Cage Elevator

Castle Green, in Pasadena, boasts a clackety-clack traditional cage elevator. Now condos, the former hotel is, hands down, my favorite building in California. My devotion to this dome-laden dream place is as large as its dome-y rooftops.

I find it impossible not to stand across the street and stare, slack of jaw. Impossible not to long to live there. Impossible not to wish I was just a doorknob in some hallway for a day, or maybe that cage elevator, creakily transporting guests and luggage.

You've also wished you were an elevator, right? Or an old hotel doorknob?




Image: Castle Green

Elevator Buttons

The best elevator button? My vote: ><

When the car is loaded and we're ready to ride, I will push that blasted button like I'm ringing the front door of the only house for miles during a sudden downpour. I push it hard and often and with feeling. And if someone else is standing closer to the button panel, I mentally will them to push it -- push it, puuuush it -- almost to the point of asking politely if I might borrow their finger for a moment. (Elevator etiquette frowns upon this unseemly request.)

But this elevator-themed New Yorker article says the "close doors" button doesn't work in most elevators. In fact, it is there simply to make you feel as if you are in control. But I still -- must -- push -- it -- want -- to -- push -- it --

















Flickr image by Tim Parkinson