You have the latest audio and visual content of this tour in your hand. It is very much rooted in the brilliant research of Paul C. Rollins and his resulting book entitled "Letters From the Sphinx" but more on that later.
If you just want to listen as you stroll, jog or pedal it couldn't be easier. Once your volume is set, we take care of the rest. You could put your phone in your back pocket and as you come upon points of interest or a story of what was there in yesteryear, we will tell you about it as just the right time. At most of these points, you can see historical photographs and content to bring supporting depth and pinch and zoom to bring their full resolution. Tablets and the Ipad are very good at this and you can view the entire tour and its content on your desktop or laptop if you'd like also. But now, let's go and let's go back to simpler and hard working days of yesteryear...
A century and a half ago, there were few suburban foothill comforts and no tidy tree lined streets or concrete driveways. We launch back to 1875 when Altadena and the entire alluvial fan it rests upon contained fewer than 50 homes and only 3 besides the Allens' Sphinx Ranch and vineyard and orchards.
You are heading back to just 40 years after California has had a gold rush and become a state. It is a decade when the slopes of Altadena were peppered with a few residents trying to grow citrus fruits and grapes for wine and table and trying to stake a new life in a new land, the foothills of California at the top northeast corner of Los Angeles county. It was the top or Northeastern portion of the San Pascual rancho of Spanish California days and this rancho covered a massive amount of area including Pasadena, Altadena, South Pasadena and East Pasadena - all of which was in 1880 filled with only 34,000 people (25% fewer than in just altadena today.) For perspective, only 30 years before there were only 30,000 non-natives in all of California!
The land that once comprised the Sphinx Ranch of the William and Emily Allen family is where our stories are told and with a little imagination, remove the homes and streets and envision her three boys and two girls roaming and toiling on a 500 acre playground. This industrious and educated family from Great Britain via Egypt owned all of the land from Allen Avenue to Altadena Drive with New York drive defining the southern boundary of the orchards and vineyards of the Allen family. These are the stories of their efforts to create a new life in the San Gabriel Valley and theirs are the the feet that trod on the land beneath us before our grandparents had been born...
Fruit orchards and grapevines were set amongst the native California Live Oak trees studding the gently sloped ranch property. Of the 500 acres, grape varietals were most prevalent as William experimented to see what grew and produced the best flavors for table wine and brandy. They also grew stone fruits nearer their home southeast of Pepper and Berendo and they grew barley and hay at the top of the property which was less manageable due to boulders and uneven ground - up above modern day altadena drive to pinecrest.
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