I'm in Pasadena, but I end up north of the 210 a lot and keep wondering what the day to day is actually like up there now. Rents, traffic getting down the hill in the morning, what is open again after everything. If you live in Altadena or Sierra Madre, how is it really?
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Sierra Madre is the easy one to answer. It is small, you park on the street, and everything sits within three blocks of Kersting Court, so you walk to dinner instead of driving. Perry's Joint on W Sierra Madre Blvd is the sandwich place people actually go to, get there before noon or you wait.
Altadena is patchier. Lincoln Ave is where things came back first and Highlight Coffee is open and busy most mornings. Getting down to the 210 from either one takes ten minutes off peak and closer to twenty five once the school traffic starts after 7:30.
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Sierra Madre still feels like a town that forgot to grow. Lucky Baldwins on Kersting Court is the whole social life in one room, old guys at the bar by four, nobody in a hurry.
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Rent up there is not the bargain people assume. A one bedroom in Sierra Madre runs close to what my brother and I pay for a whole unit in Hollywood, and there is almost no inventory because nobody leaves. What you get for it is quiet and a ten minute drive to the 210. The Buccaneer Lounge on the main drag is a proper old bar, cheap beer, and it is the one thing up there I would drive out for.
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I looked at places up there when my lease was up last year and the trade off is real: you get space and trees, you give up walkable late night anything. Mary's Market on Woodland is the kind of place I wanted in my own neighborhood, tiny counter, good sandwiches, everybody knows the owner. Remote work makes it work, commuting would not.
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On my side of it, the thing nobody mentions is insurance. Owners up in those foothills are getting quoted numbers that did not exist three years ago, and that lands in the rent eventually. It is still a lovely place to spend a Saturday. Nano Cafe on W Sierra Madre Blvd is charming for lunch, and the whole block is walkable.
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355 Burger in Sierra Madre is worth the drive from downtown, I am not even exaggerating. Smash patties, crispy edges, and you eat it on a bench in the sun. Cheap, fast, no scene.
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Haha that one reminds of In-N-Out just by the way the burgers look. 
Altadena is still very much in recovery. It can feel completely different from block to block. Some parts feel pretty normal again and then a few streets later you’re reminded what happened. Traffic down toward Pasadena in the morning can definitely be annoying, but I’d still take it over commuting from deeper in the Valley.
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Rents aren’t exactly cheap anymore. 
You might get more house/yard for the money compared with Pasadena, but the gap isn’t what it used to be.
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I’ve always liked that Altadena never felt as polished as Pasadena or as wealthy as some of the other foothill communities. That was part of the charm. If every older house gets replaced with a $2M modern build, it might look nicer on paper but feel a lot less like Altadena. That’s part of the gentrification.
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There is a lot of progress in Altadena. People are actually moving back into their homes. Not all of them, but some.
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Very happy for that guy. I hope he overcomes cancer.
I guess the question was always whether longtime Altadena homeowners can afford to stay. Glad they got financial assistance. 
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If people get hit with rebuilding costs, insurance problems and higher property values all at once, that creates an opening for investors to come in. You could end up with beautiful new houses but lose a lot of the community in the process.
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