Best Farm Household Tour Pasadena Near Me

4worldlovers: Cultivating food and community through regenerative farming and learning experiences to inspire others along their modern homesteading journey.

Sprouting on a 1/10 acre in Pasadena in 1985 this family farm has supplied our community with fresh produce and hands on homesteading opportunities.

Our home turned homestead has pioneered a model for urban sustainability in the city. During these challenging times it’s our mission not only to cultivate food but community as well.

Learn how you get involved thru internship opportunities, skill share workshops, educational programs and more!

“In our society, growing food yourself has become the most radical of acts. It is truly the only effective protest, one that can-and will-overturn the corporate powers that be. By the process of directly working in harmony with nature, we do the one thing most essential to change the world-we change ourselves!”

4worldlovers: The Linda Vista area, located at the base of the San Rafael Hills on the west side of the Arroyo Seco, developed somewhat later than central Pasadena. Winter visitors from Pasadena hotels made day trips to enjoy its natural features, as well as the Park Nursery that was established in 1887. Among the large homes built in this neighborhood was a 1930 Colonial Revival style mansion originally named “Fairview”, and renamed “Pegfair” in 1939 – incorporating the name of one of its new owners, and making reference to the celebrated “Pickfair” estate in Beverly Hills. (You can see the Pegfair sign from the intersection of Wellington Avenue and Afton Street.)

In 1960, part of the property was sold as a site for the Art Center College of Design, and additional land nearby was subdivided for new homes – this subdivision was named Pegfair Estates. Southern California experienced a rapid increase in population after World War II, and a strong demand for housing. Many housing developments in this period utilized the low-scale, informally arranged ranch house – which was seen as a response to Southern California’s history, climate and lifestyle, and had been popular since the first decades of the 20th century. After 1955, the more rustic and picturesque Traditional Ranch style began to evolve into the Modern Ranch and then Contemporary Ranch styles. In common with the tenets of Modern design, these later forms of Ranch design emphasized clean lines, structured forms highlighting undecorated wall planes and glass walls, and celebrated updated materials and technology.

In addition, in Southern California – and particularly in Pasadena – the increasing sophistication in the evolution of the Contemporary ranch style included restrained Asian design influences. Aspects of Japanese design, construction, and landscape sensibilities had already had a significant role in Pasadena – from the work of Greene & Greene to the enthusiasm for Japanese gardens early in the 20th century. The use of Asian forms and design in homes such as those in the Pegfair Estates development expressed this sophistication of the Contemporary Ranch style, and a blending of the traditions emphasizing the relationship between indoor and outdoor spaces.

This tour of the western half of the Pegfair Estates development shows its significance as an intact neighborhood from this period, including its integrated site planning and landscaping, remembering Linda Vista’s earlier “country atmosphere”. Although they are similar in scale and built within a few years of each other, the Pegfair Estates ranch houses exhibit a range of Traditional, Modern and Contemporary, some with Asian elements.

All of the properties on this tour were listed in the National Register of Historic Places as the Pegfair Estates Historic District in 2010.