Southern California Close-Ups: Pasadena and environs

First published on Nov. 27, 2011. Revised and expanded in early 2012.

It’s 1922, and nothing much is up in Pasadena. Not among the orange groves, not along the leafy streets. Just as the little old ladies like it.

But wait. Down in the Arroyo Seco, a crew has just started erecting some kind of stadium. On Pepper Street, Mallie Robinson’s 3-year-old son may already be showing signs of amazing athleticism. Over at Polytechnic School, a tall 10-year-old named Julia McWilliams is developing the taste and aplomb that will make her America’s best-known chef.

That’s right, the Rose Bowl, Jackie Robinson and Julia Child came up in supposedly sleepy Pasadena around the same time, and 90 years later, they make a useful reminder: This western edge of the San Gabriel Valley and the area near it can fool you. Beyond the stillness at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, behind all those handsome old Craftsman facades, there’s no telling what the restless minds and bodies of this valley will come up with next. Earthquake measures. Exploding dumplings. Here are 11 micro-itineraries for Pasadena and neighboring areas.

1. Greene and greenery

To see why the Arroyo Seco is so central to the Pasadena state of mind, join the early-morning dog-walkers for some vigorous striding along South Arroyo Boulevard near Arbor Street, where grand old trees tower above grand old houses. On your way in and out, look at the stylish old U.S. courthouse (Richard H. Chambers U.S. Court of Appeals, 125 S. Grand Ave., Pasadena) and imagine when it was the Vista del Arroyo Hotel or, before that, Emma Bangs’ boardinghouse.

You won’t be able to miss the 1912-13 Colorado Street Bridge, better known among locals as “Suicide Bridge” for reasons you can imagine.

Now, for a closer look at Craftsman style -- woodsy buildings, art glass, plenty of tile and bricks but no Victorian fussiness -- step into the iconic Gamble House (4 Westmoreland Place, Pasadena; www.gamblehouse.org), designed by Charles and Henry Greene in 1908. It opens for tours Thursday through Sunday and has a great bookshop in the garage. On Tuesdays, two shortened 20-minute lunchtime tours are offered. From nearby sidewalks, you can also see the 1901 Charles Sumner Greene House (368 Arroyo Terrace); the 1906 Cole House (2 Westmoreland Place); the 1909 Hindry House (781 Prospect Blvd.) and Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1923 La Miniatura, which looks like a Mayan jungle temple (645 Prospect Crescent).

2. Simon & Co.

For a lot of top-notch art in a small place, you can’t beat the Norton Simon Museum (411 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena; www.nortonsimon.org). It begins out front with “The Burghers of Calais,” Rodin’s 1884 bronze celebration of heroic and doomed politicians. It continues inside with a murderers’ row of European and Asian artists, including Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Rafael. Then there’s the handsome garden and pond in back. (Closed Tuesdays.)

For a salad, sandwich or dessert, zip west across the Colorado Street Bridge to Little Flower Candy Co. (1424 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena; www.littleflowercandyco.com).

Feeling renewed? Head about a mile east to the Pacific Asia Museum (46 N. Los Robles Ave., Pasadena; www.pacificasiamuseum.org) or the Pasadena Museum of California Art (490 E. Union St., Pasadena; www.pmcaonline.org), which stand around the corner from each other. Both are open Wednesdays- Sundays.

3. The Parade

In late December, you can expect scaffolding to go up along Colorado Boulevard – reviewing stands for the Rose Parade, which lays siege to Pasadena every Jan. 1 (or Jan. 2, if Jan. 1 falls on Sunday, as it did in 2012). For details on the opportunities and complications that come with it, from float-viewing to road closures, check www.tournamentofroses.com.

And for a more intimate view of the institution, there’s the Tournament House and Wrigley Gardens (a.k.a. the Wrigley Mansion, 391 S. Orange Grove Blvd., Pasadena). The rose garden is open to the public (except Dec. 31-Jan. 2), and free interior tours are offered at 2 and 3 p.m. Thursdays from February through August.

4. Old bricks, new tunes

In Old Pasadena, scads of national chains occupy the historic facades along Colorado Boulevard, and sidewalks are filled with pedestrians day and night. To find homegrown merchants and eateries, check the old brick alleys and side streets or sign on to a Melting Pot Food Tour (www.meltingpottours.com). Don’t miss the kid-friendly public art in alleys and the courtyard of the One Colorado complex (24 E. Union St., Pasadena; www.onecolorado.com).

