A place of their own

Philip Koebel to Michele, SSL, marietta, steve.lamb, Jim, carol, joe, Bev, Roberta, Sussy, Justin, Sandra, Randall, allan, Lorie, DFA, George, Jonathon, Mabel, Patty, ctilleman, Walter, James, gilda, sameer, Susan&Roberto Aug 24

My dear esteemed friends and heroes:

Until you make a viable suggestion for Altadena and Pasadena teens to pass the time away on weekend nights, I beg you not to throw stones in glass houses.

Yes, it is indeed tragic that Ebony Huell was shot "outside" the Underground. Yes, the Underground was an attraction for youth - both good and wrong. Yes, modern teen dancing is as outrageous to us adults as Steve Lamb's twisting was to his parents.

Yet, I don't recall that there were calls to close down Washington and Summit when Jamal Varcasia was shot dead at that street corner on a Monday afternoon at 2 pm.

Please consider making the Underground safer - perhaps the Altadena Town Council could chaperone on a rotating basis - rather than shutting down the literally singular youth evening activity in Altadena and Northwest Pasadena.

with peace and respect,

Philip Koebel

On 8/23/07, Michele Zack wrote:
Trouble was just a matter of time. This place had been open only 2
months as I understand, so that's how long it took to get wired in to a
big enough network for problems to become inevitable. What a horrible
shame, and to think someone probably tapped into public money to get
this den of iniquity going. "The rules" say you have to be a member to
go to events, no exceptions, but they were just charging at the door
and advertising on the internet the same way the property owner at 325
Calaveras was — and that led to a shooting and stampede of screaming
people running through neighbors yards. Can't wait for summer to be
over.
Michele
On Aug 23, 2007, at 3:07 PM, SSL wrote:

>> Dear fellow Town Council members and concerned Altadenans-
>>
>> Last week the Grand daughter of Altadena Community ActivistMonroe
>> Huell, Ebony Huell, was shot to death , by some gunman with
>> incredibly bad aim,while waitingfor a friend to bring her admission
>> money to get into a private unlicensed nightclub. This nightclub
>> "The Underground"got funding as a NOT FOR PROFIT, supposedly doing
>> education,but was really just a nightclub operation.
>>
>> As you will be able to tell from clicking on links below, the
>> occupancy of this place was way over packed and there could not have
>> been enforcement of anything like fire codes. Lets just say about the
>> dancing that if one of these girls was your daughter, you wouldnt
>> want her "dancing" like that in public at all and in private with
>> anyone not her husband.....
>>
>> It seems that the City of Pasadena, generally one of the most
>> persnickitty governments known ot mankind, spent a lot of time
>> looking the other way....
>>
>> There clearly was no enforcement of any regulations by the Fire
>> Department, The Police, Building and safety or zoning.
>>
>> From the photographs it seems clear there is no adult supervision.
>>
>> I believe kids need a place ot go and congregate and they probably
>> need a place to play their music and dance. That place needs to be
>> SAFE for them. Its a miracle that there hasnt been more trouble. This
>> place was clearly trouble waiting to happen.
>>
>> The area probably does need a safe place for kids though, and maybe
>> we should proactively as a community, put a safe one together.
>>
>> Steve Lamb
>>
>> http://insidesocal.com/pasadenapolitics/2007/
>> 08pasadena_underground.html#more
>>
>>
>> http://www.myspace.com/pasadenaunderground
>>

Click the pic for the full scan.

Footnote: If you look in the upper right, over the shoulder of Richie mugging for the camera, is one of many photocopied faces Bobby Trendy festooned the club with that night. I'd gotten there early and, if I recall correctly, got suckered into taping a couple up. His wiki entry pretends he's younger than me ... yahright.

Marilyn herself was there that last night handing out tickets, obviously infirm, but committed to the club.