Support for LAist comes from
Become a sponsor
Audience-funded nonprofit news
Donate
Stay Connected

LAist is part of Southern California Public Radio, a member-supported public media network.

Audience-funded nonprofit news
Listen
Donate
Podcasts Take Two
Future of Scripps Kellogg cottage in Altadena uncertain
solid orange rectangular banner
()
Take Two Logo
Jun 9, 2015
Listen • 9:33
Future of Scripps Kellogg cottage in Altadena uncertain
A local Japanese family with a historic past is working to preserve the Altadena property they've called home since the early 1900s.
Cindy Yuge, center, stand with her two sisters in front of the torrey pine tree their father planted in the later 1920s.
Cindy Yuge, center, stands with her two sisters in front of the torrey pine tree their father planted in the later 1920s.
()

A local Japanese family with a historic past is working to preserve the Altadena property they've called home since the early 1900s.

A local Japanese family with a historic past is working to preserve the Altadena property they've called home since the early 1900s.   

The Yuge family story began in 1927, when Takeo Yuge took over for his uncle as caretaker of the Scripps Kellogg family estate.

The Kelloggs allowed the Yuge family to live in a small cottage, and Takeo Yuge planted a torrey pine tree out front, which has since sprouted to 120 feet.

But then, World War II came, and the family was sent away to several internment camps. Upon their release, the Yuges felt that they would bring shame to the family amid a post-war anti-Japanese sentiment. So, they decided to set up their own Chrysanthemum shop in Harbor City.

But the Kelloggs sought them out, and invited them to return to the home.

"The Kellogg family took a considerable amount of effort, I believe, to find them in Harbor City, and told them that they had to come back, that they saved the house for them," said daughter Cindy Yuge.

The Yuges have stayed in the cottage from 1948, to now.

An agreement with the Kelloggs would have allowed the family to stay indefinitely, and Cindy Yuge still lives there.

But the current property owners, the private Pasadena Waldorf School, put a different deal in place when they took over in the 1980s. That agreement allowed the family to live at the house until the last parent died. Takeo Yuge died in 1989, and his wife died in November. 

Cindy Yuge shared her family's story with Take Two. 

Meantime, Bill Birney, who is the chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Waldorf School, says that as of two weeks ago, they have committed to preserving the Torrey pine tree. However, a plan for the rest of the property can't be determined until the school can gain access for inspection. He said he also feels that the media is contributing to unnecessary tension.

"We talk about it with our children, our children know the ancestry of the Yuges and the Scripps and the Kelloggs and how this site came to be," he said, adding that the Yuges have been present at past school functions honoring them. "So, it's unfortunate that in the press and in the viral world, there is this contention that doesn't need to be there."

A petition has been started to preserve the property. Both parties were expected to meet Tuesday to begin finding a resolution. 

Listen to the full story by clicking the blue audio player above.

Clarification: An earlier version of this story's headline stated that the future of the Scripps Kellogg property is uncertain. The headline has been updated to clarify that future of the cottage on the property is unclear.