94th Annual Lighting Ceremony

“The Official Newsletter of Christmas Tree Lane”
December 2014
www.christmastreelane.net
Volume 95, Number 1
Continuing Altadena’s Oldest Tradition for the Future
DID YOU KNOW?
94th Annual
Lighting Ceremony
THE CHRISTMAS TREE LANE
ASSOCIATION IS AN ALL-
The Christmas Tree Lane Lighting Ceremony and Winter Arts and
Crafts Festival has been expanding bigger and brighter each year. In
addition to the vendors represented last year, there will be new vendors presenting an even broader range of handmade holiday gift items
and products. A different variety of ever popular food trucks will be
present to satisfy your adventurous taste buds. Good news!! Hot
chocolate will be available again!!!
VOLUNTEER ORGANIZATION
DEDICATED TO PRESERVING
THE
NATIONAL
HISTORIC
LANDMARK #990 ON SANTA
ROSA AVENUE IN ALTADENA,
CALIFORNIA. WE ARE A 501
(C)(4) NON-PROFIT ORGANI-
We hope that you come out and enjoy the afternoon perusing the
items for sale and end the day enjoying the lighting of the trees with
your family and friends. Put us down on your calendar of special
events to attend!
ZATION.
VOLUNTEERS
WORK
THROUGHOUT THE YEAR TO
REBUILD
THE
LINES
AND
Saturday, December 13, 2014
at 2:00 p.m. for the
Winter Arts and Crafts Festival and
6:00 p.m. for the Lighting Ceremony
EQUIPMENT USED TO LIGHT
THE LANE AND REBUILD THE
STONE GUTTERS ON SANTA
ROSA AVENUE.
REMINDER: Parking is limited on the streets surrounding the Altadena Library, 600 E. Mariposa St., so come early. Santa Rosa Ave.,
at the library, will be closed to vehicles after 4 p.m. Mariposa to Woodbury Rd., will be open to pedestrians to walk under the umbrella of
twinkling lights and closed to vehicle traffic until 7 p.m. and will open
again at 9 p.m.
TREES ARE REPLANTED, AND
WE WORK TO PROTECT THE
TREES
FROM
OVER-
PRUNING, UNDER GROWTH,
AND VANDALISM. WE ALSO
REPLACE
DEAD
NEEDED
IN
TREES
AS
Don’t forget the John Muir Alumni Drum Corps will again lead the procession down the Lane to Woodbury Road. Plan on wearing lightcolored clothing and carrying a flashlight if you return to the library
area after the street is opened again to traffic.
COME AND ENJOY!!!!
COOPERATION
WITH THE COUNTY OF LOS
ANGELES.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
1
2
LIGHTING CEREMONY
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
3
3
MEMBERSHIP DRIVE 2014
NEW BOARD MEMBERS
3
4
SPECIAL RECOGNITION OF BUSINESSES
BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND CALENDAR 2014/2015
PAGE 2
Timberline News
Message from the President . . . Maureen Ward
Do you hear the drum beats of the John Muir Alumni Drum Corps marching down the
Lane? For many of us, including me, this is the highlight of the lighting ceremony.
The 2014 Christmas Tree Lane Lighting Ceremony and Winter Arts Festival is just
around the corner. Please join us to hear sounds of the holidays by children from
Elliot Arts Magnet, Pasadena LEARNS Afterschool Program, and John Muir High
School choir. It is a magical night under the sparking lights of this beautiful historic
landmark.
At this time, I would like to highlight a person who has left us and was very instrumental in making Christmas Tree Lane Lighting what it is today and how much we appreciate his contributions.
Maureen Ward,
President 2003-
Francis (Frank) Crunk and his wife Mary Jane had been long-time residents of Altadena, having immigrated
from St. Louis, Mo. following his stint in the US Navy. His wife Mary was a teacher with the Pasadena Unified
School District. Frank and Mary donated countless hours of service to the community, especially for Altadena Heritage . Frank also was an active hiker and volunteered rebuilding trails and spent untold hours restoring the Mount Lowe observation pergola. He was involved with various Altadena Town Council Land
Use Committees and for 20 years was an active Board Member of the Christmas Tree Lane Association.
Frank became deeply involved with the Lane in the 1980’s and saw it’s revival. Frank recruited Tony and myself in 1993 along with many others. Frank served as the Lane Foreman when in the year 2000 So. California Edison got into financial difficulties and had to abandon a lot of their charitable giving.
Frank passed away October 14, 2014. Mary preceded his passing in April of 2012. This month would have
been their 50th wedding anniversary.
