Pasadena, California

City of Pasadena
—  City  —
Pasadena City Hall
Seal
Nickname(s): City of Roses, Crown City
Location in the Los Angeles County and the State of California
Coordinates:
Country	United States
State	California
County	Los Angeles
Settled	January 27, 1874
Incorporated	June 19, 1886
Government
- Type	Council-Manager
- City Manager	Mayor Bill Bogaard (D) Jacque Robinson Margaret McAustin Chris Holden Steve Haderlein Victor M. Gordo Steve Madison Terry Tornek
- City Attorney	Michele Beal Bagneris
- City Clerk	Jane Rodriguez
- City Manager	Michael Beck
Area
- Total	23.2 sq mi (60.0 km2)
- Land	23.1 sq mi (59.8 km2)
- Water	0.1 sq mi (0.2 km2)
Elevation	863 ft (263 m)
Population (2009)
- Total	143,667
- Density	6,384.7/sq mi (2,477.1/km2)
- Demonym	Pasadenan
Time zone	PST (UTC-8)
- Summer (DST)	PDT (UTC-7)
ZIP codes	91101-91191
Area code(s)	626
FIPS code	06-56000
GNIS feature ID	1664804
Website	City website

Pasadena (pronounced /ˌpæsəˈdiːnə/) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home of many leading scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena City College (PCC), NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Art Center College of Design, the Pasadena Playhouse, California School of Culinary Arts Pasadena, the Norton Simon Museum of Art and the Pacific Asia Museum. As of 2009, the estimated population of Pasadena is 143,667, making it the 168th largest city in the United States.^[1] Pasadena is the seventh largest city in Los Angeles County, and the main cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. It is the setting of TV shows including Brothers & Sisters and The Big Bang Theory.

Geography

Pasadena is located at (34.156098, -118.131808).^[2] The elevation at city hall is 864 feet (263 m) above sea level. The greater Pasadena area is bounded by the Raymond Fault line, the San Rafael Hills, and the San Gabriel Mountains. The Arroyo Seco, a major geographic feature and home of the Rose Bowl, flows from headwaters in Pasadena's towering Angeles National Forest greenbelt in the San Gabriel Mountains.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 60.0 km² (23.2 mi²). 59.8 km² (23.1 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (0.30%) is water.

Ten miles (16 kilometers) northeast of downtown Los Angeles, Pasadena is bordered by 11 communities--Highland Park, Eagle Rock, South Pasadena, San Marino, Temple City, San Gabriel, Arcadia, Sierra Madre, La Cañada Flintridge, and Altadena. The communities of Eagle Rock, Highland Park and Garvanza are incorporated within the city of Los Angeles and Altadena is an unincorporated part of Los Angeles County.

Neighborhoods

• San Rafael Hills

Climate

Pasadena has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification Csa).

The wettest year was 1983 with 48.47 inches (1,231 mm) and the driest year was 1947 with 5.37 inches (136 mm). The most rainfall in one month was 19.70 inches (500 mm) in February 1980. The most rainfall in 24 hours was 7.70 inches (196 mm) on March 2, 1938. Pasadena averages 20 inches of rain a year, about 6 inches more than nearby Los Angeles due to the rain shadow effect created by the San Gabriel Mountains. Situated at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains, snow is known to fall occasionally in Pasadena. The heaviest snowfall in Pasadena history occurred on January 11, 1949; 6 inches fell at Pasadena's city hall and more than 12 inches fell in the foothills of the city.^[4]

Demographics

As of the census^[5] of 2000, there were 133,936 people, 51,844 households, and 29,862 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,238.7/km² (5,798.7/mi²). There were 54,132 housing units at an average density of 904.8/km² (2,343.6/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 53.36% White, 14.42% Blacks, 0.71% Native American, 10.00% Asian, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 16.01% from other races, and 5.39% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 33.40% of the population.

There were 51,844 households out of which 27.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.2% were married couples living together, 12.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.4% were non-families. 33.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.30.

