For 42 years, Ralph Fonzo has been serving burgers and tacos at Rick's Drive-In on El Molino Avenue in Pasadena, a landmark beloved by locals.
But next year, Rick's is to be torn down to make way for one of the mixed-use residential complexes that have become a fixture of what some call the "new Pasadena."
The city, home of the Rose Parade, stately mansions and one of the birthplaces of the Southland's historic preservation movement, is in the midst of a boom that has added more than 2,000 housing units in the last five years with 3,000 more on the drawing board.
Last week, the City Council approved what is the largest housing development in its history, an "urban village" of 820 dwellings and 22,000 square feet of commercial space on the site of Ambassador College near Old Town Pasadena.
The city has emerged as one of the most enthusiastic proponents of "smart growth" -- building condos, lofts and apartments above businesses and close to transit lines.
The strategy has transformed parts of the city, bringing dense residential developments along major commercial strips such as Colorado Boulevard and Lake Avenue.
But it is increasingly generating criticism from some residents who fear that the dense development is fundamentally changing the city's well-maintained character.
Kent Burke, an Old Pasadena resident who has eaten burritos at Rick's for years, said the impending loss of the drive-in underscores what he sees as a shift in the city away from preserving the past and toward new development.
"All of a sudden, nothing seems to matter anymore," Burke said. "Pasadena is losing all its tradition. Places like Rick's are living examples of what Pasadena all meant and they're being taken away from us so that they can make a mini-New York City."
City leaders say their vision isn't Manhattan. But they are trying to bring more of an urban environment to Pasadena.
Building vertically along major boulevards is the only option, they said, because the city of 141,000 people long ago consumed all its raw land and doesn't want to add new development to its many historic residential neighborhoods.
"We are moving in the right direction in terms of encouraging housing development [in commercial areas] and protecting the character of our residential neighborhoods," Mayor Bill Bogaard said. "Our neighborhoods have been prospering from the city's investments in housing."
