The Pasadena Freeway (Hwy-110) drops you off unceremoniously short of Pasadena, but following Figueroa Street brings you in with a bang on the soaring Colorado Boulevard Bridge, an elegantly arching concrete bridge at the western edge of Pasadena, which long marked the symbolic entrance to Los Angeles from the east. Recently restored, the bridge spans Arroyo Seco along the south side of the Ventura Freeway (Hwy-134). Arroyo Seco itself is full of significant sights, including college football’s Rose Bowl and some of the most important arts-and-crafts–era architecture in Southern California.
Above the arroyo, on old Route 66 at 411 W. Colorado Boulevard, the Norton Simon Museum (closed Tues.; $6; 626/449-6840) has a medium-sized but impeccably chosen collection of western and southeast Asian art, ranging from Hindu sculpture to one the world’s foremost collections of Degas paintings, drawings, and sculptures. Just a few blocks down old Route 66, Old Pasadena is the new name for the old center of town, where locals congregate for evening fun and daytime shopping, starting their mornings with breakfast at Marston’s (626/796-2459), at 151 E. Walnut Street.
For more information on Pasadena, contact the visitors bureau (626/795-3355), at 865 E. Del Mar.