Frank loved Christmas Tree Lane and worked tirelessly to bring in volunteers, replant trees, rebuild the stone
gutters, and strengthen the infrastructure of Christmas Tree Lane. Thanks to Frank, the Lane continues today. Quoting in part from one of our board members Steve Lamb who worked with Frank on many Altadena
projects, “Mr. Crunk embodied the Altadena ethos of volunteerism, individualism and the Theodore
Roosevelt-ist, strenuous life lived with nature.”
In 1995 a young Ms. Fisher (3 years old) convinced her
parents, Bonnie and Louis, to ask then Lane Foreman Frank
Crunk (on the right) to plant her volunteer seedling deodar
in a space on the Lane that had lost its original tree.
Twenty-three years later, Miss Fisher (on the right)
and her parents, and the former deodar seedling is in
the background. In Frank and Miss Fisher’s honor, the
tree will be lighted for the first time.
Timberline News
PAGE 3
Message from the President (continued). . . Maureen Ward
Membership Drive 2014
The core of this organization are you, the members. Your generous donations are what keep Christmas
Tree Lane lighted. Every year we ask the community at-large to join the organization and many new people
do. However there are many of you who have been members for years. We want to thank all of you for supporting Christmas Tree Lane year-to-year making it a priority when it comes to contributing to our community and it’s organizations.
LED Conversion Status
We continue to use the funds to light the Lane by replenishing our diminishing supply of incandescent bulbs
as they are broken with LED’s. This year we added 2,500 LED’s to the Lane. As you drive down the Lane
you may barely notice, but the new clear LED bulbs add a special sparkle to the lights. One day the entire
Lane will be filled entirely with the same sparkle!!!
You can always donate and join Christmas Tree Lane throughout the year! Thanks again to everyone who
has donated their hard-earned dollars to keep Christmas Tree Lane lighted!!!
Las Flores Water Co. - MANY THANKS!
Thank you to the Las Flores Water Co. for their 20 years of continued support of the Christmas Tree Lane Association. This year we worked along
with them to move our storage container to a different location on the
property, and we continue to work with them to maintain this space. Adjacent is picture of the move. Again, thanks to Las Flores Water Co. for
their contribution to the community of Altadena.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS- Todd and Elvia Lahman
Todd and Elvia joined our board this year and have jumped right in
with both feet. They have undertaken the daunting task of managing
the CTLA memorabilia, sales booth and chairing the committee resuming the Hot Beverage service at the Annual Arts and Crafts Festival. Todd runs a barber shop in the Highland Park area and Elvia
operates the snazzy vintage apparel store in Old Town, The Loved
One.
Todd says “ I’m glad that I am able to participate in this 90+ year old
tradition. It’s nice to take a break from my busy schedule and volunteer for something that makes so many people happy!”
Elvia says “I’m excited to have finally joined CTLA. It’ s something
I’ve been wanting to do since moving to Altadena 10 years ago. I
love being part of a tradition that’s almost 100 years old! It also gives
me the excuse to think about Christmas all year round!”
Maureen Ward
Tony Ward
Maureen Ward
Linda Lane-White
Maggie Elliston-Belker
Steve Elliot
Elvia Lahman
Elvia Lahman
LuCinda Haagenson
Maureen Ward
Ron Baalke
Gisela Baker
Todd Lahman
Steve Lamb
Mary Landau
Gordon Seyffert
Jae Townsend Heffernan
Christmas Tree Lane Association
P.O. Box 11
Altadena, CA 91003
626-403-1123
www.christmastreelane.net
December 13, 2014
Winter Arts & Crafts Festival and
94th Annual Lighting Ceremony
Lights are on through January 1, New Years Day
And on again January 6. Lighting ends.
January 14, 2015
CTLA Monthly Meeting, 7 pm
February 7, 2015
Take down of lights begins and continues
every Saturday and Sunday from 9am-12pm
February 11, 2015
Annual General Election Meeting
Altadena Library, Community Room, 7 pm
On or About March 14, 2015
The date predicated upon the weather, Bulb Testing
and Lane Maintenance will be announced in future
issues of the newsletter and will be posted on our
website.
Meetings are held on the 2nd Wednesday of every
month at the Altadena Library at 600 E Mariposa
in Altadena unless otherwise notified.
Christmas Tree Lane
Association, Inc.
President
1st VP/ Lane Foreman
2nd VP/ Membership
3rd VP/Publicity
Secretary
Treasurer
Director, Lighting Ceremony
Director, Merchandise
Director, Winter Festival
Director, Newsletter
Director, Web Page
Director
Director
Director
Director
Director
Director
Calendar 2014/2015
P.O. Box 11
Altadena, CA 91003
CTLA Board of Directors
NONPROFIT ORG
US POSTAGE
PAID
PASADENA, CA
PERMIT # 264