For more art, see the Armory Center for the Arts (145 N. Raymond Ave., Pasadena; www.armoryarts.org). For a sophisticated lunch or dinner, try Green Street Tavern (69 W. Green St., Pasadena; www.greenstreettavern.net). For live jazz, Red White + Bluezz Jazz Club (70 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena; www.redwhitebluezz.com). For a lively meal in a wonderfully transformed train station, duck into La Grande Orange (a.k.a. the LGO Station Cafe, 260 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena; www.lgostationcafe.com), which neighbors a Metro Gold Line train stop.

Distant Lands (20 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena; www.distantlands.com) will sell you travel books, and farther east on Colorado Boulevard, Vroman’s (695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena), which dates to the 1890s, will sell you “Hometown Pasadena” (an excellent guidebook) or just about any other book. The nearby Pasadena Playhouse (39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena; www.pasadenaplayhouse.org) stands in an atmospheric 1920s building, having been revived by a 2010 bankruptcy reorganization. For caffeine and Mexico-boho atmosphere, there’s its neighbor, the Zona Rosa Caffe (15 S. El Molino Ave.).

5. The Rose Bowl

Now nearing 90, the Rose Bowl (1001 Rose Bowl Drive, Pasadena; www.rosebowlstadium.com) is in the middle of a renovation, but the sports continue. Besides hosting the Rose Bowl football game every January, the stadium is home field for UCLA football. On the second Sunday of each month, the Rose Bowl Flea Market (www.rgcshows.com) materializes with its antler lamps, dial telephones, vintage fishing poles, and daunting entrance fee. It’ll cost you at least $8 to get in (they said flea, not free), but it is epic.

Meanwhile, the surrounding Brookside Park (360 N. Arroyo Ave., Pasadena; www.cityofpasadena.net/PublicWorks/Brookside_Park1) draws legions of runners, walkers and cyclists, who circle a path of three-plus miles. Nearby you’ll find Kidspace (480 N. Arroyo Blvd.), a hands-on museum for children.

6. South Lake Avenue

Shopping South Lake Avenue is like surfing: Someone is going to tell you how much better it was before you came. And life was good in the ‘90s, when retailers thrived and the Huntington hotel was run by Ritz-Carlton. But now is not bad. The former Ritz, now known as the Langham Huntington Pasadena (1401 S. Oak Knoll Ave.), stands on 23 acres and specializes in spa indulgences and twinkling holiday decorations. Its fancy restaurant, reborn as Royce in late 2010, has garnered strong reviews, and overnight rates sometimes drop near $200.

Your shopping starts with the old Bullock’s building (401 S. Lake Ave.), a 1947 Streamline Moderne landmark that now holds Macy’s. The neighbors include Orvis (345 S. Lake Ave., No. 102) for fly-fishers, Anthropologie (340 S. Lake Ave.) for teens and Ten Thousand Villages (567 S. Lake Ave., Pasadena; www.pasadena.tenthousandvillages.com) for buyers of fair-trade art and crafts. Leave time for zucchini bread at Green Street Restaurant (146 S. Shopper’s Lane) or the nouveau cafeteria cuisine of Lemonade (146 S. Lake Ave.).

Then walk off the calories amid the fountains and arches of the Caltech campus (1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena; www.caltech.edu), workplace of the Richter scale’s creator and scads of other scientific heavyweights.

7. A day at the races

There’s a gambler or a horse lover in every family, right? If it’s racing season (late December-late April), take him, her or them to Santa Anita Park (285 W. Huntington Drive, Arcadia; www.santaanita.com), where Seabiscuit once galloped to glory and the view of the San Gabriels is reliably gorgeous. Horses usually run Thursdays-Sundays. You can watch early workouts for free from 5-10 a.m. from Clocker’s Corner at the west end of the track. (You can also buy breakfast there.) In the afternoon, for $5 adult admission, you can watch the races or linger near the paddock and gardens.

If it isn’t racing season, head north to cozy Sierra Madre, park on East Miramonte Avenue near North Mountain Trail Avenue, and hike the first 1.3 miles of the Mt. Wilson Trail, which will jump-start your heart and give you a big view. Then turn around at First Water, come down and spoon some homemade ice cream at Mother Moo Creamery (17 Kersting Court, Sierra Madre; www.mothermoo.com), or flop on a couch with some java at Bean Town coffeehouse (45 N. Baldwin Ave., Sierra Madre; www.beantowncoffeebar.com).

