Attractive throwback offers good schools and Craftsman architecture.

When Hollywood looksfor a location to stand in for small-town America, moreoften than not production companies load the grip trucks, hitchupthe Star Waggons and head up the 110to South Pasadena.

The cityhas so zealously protected its original charmand architectural characterthat it has become in many ways atime capsule of California living in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The desiretoset itself apart first manifested itself in the late 1800s, when SouthPasadenans votedtoseparatefromPasadena and incorporateasanindependent townof500 or so people.

Tourism and agriculturewere the primaryindustries, as they were in communities up and down the ArroyoSeco. Visitors came by trainload to ride the big birds at the nationally renowned Cawston OstrichFarm, or to winter at the L.A. area’sfirst grand resort, the luxurious RaymondHotel.

Onceall of thosevisitors clappedeyesonthe beautiful Southern California countryside —not to mention the plentiful, relatively affordable land that stretched across the sparsely populated San Gabriel Valley — many of them decided to put down roots in South Pasadena.

The city’swealth of Craftsman architectureand well-preserved commercial districts owethemselves to this real estateboomlet, whichwas in turn aidedbythe extension of the Pacific Electric Red Cars intotown.

The insular character of South Pasadena took an unfortunate turn in the 1940s, when the city began to write intodeeds restrictions against the ownership of property by anyone other than whites.

In the aftermath of PearlHarbor,members of the thriving Japanese communityinthe citywere evicted from their homes and sent to relocationcampsand were not allowedtoreclaimtheir property at war’send. It wasnot until the 1960s that SouthPasadena’sexclusionaryhousingregulations were finallydiscarded.

That ugliness is in the past.

South Pasadena today is ahighly diverse, affluent city. Though the Raymond Hotel has long since been demolished, and the cantankerous denizens of Cawston’s ostrich farm no longer roam the banksofthe ArroyoSeco, the city weathered the loss of the tourist trade by embracing its richlegacy of classic residential and commercial architecture.

The Red Car’s replacement, the MetroGold Line, runs through the heartofarevitalized, walkable downtown, just steps from neigh borhoods that look much as they did almost 100 years ago.

And the city’s star shows no sign of dimming: The Rialto Theater featured prominently in “La La Land,” a movie that, appropriately enough, also makes a point of celebrating the past.

Neighborhood highlights

Schools: South Pasadena boasts one of the region’s most prestigious public school systems, with excellent options from kindergarten through high school.

Small Town, USA: Aside from a bit of strip-mall ugliness on Fair Oaks Avenue, South Pasadena is the picture of 20th century smalltown life, complete with a soda fountain.

Craftsman dreamland: For lovers of the quintessentially American style, South Pasadena offers up homes from such noted designers as Greene and Greene and G. Laurence Stimson.

Neighborhood challenges

High demand, short supply: Homes in South Pasadena, a completely built-up city with strong preservation ordinances, are at a premium — and real estate prices reflect that.

Expert insight Sotheby’s agent Lin Vlacich was born and raised in South Pasadena, a city she praised for being community-oriented, diverse and architecturally significant.

“What makes it great is it has been historically successful it’s not an up-and-coming community,” she said.

As such, South Pasadena weathered the housing crash well and rebounded quickly afterward, she said.

Potential homeowners hoping to buy in South Pasadena “really, really need to get connected with a local agent,” she said. “Things get sold off-market.”

Market snapshot In January, based on seven sales, the median sales price for single-family homes in the 91030 ZIP Code was $1.388 million, a 38.1% increase over the same month the previous year, according to CoreLogic.

Report card Within the boundaries of South Pasadena is Marengo Elementary, which scored 957 out of 1,000 in the 2013 Academic Performance Index. Other bright spots include Monterey Hills Elementary and Arroyo Vista Elementary, which scored 933 and 927, respectively.

South Pasadena Middle had a score of 936, and South Pasadena Senior High scored 891.

hotproperty@latimes.com