Technology/Blogs: We're happy to welcome Pasadena into the Internet age with the Hometown Pasadena web site. It's a witty take on Pasadena suburbanity and all the doings in the SGV. The site is tied to the book of the same name, which one of the publishers describes thusly: "It was officially published on November 1, but started arriving in stores in early October, and we can barely keep up with the demand. It's a high-quality, four-color, personality-rich, in-depth guidebook, with particular emphasis on the architecture, gardens, colleges, culture, food, people, history and communities of the San Gabriel Valley." Yay, Pasadena!
Preservation: We continue to follow the War on Tara in WeHo. The Save Tara people email us an article from Frontiers Magazine, which gives another good rundown of the gays vs. oldies battle that has distracted the City from its more important battle with Pinkberry. The son of former Tara-ist Elsie Weisman is presently suing the City to prevent the conversion of the property into senior housing. Litigation will solve all of our problems.
Cartography: So many maps, so little time. A reader posits a whole brain full of information on us with GeoIQ - a Google maps mashup from FortiusOne that tracks all kinds of information - traffic, demographics, property values, risk assesment, etc. They're in Beta but the visuals look kickass, even if we don't entirely know what they mean. And best of all, they have their own blog.