City of Roses Author:R. A. Christmas Pasadena, California--great weather, old money--city of the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl football game. Every January 1st, City of Roses. An obnoxious, ambitious blue-collar from Boston arrives in the 1920's with his young family and starts a trucking business; but when he dies in the 60's it's mostly gone. The point-of-view in these poems is ... more »that of a grown-up grandson, reflecting on his hometown, his tragicomic family, and his mixed-up life. What happened to him happens to most of us: the death of a pet; first car; first love; eccentric relatives; long-suffering parents; high-school sports. Pasadena endures, with its remarkable climate, punctuated by earthquakes, Santa Ana winds, smog, and on rare occasions, snow. Maybe we don't have a choice as to where we're born, who we're born to, or where we grow up. But maybe we do.« less