What to Know
- "A Celebration of Electricity" at The Gamble House in Pasadena
- Saturday, June 15 from 7 to 9 p.m.
- $30 general public; $25 members
National Electricity Day is June 15, a day that gazes back when Benjamin Franklin stepped out into a lightning storm with a key, a kite, and loads of curiosity.
A few centuries have passed since that electrifying experiment, but we're still captivated by currents, wattage, and just how the lights come on at night when, for millennia, humans relied on moonlight and flame to give their evenings glow.
The adoption of electricity in our homes didn't happen overnight, but there were particular places that embraced the transformative moment in a bold way.
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The Gamble House in Pasadena, a handsome home known for its Craftsman-y cool, is one such spot. Designed by Charles and Henry Greene for the Gamble family in the early 20th century, the eye-catching abode "... was built as a fully electrified house at a time of transition from gas to electricity."
To honor National Electricity Day, and to give architecture and history buffs a different look at the landmark, The Gamble house will stage "A Celebration of Electricity" on June 15.
Tickets are available now. Admission is $30, but if you're a member of the house you'll pay $25. Either way, do buy your ticket ahead of time.
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A special treat will add additional "buzz" to the evening bash: Look for a demonstration of the Theremin, an ethereal, no-contact electrical instrument that debuted about a decade after The Gamble House was built.
As we live through another era of technological wonders — though, truly, those eras are always omnipresent, if a little harder to detect as we experience the incremental, day-to-day changes — it is helpful to look back at other major moments of change and newness.
To do so at a splendid house, with the Theremin adding a slightly spooky and atmospheric soundtrack, should be a pleasure for electricity aficionados, music mavens, and architecture buffs.
And if you count yourself as all three things? Lucky you.