In the city the population was spread out with 23.1% under the age of 18, 9.3% from 18 to 24, 34.9% from 25 to 44, 20.6% from 45 to 64, and 12.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 95.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.0 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $61,269, and the median income for a family was $73,143.^[6] Males had a median income of $41,120 and $36,435 for females. The per capita income for the city was $28,186. About 11.6% of families and 15.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.3% of those under age 18 and 10.5% of those age 65 or over.

Government

Local government

According to the city's most recent Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the city's various funds had $583.0 million in Revenues, $518.1 million in expenditures, $1,633.4 million in total assets, $732.3 million in total liabilities, and $323.4 million in cash and investments.^[7]

The structure of the management and coordination of city services is:^[8]

The Pasadena Police Department serves most of the City of Pasadena.

County representation

Remote, unattached portions of the city are served by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD); the Altadena Station in Altadena serves the portions of the City of Pasadena.^[9]

The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services operates the Monrovia Health Center in Monrovia, serving portions of Pasadena.^[10]

Politics

In the state legislature Pasadena is located in the 21st Senate District, represented by Democrat Jack Scott, and in the 44th Assembly District, represented by Democrat Anthony J. Portantino. Federally, Pasadena is located in California's 29th congressional district, which has a Cook PVI of D +12^[11] and is represented by Democrat Adam Schiff. Though Pasadena has consistently leaned liberal in state politics, in national politics it was a stronghold for moderate Republicans until the 1990s, and was represented in Congress by Republicans from 1945 to 2001.

Transportation

Public transit

Gold Line Memorial Park Station.

Pasadena is the northern terminus of the Los Angeles Metro Gold Line light rail, which originates at the Atlantic Station in East Los Angeles. There are currently 6 Gold Line stations in Pasadena: Fillmore Station, Del Mar Station in Old Pasadena, Memorial Park Station in Old Pasadena, Lake Station in Downtown, Allen Station and Sierra Madre Villa Station. Construction will begin in June 2010 to extend the Gold Line east through several additional foothill communities of the San Gabriel Valley.

Pasadena is also served by various bus services. Pasadena ARTS exclusively serves the city while Los Angeles metro area bus services Foothill Transit, LADOT, Metro Local and Metro Rapid also serve Pasadena.

Airports

Bob Hope Airport (also known as Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport) in nearby Burbank serves as the regional airport for Pasadena. The airport is owned and operated by the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, which is controlled by the governments of the three cities in its name. Since most destinations from Bob Hope Airport are within the western United States, Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles and LA/Ontario International Airport in Ontario are also important airports less than an hour from Pasadena.

Freeways and highways

Foothill Freeway (I-210) as seen from the Metro Gold Line Sierra Madre Villa Station

Four freeways run through Pasadena and Pasadena is a control city for all of them. The most important is the Foothill Freeway (I-210) which enters the northwestern portion of the city from La Cañada Flintridge. The Foothill Freeway initially runs due south, passing the Rose Bowl before its junction with the Ventura Freeway. At this interchange, the Foothill Freeway shifts its alignment and direction, becoming an east-west freeway, exiting the city on its eastern boundary before entering Arcadia. The Foothill Freeway connects Pasadena with San Fernando (westbound) and San Bernardino (eastbound).

The Ventura Freeway (SR 134) starts at the junction of the Foothill Freeway (I-210) at the edge of downtown Pasadena and travels westward. This freeway is the main connector to Bob Hope Airport and the San Fernando Valley.

A spur of the controversial Long Beach Freeway (SR 710 in Pasadena) is also located in Pasadena. The Long Beach Freeway was intended to connect Long Beach to Pasadena but a gap, known as the South Pasadena Gap, between Alhambra and Pasadena has not been completed due to legal battles involving the city of South Pasadena. The spur starts at the junction of the Ventura Freeway and Foothill Freeway and travels south along the eastern edge of Old Pasadena with two exits for Colorado Boulevard and Del Mar Boulevard before ending at an at-grade intersection with California Boulevard. Currently, Caltrans is researching the possibility of using advanced tunneling technologies to build the Long Beach Freeway under South Pasadena without disturbing the residential neighborhoods on the surface. This would create twin 4.5-mile-long tunnels, which would be the longest in the United States.

