Pasadena Heritage opened Craftsman Week tickets to members on August 18 and to the public on September 1. In its September 2 announcement, the organization said events were already "selling out quickly." By late September, most of the interior access that headlines the week, October 11 through 18, was gone. That includes the 1906 Duncan-Irwin House, both guided interior tours of the Blacker House, and the Lanterman House open house in La Cañada Flintridge.
Several of the people who were going to lead those tours still have open events this week. John Hamm's sold-out Blacker House tour is about art glass. He leads an art-glass tour at the Gamble House five days earlier for less than half the price. Jim Ipekjian's Blacker House restoration tour is also sold out, but his three-hour joinery tour at the Gamble House was still taking tickets. If you missed the first sale, you can still learn from the same experts. You just learn from them at a different Greene & Greene house.
What sold out, and what was still open
The table shows ticket status on the event pages as of late September. Availability changes daily, so check pasadenaheritage.org/craftsman-week before you plan around any of these.
| Event | Date | Price | Status, late September |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duncan-Irwin House and Neighborhood Tour | Sun., Oct. 11 | $50, members $40 | Sold out |
| Behind the Scenes at Judson Studios | Mon., Oct. 12 | $99 | Sold out |
| Jack Ipekjian on Greene & Greene restoration | Wed., Oct. 14 | $25 | Sold out |
| Blacker House interior with John Hamm | Sat., Oct. 17 | $150, members $120 | Sold out |
| Blacker House with Jim Ipekjian | Sat., Oct. 17 | Not verified | Sold out |
| Craftsman Heights Walking Tour | Sun., Oct. 18 | $25 | Sold out |
| Fire & Light Tour with John Hamm, Gamble House | Mon., Oct. 12 | $60 | Open |
| Details & Joinery Tour with Jim Ipekjian, Gamble House | Wed., Oct. 14 | $100 | Open |
| Blacker House Exterior with John Ripley | Sat., Oct. 17 | $80 | Open |
| An Evening at the Blacker House | Sat., Oct. 17 | $250 | Open |
The events that sold out were mostly at private properties that open only during this week. The events still open are mostly at the Gamble House, which runs its own schedule alongside Pasadena Heritage's. Several of those Gamble House events cover the same material in more detail.
Hamm's art glass, five days earlier
At the sold-out Blacker House tour on October 17, John Hamm will focus on Greene & Greene design, art glass and tile, with a demonstration in the basement billiard room. The Fire & Light Tour on Monday, October 12, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., takes the same subject to the Gamble House. It is a two-hour tour on leaded art glass: how the Greenes designed it and how it was made. General admission is $60. Members get a discount when they sign in, though the amount isn't posted.
The Blacker House tour costs $150, so the Gamble House version saves $90 for a general ticket. The trade-off is the house itself. Pasadena Heritage describes the Blacker House as a private home whose interior rarely opens. If the glass interests you more than the address, Monday afternoon is still available.
Ipekjian's joinery, with time to look
Jim Ipekjian is the project manager on the Blacker House restoration, and his tour there is sold out. On Wednesday, October 14, he leads the Details & Joinery Tour at the Gamble House. It covers woods, joinery, furniture, inlay, metalwork, art glass and how the original builders worked together, with refreshments. It is $100 for general admission. The two listings disagree on the time. Pasadena Heritage's page says 9 to 11 a.m., while the Gamble House checkout calls it a three-hour tour ending at 12:30 p.m. Plan for the longer morning.
Behind the Velvet Ropes covers the same house from a different angle. Each tour runs two and a half hours and gives you a flashlight. Docents open drawers and doors, and the tour goes into areas the standard one-hour tour skips. Light refreshments are included. Tours run October 13 and October 16 from 9:30 a.m. to noon, and October 14 from 1 to 3:30 p.m., for $60 general admission. You could take Ipekjian's tour on Wednesday morning and Velvet Ropes that afternoon. That's about five and a half hours in the same house with two different guides.
The Blacker House is open again, outside
Two Blacker House events still had tickets in late September, and both center on something new. On Saturday, October 17, historian John Ripley leads an exterior-only tour from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at 1177 Hillcrest Avenue. The ticket page says the tour covers the house's "recently restored historic landscaped grounds" and the "newly restored pond." General admission is $80, the interior is not included, and photography is not allowed.
