History buffs invited to meeting

DOWNEY - Historian Wally Shidler will present his 16mm film, "To Mount Lowe with Love," at Thursday's meeting of the Downey Historical Society inside the John Downey Room at the Barbara J. Riley Community and Senior Center.Filmed in 1976 by Phillip Callahan, the half-hour film is about the historic incline cable cars that ran from Pasadena to the top of the peak known as Mount Lowe. Sometimes called "a railroad to the stars," the now-lost rail line is a little known piece of California history. Professor T.S.C. Lowe, who built the line and suffered through its history, said about its ending: "I have no regrets…a monument such as Mount Lowe will be [a memorial] to my name when I have passed away." Shidler is a historian and motion picture engineer. He is a member of the Huntington Park Historical Preservation Commission and is a collector of historic memorabilia. Thursday's meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. The public is invited. ********** Published: February 20, 2009 - Volume 7 - Issue 44