For $5 on a Friday evening, you can spread a blanket on the lawn of one of the most celebrated houses in American architecture, listen to live R&B, and walk through rooms lined with hand-carved teak and art glass — no guided tour required.
The Gamble House opens its grounds and first floor on August 14 for the next-to-last installment of its Friday Nights summer series, a twice-monthly partnership with Altadena-based West Altadena Wine + Spirits that has been bringing visitors to the 1908 Greene & Greene landmark since May. R&B and soul vocalist Gal Pearl performs live from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. After August 14, only one date remains: Pasadena Youth Night on August 28.
The format is deliberately casual. Guests can picnic on the lawn, buy slices from Triple Beam Pizza’s mobile oven, or sip curated wine flights poured by West Altadena Wine + Spirits, a boutique shop on North Lincoln Avenue in Altadena. Inside the house, docents are stationed in each room of the first floor to answer questions about the architecture and its history.
“While people are on site, the first floor of the house is open for touring, and we have docents stationed inside the house to answer people’s questions,” Sheryl Scott, director of communications and operations for the Gamble House Conservancy, said in an interview with Pasadena Weekly. “So that’s part of the ticket price.”
The series is part of a broader effort by the Conservancy to draw visitors who might not book a formal tour of the property. “We have really increased our public programming to welcome the public in,” Scott said.
The Gamble House, designed by architects Charles and Henry Greene as a winter residence for David and Mary Gamble of the Procter & Gamble Company, is owned by the City of Pasadena and operated by the nonprofit Gamble House Conservancy, according to the organization’s website. The home is a local, state, and National Historic Landmark.
“Not everyone wants to engage with the house in the same way,” Scott said. “It allows people to kind of dip their toe in and see what we have as far as programming.”
Friday Nights at The Gamble House takes place on Friday, August 14, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Non-members pay $5 for general admission or $40 for admission with a wine tasting; members enter free or pay $35 for the tasting. Children 12 and under are admitted at no charge, and children are welcome. Wine tasting is limited to guests 21 and older, who must show identification at check-in. Outside alcohol and pets are not permitted. The Gamble House is located at 4 Westmoreland Place, Pasadena, CA 91103. Free parking is available on Westmoreland Place and along Orange Grove Boulevard. For more information, call (626) 793-3334 or visit gamblehouse.org. Tickets can be purchased at gamblehouse.org/mec-events/friday-nights.
The teak and art glass will still be there in the morning. But the blankets, the wine, and the music are a Friday-only affair — and after August 14, there is one Friday left.