The Arroyo Seco Parkway (SR 110) (also known as the Pasadena Freeway)^[12] is the first freeway in California, connecting Los Angeles with Pasadena alongside the Arroyo Seco and is the primary access to Downtown Los Angeles. The freeway enters the southern part of the city from South Pasadena. Only one exit is actually inside city limits, the southbound exit connecting to State Street with access to Fair Oaks Avenue. At Glenarm Street, the freeway ends at the six- and four-lane Arroyo Parkway continues northward to Old Pasadena.

Three state highways enter the city of Pasadena. Arroyo Parkyway (SR 110), maintained by the city of Pasadena, runs from the termination of the Pasadena Freeway at Glenarm Street to Colorado Boulevard in Old Town Pasadena. While Arroyo Parkway continues north two more blocks, SR 110 ends at Colorado Boulevard.

Rosemead Boulevard (SR 19) is a state highway on the eastern edge of Pasadena and unincorporated Pasadena from Huntington Drive to Foothill Boulevard.

An obscure portion of the Angeles Crest Highway (SR 2) in the San Gabriel Mountains cuts through Pasadena near the Angeles Crest Ranger Station. This 2-mile (3.2 km) stretch of highway in the Angeles National Forest is north of La Cañada Flintridge and west of Mount Wilson and is approximately 3,000 feet (910 m) in elevation.

Historic U.S. Route 66 used to run through Pasadena until it was deleted in 1964. The historic highway entered Pasadena from the east on Colorado Boulevard and then jogged south on Arroyo Parkway before becoming part of the Pasadena Freeway (SR 110).

Surface streets

The intersection of Fair Oaks Avenue and Colorado Boulevard in Old Pasadena is the zero-zero, east-west, north-south postal division of Pasadena.

History

• See History of Pasadena, California

Culture

Performing arts

Pasadena City Hall

The Pasadena Symphony, founded in 1862, offers several concerts a year at the Pasadena Civic Center and the Pasadena Pops plays at nearby Descanso Gardens. The Civic Center also holds a few traveling Broadway shows each year. The legendary Pasadena Playhouse, presently in reorganization, usually presents seven shows a season, each show running six to eight weeks. The Furious Theatre Company is one of several small theatre companies in Pasadena. They are currently housed in the Carrie Hamilton Theatre adjacent to the Pasadena Playhouse. Boston Court Performing Arts Center, opened in 2003, is near Lake and Colorado. Its resident theatre company, the award-winning The Theatre @ Boston Court presents four productions a year.^[13] Music at the Court presents numerous music concerts each year, ranging from classical to jazz. The Friends of the Levitt organization presents a free summer concert series in Memorial Park, with the 2008 summer season marking its sixth year.

Beckman Auditorium and other venues on the Caltech campus present a wide range of performing arts, lectures, films, classes and entertainment events, mainly during the academic year.

The California Philharmonic^[14] performs two series in Pasadena, Cal Phil at the Ambassador Auditorium from November through April, and Cal Phil Music Martinis & the Maestro in the Romanesque Room at the Green Hotel from January to May. They also perform Cal Phil Festival on the Green at nearby Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden in Arcadia from July to September, and from July to August Cal Phil at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. In conjunction with The Old Mill Foundation, they perform a summer chamber concert series Cal Phil at the Mill in San Marino.

For more than ten years, twice annually Pasadena's cultural institutions have opened their doors for free during ArtNight Pasadena,^[15] offering the public a rich sampling of quality art, artifacts and music within the city. This has evolved into the yearly PasadenART Weekend,^[16] a three day citywide event which, as of 2007, encompasses ArtNight, ArtWalk, ArtHeritage, ArtMarket, and ArtPerformance, a vibrant outdoor music event showcasing emerging and nationally recognized talent. Free concerts take place on multiple stages throughout Old Pasadena.

