Picturesque Sierra Madre, at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains between Pasadena and Arcadia, was founded as a ranching community in 1881. It soon became a vacation destination as well, with hotels, sanitariums and resorts dotted among the citrus groves and vineyards. Today, historic homes and a village atmosphere give Sierra Madre a flavor of the past.
Drawing card
Residents prize the strong sense of community nurtured by many civic events. There are outdoor concerts and movies in Memorial Park in the summer and much of the town turns out for the annual Fourth of July parade.
Volunteers construct the city's Rose Parade float in Sierra Vista Park, which also houses a pool, recreation center and well-used dog park. The March wisteria festival and art fair showcases a 1-acre, 108-year-old flowering vine.
Wow factor
Visitors are struck by the quaint downtown's leafy boulevards, historic storefronts, sidewalk cafes and dramatic mountain backdrop. Shops, galleries, salons and service businesses line the intersection of Baldwin Avenue and Sierra Madre Boulevard. Bean Town coffeehouse (offering live music on weekends), Sierra Madre Playhouse and a variety of eateries keep the streets bustling into the evening. A recent $1-million-plus downtown renovation added new plantings, benches and lighting. Key scenes in the original "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" were filmed here.
Insider's view
Sierra Madre's roots go deep: It's not unusual to meet second- and third-generation residents among the 10,600 inhabitants. The city's proximity to the Foothill Freeway, Caltech, Art Center College of Design, Jet Propulsion Laboratory and movie studios has attracted newcomers, and there are some tensions over teardowns and other development issues.
A recent battle over construction of a private high school on a prime canyon estate deeply divided the town. Anti-growth activists won, contending the project would have brought more congestion, noise and possibly the city's first traffic signal.
Good news, bad news
People buy the town as well as the house when they purchase in Sierra Madre, said Katie Orth of Webb-Martin Realtors. Because of the city's desirability and its limited housing pool, homes can be expensive, and buyers often have to settle for less square footage.
Sierra Madre protects its trees and historic homes. Permits are required to remove or significantly trim some varieties of oak, walnut and sycamore trees on private property during construction.
