Museums in San Marino, CA

Huntington Library is world class for art, books and gardens. Gamble House for California architecture. Clearmans Galley for a sports bar, huge and loud. Old Pasadena for restaurants and shopping. That is a good start. And Norton Simon Museum is an amazing collection of classic art. And next door to Clearmans Galley is the Northwoods Inn, a fun restaurant and bar in a mountain cabin theme, And the Clearman’s restaurants are in San Gabriel, the east end of Pasadena, https://clearmansrestaurants.com/northwoods-inn/san-gabriel/

Also! The main Vromans on Colorado, while not a used book store, is still a really nice independent bookstore.

Tackling the science/museum side of things... Griffith Observatory is probably my first suggestion. It's a bit of a pain to get to, though (parking is bad, and the public transportation options aren't stellar). It's not too far away, though; it was built to be something that could present astronomy to the public. Also somewhat nearby (but needing a car) is Mount Wilson Observatory, which is still used for astronomical research as well as being a very big location for astronomy, especially in the 1920s or so. The California Science Center is accessible by metro and has one of the space shuttles. I will also make this as a plug (because I always do), that if you've got a car, the 24 hour Bob's Big Boy in Burbank (maybe 10-15 minutes drive west of Pasadena). Used to be a big chain and that location has been there since 1949. Particularly burgers, sandwiches, and shakes. Is this your first US trip or have you been in the US before?

If you are staying in Pasadena, get familiar with the gold line light rail train. It runs through Pasadena and takes you to downtown LA. There are some nice stops along the way, such as South Pasadena, which has a quaint middle of America look (lots of craftsman bungalows) which is often used for filming ( [https://patch.com/california/southpasadena/10-movies-filmed-in-south-pasadena-back-to-the-future454952ab99](https://patch.com/california/southpasadena/10-movies-filmed-in-south-pasadena-back-to-the-future454952ab99) ) Pasadena is in the San Gabriel Valley ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San\_Gabriel\_Valley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Gabriel_Valley)) which is a collection of small cities east of Los Angeles city. The SGV has a large Asian population (south and east of Pasadena) and thus is supposed to have some of the best Asian food in the US. You need a car here though. [https://la.eater.com/maps/best-san-gabriel-valley-restaurants-chinese-vietnamese-asian-los-angeles](https://la.eater.com/maps/best-san-gabriel-valley-restaurants-chinese-vietnamese-asian-los-angeles) For a nice and **free** view of LA from above, take the goldline to Union Station (make sure to check out the waiting area for beautiful Mission revival architecture) and then take the subway to the tallest building in LA. [https://www.yelp.com/biz/intercontinental-los-angeles-downtown-los-angeles-5](https://www.yelp.com/biz/intercontinental-los-angeles-downtown-los-angeles-5) You just ride the elevator to the 70th floor, the check in Lobby and hang out. Nice big windows. As others have said, the Huntington Library (named after a railroad tycoon) and the Norton Simon Museum are very nice, and in, or around Pasadena. You could also visit some of the actual Missions, such as the San Gabriel Mission [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish\_missions\_in\_California](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_missions_in_California). Lots of history there.

Hey! I'm half aussie, and a pasadena native! I'd recommend the Norton Simon museum, the arcadia arboretum, the Huntington gardens, eating in old pasadena, a bit of shopping at there and the paleo colorado, maybe doing a quick trip to olvera street and little Tokyo in downtown la, and a hike at eaton canyon in altadena. if u need a tour guide who sorta kinda understands u aussies, lemme know!

PCC flea market is first Sunday of every month. Lots of shopping opportunities there if you like flea markets. Osawa and Union are great restaurants in Old Town.

Book Alley in Pasadena is a good new/used book store on Colorado Blvd. Urth Cafe is a popular spot, it is a little crowded many times throughout the day but it’s not unfounded

Another suggestion, it is in Highland Park, just about 5 miles from Pasadena. Very unique place for drinks, pizza and bowling. https://www.highlandparkbowl.com

Not sure how you are going to be getting around but from Pasadena you can take the Gold Line train to downtown LA and there see The Broad museum, MOCA and the Grammy museum. Also you can make your way to the iconic Griffith Observatory.

The obvious: the Huntington and Norton Simon are both really nice. The not so obvious: Caltech has a tiny free museum in the lobby of the Beckman institute. I think it's only open like one day a week or something, though it may be more often now. More info is here: https://archives.caltech.edu/about/index.html

The Mt. Lowe trail / Echo Mountain hike is a nice day hike if that's more your speed - shorter hikes like Eaton Canyon are nice too! Pacific Asia museum is underated imo but I haven't been recently so can't really vouch for it right now.

Consider going to a Dodgers game (baseball). You can take the Metro to Dodger Stadium pretty easily. If you’re interested let me know and I can give you more ideas.

If you like coffee, check out Jameson Brown. If you take a trip into downtown LA, go to the Last Bookstore.

Curious: are you making Pasadena your destination for all 9 days? What's bringing you here?

And a place I have not been too yet is the Speakeasy in Old Pasadena. Evokes the time when alcohol was illegal and bars were hidden. You need a password to get in. Via their website. https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-speakeasy-pasadena. https://www.speakeasypasadena.com

How come nobody mentioned the Pasadena library? It’s one of the greatest libraries around, and is absolutely beautiful.