Altadena's Hidden-Gem Walks

If you steer clear of the underachieving main street, almost any walk in Altadena is worth your while.

Though we're best known for the usual suspects, the grand gestures – Christmas Tree Lane, for example, or some of the fine old estates on Millionaire's Row -- I suggest the hidden gems. 

Between Santa Rosa and Marengo, north of Altadena Drive, sculptor and muralist Elaine Carhartt's home shares a little half street with other artists, past and present. 

Illustrator Kay Nielsen, master of the lushly bleak, once lived right around the corner, as did poet Hildegarde Flanner.  Today there's a new crop of artists, composers and writers. But if it's characters you want, take a walk by Elaine's.

Many of her ceramic sculptures are the size of a large child, and generously, I've always thought, some of her work lives outside her studio, sitting and standing on the front porch, and perched on the roof.  Those familiar with medieval manuscripts know the source of her inspiration, but just the source, because the pieces are most definitely her own.

When you first see her characters, they're wondrous, then comic, and ultimately, addictive.  I find an excuse to walk by Elaine's house all the time. Finally, I knocked on her door and she invited me in.

Actually, I suppose, I invited myself in, but why quibble. Elaine wouldn't turn me away.... she has one of those sunny dispositions you've heard tell about. And by that, I don't mean she's aggressively cheerful (something which makes me beat a path for the quietly depressed). No, she just exudes gentle good will.

On a tour through her studio, Elaine brought out examples of work in progress.  She builds her pieces in clay, by hand -- no wheel, cast, or mold -- starting with the feet, then tubes for the legs, and a large slab from which she'll fashion the torso. "I tuck and pull and get movement. The face, the face takes a couple of weeks; I may erase ten of them before I get one I like."

Her sculptures have  homes throughout the United States. You can find Elaine Carhartt murals in Venice. She also carves Celtic block prints in linoleum to transfer images and colors to ceramic tiles. You see, there's a press and … oh, might as well admit, here's where things got a bit heady for me.  My notes just say, "Something goes on something  and clay." 

 But you know what; I'll bet I'm right. You tell me something doesn't go on and that clay isn't involved, and we're in for an argument.

After that, Elaine took me for a tour of her garden. Actually I invited myself for a tour, but we're still not quibbling. I met her giant -- live -- rooster, who looks just like Orson Welles (the Caftan Years), and saw her husband's vineyard, their raised beds, water pond and fountain features, and just about everything else you can imagine.

Personally, I think it's fine and dandy to have a project or two in the works, but one shouldn't overdo.  Ah well, I guess busy hands make happy hearts.

I wonder if it's also true that idle hands are the devil's workshop -- if so, maybe we'll see some construction on our main street after all.