Monrovia Old Town Report (8/3/17 Issue)
By Pam Fitzpatrick
Well, it’s August. The kids go back to school in about two weeks and summer has come and gone – almost. Of course, it’s still going to be scorching hot for the next couple of months, but the upside is that the evenings are rather nice and strolling in Old Town is more than nice. Last Saturday’s events on the Avenue proved how popular we have become! Thank you, MAFA for the fantastic Art Walk and associated music in town (thank you Old Town Merchants, as well), and thank you Jennifer Ranger and the Kattywompus String Band along with Walden Dahl and Kinfolk for the Music Gathering up at Library Park. And – at the end of this month, on Saturday, August 26, the town will be packed with strollers, sippers and shoppers for our first annual Monrovia Wine Walk (6 p.m. – 9 p.m.). One of the best things about this particular wine walk is that if you purchase your tickets through a participating non-profit, that organization will receive all of the proceeds! Is that cool, or what? Here’s the list of the non-profits selling tickets: Centre Stage, Monrovia Duarte Black Alumni Association, Monrovia Youth Baseball League, Monrovia Reads, and Monrovia Latino Heritage Society. Tickets are also available from the oh-so-friendly staff at the Monrovia Community Center at 119 W. Palm Avenue, or online at https://impactflow.com/event/monrovia-s-wine-walk-sipshopsupport-3124. Wonky though it looks, that link will send you right to the event, but if you buy online there is a processing fee.
There’s more scoop on The Copper Still Grill at 608 S. Myrtle: word has it that they have had their employee welcome dinner (if I’m not mistaken, catered by Rudy’s Mexican Food) several days ago – and, I also heard that they are sending regular updates to their new employees via email with news about opening day. Just one more inspection – maybe it’s already happened by the time this column publishes. What a welcome event this grand opening will be: late this month it will be a total of five years in the making!
Another new restaurant in town, Grey & Cash, has visited most of the merchants in Old Town, handing out their new menu, which sounds enticing. The menu says, “Breakfast from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.” consisting of a large variety of items: Chilaquiles, both Rojo and Verde, Huevos Ranchero, The Monrovia (eggs, bacon, salad & toast), Lox Croissant or Bagel, several other egg dishes, and Avocado Toast. Lunch is just as enticing with several choices of specialty sandwiches (tuna, chicken, roast beef, ham and “Jive Turkey”) plus a delicious-sounding hamburger and a veggie sandwich. Oh, and I almost forgot the Sweet Potato Vegan Tostada. Are you hungry yet?
I have to mention the weekly music in Old Town once again. The evening music is all around town and is all very enjoyable with a volume appropriate for Old Town. Thank you to the merchants of Old Town who pay for this through their assessments and thank you to our Monrovia Old Town Advisory Board which is made up of fellow shop owners Kristin Miller (Charlie’s House), Diane Balsamo (Prime Lending), Ricky Jurardo (Merengue Bakery and Café), Millie Olivas (Teles Properties), and Soren Loft (Old Town Bistro) for your support. I also have to give one more shout out to the Lance and Gary Show for providing fun music in the 400 block on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays each week. This array of music, including the music supplied by my own family’s Kattywompus String Band, is truly reflective of Monrovia’s demographics. We are not all young, not all old, not all born in the USA and not all ambulatory. We have different histories, different religions, and different tastes in music. And that’s why I love Monrovia and all the folks who support us.