Pasadena

Marc Maron may be best known for his brutally candid "WTF" interview series, but he's just as respected with a lone microphone as well. His acerbic stand-up has earned him two Comedy Central specials and a forthcoming scripted series, but perhaps the best place to see him is in the flesh onstage. Icehouse, 24 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena. 6 p.m. Sun. $22.50. icehousecomedy.com.

The Enabler has been fixating on love. What is it? How to find it? What feeds it? The answer to this last question, she is quite certain, is whiskey. Which is why on a recent evening she found herself contemplatively sipping a glass of 127-proof Four Roses cask strength single barrel bourbon at Pasadena's new whiskey bar, the Blind Donkey. The Blind Donkey is the work of the beer-minded men behind Verdugo Bar, the Surly Goat and the Little Bear, and as such it exudes a pleasing masculinity.

The Enabler has been fixating on love. What is it? How to find it? What feeds it? The answer to this last question, she is quite certain, is whiskey. Which is why on a recent evening she found herself contemplatively sipping a glass of 127-proof Four Roses cask strength single barrel bourbon at Pasadena's new whiskey bar, the Blind Donkey. The Blind Donkey is the work of the beer-minded men behind Verdugo Bar, the Surly Goat and the Little Bear, and as such it exudes a pleasing masculinity.

I grew up in South Los Angeles at a time and in a neighborhood where, even for a child, having a gun pointed at you happened. For me, the first time was when I was 12 years old. I'd gone around the corner to visit a friend and a pretty new girl who had recently moved in next door to him. We were roughhousing, and somehow the girl fell and hit her head. She stood and accused me of deliberating hurting her; then she left. Before I could decide what to do, she had returned with a gun, which she pointed at me. "You hurt me," she said, tears running down her cheeks.

When the architecture firm of Buff, Straub & Hensman designed a two-story house in 1957 for an oak-covered hillside of Pasadena called Poppy Peak, the post-and-beam structure was shy of 1,400 square feet yet felt voluminous, thanks to an open floor plan, a two-story-tall ceiling and an abundance of glass. PHOTO GALLERY: Buff, Straub & Hensman house restored in Pasadena Fast-forward to the present day, and the house has a fresh start to the new year. Christophe Burusco, an attorney and architecture enthusiast, and Scott Lander, principal of the Los Angeles-based historic restoration firm Lander Design , have carefully erased the wear-and-tear of five decades, returning the home once photographed by Julius Shulman to its Midcentury origins.

Pete Maravich came to town 25 years ago, Jan. 5, 1988. No newspaper, local or national, had an obituary prepared. No need, presumably. Everything seemed normal that morning in the gymnasium at the First Church of the Nazarene in Pasadena. Maravich had flown in from his Louisiana home to do some radio work with James Dobson. Maravich had become a born-again Christian. Dobson was the nationally known head of Focus on the Family, his spacious headquarters located at the intersection of the 57 and 10 freeways in Pomona.

Retail giant Macy's Inc. said it would close a store on Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena as part of plans to shut down six "underperforming" stores nationwide. The closings will make way for the retailer to open nine new locations, including a Bloomingdale's department store at the Glendale Galleria mall this fall. Another Macy's in Pasadena on Lake Avenue will remain open. The 158,000-square-foot store being closed in Pasadena is at the Paseo Colorado shopping mall. It is slated to be shut in early spring.

The Wisconsin Badgers slinked out of Pasadena again Tuesday, defeated for the third straight year in the Rose Bowl. The good news was, by now, they certainly know the backroads out of town. There was distinction in their 20-14 loss, but not the sort for which they will be regaling their grandchilden. This was the 99th Rose Bowl. No other team has ever left town with a worse record than Wisconsin's 8-6. You need to go back to the leather helmet days to even get close. Brown lost the 1916 game and departed 5-4-1; Penn State the 1923 game and headed east at 6-4-1.

It's just a parade, after all, a once-a-year parade, so in the grand scheme of things, the Tournament of Roses Parade doesn't matter - until it does. And it does. There's a paradox at the core of Pasadena's pretty street party. What began in 1890 as Pasadena's way of flaunting its midwinter pleasures became an internationally televised civic institution. Be careful what you wish for, and all that. PHOTOS: The Rose Parade through the years When the world began watching, this parade - more puritanical than Mardi Gras, more glamorous than Macy's Thanksgiving Day balloons - turned into the face of all of Southern California, and thus it came not to be regarded as Pasadena's private shindig any more.