Pasadena

The Pasadena Historical Museum is located on a two acre campus with several period buildings. The highlight is the Fenyes Mansion, built in 1906 in Beaux Arts style. It contains period furniture, family heirlooms, and an art collection.The History Center is a state-of-the-art facility housing exhibition galleries, research library and archives, meeting/conference space, administrative offices, and the Museum Store.The Finnish Folk Art Museum is furnished in the style of a 19th century Finnish farmhouse.Also on site is the 1915 French style Curtin House, designed by architect Sylvanus Marston.The Pasadena Historical Museum is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Gamble House in Pasadena was built in 1908 and is a masterpiece of the Arts and Crafts movement. It features sculptured woodwork, hand shaped beams, stained glass and original furnishings. The woodwork is in the Japanese style with intricate joinery. The house is meant to fit into its environment reinforcing the nature of its surroundings.This impressive bungalow was designed by the renowned architects Charles and Henry Greene. The house was built for William and Mary Gamble of the Proctor and Gamble Company.

William Wrigley Jr. of chewing gum fame built Wrigley Mansion in Pasadena between 1906 and 1914. Executive offices for the annual Rose Bowl Parade are now located at Tournament House. The interior of the mansion features paneled rooms, inlaid marble floors and ornate molded plaster ceilings. A highlight of the tour is the one-of-a-kind Waterford rose bowl made to honor the centennial of the Tournament of Roses. Outside Tournament House, Centennial Rose Garden features the award-winning Tournament of Roses rose.

The Throop Polytechnic Institute was founded in 1891. In 1920 it was given its present name, California Institute of Technology. This private college employs 780 teachers for its 1,800 students. It also runs the almost 6,600ft/2,000m high observatory on Mount Palomar in the north of San Diego County, while the scarcely less well-known observatory 5,600ft/1,700m up on Mount Wilson near Pasadena is directed by the Carnegie Institution.

Worth seeing is Pasadena's Old Town, reached by turning into Raymond Avenue off the main street Colorado Boulevard. On the way you will pass single or two-storied houses not more than 25-50ft/8-16m wide, the ground floors of which are now occupied mainly by shops.Many tourists come to Pasadena to visit two museums, the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena and the Huntington Library and Art Gallery in neighboring San Marino.

The home of the UCLA football team, the Rose Bowl in Pasadena was built in 1922. Seating 100,000, the stadium is the site of the annual Rose Bowl college football game and has hosted five NFL Super Bowl Games, the 1984 Olympic Soccer Matches, the 1994 Men's World Cup, and the 1999 Women's World Cup.

The Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena was built in 1924 and houses a collection of rare Far Eastern art, spanning 5,000 years, in its Chinese Qing treasure house. There is an exotic garden in the courtyard.

The Pasadena Museum of California Art is dedicated to California art, architecture, and design from 1850 to the present. The museum was completed in 2002; a three-story mixed use facility.

Built in 1923, the Alice Millard House in Pasadena was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It was the first of four "textile block" houses.

The Armory Center for the Arts has a variety of exhibits featuring various media. Art education is available through classes at the Armory and in local schools.

Eaton Canyon is a 190-acre zoological, botanical, and geological wonderland. It offers hiking, family nature walks and a bird walk (led by a docent once a month).

Children between the ages of two and ten will love the Kidspace Museum in Pasadena. There are hands-on exhibits including a fire station, a TV studio and a beach.

Mission West District has shopping and restaurants in a scenic setting in South Pasadena.