Walk: Old School

The last few weekends have been nothing but troubles. There were rain for several weekends, and when it was finally sunny, I got a flu. So, since my weekends were filled with troubles, I decided to take a rare opportunity to take pictures on weekday instead. Indeed today(Wednesday, March 19, 2008) was a great day to be taking photos. Instead of the usual walk around my neighborhood, I decided to head up to my old college, Pasadena City College.

My college days were both fulfilling and empty at the same time. Like many other college students, my wallet was very hollow and empty. The lunch was a dollar burger from either Carl Jr., Jack In The Box, Burger King, or McDonald. Yet, it was because of this hollow wallet, I learned to explore Pasadena city with my legs. From the foot of the mountain(North) to Old Town(West) to East Pasadena(East) to San Marino(South), I have walk to the four edges of Pasadena.

Revisiting my old college again is freshing. It has been less than ten years, but a new building is being constructed on the western end of PCC. On the eastern end, there is a library, so I decided to take few pictures in there.

Afterward I headed to Cal Tech campus. The university is grand, peaceful, and beautiful. A university that host hundreds of top students across United States, and a home to Feynman. Yet of all these accomplishment, the joke in the comic section is still as lame as ever. To my surprise, there were several students walking around the campus than I ever recall seeing back in my college days. After walking around and saw the calendar, I learned that today happened to be the last day of the final exam week. My guess is that these students were taking take a good look at the sun before the next quarter comes around. If you ever visit Cal Tech, be sure to drop by the bookstore. Two things should surprise you. First should be the classical music in the background. Second would be the lighting environment. Basically, it feels like I was in a high end coffee shop; sofa and plenty of books.

After Cal Tech, I went down south to The Old Mill. Unknown to me, I have walk passed this place several times before, but never both to enter the place. After so many years, I was there to see what it was all about. To my disappointment, I did not see any mill. The historian told me it was long gone. It was used by the missionaries from San Gabriel Mission(another historical site that I entered only by accident... last weekend) in the 1800s.

The Old Mill is quite small, but the building is itself significant. It was built in the early 1800s for the San Gabriel missionaries using adobe brick. The wall in basement is five feet thick, and was used to keep the grain(granary). Unfortunately, due to the damping underground, moisture seeped through to the basement, and ruin the grain. The place was sold in the mid-1800s, and after the Mexican War, the place has been transform to a residential house. In the early 1900s, it was converted to a clubhouse for the golf course that used to cover a large area of San Marino. In 1962, The Old Mill was given to the city of San Marino, and was established as a historical site.