Dreams of Immortality

 

BEST ANNUAL EVENT

The Rose Parade and Rose Bowl Game

www.tournamentofroses.com

The Valley Hunt Club staged the first parade in 1890 to promote the mild climate and agricultural riches of Southern California. The club’s efforts exceeded beyond its expectations, and 122 years later millions of viewers worldwide can watch the Rose Parade on television and marvel at the sunny weather in Pasadena on New Year’s Day. The annual football game following the parade was held at Tournament Park near Caltech until 1923, when the game moved to the Rose Bowl. Today, that arena is one of Pasadena’s most well-known landmarks, and the annual game has been dubbed the “granddaddy” of college football competitions.

Reader Recommended

ArtNight Pasadena

www.artnightpasadena.org  

Make Music Pasadena

www.makemusicpasadena.org

BEST ART GALLERY/COLLECTIONS

The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens

1151 Oxford Road, San Marino

(626) 405-2100 | www.huntington.org  

Railroad magnate Henry E. Huntington was an avid art and book collector, and in 1919, he founded an institution where he could share his collections with the public. Today, those items, and many others, are housed at the site of Huntington’s San Marino estate. Huntington’s former residence displays 18th- and 19th-century French and English artworks, while three other art galleries feature permanent and changing exhibitions. The library’s collection of rare books and manuscripts is an important source of scholarly research, while the botanic gardens and conservatory are a source of enjoyment and beauty.

Reader Recommended

Armory Center for the Arts

145 N. Raymond Ave., Pasadena

(626) 792-5101 | www.armoryarts.org

BEST BUSINESS PERSON

Wayne Jason

Wayne Jason Jewelry Designs

105 W. California Blvd., Pasadena

(626) 795-9215 | www.wjasondesigns.com 

What qualities distinguish a good businessman? Is it devotion to customers? Fair prices? Quality and consistency? Whichever yardstick you use, Pasadena jewelry designer/craftsman Wayne Jason measures up. Serving locals since 1987, Jason has stayed the course where competitors have faltered, offering customers individualized jewelry pieces that are art today, heirlooms tomorrow. “You have to have the ability to adapt and be creative,” Jason says of his success. “You have to change with the times.” He’s done this by using mostly his own materials — which he gets buying gold, diamonds and jewelry — eliminating costly manufacturers and ensuring pieces worthy of oohs and aahs.

BEST CHARTER SCHOOL

Aveson Charter School

1919 Pinecrest Drive, Altadena

(626) 797-1440 | www.aveson.org

A tuition-free charter school, Aveson emphasizes personalized learning, social leadership and healthy living for its students. The Aveson School of Leaders provides instruction for students from kindergarten through fifth-grades while the Aveson Global Leadership Academy offers classes for students from the sixth-through 12th-grades. Students from kindergarten through the sixth-grade can also be taught at home. Multiple grades of students are taught in the same classroom, and each student and his or her teacher creates a personalized learning plan, which integrates real-life skills, like social responsibility and nutrition, into the curriculum.

Reader Recommended

Odyssey Charter School

725 W. Altadena Drive, Altadena

(626) 229-0993 | www.odysseycharterschool.org 

BEST CITIZEN

Denise Zeilstra

Philanthropist, volunteer and businesswoman Denise Zeilstra has generously sponsored numerous activities that make Pasadena a better place to live. She and her husband, S. Robert Zeilstra, provided funding to enable Andre Vener to create redwhite+bluezz, a jazz club and restaurant and Pasadena Entertainment, producer of the Pasadena Jazz Fest and other events. The couple also was a major donor for the Zeilstra Research and Training Center at Five Acres child and family service agency. A former board member of the California Philharmonic Orchestra, Denise has sponsored many of the orchestra’s programs through her Zeilstra Foundation, and in 2009 she and her husband organized the Freedom Concert to honor members of the military, police and firefighters.

