Monrovia Old Town Report (02/16/17 Issue)

There is discussion of a Monrovia Wine Walk in the works. – Photo by Terry Miller / Beacon Media News

By Pam Fitzpatrick

We had a MOTAB meeting this morning, and though I had to leave early, I did stay through Oral Communications where we had a couple of interesting speakers. Street Rods Forever announced that their group had applied for a permit to one again stage Old Town’s Annual Car Show on Myrtle this coming September. The date scheduled tentatively for the event is Saturday, Sept. 9th, however it will require final approval at the March meeting. Proposed changes to this year’s show would include dispersing street vendors throughout the show, instead of locating them in one specific location (last year it was Library Park), and locating a food truck at Lime and Myrtle. Anyone interested in commenting on this, or any other item on the posted agenda, come visit the meetings on the 2nd Tuesday of each month, 9:30 a.m. City Council Chambers.

Another speaker at this morning’s meeting presented a petition with over 150 signatures from our Old Town guests requesting the city to bring the Wednesday and Saturday music back. The music ended in January and the city is working with the five members of MOTAB to decide the what, where and when of any future Old Town music. Stay tuned!

There was also a discussion of the proposed Wine Walk in Old Town, and it appears that the city has decided that it cannot work with any of our Old Town businesses for purchase of the wine, so they will be going to outside vendors in order to avoid any appearance of favoritism. Kind of sad to see the unwinding of our historic public-private partnerships, but lots of changes everywhere, so we keep on keeping on!

I see stuff going on at Jake’s Roadhouse! Construction begins on the expansion, looks like inside and out. Glad to see this happening, and … so glad to see Sweet Potato Fries added to their menu!

I dropped by The Saltner last Sunday evening for a little surprise birthday celebration for their incredible chief, Darlene Salcedo. Darlene first started her Old Town career as the baker for the Peach Café, then left and went to JPL for a spell. I’m delighted to see Darlene back in town – she’s not only a terrific baker but an accomplished chief. Love that Tuscan Beef Stew…

If all goes well and the location company turns in their paperwork shortly, we will have a still film shoot tomorrow, which, because I’m actually writing this column on Tuesday, Feb. 14, will have already happened by the time the column publishes on Thursday, Feb. 16 – but at least you’ll know what all the excitement was on the day after Valentine’s Day! The photos are for an east coast clothing company called “Maurice” and, just an FYI: the food truck in the 100 block of Lemon was fake – we don’t let film crews bring real food trucks into Old Town!

More rain predicted for this Friday, and it looks like it’s for real, so unless something dramatically changes, we’ll forgo one more Monrovia Street Fair. It’s been a rough season for our new vendors, Raw Inspirations, but, like I said, we just keep on keeping on! And “keeping on” is just what the Monrovia Public Library Foundation is doing. The Foundation has been changing lives for more than a decade – and, it has for some time now supported the Monrovia Public Library Literacy Services Program which is one of only a handful of similar programs in the entire San Gabriel Valley. Due to devastating State budget cuts, the Foundation is seeking private funds to carry on it’s important work. What to do? Do what we always do – get the community together and have a fundraising event! This year’s “Community Feud” is scheduled for Feb. 26 from 1 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Want more information? Send an email to MonroviaPublicLibraryFoundation@gmail.com.

More from Monrovia Weekly