be wider. Cue the dramatic music-out came the beautiful bay windows and the elegant turret on the southeast corner, along with the character from similar buildings up the street. The Carver family continued running the hotel for decades, though, handing the business from Percy to his sons, and you can bet the place was still buzzing.
Then, in the 1970s, another transformation rolled in like a runaway paint can. The hotel was sold and reinvented: the upper floors morphed into art studios, and the grand ground floor became home to the Pasadena Repertory Theatre. The arts scene exploded-over a hundred artists, musicians, dancers, and even comic book creators called the Carver their creative home! The place was bursting with wild ideas, paints, scripts, and yes, plenty of late-night coffee. Imagine bumping into future stars like Ed Harris (you know, from The Right Stuff and Pollock) rehearsing lines in the hallway, while the Latino soul band El Chicano practiced a few doors down.
The Repertory Theatre itself wasn’t just any neighborhood stage. They won major awards, staged the west coast premiere of Tennessee Williams’ “Kingdom of Earth,” and saw Academy Award nominee Elizabeth Hartman light up the stage-her husband, Gill Dennis, directed, and later he would co-write the Oscar-winning Johnny Cash biopic “Walk the Line.” The resident acting teacher was Florence MacMichael, someone so prolific, her IMDb page might need its own ZIP code!
Out front, a mysterious mural appeared in towering letters: “’My people are the people of the dessert,’ said T.E. Lawrence, picking up his fork.” Pasadena hummed with theories. Was it a typo? Was it art? Or did T.E. Lawrence just really love cake?
But the wild creative days weren’t to last forever. In the 1980s, owners changed more often than some people change socks, and by 1985, with eviction notices fluttering from every entrance, the Hotel Carver put on one last, bittersweet show. Over forty artists reunited for a farewell art festival, each room bursting with memories and masterpieces. Soon after, the building was gutted and modernized. Gone were the redwood interiors, the grand staircase, and the iconic fire escapes. But the legend? That’s still here, echoing in the walls and living in stories like this.
So, as you stand here, imagine the footsteps, the voices, the art, the jazz, and the history you’re sharing space with. After all, in the city of Pasadena, even the buildings know how to put on a show!