In 2007, the native Pasadena band Ozma reunited and produced the album "Pasadena" in tribute to the city. The album photos and artwork were shot at the Colorado Street Bridge.

The 1960s song The Little Old Lady from Pasadena parodies a popular Southern California image of Pasadena as home to a large population of aged eccentrics. In the song, Jan and Dean sing of an elderly lady drives a powerful "Super Stock Dodge" muscle car and is "the terror of Colorado Boulevard."

Richard H. Chambers U.S. Court of Appeals in Pasadena

Visual arts

A number of artists of national repute, such as Guy Rose, Alson S. Clark, Marion Wachtel and Ernest A. Batchelder, of the Arts and Crafts Movement, made Pasadena their home in the early twentieth century. The formation of the California Art Club, Pasadena Arts Institute and the Pasadena Society of Artists heralded the city's emergence as a regional center for the visual arts.

Art museums

The Norton Simon Museum collections include: European paintings, sculpture, and tapestry; remarkable sculpture from South Asia; and an extensive Sculpture garden in a beautiful landscape with a pond. The Museum has the Contemporary art collection of its predecessor, the Pasadena Museum of Art, periodically on exhibit.

The Pacific Asia Museum, with its tranquil garden courtyard in the center, features art from the many countries and cultures of Asia. The nearby Pasadena Museum of California Art hosts many temporary exhibitions of work by contemporary Californian artists.^[17]

The Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens, with painting and sculpture galleries, is adjacent to Pasadena in the city of San Marino.^[18] The innovative Kidspace Children's Museum is located in Brookside Park .^[19]

Literature

In 2002 David Ebershoff published the novel Pasadena. The novel won praise for its accurate recreation of Pasadena before World War II.

Radio

Pasadena has been home to a number of notable radio stations. In 1967 radio iconoclasts Tom and Raechel Donahue took over an aging studio in the basement of the Pasadena Presbyterian Church and introduced Los Angeles to FM freeform radio. Broadcasting under the KPPC-FM call sign at 106.7 FM it quickly became the voice of the counterculture and provided the soundtrack to LA's hippie era. Early on-air personalities included Michael McKean, David Lander, Harry Shearer and Dr. Demento. The staff was fired en masse in 1971 and the station lost its distinctive personality.

By 1976 KPPC had changed owners, station managers and its format and would reemerge on the radio dial as KROQ 106.7. Broadcasting from cramped studios on Los Robles Ave in central Pasadena, it wasn't long before KROQ would become one of the most influential radio stations in the United States. Soon after being purchased by Infinity Broadcasting in 1986, KROQ was moved part and parcel to new studios in nearby Burbank, and eventually ending up in Los Angeles proper.

Today the primary radio station in Pasadena goes by the call sign KPCC located at 89.3 FM. Broadcasting from the Pasadena City College campus, this public radio station carries many of the best shows from National Public Radio but maintains a fierce independent streak, committing a large chunk of air time to presenting local and state news. Accordingly, the station has received numerous awards for journalistic excellence and continues to be an important part of the city's heritage.

Newspaper

Pasadena's largest newspaper is the Pasadena Star-News. The alternative Pasadena Weekly is published by Southland Publishing.

Education

Former campus of Ambassador College on Orange Grove Blvd.

The California Institute of Technology is in the southern-central area of Pasadena, with Pasadena City College located just to the northeast. Fuller Theological Seminary, one of the largest multidenominational seminaries in the world,^[20] sits just east of downtown Pasadena. The Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Los Angeles (formerly known as the California School of Culinary Arts) is located at East Green Street and South Madison Avenue. The school offers the Le Cordon Bleu accreditation and has two campuses in Pasadena. Pacific Oaks College is located next to Pasadena's National Historic Landmark—The Gamble House. The Art Center College of Design is in the San Rafael Hills overlooking the Rose Bowl, and ranks as one of the top five art schools in the United States and one of the top 10 art schools worldwide; it is particularly known for its design programs. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (managed for NASA by Caltech) is in Pasadena. Ambassador College was opened in the western part of the city just east and south of the route of the Rose Parade. The Pasadena campus of Ambassador was consolidated with its sister campus in Big Sandy, Texas in 1990. The campus is now home to Maranatha High School.

