Greg Critser

Greg Critser moved to Whittier with his parents from Steubenville, Ohio in 1967. A graduate of Occidental College and UCLA, he majored in history and became a journalist, serving as city editor for the fledgling Pasadena Weekly, editing California Business, California and Buzz, and writing for Harper’s. His columns and articles have appeared in the Pasadena Star-News, Los Angeles Times, New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Greg wrote National Geographic Traveler’s guidebook to California and edited Beasts of the Field, the Stanford University Press history of California farm labor. His most recent books, both published by Houghton Mifflin, are Fatland: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World, which the American Diabetes Association called “the definitive journalistic account of the modern obesity epidemic,” and Generation Rx: How Prescription Drugs Are Altering American Lives, Minds and Bodies. For the last 20 years he has lived in a 1900 Craftsman bungalow up the street from Pasadena City Hall with his wife, Antoinette Mongelli. 

1. You’ve covered Pasadena, L.A. and California for more than two decades. What does Pasadena have in common with the larger region?
Pasadena shares the basic history of California: colonization by Spain, then being a part of Mexico, then part of the United States. Southern California in general has remained closer to its mestizo roots, and Pasadena has, in the last couple of decades, begun to reflect that. You’ll see traditionally black, working-class and middle-class neighborhoods that are now Latino. It’s happening in Oakland, in South-Central L.A. and in Pasadena.

2. How is Pasadena different?
Pasadena has always set itself apart from L.A. It’s a more reflective place. There’s the millionaire culture here, and a sort of Arroyo Bohemia that is very different from L.A. The educated and wealthy can relax and set themselves apart from the frenzy down the freeway. We are fairly tolerant of eccentricity, and people can exist outside of hierarchies. There’s still a lot of nature here.

3. What keeps you here?
I’m optimistic about Pasadena 90 percent of the time. I live in a mixed neighborhood, and frankly, it’s not gentrified enough. We need more middle-class civility. But the city seems to be doing the right thing, seeking other ways to build housing. That is uncomfortable, but when you step back and see why, it’s a generally positive thing. The obvious negative is our school system, which seems to be permanently broken.

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3 Favorites 

1. Of course, the author of Fatland loves to eat and happens to be a maven of Asian food. Tell us your favorite places to eat out.

Anybody who doesn’t just roll down Los Robles to go to Alhambra and Monterey Park for that culinary thrill ride is just nuts. The San Gabriel Valley is the capital of Chinese, and probably Vietnamese, cuisine, in the WORLD. Just go explore.

In Pasadena, the food has gotten more important and much, much better. Twenty years ago, when your waiter, after a fussy and expensive meal, asked if you wanted anything else, you were tempted to say, “A gun.” Now, Sumi has made Europane a true community café, with both consistency and taste. Bistro 45 is very consistent. Tre Venezia is steep but good. Mexican cooks and Armenian greengrocers have made the Mediterranean diet accessible. We are now a dining town.

2. You are also a fantastic cook: creative, adventurous and knowledgeable. Where do you shop for ingredients?
Roma Deli on Lake and Mountain has some of the best cheeses, meats and bread I’ve ever had. Ross has a Sicilian palate. I feel I’ve recreated Italy in Pasadena by shopping there. Good Foods is my comfortable yet exotic market. It’s a large Armenian supermarket on Washington with a great butcher, fantastic greengrocer and a palate of things from all around the Mediterranean: grains, breads, yogurts. You can shop for half an hour and go home and really impress your friends. I look at the farmer’s markets but don’t generally buy – I’m too cheap.

3. Eating out, cooking in: how do you stay in shape?
I walk an hour a day: in my neighborhood, in Eaton Canyon or in the Arroyo. This is a great town for walking—it’s safe and beautiful. On hot summer evenings I walk around the Caltech campus. Yoga at Yoga House has been a passion. And I have a horse, a thoroughbred jumper I keep at San Pasqual stables. I ride him four to five times a week. I’m lucky I have time to do all this! 

-- by Mel Malmberg; photo by Jessica Yu