Running through the heart of Pasadena is Colorado Boulevard.  Long before freeways came to dominate the Los Angeles landscape it served as a small piece of the much romanticized Route 66. But now it’s more famous as the route along which Pasadena displays its annual New Year’s extravaganza, the Rose Parade — a pageantry of flower filled floats that advertise the areas balmy winter weather.  And smack the heart of Pasadena sit its historic downtown (around the intersection of Fair Oaks and Colorado) an area know to locals as Old Town—the perfect area to dine and shop.
Norton Simon Museum
Norton Simon Museum
Nearby points of interest include the Norton Simon Museum and the Huntington Library with its beautiful botanical gardens (a short drive away, see below). There’s plenty of reason enough to visit and consider using Pasadena as a base, riding the Gold Line to Union Station and El Pueblo de Los Angeles and from here taking the Red Line to Hollywood and Highland to visit Hollywood Boulevard (Mann Chinese Theatre, Kodak Theatre, El Capitan Theater).
Huntington Library, Art Gallery, and Botanical Gardens, the 207-acre estate of the late Henry Huntington should not be missed. Huntington’s enormous home is now a museum featuring the work of French and English 18th-century artists. What makes the museum especially attractive is that the paintings are displayed in a homelike setting surrounded by appropriately dramatic furnishings. Nearby, in another beautiful building, is the Huntington Library—a real gem containing, among other rare books, a 15th-century copy of the Gutenberg bible, Benjamin Franklin’s handwritten autobiography, and marvelous Audubon bird prints. The gardens of the estate merit a tour in themselves and include various sections such as a rose garden, a Japanese garden, a camellia garden, a cactus garden, an English garden, and a bonsai garden. Located at 1151 Oxford Road in San Marino, the estate is open Tuesday through Friday noon to 4:30 pm, and Saturday and Sunday 10:30 am to 4:30 pm. For information on special events and shows call 626-405-2100, www.huntington.org.
The Huntington
The Huntington
The Norton Simon Museum of Art is without doubt one of the finest private art museums in the world, set in a beautiful Moorish-style building accented by a reflecting pool and manicured gardens. Norton Simon and his actress wife, Jennifer Jones, share their incredible collection of art including paintings by such masters as Rubens, Rembrandt, Raphael, Picasso, and Matisse. The museum, open Thursday through Sunday noon to 6 pm, is located at 411 West Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. (626-449-6840, www.nortonsimon.org)
