See
No. 1
The Huntington
Oxford Rd, San Marino (next door)
Library, art museum and some 130 acres of botanical gardens on a railway magnate's old estate. A Gutenberg Bible, Gainsborough's Blue Boy, a Japanese garden, a Chinese garden with a teahouse, and a Desert Garden of cacti that look like they're plotting something.
Closed Tuesdays. Book weekend tickets ahead. The free first-Thursday tickets release on the last Thursday of the previous month at 9 a.m. and vanish in minutes. Do the Desert Garden first, before the heat.
See
No. 2
Norton Simon Museum
Colorado Blvd at Orange Grove
One of the best small museums in America. Degas dancers, Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Zurbarán, a serious collection of South Asian sculpture, and a sculpture garden built around a lily pond. Its façade appears on television every January 1 as the parade turns the corner.
Closed Tuesday and Wednesday; open until 7 on Friday and Saturday. Free the first Friday of the month, 4–7 p.m. Parking is free, which in Los Angeles County counts as a sight in itself.
Eat & Drink
No. 3
Old Pasadena & Colorado Blvd
Colorado Blvd at Fair Oaks Ave, east to Vroman's
Twenty-odd blocks of restored brick buildings, alleyways and courtyards with restaurants, bars and shops. A mile east along Colorado is Vroman's Bookstore (founded 1894), the oldest and largest independent bookshop in Southern California, beside the Pasadena Playhouse.
Explore the alleys (Mills Place, Miller Alley) rather than the main drag. At dusk, walk west to see the Colorado Street Bridge. Vroman's sold its building in 2025 but has a long lease and is still trading. Check the events calendar.
See
No. 4
The Gamble House
Westmoreland Pl, off N. Orange Grove
Greene & Greene's 1908 masterpiece of the Arts & Crafts movement: teak, mahogany, stained glass and joinery so fine it looks poured rather than built. Film buffs know it as Doc Brown's house in Back to the Future.
Guided tours only — Tuesdays and Thursday to Sunday. Book ahead; tickets are non-refundable. Photos allowed, no flash. Then walk the surrounding streets: the neighbourhood is a Craftsman catalogue.
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Do
No. 5
Rose Bowl & the Flea Market
Arroyo Seco, Rose Bowl Dr
The 1922 stadium in the Arroyo Seco, home of the Rose Bowl Game and, for now, UCLA football (there's an ongoing lawsuit about a move to SoFi). On the second Sunday of every month it hosts the Rose Bowl Flea Market: 2,500+ vendors of vintage clothing, furniture, and things nobody can identify.
Flea market: VIP early entry from 5 a.m., general admission 9–3. Check rgcshows.com for current prices and how to buy tickets, bring cash for vendors, and wear real shoes — it's huge. On other days, walk or run the 3.1-mile loop around the stadium.
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See
No. 6
Rose Parade & Float Decorating
Rosemont Pavilion, Seco St (decorating); Colorado Blvd (parade)
The Tournament of Roses Parade has rolled down Colorado Boulevard on New Year's morning since 1890 (moved to January 2 when the 1st is a Sunday). Every float must be covered in flowers, seeds, bark or other organic material. Watching volunteers glue it all on is arguably better than the parade.
Float decorating viewing at Rosemont Pavilion runs about Dec 28–30 (about $21.50 in 2025; tickets online only). On parade day, grandstand seats sell through Sharp Seating. Or camp on the kerb from noon on Dec 31 — bring a chair, blankets and patience.
See
No. 7
JPL & Caltech
Oak Grove Dr, north Pasadena / Caltech campus, E. California Blvd
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory built and drives Curiosity and Perseverance on Mars, along with the Voyagers. Free weekday tours visit the von Kármán Visitor Center, the mission control room and the Spacecraft Assembly Facility, where spacecraft get built under glass. Caltech, which runs JPL, has a calm, leafy campus in town that anyone can walk around.
Tours are free but limited. Dates open a month at a time, you must book at least three weeks ahead, there are none on weekends, and adults need a REAL ID or passport. If you can't get one, watch for the Explore JPL open house in October (Oct 10–11 in 2026). Our robot had to be removed from the clean-room window. Twice.
Do
No. 8
Mount Wilson Observatory
Mount Wilson, via Angeles Crest Hwy (SR-2)
Up in the San Gabriels at about 5,700 ft. Edwin Hubble used the 100-inch Hooker telescope here to show that the universe has other galaxies and is expanding. The Eaton Fire came very close in 2025. The grounds are open to visitors again, with weekend tours and occasional public nights at the telescopes.
Grounds open daily 10–5. Weekend public tours and the Cosmic Café run on weekends. Use the observatory's own directions page, not your phone, and check Caltrans for SR-2 closures. It's about an hour up, and cold at the top even when town is warm.
Do
No. 9
Eaton Canyon & Altadena
Altadena Dr, east Pasadena
Eaton Canyon was once the local favourite hike: an easy walk to a waterfall. The Eaton Fire began here on January 7, 2025, and swept through Altadena. It destroyed thousands of homes, took lives, and burned the nature center. The canyon is still under a hard closure; LA County lists its trails as closed into 2027.
Please don't trespass — rangers patrol, fines are steep, and the slopes are unstable. For a hike, try Hahamongna Watershed Park or Chantry Flat in Arcadia (check current Forest Service status). If you want to help, spend money at Altadena businesses that have reopened. That is worth more than a photograph.
Do
No. 10
Day trip: Downtown LA on the A Line
Memorial Park station, Old Pasadena
The Metro A Line (formerly the Gold Line) runs through Pasadena, South Pasadena and Highland Park to Union Station in about 30 minutes, then on through Little Tokyo and downtown. Union Station's Mission-meets-Art-Deco waiting room alone is worth the trip.
Load a TAP card or use the TAP app. From Union Station, walk across to Olvera Street for taquitos, or stay on to Little Tokyo. Avoid driving into downtown — the train is cheaper and cleverer.
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