BEST CULTURAL FESTIVAL

ArtNight Pasadena

(626) 744-7887 | www.artnightpasadena.org  

Thanks to the city of Pasadena’s Arts and Cultural Commission, local residents can visit museums, performing arts centers and other cultural institutions without paying a cent during ArtNight Pasadena. The event is held twice a year on Friday nights, with the next ArtNight scheduled for October 12 from 6 to 10 p.m.  Free shuttle buses will be available to transport visitors to 16 venues, including the Norton Simon Museum, Armory Center for the Arts and Boston Court Performing Arts Center.

Reader Recommended

626 Night Market

www.626nightmarket.com

Make Music Pasadena

www.makemusicpasadena.org

BEST HISTORIC

LANDMARK

Pasadena City Hall

100 N. Garfield Ave., Pasadena

(626) 744-4386 | www.ci.pasadena.ca.us

Pasadena’s seat of local government could impress even the most ardent anti-government Tea Party activist. The Italian Renaissance-style building was designed by architects John Bakewell and Arthur Brown and completed in 1927. A major seismic upgrade and renovation was completed in 2007, and the old building never looked better. City Hall is commonly featured in films and television programs. But it’s far better to see it in person, either by taking a walk around the facility or getting a glimpse of its signature dome from your car window. 

Reader Recommended

Colorado Street Bridge

Pasadena Playhouse

39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena

(626) 356-7529 | www.pasadenaplayhouse.org

The Gamble House

4 Westmoreland Place, Pasadena

(626) 793-3334 | www.gamblehouse.org

BEST INSTITUTE OF

HIGHER LEARNING

California Institute of Technology

1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena

(626) 395-6811 | www.caltech.edu

It’s been host to Albert Einstein, produced more than 30 Nobel Prize winners and pioneered the discovery of antimatter, the foundations of molecular biology and the creation of modern earthquake science, along with major achievements in human nutrition, physics, astronomy and neuropsychology. What more can one say about the California Institute of Technology, one of the nation’s premier institutions for scientific research and education? Caltech provides undergraduate and graduate instruction in 40 concentrations in science, mathematics, engineering, the humanities and social sciences.  

Reader Recommended

Art Center College of Design

Hillside Campus | 1700 Lida St., Pasadena

South Campus | 950 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena

(626) 396-2200 | www.artcenter.edu 

Pasadena City College

1570 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena

(626) 585-7123 | www.pasadena.edu 

BEST KIDS/FAMILY

FUN SPOT

Kidspace Children's Museum

480 N. Arroyo Blvd., Pasadena

(626) 449-9144 | www.kidspacemuseum.org

Kidspace offers children hands-on learning experiences that combine education with fun. This summer, the museum opened the Robert and Mary Galvin Physics Forest, featuring 13 science-related exhibits. Some of the other exhibits enable kids to learn about the anatomy and feeding of insects, create their own artworks, dig for plant and animal fossils and crawl through an ant colony. Children can also explore a miniature model of Pasadena’s Arroyo Seco, one of several activities available in the outdoor play area.

Reader Recommended

Brookside Park

360 N. Arroyo Blvd., Pasadena

(626) 744-7275 | www.cityofpasadena.net

Magical Playground

1778 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena

(626) 683-8989 | www.magicalplayground.com

The Huntington Library, Art Collections,

and Botanical Gardens

1151 Oxford Road, San Marino

(626) 405-2100 | www.huntington.org  

BEST LOCAL CHARITY

Union Station Homeless Services

825 E. Orange Grove Blvd., Pasadena

(626) 240-4550 | www.unionstationhs.org

Union Station seeks to improve the lives of homeless people and families, providing them with the assistance needed to regain self-sufficiency. The nonprofit organization is the largest agency of its kind in the San Gabriel Valley, offering emergency housing and other shelter, free meals, career development, job placement, medical and mental health services, showers, substance abuse recovery support and domestic violence counseling, among other programs.  Check out Union Station’s Web site to learn what you can do to help the agency perform its work.

