Gamble House new garden (Photo – Staff).
Well into its 107th year, Pasadena’s iconic Gamble House is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
By Melanie Hooks
Fifty years, that is, of being a shared space. After being gifted to the City of Pasadena by the Gamble family in 1966, the once-private family home has played host to countless visitors, special events and even Hollywood, serving as the location for Back to the Future’s Doc Brown’s house.
Four tie-in projects
The real news for local residents/return visitors are the three tie-in projects that have been commissioned as a result of this 50th year celebration.
The new garden at the Gamble House (Photo – Melanie Hooks).
- The new, permanent garden behind the former garage/current bookstore.
Previously planted but a long-ignored space, the new revived green space has been designed by Isabelle Greene, the descendant of Gamble House architects Charles and Henry Greene. GH Director Ted Bosley says he enjoyed his first late afternoon sun in the new bench this week and already thinks it’s the most beautiful view of the property. Bonus: Look for Isabella Greene’s signature somewhere in the bricks.
Isabella Greene’s signature (Photo – Staff).
- A new Gamble House documentary by Oscar-nominated Disney producer Don Hahn (trailer below).
The iconic 1909 Gamble House played Doc Brown’s residence in the equally iconic 1987 film Back to the Future. Now the house itself takes center stage in producer Don Hahn’s new one-hour documentary. Just completed this past week, the new movie should show at the Pasadena Laemmle Playhouse this holiday season. Hahn also hopes that PBS will pick it up both locally and nationally in the new year.He and his five-person crew used every known technique for capturing the low-lit, wood-grained and stained glass interiors, including drones for interior aerial shots. Editor Stephen Yao estimates that he, Hahn and producer Lori Korngiebel edited 50 hours’ worth of interviews for 12-14 subjects down to the 60-minute running time.Hahn worked on the live action, upcoming version of Beauty and the Beast concurrently – no small feat. Hahn couldn’t resist the challenge though: “I love great stories…and this was the greatest untold story I’ve ever come across.”The new film concentrates on the deep American roots of the families who envisioned and built the home, as well as the personal cost to the psyche of Charles Greene, the visionary architect brother who managed every small detail as a work of art. - A new coffee-table pictorial history
The new Gamble House coffee-table pictorial history (Photo – cityfilespress.com).
The Gamble House: Building Paradise in California from City Files Press.
Written by Edward Bosley, Anne Mallek, Ann Scheid and Robert Winter with photographs by Alexander Vertikoff.
> Check out the brand-new documentary trailer:
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