The Blacker House dates to 1907, a year before the Gamble House. Its interior is what most people want to see, but this year the restored garden and pond are the newer part of the visit.
That evening, from 5 to 8 p.m., An Evening at the Blacker House starts with an hour-long self-guided tour of the first floor. A reception follows on the terrace and in the backyard, with drinks and live music. General admission is $250. Pasadena Heritage members can use a discount code, but the amount isn't published. Now that the guided interior tours are sold out, this reception was the only Blacker House event still selling interior access in late September.
Seeing the houses from the street
Three ways to see Greene & Greene houses from outside were still open:
- Greene & Greene Neighborhood Walking Tour, October 15, 17 and 18. The walk goes through Arroyo Terrace and passes nine Greene & Greene houses, the homes of Myron Hunt and Charles Greene, and the Westmoreland Place gates. It meets at the Gamble House Bookstore. The October 15 ticket page lists 10:15 to 11:45 a.m. and $22, but times differ slightly between listings.
- Greene & Greene Architectural Bike Tour, Friday, October 16, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The ride covers about 11 miles from the Arroyo Seco to Oak Knoll, with curator commentary at more than a dozen Craftsman houses. It starts and ends at the Gamble House. Tickets are $65, or $50 for members, if you bring your own bike. With a hybrid or e-hybrid rental and helmet, it's $85, or $70 for members.
- The Asian Roots of Pasadena's Craftsman Architecture, Tuesday, October 13, 6 to 7:30 p.m. Dave Nufer's lecture traces Pasadena Craftsman design back to ancient Chinese and Japanese wooden architecture. Tickets are $20.
The bike tour is the only event this week that connects the Arroyo Seco houses with the Oak Knoll houses, where the Blacker House stands. If you ride on Friday, you'll already know the area when you come back Saturday for the exterior tour.
The free day that opens the week
The week begins on Sunday, October 11, with Crafting Memories, a free family day at the Gamble House and the Pasadena Museum of History from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. It includes self-guided tours, exhibitions and crafts, and picnics are welcome at both sites. The Gamble House adds a pinwheel art installation, crafts made from reused materials, a musical storytime and food. On Tuesday, October 13, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., the Gamble House Book Club discusses Christine Coulson's Metropolitan Stories. It is free, and the house asks you to RSVP.
A week built from what's left
Here is one way to plan the week using only events that were open in late September:
- Sunday, Oct. 11: Crafting Memories at the Gamble House and the Pasadena Museum of History. Free.
- Monday, Oct. 12: John Hamm's Fire & Light Tour, 2:30 p.m., $60.
- Tuesday, Oct. 13: Behind the Velvet Ropes in the morning, then Dave Nufer's lecture at 6 p.m.
- Wednesday, Oct. 14: Jim Ipekjian's Details & Joinery Tour in the morning.
- Friday, Oct. 16: The Greene & Greene Architectural Bike Tour, Arroyo Seco to Oak Knoll.
- Saturday, Oct. 17: John Ripley's tour of the Blacker House grounds by day, and the evening reception if you want to see the first floor.
- Sunday, Oct. 18: A last walk through Arroyo Terrace.
This plan includes both artisans whose Blacker House tours are sold out, and it brings you to the Blacker House twice. Last year, more than 1,200 people attended Craftsman Week, according to Pasadena Heritage. Fewer of them may know that most of the same expertise is still available at the Gamble House.
If you'd like more after the week, the Huntington's "Doyle Lane: Master of Clay" runs through March 1, 2027. It opens with Lane's 1964 Mutual Savings and Loan Mural, a 17-by-8-foot grid of 4,876 tiles made for a Pasadena bank. The mural now stands in the courtyard of the June and Merle Banta Education Center. The galleries are closed Tuesdays.
If a week of studying Greene & Greene joinery and leaded glass has you looking differently at the original woodwork, built-ins and windows in your own home, Laurie Turner would be glad to talk about how that craftsmanship shapes a home's care, presentation and long-term value. Let's Connect.
