Soccer Plus

I dropped by this little soccer equipment shop on the north side of Pasadena because I needed a goalkeeper's jersey. I found a small but impressive display of football-related wares. The owner, Joseph, was very helpful and friendly. I don't like shopping while a salesperson hovers over me, so I appreciated that he was available but discreet, waiting behind the counter in his Perugia shirt.
The shop had a wide range of team jerseys, including heavyweight clubs like Manchester United and AC Milan, but also including unlikely shirts like the Scottish National Team. The store also has a strong selection of shoes for outdoor and indoor soccer and a respectable assortment of "generic" (that is, not affiliated with a team or branded with a club logo) shirts and shorts.
I got my goalkeeper jersey, a green Adidas shirt, and I'll be back to buy a new pair of cleats soon.

Find Soccer Plus at 1640 E. Washington Blvd. (N. Oxford and N. Sierra Bonita) in Pasadena. 626-798-5405. Call for store hours.

California Cactus Center

Blink and you'll miss it as you drive down Rosemead Boulevard. It's inauspiciously tucked into a nondescript pocket of East Pasadena (some might say the word "nondescript," and even the word "pocket," is redundant), near a handful of fast food joints and furniture shops, across the street from a fortune teller, and next to an air conditioning supply and repair shop. Nonetheless, however unpromising its neighborhood may look, California Cactus Center is worth the trip.
I first popped in because I needed a small bag of cactus mix to repot a plant that had been knocked over (the cat is a prime suspect). I parked on a side street and had to pass CCC's aforementioned neighbor, Air-Tech. It appears that CCC has furnished Air-Tech with some plants. As a result, Air-Tech has a beautiful little cactus garden in its small entryway. I was especially taken with a lovely succulent with a rosette of pink-tinted leaves, the echeveria.
Inside, the relatively small space teems with drought-tolerant life. Quite a few aloes and agaves live in the entryway space, which is uncovered. Marlene especially admired the "Black Beauty" (also called "Schwartzkopf") plants we found in this space. A few steps further inside the property and you enter a covered nursery space that has row after row of plants and a greenhouse.
Highlights of the space include the strangely beautiful lithops or "living stones" in the nursery and greenhouse the Giant Saguaro in the front. The shop also has a selection of handsome pottery and a small space with books (more than a bookshelf, not quite a bookstore). I found my cactus mix--the shop has bags of 3 different sizes (the workers will help you load the largest bag). My bag, the middle size, was a reasonable $3.
I'll be back, I expect, to buy some more cactuses or succulents--an echeveria or two for me and a Black Beauty for Marlene.

Find the California Cactus Center at 216 S. Rosemead Boulevard (near Del Mar), and on the web at http://www.cactuscenter.com. Open 7 days a week, 10 am - 4:30 pm. 626-795-2788.

Transit options include Metro Bus 266 (Rosemead and Del Mar), and Foothill Transit 187 and Metro Bus 181 (both have stops at Rosemead and Colorado).

Pasadena Really Really Free Market

We attended the third installment of the Pasadena Really Really Free Market this morning. I found some books for myself as well as for my classroom, and Marlene found some great coffee cups and yarn among other things.
The idea of a Really Really Free Market is that you bring stuff you don't need and take whatever you like. As the Wikipedia entry puts it, it's an effort to "counteract capitalism in a non-reactionary way" by setting up a "temporary market based on an alternative gift economy." You can also find information about the philosophy behind the idea at the Really Really Free Market website.
Unfortunately, we didn't have any items with us to share this time, but we intend to go through the garage and my apartment and find some things to take to the next installment. I might take my chess board if it isn't too hot.

Find the Pasadena Really Really Free Market when it meets at the Bresee Nazarene Church parking lot, a 1480 E. Washington in, you guessed it, Pasadena. Check their blog for upcoming installments.

Public transit options include the Pasadena Arts 31 and 32 and the Metro Bus 256 and 268.