Office of the City Manager
HIGHLIGHTS OF HISTORIC PROJECT WORK FOR THE
RECONNECTING PASADENA 710 VISION PLAN
City Council
March 30, 2026
Office of the City Manager
Background
Three deliverables of historic work done
by 3 firms:
1. Historic Data/Setting - Architectural
Resources Group
2. Oral History - Allegra Consulting
3. Impacts of freeways on Pasadena - UCLA
Institute of Transportation Studies
2 Office of the City Manager
Historical Data/Setting
• Historical Data/Setting
• Architectural Resources
Group
• Historical data of what
existed before the stub
• Property Acquisition
Process
• Effects of Displacement
• Building Counts
Del Mar
Office of the City Manager
Historical Data/Setting
• Provides overview of
highway and freeway
development
• History of 710 Freeway
Construction in
Pasadena
• Origins, route options,
and debates in
Pasadena
• Influence of redlining
and urban renewal
• Opposition in Pasadena
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Building Counts
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Other topics covered
• Neighborhood prior
to displacement
• Effects of
displacement
• Forms of property
acquisition
• Effects of
Displacement
6 Office of the City Manager
Property Acquisitions
• Types of Property
Acquisition
• Hardship acquisition
• Fee
• Quitclaim deed
• Easement deed
• Relinquishment
• Director’s deed
• Eminent domain
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Sample of Property Owners
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Oral History
• Allegra Consulting, Inc.
• Identify persons or
descendants with direct
knowledge or experience
of the freeway expansion
Del Mar
Office of the City Manager
IDENTIFICATION OF RESIDENTS, ORGANIZATIONS,
& BUSINESSES DISPLACED AND OR IMPACTED:
SURVEY RESPONSES: 159
Displaced Residents,
Descendants, and Addresses:
Residents: 43
Addresses: 40
Number of Interviews
and Stories Conducted
and Completed: 29
Number of Videos
Produced by KPAS
and MD Productions:
14 Displaced Businesses:
4 Identified by Allegra, 15 through
storytelling, and an additional 38
businesses identified by ARG =
Thriving Community
Displaced Organizations/
Institutions: 3
Impacted But Not Displaced:
116 Respondents and Residents
Oral History Responses
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Doris Leonard & Family
Emanuel and Gravetta Leonard
• In 1952, Leonard family moved to
Pasadena & resided on Pasadena
Avenue
• Emanuel built Manuel’s Motel &
Gravetta became the first Black
realtor in the San Gabriel Valley
• Together, they helped families
purchase homes despite redlining &
worked to integrate Pasadena.
Displaced Families
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First AME Church
• One of Pasadena’s
largest Black
churches displaced
through eminent
domain in the late
1960s
• Was located at 107
N. Vernon Ave.
• Designed by AIA
Architect Paul
Williams
Photo Caption: Architect
Paul R. Williams
First AME Church
rounded stained glass
windows in both pictures.
12 Displaced Institutions
Office of the City Manager
• Rick Osaka’s grandparents,
the Yashiros, were disrupted
& uprooted when they were
sent to an internment camp
during World War II
• Once again, abruptly
displace by the SR 710
Freeway construction when
home was taken by eminent
domain
• Relocated to Altadena into a
much smaller home to start
over
Photo Captions: The Yashiro’s home was located at 170 S.
Pasadena Ave., Below left is Rick Osaka and below right are Rick’s Grandparents and his father as a young boy.
13 Twice Displaced: Yashiro Family
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Tim Ivison, 3rd Generation
Renter
• Tim’s grandmother began
leasing Caltrans home on
Pasadena Ave. in 1968
• Tim & his family now rent
same home from Caltrans
• As Caltrans renters, they
might qualify to purchase
a Caltrans home
14 Impacted But Not Displaced
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UCLA Report
• Impacts of freeways &
other mechanisms on
segregation &
demographics in
Pasadena
• UCLA, Institute of
Transportation Studies
• Census tract information,
zoning, redlining,
covenants, other
mechanisms
Del Mar
Office of the City Manager
Analytical Study Area
• North & No. Ctr.
impacted by I-210
• Center
(interchange)
impacted by SR-
134, I-210, & SR-710
• South Ctr. partially
impacted by SR-
710
• South spared from
SR-710
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SUMMARY FOR STUDY AREA
• Segregation increased from 1950 to 1980 in freeway study area
• Key patterns by subarea:
• North Tract: Experienced White flight
• North Center Tract: Started as a POC area & became
even more concentrated with POC
• Center Tract: Shifted from majority NHW to majority
POC
• South Center Tract: Gentrified, initially majority POC, but became majority NHW post-construction
• South Tract: Remained majority NHW and high SES
throughout.
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Overall Population trends in Entire
Study Area, 1950-1980
● Two key periods:
• 1. Freeway Construction (1950–
1980): Population remained
stable in the 1950s but dropped
sharply in the 1960s and
remained low.
• 2. Post-Freeway Period (1980–
2010): Partial population
recovery but long-term
demographic shifts persisted
● The study area's share of
Pasadena’s population
declined significantly during
freeway development.
Study Area Population, 1940-2020
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POPULATION TRENDS BY RACE/ETHNICITY
• Study area disproportionately
high share of Pasadena’s
population of color before &
during much of early freeway
development
• Overall share of POC sharply
decreased following land
acquisition & freeway
construction in the 1950s
• Non-Hispanic White (NHW) share
has been consistently smaller in
the study area throughout the
time period
Study Area’s Share of Pasadena’s Population by Race/Ethnicity, 1940-2020 • Overall Population Trends in Entire Study Area by
Race/Ethnicity
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Redlining
1939 HOLC Redlining Map of Pasadena and Surrounding Areas Current Home Values and Historic Redlining, Pasadena
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Redlining
• Pre-Freeway policies set stage for racialized
displacement
• Federal redlining maps labeled POC
neighborhoods as “undesirable,” reducing
investment
• Freeway routes chosen to run through redlined
areas (lower homeownership & property values)
reinforcing segregation
• Likely contributed to removal of more affordable
housing in SR-710 Stub area, which led to urban
renewal efforts
21 Office of the City Manager
Institutional Factors
• Discriminatory Housing Practices
• Redlining, racial restrictive covenants,
zoning
• Blockbusting, other predatory real estate
practices
• Urban renewal / “blight removal”
• Eminent domain for urban renewal
• Neighborhood dynamics: Racial Tipping &
White flight
• Gentrification
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Major Developments Near SR-710 stub
1967 Map
1989 Map
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Pepper St. Project
• Pasadena’s first urban
renewal project spanning
102 acres in a historically
Black neighborhood north
of I-210
• Mass displacement of 299
families (91% people of
color/low-income reducing
Black homeownership
• Housing developments were
under-occupied,
vandalized, and ultimately
foreclosed by HUD in the
1970s
Pepper Project Urban Renewal Area Plans
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Historical Implications & Today’s
Lessons
• Understanding legacy of past impacts
(e.g., erasure of POC communities, long-
term consequences of displacement,
elevated pollution risk, Altadena)
• Connecting historical harms to redress
actions
• Ensuring future benefits will flow to
disadvantaged
• Linking history to new Reconnecting
Northwest Pasadena project
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Historic Project Reports
• Full documents of the Historic
Project Work can be found on the
Reconnecting Pasadena 710
Storymap site:
•
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/storie
s/7e9908d4f5e4432aa28169a02cd1
ac2a
26 Office of the City Manager
SCAG
27 • Southern California
Association of
Governments –
Regional partner,
Kome Ajise, Executive
Director
• Strong project
supporter