Celebrating, Old Pasadena

Speaking as a totally unbiased Marketing Director at Old Pasadena Management District (OPMD), I have to say… Old Pas knows how to have a good time.

This month alone we’ve got the ongoing “Locals Only” Thursday specials with great savings throughout Old Pasadena for anyone who lives or works anywhere in Pasadena. And on Sunday the 16,th we are holding our annual Cultural Dance Festival from 1:00-6:00 p.m… Which oh by the way, is FREE… and everyone’s invited. And of course this is the first week of “DineLA,” and six of our restaurants are participating: La Grande Orange Café, POP Champagne & Dessert Bar, Quadrupel Brasserie, Sushi Roku – Pasadena, The Melting Pot on Colorado, Vertical Wine Bistro, Villa SORRISO and Yujean Kang's Gourmet Chinese Cuisine.

That not enough to celebrate? Let’s talk Halloween. From Saturday, October 22 through Monday, October 31, there are stunningly Spooktacular activities going on throughout the district: kids pumpkin decorating, store-to-store trick-or-treating, costumed characters “meet and greet,” and free outdoor screenings of Monsters Inc. and Corpse Bride. Still not satisfied? How about free haunted photos, a kid-friendly haunted house tour, and more!  

There's a lot happening all over town, starting at One Colorado.

Halloween eve, Monday the 31st, features free store-to-store trick-or-treating at over 75 stores and restaurants in Old Pasadena starting at 4pm. There’ll be a variety of festive candy and confections for all the little ones.  Free caramel apples will be given out on Colorado Blvd and at One Colorado Courtyard kids can get free haunted professional photos against a festive background among hundreds of pumpkins.  One Colorado is also the site of free outdoor screenings of “Monsters Inc.” at 6pm and Tim Burton’s “Corpse Bride” at 8pm. And for a little variety, you can meet and greet various popular Halloween costumed characters who will be roaming Old Pasadena on Halloween evening. 

And for those who love a little Halloween Horror, up-close-and-personal, the Old Town Haunt, Pasadena’s award-winning scary haunted house is back, dwelling in the basement of the historical Union Savings Bank Building where rumor has it, mysterious occurrences have taken place in the buildings’ deadly 109 year history Now the building is open to the public for chilling tours into the catacombs where ghosts and goblins meet from 7 pm-12 am. A lights-on, child friendly tour and walk-thru is also available from 12pm-4pm on Sunday, October 30. 

So, celebrate the SPIRITS of the season with us in Old Pasadena. You’ll have a frightfully good time.

All Kirk Sellman wanted was to play with his 3-year old again

For over a decade, Kirk had put up with numbness, first in his feet, then his legs and finally all of his lower organs. But for over a year, things were going south rapidly. He fell often and fell hard. He frightened his 3-year old, and was in fear for his life. When the neurologists and neurosurgeons at USC examined his CAT scan, they found a tumor that had compressed his spinal cord to the thickness of a ribbon.

Kirk relates this experience of facing the consequences of a thoracic vertebra 7 level schwannoma, and his treatment, a gross total resection of the tumor by neurosurgeon, Patrick Hsieh, M.D. Graphic scans show the extent of the damage done by the tumor and the relief that Doctor Hsieh and his team were able give Kirk. More than just the ability to stand, and walk and regain control of his body. He was able to rebuild his life and rejoin his family.

This is just one of thirteen videos that Pasadena Advertising Marketing and Design produced for the USC Keck School Of Medicine: true stories of normal, healthy people whose everyday lives were suddenly shattered by catastrophic medical emergencies no one could predict or prepare for.  The patients themselves tell their stories of survival with the help of their doctors: the neurologists, neuroradiologists and neurosurgeons of the Keck School of Medicine at USC.
This is the kind of information my wife and I wished we'd had when our daughter’s life was nearly ended by a brain hemorrhage in Scotland in 2007. We spent hours pouring over the Internet scouring all the information we could find on aneurysms and the treatment, coil embolization. Most of what we found was so arcane and technical that we could not truly grasp what was happening. We created these videos for people like us – people who need immediate answers, to urgent questions, in idioms they can easily understand.
With these videos at their fingertips, patients, friends and families dealing with life threatening neurological threats will finally have a place to turn for practical answers that they can understand.

