A guide to South Pasadena: Best things to do, see and eat
If you grew up in the ‘70s or ‘80s, your vision of suburban America probably looks a lot like South Pasadena. There’s good reason. The picturesque town on the western edge of the San Gabriel Valley was often used as a backdrop in films like “Halloween,” “Pretty in Pink” and “Back to the Future” (the street where George McFly, Lorraine and Biff lived is actually Bushnell Avenue).
Today in South Pasadena, you’ll still find this idyllic Anytown USA landscape — but with a twist: Along with verdant parks, Craftsman bungalows and tree-lined streets, the city gleams with cool new developments like the recently opened Sid the Cat Auditorium, an all-ages live music venue in a converted 1930s elementary school; the always-packed Cannonball from chef Matt Molina; L.A.’s first nonalcoholic bottle shop Burden of Proof and a high-tech head spa imported from Japan. Add on a walkable downtown and a bustling Thursday night farmers market and it’s easy to see why so many Angelenos are drawn to this increasingly hip community.
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“So few pockets of L.A. County are actually great for families and that’s what makes South Pas so compelling,” said my friend Tom, who moved to the area after having a baby two years ago. “Plus, it has light-rail.”
Located six miles from downtown L.A., South Pasadena was marketed as a “garden community” when it was founded in the late 19th century. New residents were promised homes with flowering vines and sweet-smelling gardens, all just a short cable car ride away from a bustling metropolis.
“It was that early promise of suburbia,” said Becky Nicolaides, a historian and author of the book “The New Suburbia: How Diversity Remade Suburban Life in Los Angeles After 1945.” “When it was incorporated, there weren’t cars, so the town was built to be walkable.”
But that peaceful facade hid an ugly truth. Like many suburbs in the L.A. area, the town’s officials put race restrictive covenants into place soon after its founding, making it illegal for residents to sell property to people of color.
Those covenants became illegal in 1948, but the town continued to discourage people of color from living within its boundaries for several more decades. That began to change in the 1960s and South Pasadena has diversified, particularly over the past decade. In recent years, town leadership has taken steps to acknowledge its racist past.
Now, even as a new energy permeates, the city continues to lean into its early suburban history. The town is just 3.4 square miles, but it encompasses 100 acres of parks and playgrounds as well as 21,000 trees. There’s an old-fashioned pharmacy where parents have taken their kids for a phosphate soda (or just a regular old milkshake) for over 100 years and volunteers from the community still decorate a float for the Tournament of Roses each year, just as they have since 1911.
And though its historic Red Car trolleys have been discontinued for decades, today it’s still a comfort to take the Metro home from work at the end of a long day and enjoy the peace and quiet of this pastoral suburb, just like its founders did more than a century ago.
What’s included in this guide
Anyone who’s lived in a major metropolis can tell you that neighborhoods are a tricky thing. They’re eternally malleable and evoke sociological questions around how we place our homes, our neighbors and our communities within a wider tapestry. In the name of neighborly generosity, we may include gems that linger outside of technical parameters. Instead of leaning into stark definitions, we hope to celebrate all of the places that make us love where we live.
Our journalists independently visited every spot recommended in this guide. We do not accept free meals or experiences. What L.A. neighborhood should we check out next? Send ideas to guides@latimes.com.
