Some block parties end with a bounce house and a taco. This one ends with a rebuild plan.
Nineteen months out from the Eaton fire, recovery is still a stack of forms, phone trees, and agencies that never seem to be in the same room. Saturday, they will be.
Chris Holden’s 27th annual Block Party and Resource Fair takes over the 500 block of East Jackson Street, between Los Robles and El Molino, from 3 to 7 p.m.
Jon B — the multiplatinum, Grammy-nominated R&B singer and Pasadena native — headlines — with a mariachi set and food trucks running all afternoon. Pasadena Humane brings adoptable pets. The kids zone brings a jumper. Dozens of Altadena and Pasadena vendors bring candles, handmade art, and clothing worth your cash.
Then there’s the really useful half: more than 60 resource tables staffed by state, county, and local agencies, a rebuild zone for reconstruction questions, a wellness area for mental and physical health support, and a mobile clinic doing on-site care. There’s a farmers market zone, too.
LA Fire Justice, the coalition Holden now runs as CEO, is presenting; KBLA’s James Farr emcees.
The address is not an accident. East Jackson is a residential block north of the 210, and Holden has staged his annual summer gathering here for close to thirty years — through his terms as Pasadena mayor, city councilmember, and state assemblymember.
Congresswoman Judy Chu is among the officials expected. Bring a lawn chair and a question.
Free, open to everybody, and built for exactly the kind of afternoon where you show up for the music and leave with a phone number that actually helps. Go early, and bring your whole block.
500 block of E. Jackson St., between Los Robles and El Molino avenues, Pasadena. Sat., Aug. 1, 3 to 7 p.m. Free.
