Altadena, California
46 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1894 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the Pasadena census division. It lies in ZIP code area 91001. It lies near Las Flores Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Pasadena quadrangle. 42,846 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,358 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1894 to 1995The same ground, surveyed 101 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1894 against another survey:
On record in Altadena
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 12 records
Christmas Tree Lanelisted 1990
Crank Houselisted 1997
Gen. Charles S. Farnsworth County Parklisted 1997
Zane Grey Estatelisted 2002
Keyes Bungalowlisted 1978
Andrew McNally Houselisted 2007
Mount Lowe Railwaylisted 1993
Pacific Electric Railway Company Substation No. 8listed 1977
Scripps Halllisted 1999
Villa Carlottalisted 2014
Woodbury-Story Houselisted 1993- Walter D. Valentine Cottage Blisted 2017
Population over time
2 figuresAltadena grew from 42,777 to 42,846 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 42,777 | |
| 2020 | 42,846 | +69 (+0%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
16 surveys from 46 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1894 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:62500
- 1896 USGS Pasadena quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1900 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1900 USGS Pasadena quadrangle1:62500, 10 printings
- 1901 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 1 quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
- 1904 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 1 quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1928 USGS Altadena quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1949 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1953 USGS Pasadena quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1955 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1966 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000
- 1966 USGS Pasadena quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1975 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1979 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:100000
- 1995 USGS Pasadena quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
218 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 218 fires within 5 miles of Altadena between 1992 and 2020, burning about 166,466 acres in total. 8 started naturally. 29 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 73 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 44 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 29 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 22 |
| Smoking | 11 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 10 |
| Debris and open burning | 10 |
| Natural | 8 |
| Fireworks | 7 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 4 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 September 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Angeles National Forest | CHANEY |
| 7 September 2004 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Angeles National Forest | STRATUS |
| 5 September 2004 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Angeles National Forest | SUNSHINE |
| 4 September 2002 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Angeles National Forest | ELLIOT |
| 30 September 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 7.0 acres | Angeles National Forest | CHANEY |
| 3 September 2001 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Angeles National Forest | TWIN |
| 3 September 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Angeles National Forest | BAYTREE |
| 22 September 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 10 acres | Angeles National Forest | LOWE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
8 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Altadena: 4 past producers, 3 producers, 1 occurrence. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gold. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dawn | Gold | Past Producer | ||
| Loris | Gold | Occurrence | ||
| Devil S Gate | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Devils Canyon Dam | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| La Canada Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Osborn Co | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Osborn Co. | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Pasadena Aggregates Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
3 since 2000Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Altadena in 3 storm reports between 2000 and 2025: 2 flash flood, 1 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2025 | Flash Flood | Altadena | - | Heavy rain produced significant flash flooding and debris flows at the intersection of Lake Avenue and East Altadena Drive. Mud and debris flows resulted in the closure of all three northbound lanes. |
| October 2004 | Flash Flood | Altadena | - | no account filed |
| March 2000 | Flood | Altadena | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kinneloa Mesa | 2.7 miles | 47 | |
| Linda Vista | 2.7 miles | 46 | |
| Pasadena | 3.0 miles | 46 | |
| La Cañada Flintridge | 3.1 miles | 46 | |
| Lamanda Park | 3.5 miles | 47 | |
| East Pasadena | 3.6 miles | 47 | |
| Chapman | 3.8 miles | 47 | |
| Mount Wilson | 4.3 miles | 48 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Altadena | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q433701 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1652662. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.















