tile

The poignant mixed-media painting doubles as a large shop façade of crumbling, graffitied ceramic tiles with signage attached on a tarp.

It's an idyllic story-book image of a house – small and neat, with a sloping red tile roof.

But step into the backyard, past the colorful paintings, textiles, tiles, stained glass and ceramics and the new rear exterior — painted a bright yellow — and it’s like a completely different property.

The Pasadena Museum of History, for instance, will host events with Cha-Rie Tang, founder of Pasadena Craftsman Tile — who makes intricate tiles inspired by the work of Southern California Arts and Crafts legend Ernest Batchelder.

The scorch marks from the fighting that day still mar the walls, and the underbrush of bullet-shattered tiles crackles with Messika’s every step.