Los Angeles Music Academy College of Music, founded in 1996, is a contemporary music school whose acclaimed faculty of experienced professionals are active in the film, television and recording industries. The school is located between Colorado and California Boulevards on South Fair Oaks Boulevard.

The Pasadena Unified School District encompasses Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre. The private Westridge School for girls grades 4-12 is located on South Orange Grove Boulevard. The Chandler School is another private co-educational K-8 school in the city.

La Salle High School is located on the border of Pasadena and Sierra Madre on Michillinda Blvd.

St. Philip the Apostle School is a mid-size private elementary school at the intersection of Hill Ave. and Green St., directly adjacent to Pasadena City College.

The Polytechnic School is a private K-12 institution, adjacent to Caltech's campus.

The American Academy of Dramatic Arts founded in 1884 in New York, opened its Pasadena campus in 1974. However, in 2001 the conservatory moved from Pasadena to Hollywood. Training actors for the stage in a two year program, the conservatory was the first school in the United States to offer professional education in the field of acting. Point Loma Nazarene University was located in Pasadena for many years before moving to San Diego County, and held the both the names of Pasadena University and Pasadena College.

Colorado Blvd. is one of the busiest shopping streets in Pasadena.

Shopping and dining

Old Pasadena

Old Pasadena is the revitalized old downtown that spans 21 blocks and provides both locals and tourists a genuinely urban mix for living, shopping, dining, and entertainment. It boasts upscale retail shops like Diesel, J.Crew, Guess, Kenneth Cole, Juicy Couture, American Apparel, Urban Outfitters, and Tiffany & Co. A wide variety of restaurants, nightclubs, posh outdoor cafés, pubs, and comedy clubs keep this vibrant part of the city alive seven days a week. Locals refer to it as "Old Town".

Paseo Colorado

Paseo Colorado is an upscale shopping mall designed to be a modern urban village. It's an open-air mall that covers three city blocks and includes upscale shops like Tommy Bahama, Coach, BCBG Max Azria, Maxstudio, Sephora, and Lucky Brand. Restaurants include an Noor restaurant | ballroom, Islands, PF Changs, Yard House, Tokyo Wako, and Porte Alegre. Paseo Colorado is anchored on the west end by upscale grocery store Gelson's, on the east end by Macy's and Arclight Cinemas centers the middle portion of the mall, along with 400 loft-style condominiums called Terrace Apartment Homes.

Rose Bowl Flea Market

The Rose Bowl Flea Market is a large swap meet that involves thousands of dealers and tens of thousands of visitors in and around the grounds of the Rose Bowl. The merchandise on display ranges from old world antiques to California pottery to vintage clothing. The flea market has been held every second Sunday of the month, rain or shine, since 1967.

South Lake

A shopping district is located in the South Lake Avenue neighborhood. On Lake Avenue a Macy's department store and Furniture Gallery is in a registered California historical landmark. The building was originally designed and built as the fourth Bullock's department store in the mid 1950s (the last freestanding store they constructed). It recently underwent a major expansion, with restoration to preserve its unique and historic character.

Economy

According to the City's 2008 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,^[21] the top employers in the city are:

Sports

Rose Bowl

Main entrance to the Rose Bowl Stadium

The Rose Bowl, a National Historic Landmark, is host of the oldest and most famous college football postseason bowl game, the Tournament of Roses Rose Bowl Game, every New Year's Day. It is the home field for the UCLA Bruins football team and has hosted five Super Bowls. Important soccer matches include the 1984 Summer Olympics, the final of the FIFA World Cup 1994 hosted in USA, and the final in FIFA Women's World Cup 1999.

The Rose Bowl stadium was the home ground for the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer from the team's inception in 1996 until it moved into the soccer-specific Home Depot Center in 2003; the venue additionally hosted the 1998 MLS Cup.