These videos were conceived and produced by Tony Nino and Suzanne Marks at Pasadena Advertising Marketing Design.
The director and DP was James OKeeffe and the editor was Peter Bayer.

Annie Nelson - Her World Changed in a Breath

Annie remembers the day a blinding headache, vomiting and loss of balance sent her to the emergency room and began a day of terrifying revelations. Her doctors could not control her symptoms, and couldn't find a cause until CT scan revealed a massive acoustic neuroma, eighth cranial nerve brain tumor that was literally crushing her cerebellum. The doctors immediately scheduled surgery, and advised her to get prepped immediately. She said no.

Annie is a fighter, an activist and the founder of the American Soldiers Network dedicated to raising awareness for the needs of our veterans, our injured soldiers, their families and the challenges they all face during the reintegration process when they return from Iraq and Afghanistan. She takes nothing for granted. She tells how she immediately called on friends and colleagues and found one of the premiere neurosurgeons in the country, Steven Giannotta, M.D. at USC, and convinced him to see her right away.
Dr. Gianotta explains how her tumor, while benign, had grown so large, and was impinging on so many vital nerves and tissues, that only a surgical solution, a retrosigmoid craniotomy, was viable. His task at this point was not merely to save her life but spare her facial nerves
This is just one of thirteen videos that Pasadena Advertising Marketing and Design produced for the USC Keck School Of Medicine: true stories of normal, healthy people whose everyday lives were suddenly shattered by catastrophic medical emergencies no one could predict or prepare for.  The patients themselves tell their stories of survival with the help of their doctors: the neurologists, neuroradiologists and neurosurgeons of the Keck School of Medicine at USC.
This is the kind of information my wife and I wished we'd had when our daughter’s life was nearly ended by a brain hemorrhage in Scotland in 2007. We spent hours pouring over the Internet scouring all the information we could find on aneurysms and the treatment, coil embolization. Most of what we found was so arcane and technical that we could not truly grasp what was happening. We created these videos for people like us – people who need immediate answers, to urgent questions, in idioms they can easily understand.
With these videos at their fingertips, patients, friends and families dealing with life threatening neurological threats will finally have a place to turn for practical answers that they can understand.

These videos were conceived and produced by Tony Nino and Suzanne Marks at Pasadena Advertising Marketing Design.
The director and DP was James OKeeffe and the editor was Peter Bayer.

Doing businesses good

Over ten thousand visitors gathered for the wildly popular “Make Music Pasadena.”

On Wednesday August 17, at our OPMD first Marketing Committee meeting after measuring the success of “Make Music Pasadena,” we held an informal roundtable on the most effective ways to attract and retain customers. As the head of Marketing, I was specifically interested in how OPMD’s efforts were making the merchant's efforts easier. But we didn’t exactly ask that question. Thank goodness.

We asked, “What has worked best to attract and retain customers for your business?” The overwhelming answer was “Customer Service.” All the merchants around the table agreed. Everyone was eager to share what had worked, and, even more emphatically, what had not worked for them in their own businesses. This promised to be much more interesting that what we had originally intended, so we listened and learned.

“Paying attention to the little things,” was a common theme shared by business owners and managers from the diverse group at the table from The Melting Pot restaurant, Lula Mae boutique gift shop, Vertical Wine Bistro, Le Grand Orange Café and the One Colorado development. Another common theme was rewarding locals, residents and employees alike who spend time in Old Pasadena. The more personal the approach, the better.

On the other hand, impersonal discount aggregators such as Groupon were roundly dismissed. Customers who came in to use their Groupon discounts were almost never seen again. To make matters worse, the merchants only received 25% of the value of the service or merchandise and the 8 ½ x 11 computer print-out coupons were perceived as tacky and awkward to use. According to Online Media Daily, we weren’t the only people to notice.

Personal coupons, and targeted neighborhood discounts such as Lula Mae’s “Lula Bucks,” Le Grand Orange’s Monday and Tuesday Neighborhood Nights, Vertical Wine Bistro’s Burger Night Thursday and Melting Pot’s Rewards Program paid off consistently with a wealth of return customers. And unlike Groupon customers, local customers taking part in local restaurants' promotions tipped their waiters.

