Pasadena

Los Angeles County

Altitude: 866ft/264m

Population: 132,000

Location and origin

Founded in 1875, the town can be reached from Downtown Los Angeles in less than 20 minutes, along the Pasadena Freeway (exit Orange Grove/Arroyo), or by bus no. 434; the town's melodic name is not in fact of Spanish origin, but comes from a Chippewa Indian word meaning roughly "crown of the valley".

In its early days Pasadena was a kind of winter spa resort, mainly for visitors from the Middle West of the United States; the first hotels appeared in the 1880s, but only the Huntington Sheraton, originally named the Wentworth, still remains. It opened its doors again in 1989 following a complete refit