For a homegrown souvenir, make the two-minute drive to E. Waldo Ward & Son (273 E. Highland Ave., Sierra Madre; www.waldoward.com), a family business that has made and sold jams and jellies since 1891. Wind up with a snazzy dinner at Wistaria (44 N. Baldwin Ave., Sierra Madre; www.wistariarestaurant.com), an unexpected cosmopolitan minimalist dining room plopped down on Main Street USA. It opened in summer 2011.

8. A changing Arcadia

Tired of people? Try peacocks and cycads instead. At the 127- acre L.A. County Arboretum & Botanic Garden (301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia; www.arboretum.org), you can do that, inspect reflections on Baldwin Lake and read up on the life, times and wives of local pioneer Lucky Baldwin, whose land this once was.

When you get hungry, there are hundreds of Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants along the main drags of nearby San Gabriel, Alhambra and Monterey Park. But you have world-famous dumplings within 1.2 miles, so you’re headed to Din Tai Fung (1108 and 1088 S. Baldwin Ave.). Din Tai Fung is a global restaurant chain, born in Taiwan, and the sibling Arcadia restaurants are its only California outlets. Customers often wait in line (no reservations taken) for a chance at xiao long bao -- steamed dumplings filled with pork and broth, explosively flavorful.

9. Eagle Rock, Glendale

Start in hipster-heavy Eagle Rock, just west of Pasadena, with a comfort breakfast at Auntie Em’s (4616 Eagle Rock Blvd., Los Angeles; www.auntieemskitchen.com).

Then head about three miles west to Forest Lawn Memorial Park (1712 S. Glendale Ave., Glendale; www.forestlawn.com), which is a cemetery in the same sense that Hearst Castle is a house. Begun in 1906, these 300 acres of rolling green hills contain more copied Michelangelo sculptures and celebrity graves than any place else you’ll find all week. Humphrey Bogart. Walt Disney. Nat King Cole. Shortly after his death in 2009, Michael Jackson arrived, followed in early 2011 by Elizabeth Taylor. Management gives no celebrity directions and keeps many resting spots behind locked doors, but you’ll get plenty of hints from www.seeing-stars.com.

10. A real charmer

South Pasadena (another sort of Main Street USA, but this time with yoga and lattes) won’t jolt you with its high energy. In fact, it may tranquilize you with its prosperous, family-friendly calm. First, get breakfast at Heirloom Bakery (807 Meridian Ave., South Pasadena). Stroll on highly walkable Mission Street, Meridian Avenue and El Centro Street, and maybe break for a snack at the mural-bedecked Buster’s Ice Cream & Coffee Stop (1006 Mission St., South Pasadena; www.busterscoffee.com), next to the Metro tracks. If it’s Thursday afternoon, catch the farmers market on Meridian between Mission and El Centro. Then retire to your room.

What room? Perhaps the Arroyo Vista Inn (335 Monterey Road, South Pasadena; www.arroyovistainn.com), a genteel bed-and-breakfast at the top of a long driveway. It has nine well-appointed bedrooms in a 1910 Craftsman (not so good for children). If you have kids, look at the Bissell House (201 Orange Grove Ave., South Pasadena; www.bissellhouse.com), a lived-in Victorian on the Pasadena/South Pasadena border with a pool in back. From there, it’s a half-mile to a quiet, elegant (but pricey) dinner at the Raymond Restaurant (1250 S. Fair Oaks Ave., Pasadena; www.theraymond.com).

11. Home of the Huntington

When in San Marino (median household income: about $159,000 a year), why not loll like a 1-percenter? Have an elegant breakfast at Julienne (2649 Mission St., San Marino; www.juliennetogo.com), or get a meal to go from its gourmet market and head for nearby Lacy Park (1485 Virginia Road, San Marino; www.ci.san-marino.ca.us/lacy.htm), a 30-acre refuge of tall trees, playground and paths well-suited to picnickers and beginning bicyclists. On weekends, there’s a $4 fee for nonresidents 4 and older, so you might prefer smaller Garfield Park, which is almost as close at Mission Street and Park Avenue in South Pasadena.

Either way, don’t linger too long, because the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens (1151 Oxford Road, San Marino; www.huntington.org) is in your future. This is where Thomas Gainsborough’s 18th century “The Blue Boy” painting and 120 acres of gardens have long been big attractions. In the library, you can eye a Gutenberg Bible and a Charles Bukowski manuscript. In the American art collection, take a good look at the ocean in Edward Hopper’s 1935 painting “The Long Leg.” Who knew this inland journey would bring you to the most luminous blue sea ever?