When we finally asked our merchants if the OPMD events helped them, they were effusive with their praise. “Make Music Pasadena,” “Pasadena Restaurant Week,” “Summer Film Festival” “Happy Hour Week” and our “Art Night” entertainment had all positively affected business. Everyone was excited about the “Locals Only Thursday” promotion running in September and October. In fact over 50 Old Pasadena businesses have signed on to be a part of it.

Personal touch. Customer Service. Catering to friends and neighbors. As much as we at OPMD would like to believe that we are the driving force in Old Pasadena business, apparently doing good business is still what does businesses the most good.

Here Comes The Neighborhood!

Open the doors and seize the day. That’s what they’re doing in Old Pasadena every Thursday for the months of September and October. Over 50 Old Pas merchants will offer special discounts and promotions to Pasadena residents as well as those who work in Pasadena during Old Pasadena’s Locals Only Thursdays.

From the home page of the website to signs throughout the district, locals are directed to savings

Due to the success of last year’s event, Locals Only Thursdays is being extended to two months this year beginning September 1.  We fully expect to draw thousands of Pasadena residents, business people and employees to Old Pasadena to enjoy a wide range of in-store giveaways and promotions.

Restaurants; stores; coffee, tea and dessert shops; spas and beauty salons throughout Old Pasadena are offering special giveaways and exclusive savings including Banana Republic, Forever 21, The Body Shop, Verizon Wireless, Eileen Fisher, The Sofa Company, The Luggage Room Pizzeria, Stats Floral Display, Vertical Wine Bistro, Lula Mae, Distant Lands and Sushi Roku, among others. They are offering thousands of dollars in savings and many are offering free gifts to customers.

As head of the Old Pasadena Management District Marketing Committee, I get to congratulate Kershona Mayo for her excellent work in organizing this event, and Janet Swartz for her online marketing. I love how good they make me look. Wow times 2. But in truth, we really do have a lot of great stuff to work with.

Old Pasadena has always been a great place to live, work and shop, and now, it’s even better.   For more information including a download of all the exclusive special offers, giveaways and promotions please visit www.oldpasadena.org/localsonly.

Pasadena Heritage Honors Us

Tony Nino, Rhea Roberts, Steve Mulheim, Hanna Wood, Suzanne Marks, Marilyn Buchannan

After 40 years of friendly enmity, the Pasadena Heritage Society held a gala evening at the Green Hotel in Pasadena to honor the hundreds of builders, architects, developers, civic organizations, city leaders and volunteers who stood in the way of the wrecking ball, and saved Old Pasadena. They called us The Guardians of Old Pasadena, the people who managed to turn a desolate slum into one of the most popular downtown areas in Southern California in less than thirty years. As past chairs of the Old Pasadena Management District, Suzanne and I were proud to be a part of it.
Rebuilding was not an easy task, and things often got testy. In fact, all of us being honored had often disagreed with Pasadena Heritage, sometimes strenuously, over how much development was too much, and how much control property owners had over their properties. However, as one of the honorees, my friend and mentor, Jim Plotkin pointed out, “We never fought each other. No matter how much we might have disagreed, we always fought on the same side for the same vision: a vital, restored, reinvigorated Old Pasadena.”
It was a fight we nearly lost even before we ever began. As Donald Shoup and Douglas Kolozsvari wrote in “The High Cost of Free Parking,” Old Pasadena had turned into a classic skid row, “known mainly for its pawn shops, porn theaters, and tattoo parlors.”

From online archives of Old Pasadena

The City’s solution was draconian, tear it down and start anew… according to 1970’s standards.

