AHAD stores all the information it has for a given address in a property record.
To view a property record, you need its unique database property ID. If you know
the property ID, you can simply press the "View Property Record"
button and enter the ID in the space provided to retrieve the property record.
If you don’t know the property ID, AHAD offers three "string search" options based on
the street address to find it:
1. Press "Search Database Addresses" if you know the exact address you’re looking for.
However, the numbers and letters you enter must exactly match the address (or part of it)
as it appears in the database (see "General Notes on AHAD String Searches" below).
2. Press "Search Database Street Numbers/Names" if you know at least part of an
address number and part of the street name.
3. Press "Search Database Street Number Range" if you have a range of address
numbers you want to see for a given street. For example, entering "500" and "600"
as a range on "Mariposa" will bring up property IDs for addresses in that range
on both East and West Mariposa Avenue.
General Notes on AHAD String Searches
The search method for addresses currently has two important limitations:
- First, AHAD will return no more than 40 possible answers to a request. So,
for example, if you enter just a street name (say, "Mariposa"),
AHAD will usually ask you to narrow your search by providing more detail.
- Second, any detail you provide must exactly match the sequence ("string")
of numbers and letters for the address as it appears in the database.
AHAD uses single initials for East, West, North, and South and no periods
for abbreviations. So for example, "600 East Mariposa Avenue" appears as
"600 E Mariposa Ave" in the database.
You don't need a complete address to find a property ID, but you do need an exact
character sequence match to the database. So "00 E Maripo" would return property
ID for the example address, but "600 East Mariposa” would not because "East" is spelled out.
Search options 2 and 3 are generally easier to use because they separate the address numbers
from the street name. For example, if you know "6" and "Mariposa" for the address, option 2
will let you find the example property ID.
For more information on what is in the database, go to the main Altadena Heritage website at
altadenaheritage.org/category/maintain-architectural-database.
For questions or comments on the database, please email ahad@altadenaheritagepdb.org.