Reader Recommended

Five Acres

760 W. Mountain View St., Altadena

(626) 798-6793 | www.5acres.org

Pasadena Humane Society

361 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena

(626) 792-7151

www.pasadenahumane.org 

BEST LOCAL NONPROFIT

Theatre 360

75 N. Marengo Ave., Pasadena

(626) 577-5922 | www.theatre360.org 

At Theatre 360, all the world is a stage for children and teenagers who produce professional-level plays and musicals. Founded in 1999 as the Pasadena Junior Theatre, the organization annually stages three productions in March, the summer and December.  Kids who want to audition for these shows are required to register for one of the classes in acting, dance, singing, or musical theater. The organization also holds a summer performing arts camp and takes kids on a two-week summer trip so they can live and study in New York City’s theater community. 

Reader Recommended

Friends of the Pasadena Playhouse

www.friendsofthepasadenaplayhouse.org

Pasadena Musical Theatre Program

3579 E. Foothill Blvd. Ste. 464, Pasadena

(323) 250-3150 | www.pasadenamusicaltheatre.org

BEST LOCAL

PERSONALITY

Larry Mantle

Not all talk radio hosts are fulminating windbags, badgering listeners into agreeing with their ill-informed and bigoted opinions. On “AirTalk,” host Larry Mantle provides intelligent, non-inflammatory and nonpartisan discussion of news and cultural events. Recent programs have featured discussion of such diverse topics as President Obama’s address to the United Nations, civilian deaths from drone aircraft and the Space Shuttle Endeavour’s flight to Los Angeles. Mantle has hosted his program since 1985, making “Air Talk” the longest continuously running daily talk program in the Los Angeles radio market. The show airs on public radio station KPCC Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.; the Friday program includes Film Week, a one-hour segment in which Mantle and film critics appraise the latest releases.

BEST MUSEUM

Norton Simon Museum

411 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena

(626) 449-6840 | www.nortonsimon.org  

Pasadena has an embarrassment of cultural riches, not the least of which is a museum housing one of the world’s greatest private art collections. But it’s not just the exhibition of works by Rembrandt, Picasso and van Gogh that makes the Norton Simon a favorite destination.  Many people attend the museum’s regularly scheduled events, including film screenings, lectures, classes, concerts and programs for children and families. The outdoor sculpture garden provides a serene atmosphere where visitors can enjoy food from a nearby café or watch the birds that frequent the pond. Last but not least is the museum’s free admission on the first Friday of each month between 6 and 9 p.m.

Reader Recommended

Pacific Asia Museum

46 N. Los Robles Ave., Pasadena

(626) 449-2742 | www.pacificasiamuseum.org 

Pasadena Museum of California Art

490 E. Union St., Pasadena

(626) 568-3665 | www.pmcaonline.org

BEST NEW BUSINESS

Carnelian Salon

350 S. Lake Ave #116, Pasadena

626-795-5555

After 30 years working at other people’s Pasadena beauty shops, Sandra Labbe says it was “time for me to open my own salon.” Labbe opened Carnelian Salon on May 1 and in the short time since then, the shop has received kudos from satisfied customers. A staff of experienced cosmetologists provides a range of services, including hair and nail care and body waxing. Labbe is a painter as well as a cosmetologist and she has decorated her salon with some of her artworks. 

Reader Recommended

Big Daddy's Fire Grill

2122 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena

(626) 796-1266

little junebugs

27 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena

(626) 440-7300 | www.littlejunebugs.com   

BEST PARK/OUTDOOR RECREATION SPOT

Brookside Park/Rose Bowl

360 N. Arroyo Blvd., Pasadena

(626) 744-7275 | cityofpasadena.net/PublicWorks/Brookside_Park1

One hundred years ago, Mrs. Everett Wellington Brooks donated a public swimming pool and plunge basin to be located in the Upper Arroyo Seco. In 1913, the city began developing a park in the Arroyo, which it eventually named in Brooks’ honor. Today, the 62-acre park, home to the Rose Bowl and Brookside Golf Course, remains one of the city’s most popular recreation areas, with numerous amenities including fitness trails, tennis courts, soccer fields, baseball diamonds, a kids’ playground and an aquatics center.

Reader Recommended

Arlington Gardens 

275 Arlington Drive, Pasadena

(626) 441-4478

www.arlingtongardeninpasadena.org 

Eaton Canyon Park 

1750 N. Altadena Drive, Pasadena