From “The High Cost of Free Parking,” Donald Shoup and Douglas Kolozsvari

The Arroyo Group and some helpful friends at the City Council joined Pasadena Heritage to fight long and hard to bring that destructive effort to a stop, and they succeeded. But even after they’d won, and wrecking balls were safely stowed away, someone had to step up and physically build the vision they’d had. That’s when the property and building owners, developers and builders stepped up to restore the crumbling facades that had fallen into such sad disrepair. Their contribution was represented by Jim Plotkin, but also included Gene and Marilyn Buchanan, Francine Tolkin, John Wilson, Danny Mellinkoff and many others. Once the restoration of the faded architecture began to return to it’s former glory, there came the daunting task to make Old Pasadena profitable again.
A number of Old Pasadena business development organizations were formed to coordinate this Herculean effort, including today’s Old Pasadena Management District (OPMD). At first we met in the refurbished Chamber of Commerce building at Arroyo and Colorado, because there was no place for Old Pasadena advocates to meet.  Of course, at the time, there wasn't really an Old Pasadena. But there was Bruce Ackerman, President of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce. He not only let us meet there, he acted as referee when this contentious band he had invited in every month would ... disagree. Heatedly. Repeatedly. Somehow, he took our passion and turned it into action.
Within ten years, reconstruction was accompanied by revitalization. Events were organized to introduce new visitors to this brand new Old Pasadena. A movie theater was built to reinvigorate nightlife. A slumlord got kicked out of his building, and the last island of decay within our 22 blocks, was rebuilt. And in an epiphany of counter intuition, a parking plan was devised to bring more customers into the district, raise money for the district and encourage employees to park off of the main business streets to make room for shoppers. The secret? Parking meters. In combination with 90-minute free parking in parking structures, more visitors stopped, shopped, ate and played than ever before. The solution was so successful, it fills the pages of “The High Cost of Free Parking,” by Donald Shoup and Douglas Kolozsvari.
Five years ago, OPMD took over management of the parking structures from the City. We cleaned them up, made them safer, kept the prices low and offered 90-minutes free parking. In our first full year, we took the annual earnings from $5000 a year to $500,000 – yes, 100 times better. Last year, at the height of the worst recession in 60 years, we made $1.7 million. Our lots were so successful, some in the City tried to take them back. Instead, we are slated to take over two more structures. In Steve Mulheim's two minutes at the dinner, he didn't have time to mention that.
Today, as the economy rocks and reels, the same Old Pasadena that was born in adversity, continues to thrive. But now, OPMD can support our developers, building owners, merchants, and restaurants with a level of marketing that vastly exceeds our miniscule budget. Our events have grown so popular that sponsors stand in line to support them. Our web site gives all of our stakeholders their own unique page or provides links to their own sites. Our social media programs have proven so popular that now even referral sites like Yelp have joined our pool of sponsors whenever we hold an event.

OPMD Website supports our merchants and directs our visitors.

We thank Pasadena Heritage Society Executive Director Sue Mossman for a very special evening. And in turn, we thank them, and each and every one of our predecessors for helping to take these 22 blocks from the brink of obliteration to where it is today. Thank you for honoring us. Thank you for being a part of us. We look forward to working together for our future.

Sade Acosta, A Death Defied, Twice

Sade was only 19-years old and pursuing her dream of being a singer, when she fell to the ground after a party and was unable to talk or even recognize her brothers and sisters. This was not due to any intoxicants, but rather an explosion of blood from a tiny arterial/venal malformation that threatened to destroy her brain. She tells the story of how she survived the two cerebral hemorrhages that almost ended her career, and her life, before she reached 20.




Her neurosurgeon, Charles Liu, M.D., explains how he removed the clot and saved her life. After her brain anatomy, which had been distorted by the hemorrhage, returned to normal, he then proceeded to monitor her progress with MRIs every two months to isolate the cause and prevent a recurrence. After her second hemorrhage, Dr. Liu found a minute AVM (arterio-venous malformation) and with the help of neuronavigation imaging, tracked it down and eliminated it.
This is just one of thirteen videos that Pasadena Advertising Marketing and Design produced for the USC Keck School Of Medicine: true stories of normal, healthy people whose everyday lives were suddenly shattered by catastrophic medical emergencies no one could predict or prepare for.  The patients themselves tell their stories of survival with the help of their doctors: the neurologists, neuroradiologists and neurosurgeons of the Keck School of Medicine at USC.
This is the kind of information my wife and I wished we'd had when our daughter’s life was nearly ended by a brain hemorrhage in Scotland in 2007. We spent hours pouring over the Internet scouring all the information we could find on aneurysms and the treatment, coil embolization. Most of what we found was so arcane and technical that we could not truly grasp what was happening. We created these videos for people like us – people who need immediate answers, to urgent questions, in idioms they can easily understand.
With these videos at their fingertips, patients, friends and families dealing with life threatening neurological threats will finally have a place to turn for practical answers that they can understand.

These videos were conceived and produced by Tony Nino and Suzanne Marks at Pasadena Advertising Marketing Design.
The director and DP was James OKeeffe and the editor was Peter Bayer.