Sweet home, Pasadena

Colleen Dunn Bates, Sandy Gillis, Mel Malmberg, Mary Jane Horton and Jill Alison Ganon prove too many cooks don’t always spoil the broth, especially when it comes to writing the first Greater Pasadena-area guidebook.

“Hometown Pasadena: The Insider’s Guide” is a handy, all-encompassing book packed with historic information, great eats, breathtaking sites, helpful tidbits and the San Gabriel Valley’s best-kept secrets. From Glendale and San Marino to Hermon — yes, there’s a tiny town called Hermon in the vicinity — these five local authors have got the area covered not only for visitors, but also for residents who have lived in the neighborhood for years.

“We wanted to make a book that would address needs of people who came in for events like the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl, but also for an inside look at Pasadena for hometown folks,” Ganon says.

It started with a simple idea two years ago while “Hometown Pasadena” editor, publisher and author Bates was promoting her book, “Mammoth From the Inside: The Honest Guide to Mammoth & the Eastern Sierra.”

“When [“Mammoth From the Inside”] was released, I was doing events around town, and actually Distant Lands [Travel Bookstore] and Vroman’s said, ‘We wish you would do something like this for Pasadena because we have nothing like this,’” Bates said. “I thought, ‘Wouldn’t that be a great thing to do?’”

Bates, who grew up in Los Feliz and has been a Pasadenan for 15 years, is a guidebook expert, having written “The Eclectic Gourmet Guide to Los Angeles,” “The Best of New England” and “Storybook Travels: From Eloise’s New York to Harry Potter’s London, Visits to 30 of the Best-Loved Landmarks in Children’s Literature” with author Susan La Tempa.

However, when it came to Pasadena, she didn’t want to whip up just any old travel guide. Her mission was to make “Hometown Pasadena” a fun yet in-depth easy read with useful tips scattered across colorful pages with vibrant pictures. To make the project more enjoyable, as well as more manageable, she called on her friends for help. She also asked two Larrys to write forewords for the book: Larry Wilson, Pasadena Star-News editor and columnist, and Larry Mantle, host of KPCC’s “AirTalk.”

“Colleen brought us together,” Malmberg remembers. “Colleen, Jill, Mary Jane and I know each other from being parents at Sequoyah School in Pasadena. ... Colleen knows Sandy, and Sandy and I were acquaintances, [from] dropping kids off at the same summer camp, etcetera”

“I was so glad they let me come in,” Horton adds. “Because to me, those are the best ideas: the ones that seem so simple, but haven’t been done yet.”

However, Gillis initially was hesitant to take on such an ambitious project. Though she had been a freelance writer and a former “Tonight Show with Johnny Carson” staffer, Gillis opted to become a stay-at-home mom. She admits she was intimidated, and if it weren’t for Bates’ persistence and “tireless energy,” she may have turned the project down.

“Colleen just won’t take no for an answer, which is so nice, and that’s just the kind of person you want to work with,” Gillis says. “It’s great, especially when you totally remove yourself from the workplace and think, ‘I’ll never be able to do anything again.’ But Colleen kept saying, ‘Come on.’”

The authors began meeting in Bates’ living room and at restaurants for brainstorming sessions, where they selected and assigned segments of the books based on each writer’s area of expertise and interests, such as horticulture, architecture, dining and shopping.

“For instance, the San Gabriel Valley is known for its public and private gardens, and Sandy knows quite a bit about gardening,” Bates explains. “Jill was the managing editor for American Bungalow magazine, and architecture is so important to get right in a place like Pasadena.”

In addition to her publishing and editor duties, Bates tackled the “Outdoorsy” section, as well as the majority of the “Hunger and Thirst” section.

As an avid outdoorswoman, Bates included some of her favorite hikes and trails in the San Gabriel Mountains and Lower Arroyo Trails, as well as the ideal destinations for ski and snow. Bates also credits “Trails of the Angeles” author Doug Christiansen with tapping her into some great hidden outdoor finds throughout the area.

Using her years of experience as a restaurant critic for Westways Magazine and LA Style, Bates scoured each city to find local quality restaurants that were a retreat from the usual chains like the Cheesecake Factory.

“I think we tend to forget what’s on the fringes,” Bates says. “There are great individual mom-and-pop places that need the business like Tibet Nepal House or Lula Mae — places that have a lot of personality.”

Horton, too, ventured away from the usual big-name stores and opted to highlight the most unusual shopping destinations in the “Materialistic” section. She drove throughout the San Gabriel Valley to find some of the area’s best-kept secrets.

“If I didn’t know the store well, I would go to each and every one myself,” Horton says.

“Eagle Rock had the most surprises; it’s so up-and-coming. That area between Eagle Rock Boulevard and Colorado has such cute places,” she adds. “Blue Healer Imports only has products from Australia, like great purses, lingerie and natural baby toiletries. F-Art — a little weird name — has really cool stuff from all over the world and really great lines.”

However, covering trendy boutiques proved to be more difficult than Horton originally thought, with stores constantly opening and closing.

“Santa Anita racetrack will always be there,” Horton says, “but unfortunately stores close quickly.”

Though the track wasn’t included in Horton’s area of expertise, the venue was a major highlight for Malmberg when writing the “Athletic” section.

“I had only been there for a bat mitzvah,” Malmberg says of her solo visit to the iconic venue. “See, even if you’ve lived here 20-plus years, there are things — major things — unexplored.”

Overall, Malmberg says, she approached her sections from a parent’s point of view, categorizing the “Athletic” portion by activity and the “Childlike” portion by age, conducting research by talking to friends, visiting places and making phone calls.

For Gillis, it took a lot more than talking to friends and making phone calls to complete the “Historic” section. Gillis instead spent hours perusing history books and periodicals and reading histories of the era from the Tongva Indians and Henry Huntington to the present.

Ganon took on the heady task of covering Pasadena’s renowned architecture. With local architects like Greene & Greene, she wasn’t scrambling for material.

“This is an architectural town,” Ganon says. “It’s a serious mother lode for the Arts and Crafts era, but we also have very interesting midcentury architecture.”

Ganon also profiled six Caltech professors and developed the piece to showcase not only their vast knowledge, but also a more personal, fun-loving side, proving that even top scientists do the same kinds of things as everyone else.

“For all of us, it was an incredibly fun process. It was a hell of a lot of work too,” Ganon remembers.

The fun will continue for Bates and company with the launch of the Hometown Pasadena online magazine (www.hometown-pasadena.com). The Web site will feature up-to-date information and events, as well as local personality profiles and columns by the authors.

“I think what makes it different is that it is a real guidebook, not just a compendium of menus. We are opinionated and funny,” Malmberg says. “And this is a book that you would want to have around for the information about the history and the perennial attractions, like the Huntington Library, as much as for shops and restaurants, which inevitably come and go. It’s good-looking and fun to read and informative. I can’t wait for the second edition.”

“Hometown Pasadena” will be available in stores Nov. 1. To learn more about the book, as well as where it can be purchased and upcoming events, visit www.hometown-pasadena.com.