Colorado Boulevard

The roughly 22-block stretch of Colorado Boulevard between Pasadena Avenue (west) and Arroyo Parkway (east) is known as Old Pasadena, and it's the densest concentration of pre-1940 commercial architecture in the San Gabriel Valley. The buildings here mostly date from the 1880s through the 1930s — brick and stone commercial structures in Spanish Colonial Revival, Mission Revival, Beaux-Arts, Art Deco, and Streamline Moderne styles that collectively document the boulevard's evolution from a 19th-century carriage road through the Route 66 commercial peak.

By the 1970s Old Pasadena had fallen into significant decline. Suburban shopping malls drew retail traffic away from downtown, the boulevard's vacancy rates climbed, and several historic buildings faced demolition threats. A community-led preservation effort beginning in the late 1970s — supported by the Pasadena Heritage organization, the city government, and private investors — gradually stabilized and restored the district through the 1980s and 1990s. The transformation is often cited as one of the most successful urban-historic-district revitalizations in the western United States, comparable in scope to similar efforts in Seattle's Pioneer Square or San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter.

Today Old Pasadena's commercial mix is substantially restaurants and retail, with several dozen restaurants spanning the full price range from casual to high-end, mid-tier and boutique retail, a small but active live-music scene, and a handful of bars and lounges that draw weekend crowds from across the San Gabriel Valley and eastern Los Angeles. The streetscape includes restored period streetlights, brick-paved alleys (notable: Mercantile Place and Champion Place), and decorative public art that reflects the district's pre-war commercial character.

The Tournament of Roses Parade has marched down Colorado Boulevard every January 1 since 1890 — making it one of the oldest continuously-running annual parades in the United States. The parade's origin story is a Pasadena civic creation myth: the Valley Hunt Club, a social organization of Pasadena's late-19th-century elite, organized the first parade in 1890 as a community celebration of the mild Southern California winter weather, partly intended to attract eastern visitors and investors to Pasadena. The first parade was a small affair — a few dozen horse-drawn carriages decorated with fresh flowers, followed by amateur sports competitions including foot races, polo, and (in the second year, 1891) a tug-of-war.

The parade grew steadily through the 1890s and 1900s, with float decoration becoming progressively more elaborate, motorized vehicles replacing carriages in the 1900s and 1910s, and the football game (eventually the Rose Bowl) added as the parade's sporting companion in 1902. The parade was nationally televised starting in 1947, and the live broadcast — now produced by multiple networks simultaneously — reaches an estimated 30-50 million viewers annually across the United States and additional millions internationally. The in-person spectator estimate for a typical year is roughly 700,000 lining the 5.5-mile parade route.

The Rose Parade route runs along Colorado Boulevard from Orange Grove Boulevard at the western end to Sierra Madre Boulevard at the eastern end — a 5.5-mile route that takes the parade approximately two hours to complete from front to back. Spectator viewing is free along the entire public route; reserved grandstand seating is sold through the Tournament of Roses Association and typically books months in advance. The Pasadena Convention and Visitors Bureau (now Visit Pasadena) publishes detailed viewing-area guides every year with recommendations on the best public spots, restroom locations, and traffic information.

Route 66's path through Pasadena entered the city from the east via Foothill Boulevard, ran west to roughly Lake Avenue, made the southwest turn onto Colorado Boulevard, and continued west through Old Pasadena and into Eagle Rock. The alignment was paved and improved repeatedly across the highway's lifetime, but the underlying street network has remained substantially stable since the 1920s. Several intersections along Colorado Boulevard have small Historic Route 66 California signs installed by Caltrans or by the local Route 66 historical association — the signs are easy to miss but reward attention from road-trippers familiar with the typical brown-and-white Route 66 graphics.

Specific Route 66 era commercial buildings along Colorado Boulevard worth noting include the 1929 Bank of Italy / Bank of America building at Colorado and Marengo (Beaux-Arts), the Castle Green hotel just south of Colorado on Raymond Avenue (an 1898 Moorish-revival landmark that operated as a Route 66 era resort hotel), the Crown Hotel building at Colorado and Fair Oaks, the 1925 Pasadena Athletic Club building, and several smaller commercial structures preserved in the Old Pasadena historic district. Many of these buildings now house restaurants, retail, or office uses — the architectural details are preserved but the original tenant uses have shifted with the decades.

For Route 66 enthusiasts who want a structured walking tour, Pasadena Heritage publishes self-guided walking-tour maps that cover the Old Pasadena historic district and identify roughly 40-50 significant commercial buildings with notes on construction date, architect, and historical use. The walking-tour maps are available free from the Pasadena Heritage office at 651 South St. John Avenue and from Visit Pasadena's downtown visitor information point.

Old Pasadena's restaurant scene runs from casual to high-end and covers a wide range of cuisines. Notable long-running spots within a few blocks of Colorado Boulevard include the Pie 'n Burger counter (slightly off the boulevard at 913 East California Boulevard, but worth the short drive for a classic American burger-and-pie counter experience), Roy's Hawaiian Fusion in the Paseo shopping complex, the Pasadena outpost of the Cheesecake Factory (which originated in Beverly Hills but has a flagship-scale Pasadena location), and a long list of mid-tier independent restaurants across the boulevard's main blocks.

Retail in Old Pasadena is a mix of national chains, regional boutiques, and a handful of long-running specialty shops. The Paseo and the connected Plaza Las Fuentes complex (just south of Colorado at Garfield Avenue) house most of the high-end retail; smaller independent shops occupy the historic commercial buildings along Colorado Boulevard itself. The district is genuinely walkable — a relaxed afternoon can easily fill three or four hours of strolling, window-shopping, and stopping for coffee or a meal.

Parking is the main practical challenge. Old Pasadena has multiple public parking garages with reasonable rates (typically $2-4 per hour, often with first-90-minutes-free promotions on weekday afternoons), but on-street parking is metered and difficult to find on weekend evenings. The recommendation for most visitors: park once in a garage near Colorado and Fair Oaks Avenue, then walk the district on foot.

Colorado Boulevard is the natural anchor for any Pasadena day. The standard half-day plan: arrive in Old Pasadena by mid-morning, spend 60-90 minutes walking the historic commercial district, have lunch at one of the Colorado Boulevard restaurants, then drive 1 mile north to the Norton Simon Museum (10:00 AM to 5:00 PM most days) or 2 miles further north to the Rose Bowl Stadium and surrounding Brookside Park. Adding the Gamble House and the broader Greene & Greene Craftsman architecture district extends the plan to a full day.

For Route 66 road-trippers continuing west toward Santa Monica, Colorado Boulevard pairs naturally with the rest of the final Mother Road push. The standard sequence: morning in Pasadena (Old Pasadena, optional Norton Simon Museum), midday drive west on Colorado Boulevard through Eagle Rock and Highland Park, afternoon stops in Hollywood or Beverly Hills depending on interest, and arrival at Santa Monica Pier by late afternoon — roughly 25 miles total from Old Pasadena to the End of Trail sign at Santa Monica.

For visitors arriving from the east on Route 66, Glendora is roughly 20 miles east of Pasadena along the historic alignment — a 30-45 minute drive depending on traffic. The Glendora-to-Pasadena segment passes through several intermediate Route 66 communities (Azusa, Duarte, Monrovia, Arcadia) that have minor Mother Road interest but are mostly residential. The Pasadena-to-Santa Monica final push is the more historically and culturally substantial segment for most visitors.