Los Angeles may be urban but some enclaves feel like you’re in small-town America. Downtown Sierra Madre is like that. It’s nestled under the San Gabriel Mountains and features locally owned shops, historic buildings, and tree-lined streets.
Take a stroll down Sierra Madre Boulevard near Baldwin Avenue where time stands still to visit cozy cafes, family-owned restaurants, pubs, coffeehouses, and an old theatre. Diners enjoy eating on outdoor patios savoring ethnic and good old American cuisine along the boulevard.
It’s a great place to shop for unique artisan goods, hang out with friends, get involved with the artistic community, or just chill out.
Watch my quick video walking tour
Memorial Park
Community events are hosted at Memorial Park. These include the town’s annual Wisteria Festival as Sierra Madre is famous for its 100-year-old wisteria vine. Other events include concerts in the park.
The Park House, built in 1884 was once a winery owned by city founder John Jacob Hart. He was a music teacher who grew and sold “Monte Vina” wines. The house is now a senior citizen center.
A 1905 WWI Krupp Cannon sits at the entrance to the park off Sierra Madre Boulevard. The Weeping Wall honoring Sierra Madre veterans holds a time capsule of veteran memorabilia.
Historic Sites in Sierra Madre
Hotel Shirley, on Baldwin Ave, was built in the early 1900s. It was once a retreat for tourists who came to Sierra Madre to escape the heat of Los Angeles. It is a Craftsman and Mission Revival style building that was indicative of the building style of that era.
Lizzie’s Trail Inn and the Richardson House are at the entrance to the Mount Wilson Trail.
John Richardson settled in Sierra Madre in the early 1860s and built a ranch with two small dwellings. One of them, the Richardson House (1890), remains. The building where the Trail Inn now stands was once a lunch stand for hikers in the 1890s. It was moved to its current location in 1913.
Lizzie McElwain operated the Trail Inn next to the Richardson House from 1925 – 1939. She was a colorful character born in the Russian Empire in 1888 who spoke nine languages.
After immigrating to America, she married Louis Weiss who was 35 years her senior, and they moved to Los Angeles. The couple had two children. Weiss died soon after they arrived and Lizzie married her second husband, Louis Stoppel, a boarder at her rooming house. In 1925, she bought the business at the Trail Inn. At the time, her husband was suspected of manufacturing illegal liquor. He eventually left her in the early 30s.
Lizzie’s Trail Inn became known for delicious ravioli and fried chicken. It was a popular destination for good eats and refreshments. During Prohibition, A still sat in Lizzie’s living room at the restaurant. There was a trap door to hide the hooch in the event of a raid.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer and temporarily lost her lease to the Trail Inn in 1935 due to her health. She married Edward Harding “Mac” McElwain in 1936 who helped her regain the business. Lizzie died in 1939 at the age of 50.
Trail Inn is now a small museum managed by the Sierra Madre Historical Preservation Society where you can view artifacts, photographs, and memorabilia from the area. It is open on Saturdays.
Sierra Madre Playhouse
The building that houses the Sierra Madre Playhouse opened in 1910 and was a theater for silent films in the 1920s and then talkies in the 30s and 40s. It became the Sierra Madre Playhouse in the 1970s. It is a 99-seat Equity Waiver house that has earned many theatrical awards.
I, too, love Sierra Madre. I especially enjoy Mary’s Cafe. Nestled in a residential area that was once get-away cabins for city-weary Angelinos, Mary’s is so off the beaten track that rumor has it that it is a meet-up spot for people having affairs! ( Clutch pearls here!) The area around it is charming. There’s a cement flume that frequently has water from the dam uphill and plenty of trees to shade Mary’s outdoor diners who sip coffee and enjoy breakfast and lunch items that have a truly homemade touch. The cafe also has music, art and random garage sale items and acts as a mini-mercantile. With a little imagination, you are in a little town in the Sierras! My secret: If you follow the stairs uphill in front of Mary’s, you will find an alley that turns into a hiking trail that crosses charming little bridges and acts as a mini architecture tour of the neighborhood. Keep following it uphill and it will end at the dam. You can take the neighborhood street back down to Mary’s. Although it is steep in places, the trail has benches along the way to rest and tennies should provide adequate traction. Enjoy!
Hi Matt, Thanks for informing us about those hidden gems. I am going back as I need more photos. Mary’s sounds so intriguing. I am going to check it out again as soon as I can. I discovered it while Christmas shopping so I need to delve further into what is there. This certainly helps.