Rose Bowl Aquatics Center

Los Angeles is seeking another National Football League team to replace the Rams and the Raiders, both of whom played in Los Angeles from 1946–1994 and 1982-1994 respectively. In November, 2006, a voter initiative to encourage a deal between the Rose Bowl and the NFL failed at the polls, effectively ruling out a return of the NFL to Pasadena.

The Rose Bowl Aquatics Center is an aquatics facility located adjacent to the Rose Bowl Stadium. The pools hosted the final practices of the 2000 US Olympic swimming and diving team. In 2008, the facility held the US National Diving Championships.

Rose Bowl Tennis is Pasadena's popular tennis facility located just to the south of the Rose Bowl football stadium.

Marathon

The City of Pasadena planned to host the inaugural Pasadena Marathon on November 16, 2008. However, the event was canceled because of smoke and ash from the Sayre Fire.^[22] As of December 8, 2008, the Pasadena Marathon was rescheduled for March 22, 2009.^[23]

Miscellaneous

Tournament of Roses Parade

Spectators gather before the 2004 Rose Parade.

Pasadena is home to the Tournament of Roses Parade, held each year on January 1 (unless that day is a Sunday, in which case the event is held on January 2). The first parade was held in 1890 and was originally sponsored by the Valley Hunt Club, a Pasadena social club. The impetus for holding the parade was, as stated by one of the members, Professor Charles F. Holder, "In New York, people are buried in snow. Here our flowers are blooming and our oranges are about to bear. Let's hold a festival to tell the world about our paradise."

By 1895, the festivities had become larger than the Valley Hunt Club could manage, and the Tournament of Roses Association was then formed to take charge of the festival. In 1902, it was decided that a football game would be added to the day's events. The game, now known as the Rose Bowl, would become the first post-season college football game ever. The first game was between Stanford University and the University of Michigan. After suffering a tremendous financial loss, the Tournament of Roses Association decided to hold Roman chariot races in lieu of football games. However, in 1916, football returned. When it became clear that the stands in Tournament Park were too small to facilitate the crowd, the Tournament's President, William Leishman, proposed that a stadium be built to house the game. The Rose Bowl, designed by noted southern California architect Myron Hunt, was completed in 1923. The Rose Bowl has since been selling out to crowds since 1947. In 1998, the Rose Bowl celebrated its 52nd anniversary and became the longest running tradition of its kind.

The Rose Parade, as it is familiarly known, still features elaborate floats. According to the organizers, "Every inch of every float must be covered with flowers or other natural materials, such as leaves, seeds or bark. Volunteer workers swarm over the floats in the days after Christmas, their hands and clothes covered with glue and petals. The most delicate flowers are placed in individual vials of water, which are set into the float one by one." Over the two plus hours that the parade occurs, floats and participants travel over five miles (8 km) of terrain and pass by over one million viewers who generally camp out over New Year's Eve to have prime viewing spots along the parade route.

The Rose Parade is satirized by the popular Doo Dah Parade, an annual January event in Pasadena.

South Orange Grove Boulevard

Tournament House

One of several exclusive residential districts in Pasadena, South Orange Grove Boulevard has been a home for the rich and famous since the early 20th century. Because of the number of landmark mansions, the street earned the name "Millionaire's Row," an appropriate sobriquet considering that the estates that once lined this spacious boulevard and the surrounding neighborhood read like a Who's Who of American consumer products. Some of the more notable families include:

• Adolphus Busch, co-founder of Anheuser-Busch, brewer of Budweiser beer. It was here that this wealthy easterner took full advantage of the area's mild climate and established the first of a series of Busch Gardens. When Busch died at his Pasadena estate his wife generously offered the property to the City of Pasadena as a park, an offer the city inexplicably refused.

Wrigley Mansion in 1959; now Tournament House

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• William Wrigley Jr., maker of Wrigley's chewing gum. The stately former home of Wrigley Jr. still stands today, proudly serving as the headquarters for the world-renowned Tournament of Roses Parade.

