Blue Star Now on Display in Altadena Hills

 

One of the interesting notes about the Star is that in the early days before Altadena's imported forestation had grown to what it is today, one could see the Star from Christmas Tree Lane as it had a perfect alignment with Santa Rosa Ave. The Star was featured in a Pasadena Star News article published December 20, 1929. This is a quote from the article:
“Just below the lighted star will be the famous “Mile of Christmas Trees” on Santa Rosa Avenue, which attracts thousands of autoists each year from all parts of Southern California. The star, alone on the crest of the Sierra above, will be the only light in the dark, silent mountain area. This Christmas will be the second holiday season the star will have been lighted”. The Star continued to shine around the Christmas Season for many years. It was featured in other publications, including an article in the “Electrical Dealer” magazine in November of 1930. Then on October 25 1935, a fast moving brush fire swept across the foothills above Altadena. It destroyed a trestle on the Incline Railway along with other parts of Echo Mountain . It also destroyed Nightingale’s wooden Star of Palawoo. Nightingale would not be deterred however, and rebuilt the Star. This time he made it with metal. The Star continued to shine around Christmas for quite some time but it’s unclear exactly how long. The Nightingale Estate was purchased by Dr. Elkins in 1989. He was unaware of the Star and had lived there a while before noticing the old broken wire running up the hill behind his house. Using binoculars, Dr. Elkins could see a pole up on the hill, hiked up to investigate and found the Star lying on the ground. He erected the Star again and rewired it using conventional outdoor Christmas lights. The Star of Palawoo would shine again. Recently, in January of 2006, the Star was knocked down again by high winds gusting more than 40 miles per hour. Dr. Elkins had a tough time but was able to get the Star back up again. He hopes to find an Electrician willing to help him rebuild the Star using brighter bulbs much like those used by F. B. Nightingale on the original Star of Palawoo Special thanks to Dr. Elkins for information and photos of the Star