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Blog archive

October 2025

September 2025

August 2025

Lessons From A Fire
08/31/2025

A Warm Welcome to A New Board Member
08/28/2025

About Kieran Highsmith
08/28/2025

Finding Common Ground in a Divided Society
08/27/2025

Art From The Ashes: Second Reception
08/26/2025

Building Community Through Connections: Some Advice for New Members
08/26/2025

Critical Issues: A Call to Action
08/26/2025

Organizer Training Empowers Villagers to Lead the Way
08/26/2025

President's Message
08/26/2025

Reflections From a Backyard Garden -Taking a Moment to Be Still
08/26/2025

Reflections From a Backyard Garden -Taking a Moment to Be Still
08/26/2025

Super Agers
08/26/2025

The Altadena Dining Club
08/26/2025

Use It or Lose It: How to Offset Muscle Loss at Any Age
08/26/2025

Dunbar Number: Understanding the Limits of Human Relationships
08/25/2025

A Turning Point Towards Growth and Purpose
08/23/2025

Unbreak My Heart
08/23/2025

Lora's Return to Writing
08/18/2025

Nice Clean Colored Girls
08/18/2025

Sanctity Denied: A Pasadena Story of Race and Silence
08/18/2025

Some Thoughts at 3:00 AM by Beverly Lafontaine
08/16/2025

Old Again by Sally Asmundson
08/15/2025

Old by Sally Asmundson
08/15/2025

Art From the Ashes
08/07/2025

Claire Gorfinkel Retires from Board of Directors
08/05/2025

2025 Annual Meeting: A Year of Resilience
08/04/2025

A Walk Through 2024-25
08/04/2025

President's Message
08/01/2025

July 2025

June 2025

May 2025

A Day to Celebrate, Connect, and Empower: Older Americans Month at Victory Park
05/30/2025

End of Life: You Do Have Choices!
05/30/2025

Get Moving, Pasadena Village: Walking Toward a Healthier, Happier You
05/30/2025

Music: A Universal Language
05/30/2025

President's Message
05/30/2025

The New Grammar Guardian of Pasadena Village
05/30/2025

Undue Influence: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer
05/30/2025

Village Within a Village
05/30/2025

What do we do now?
05/30/2025

A Tribute to Dad
05/05/2025

A Tribute to Mom
05/05/2025

A Board Director Perspective
05/02/2025

A Death Valley Adventure
05/02/2025

Ask an Architect
05/02/2025

Message from the President
05/02/2025

My 15-Minute City
05/02/2025

Neighboring Anew
05/02/2025

Scam Red Flags
05/02/2025

Sir Beckett, A Woman's Best Friend
05/02/2025

Volunteer Appreciation: Giving a New Level of Love and Caring
05/02/2025

April 2025

March 2025

About Senior Solutions
03/28/2025

Building a Bridge With Journey House, A Home Base for Former Foster Youth
03/28/2025

Come for the Knitting, Stay for the Conversation... and the Cookies
03/28/2025

Creating Safe and Smart Spaces with Home Technology
03/28/2025

Finding Joy in My Role on The Pasadena Village Board
03/28/2025

I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up!
03/28/2025

Managing Anxiety
03/28/2025

Message from Our President: Keeping Pasadena Village Strong Together
03/28/2025

My Favorite Easter Gift
03/28/2025

The Hidden History of Black Women in WWII
03/28/2025

Urinary Tract Infection – Watch Out!
03/28/2025

Volunteer Coordinator and Blade-Runner
03/28/2025

Continuing Commitment to Combating Racism
03/26/2025

Goodbye and Keep Cold by Robert Frost
03/13/2025

What The Living Do by Marie Howe
03/13/2025

Racism is Not Genetic
03/11/2025

Bill Gould, The First
03/07/2025

THIS IS A CHAPTER, NOT MY WHOLE STORY
03/07/2025

Dramatic Flair: Villagers Share their Digital Art
03/03/2025

Empowering Senior LGBTQ+ Caregivers
03/03/2025

A Life Never Anticipated
03/02/2025

Eaton Fire Changes Life
03/02/2025

February 2025

Commemorating Black History Month 2025
02/28/2025

Transportation at the Pasadena Village
02/28/2025

A Look at Proposition 19
02/27/2025

Behind the Scenes: Understanding the Pasadena Village Board and Its Role
02/27/2025

Beyond and Within the Village: The Power of One
02/27/2025

Celebrating Black Voices
02/27/2025

Creatively Supporting Our Village Community
02/27/2025

Decluttering: More Than The Name Implies
02/27/2025

Hidden Gems of Forest Lawn Museum
02/27/2025

LA River Walk
02/27/2025

Message from the President
02/27/2025

Phoenix Rising
02/27/2025

1619 Conversations with West African Art
02/25/2025

The Party Line
02/24/2025

Bluebird by Charles Bukowski
02/17/2025

Dreams by Langston Hughes
02/17/2025

Haiku - Four by Fritzie
02/17/2025

Haikus - Nine by Virginia
02/17/2025

Wind and Fire
02/17/2025

Partnerships Amplify Relief Efforts
02/07/2025

Another Community Giving Back
02/05/2025

Diary of Disaster Response
02/05/2025

Eaton Fire: A Community United in Loss and Recovery
02/05/2025

Healing Powers of Creative Energy
02/05/2025

Living the Mission
02/05/2025

Message from the President: Honoring Black History Month
02/05/2025

Surviving and Thriving: Elder Health Considerations After the Fires
02/05/2025

Treasure Hunting in The Ashes
02/05/2025

Villager's Stories
02/05/2025

A Beginning of Healing
02/03/2025

Hectic Evacuation From Eaton Canyon Fire
02/02/2025

Hurricanes and Fires are Different Monsters
02/02/2025

January 2025

Bernard Garrett, Incredible Black Entrepreneur

By Richard Myers
Posted: 01/17/2023
Tags:

In the 1960’s a young man named Bernard Garrett devised an audacious and risky plan to take on the racist establishment of the 1960s by helping other African Americans pursue the American dream. His plan succeeded despite many vigorous challenges and over the years he and his associates built a very successful business in real estate and banking. Bernard Garret died in 2019 and the amazing story of his enterprise has been made into a motion picture with Apple TV. An interesting trailer will give you a preview of the movie.

Release of the film was delayed  due to some contraversy  raised by members of the Garrett family. The issues raised were about some of the  timeline in  history  as well as allegations made about sexual miscounduct by more than one of the producers of the film, against Bernard Garrett Jr. Anyone intersted in the film should at least be aware of these contraversies.

Jurie Lewis, a friend of Pasadena Village and an active member of Villages NW, in Portland, Oregon, discovered that Bernard Garrett, was a great uncle of hers. She has looked into the story and has agreed to visit us and share what she has learned about her amazing relative and his incredible enterprise. She will be our featured speaker in our next meeting on the first Friday of Black History Month,  February 3rd, at 10AM PST. 

We are making this meeting open to non-members who can get the zoom link by calling our office at (626) 765-6037. Our regular participants will receive the link in their email and are welcome to provide that to friends who might be interested. 

In our subsequent meeting of Black History month on February 17th,  at 12 Noon, Brian Biery will provide us with a history of the Highway 710 Extension project and its impact on the African American neighborhoods in Pasadena. This history is very relevant because of the current efforts to resolve the issues surrounding the condemnation of properties which were never used after plans for the freeway were canceled. 

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