• David and Mary Gamble, son of consumer product titan James Gamble of Procter & Gamble fame. Located on the north end of Orange Grove Blvd., the Gamble House is an American Craftsman masterpiece. It was built by renowned architects Charles and Henry Greene, an example of their Ultimate bungalow, and open to the public as a museum and architectural conservancy.^[24] The Gamble House is a registered California Historical Landmark and a National Historic Landmark on the National Register of Historic Places.

• Anna Bissell McCay, daughter of carpet sweeper magnate Melville Bissell. This elegant four story Victorian anchors the south end of "Millionaires Row" just on the border of South Pasadena. Today the Bissell House lives on as a cozy Bed and Breakfast.

• Thaddeus S. C. Lowe. His 24,000-square-foot (2,200 m²) home originally sat on South Orange Grove. The mammoth main house rose to a sixth story solarium which became an observatory. This was more than a visible display of wealth as Lowe was generous patron of the astronomical sciences. He went on to establish the Mount Lowe Railway in the mountains above Pasadena into which he sank all his fortunes.

The Rose Garden at the former Wrigley mansion ground

• Henry Markham who lived adjacent to Busch and became the 18th Governor of the state of California (1891–1895).

Not all of the vast homes along Orange Grove belonged to the eastern titans of industry. As was typical of the early 20th century, many of the wealthy were doctors, politicians and retired military officers, with the odd Right Reverend sprinkled in. Some of the other notable personalities who lived in this area include notorious occultist Aleister Crowley and brilliant, but troubled, rocket scientist John Whiteside Parsons. Parson shared his residence with, among other notables, L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology. In fact Parsons died in an explosion while testing a new rocket fuel in his home laboratory just off of Orange Grove Boulevard in 1952.

Just behind Orange Grove Blvd., lies Grand Avenue, another historic estate lined street. At various times in the past, Grand Avenue was home to Jared Torrance, the founder of the City of Torrance; J.B. Van Nuys, the founder of the City of Van Nuys; the Maxwell family, coffee manufacturers; Cox family, communications, news papers; Spalding family, sporting goods; Howard Huntington, heir to Henry Huntington and many others. Many of these homes presently remain in beautiful condition. The Federal Court of Appeals, for the Ninth District, is also located in the now fully restored former Vista Del Arroyo hotel, the then winter vacation destination of such notables such as Howard Hughe's family. At that time, the hotel was owned by the Royce Family who also owened the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, and the Huntingon Hotel in Pasadena.

Today most of the old Orange Grove estates are gone, replaced by 1960's era apartments and condominiums. Though far less regal than the vast homes they replaced, these apartment units maintain verdant and meticulously trimmed grounds that still exude a sense of wealth and command high property values.

Other noteworthy sites along the boulevard include:

• The Norton Simon Museum, at the intersection of Orange Grove and Colorado Boulevards. This corner marks the official start of the Rose Parade route and so the museum can be seen, quite clearly, every year during the parade broadcast.

Former campus of Ambassador College, the Ambassador Auditorium is at center.

• The Pasadena Museum of History, located just north of the Norton Simon Museum. Housed in the historic Fenyes Mansion by architect Robert D. Farquhar and the only Museum and Research Library devoted solely to preserving and educating the public about the history of Pasadena and the west San Gabriel Valley. The parking entrance is at 470 West Walnut Street.^[25]

• Ambassador College campus and Ambassador Auditorium, located between Green Street and Del Mar Boulevard. The grounds of this former Worldwide Church of God liberal arts college are distinctive for their lush gardens, fountains and spacious lawns. The oldest buildings are listed as historical landmarks and display the wide variety of mansions once common in the area. They are the perfect backdrop to highlight the starkly bright, honeycomb facades of the "sixties modern" buildings that make up the campus. The Ambassador College campus is now home to Maranatha High School.

• The staging area for the Tournament of Roses Parade. In the wee hours before dawn, floats of every size and shape can be seen stretching the length of the boulevard as their volunteer crews rush to put the finishing touches on them.

