366 S Mentor Ave

NOT JEWISH FRIENDLY! My wife and I moved to Pasadena for an opportunity at Caltech in August 2011, and moved into 366 S Mentor Ave because of its proximity. We put up a 2 inch white mezuzah on our door frame in the hallway that matched the frame’s color. Within a day or two, we were told by the manager that no «decorations» were allowed in the hallway,. We let her know that it was a religious symbol, but she said it still wasn’t allowed. We were slightly upset at that, but removed it to not disturb anyone. Not long after, the entire hallway was decorated with Christmas decorations, wreaths, and lights. Many of our neighbors put them on their doors and left them up for months. If you like Christmas, this place will be very friendly for you. Others beware.
NOT BICYCLE FRIENDLY! We had a parking space in the garage for our one car, and put our bicycle between the car’s hood and the wall. It fit perfectly and was very discreet. We were told that this was not allowed in the building and that we could not store our bicycle in our parking space. It does not matter if both modes of transportation fit, you are simply just not allowed. Eventually, we were able to call Properties International and get this rule bent for us. But it was still a hassle.
INEFFECTIVE BUILDING MANAGER! If you ever have a question or complaint, don’t bother going to the building manager. She plays a very weak game and only says she has to follow the rules from the main office. Call them directly, but don’t expect a call back. The manager is useless, and the owners are absentee. This is especially important when doing your move-​out inspection; the manager does the initial walkthrough before you move out, and then they send in another person to do the final inspection after you are gone. It makes it very hard to know what you will be getting back. Also, the Manager does not know what color paints are used in the apartments; she told us the wrong colors to buy, which forced us to lose a lot of our security deposit so they could have it professionally repainted to fix the mismatched portions.
BUILDING SMELLS AND WATER IS YELLOW! Each floor has a garbage chute, which is helpful. But garbage is only taken out from the building sporadically, so the wonderful smell of the entire building’s garbage seeps into the hallway. It’s pretty gross. Also, be sure to run your tap for at least a minute before using it. The water comes out a disgusting yellowish-​brown color. We were told that this is unavoidable due to old pipes. I don’t know if that was supposed to make us feel better, because it didn’t.