Family history living in South Pasadena
Grandparents on both sides moved to SP when my parents were very young. My father and his family lived on Orange Grove, at the northwest corner of the Pasadena Freeway. My mother and her family lived on Marengo, next door to the Marengo Elementary school auditorium. When the school expanded they bought my grandparent's property and tore down that house.
My grandfather on my mother's side was drafted into the Army Corps of Engineers in 1942, and moved to South Pasadena from Santa Cruz to work for Monitor Electronics, building radio components for the Army. He remained at Monitor after the war and worked there until he retired.
My grandfather on my father's side owned an Auto Repair company named Russell's Garage, in Bell, CA. After selling the business he went to work in the insurance industry and worked as an adjuster until he retired.
Both grandmothers were stay-at-home moms.
My parents were married in 1949 and moved into an apartment over the garage of my father's parents home. They lived there until 1955, when I was born. They then moved to a small duplex on Pasadena Avenue, and about a year later purchased our home on the southeast corner of Mission and Garfield, where we lived my entire childhood. My parents moved to a house on Columbia, across the street from Grace Terrace in the 1980s.
My oldest son Joss moved back to South Pasadena after he finished college and lived in the Grace Mansion (now split into separate apartments) for a few years. His apartment was the original dining room of the mansion and was quite spectacular. Joss and his family now own a home on Grand Avenue.