Pasadena Motorcycle Club

Pasadena is home to the Pasadena Motorcycle Club. Formed in 1907, it is the third oldest motorcycle club in the United States, just behind the Yonkers Motorcycle Club (est. 1903) in New York and the San Francisco Motorcycle Club (est. 1904) in California.

Parrots

a typical Pasadena wild parrot.

Pasadena has a population of naturalized parrots. The city's website identifies one, a Red-crowned amazon parrot, but according to the Parrot Project of Los Angeles,^[26] the parrots fall into as many as five different groups. There is a cycle of regular public outcry about the noise and the sheer oddity of the birds' presence, but most Pasadenans seem to have come to accept the birds as part of the city's life. They can be seen year-round, but are especially noticeable in the winter. The birds are definitely gregarious, and the amount of disturbance their chatter creates is related to the time of day they may choose to chatter.

Theories and myths abound on how these parrots came to claim Pasadena and surrounding towns as their home. A widely accepted story by longtime residents of the area is that they were part of the stock from the large pet emporium at Simpson's Garden Town on East Colorado Blvd. (now the location of OSH Hardware) in the Lamanda Park area. The nursery burned down in 1969, and the parrots were thereby released to forage in the lush Pasadena area. It is also possible that some parrots moved northward from their normal range in central and northern Mexico as human habitation in the Pasadena area created artificial habitat in which the parrots could survive. Among their favorite foods are the berry kernels of the cedar trees that grow in great abundance around Pasadena.

Parking

Pasadena does not allow overnight parking, through the expedient of banning parking on city streets between 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m., although overnight permits are available. The city also restricts parking in designated Transit Oriented Districts (TODs), such as the Pasadena Playhouse district. Residents living in TODs who have only one parking space (as mandated by Pasadena's Zoning Code 17.50.340) may not park a second car on the street. Permits for a city lot are available for $60 per month.

City Hall construction

Seismic retrofitting was completed on the City Hall building in summer 2007. It was closed in July 2004 because of safety concerns and construction began in March 2005.^[27]

Civic Auditorium

Located on spacious tree-lined Green Street, this building was designed to be the southern anchor of Pasadena's grand civic plaza. The elegant Central Library lies three blocks due north with City Hall tower in between. The intended visual effect is somewhat lost today as the open air mall Paseo Colorado was built along the north side of Green St. obscuring one's view of the auditorium's sister buildings.

This building is where the TV show "American Idol" shoots their "Hollywood Week" performances.

The main auditorium is large and plush, and was home to the Annual Emmy Awards ceremony for nearly 25 years, from 1977 to 2001.^[28]

Sister cities

Pasadena has seven sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International:

• Järvenpää, Finland
• Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Germany
• Poznań, Poland
• Mishima, Japan
• Vanadzor, Armenia
• Xicheng District, Beijing, China
• Tangier, Morocco

Friendship city

Pasadena has a friendship agreement with Kasukabe, Japan. Pasadena's Junior Chamber of Commerce does an exchange each summer alternating every year with Kasukabe citizens coming to Pasadena one summer and Pasadena residents going to Kasukabe the next summer.

Busch Gardens

The first Busch Gardens was in Pasadena. It opened in 1905 and closed to the public in 1937. During its time, it was one of the major tourist attractions in the Los Angeles area and offered many unique gardens and fairyland landscapes and structures. It was used as a location for several Hollywood motion pictures. After 1937 and the Second World War, much of the land was developed for homes. Close inspection of the area can still reveal many of the original river rock walls and structures.^[29]

Notable residents

• See List of Pasadena, California people

See also

• East Pasadena, California
• Rose Bowl Aquatics Center
• Colorado Street Bridge
• Colorado Boulevard
• Norton Simon Museum
• Pacific Asia Museum
• Pasadena Museum of California Art
• Gamble House Museum
• Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens
• Kidspace Children's Museum

References

Further reading

• Winter, Robert, "Pasadena, 1900-1910: The Birth of Its Culture," Southern California Quarterly, 91 (Fall 2009), 295-318.

External links

• Pasadena city website
• Pasadena Museum of History
• Pasadena USGS

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