Where to live between Glendale and LAX??

[Sorcerer68]

You'll find Old Pasadena by going East on the 134 freeway and getting off on Colorado. Proceed down Colorado Blvd past the Jaguar/Porsche/Rolls Royce dealer and you'll see old store fronts on either side of the road. The bouraries are described at oldpasadena.com:

Historic Old Town Pasadena California is located just minutes from downtown Los Angeles in the beautiful San Gabriel Valley. Bordered by Marengo Ave. on the East and Pasadena Avenue on the West, Old Pasadena stretches from Holly Street on the North to Green Street on the South.

Stay south of the freeway when looking for a place. Bungalow Heaven (landmark Historic district) is north of Mountain and east of Lake and is an exception. South Lake Avenue is also nice.

I like the weather in Pasadena. It's very sunny and has a real summer. I freeze when I go to the west side now, I acclimated when I moved inland from Redondo. The freeway downtown is cake most of the day except rush hour and it's not extended rush hour like the 405, 5 or 101. The freeway is the first in the nation, my grandfather actually helped build it. The on ramps are odd as they have stop signs and the freeway naturally follows the Arroyo Seco which brings turns. In a normal car it's a nice drive. The people who drive the ginormous SUV's hate it.

Remind me (if I forget) and I'll give you some of the high spots later. I don't have time right now...oddly enough, I have to go go Old Pas! Check out South Pasadena as well. It's very quiet and straight down Fair Oaks from Old Pas.

[pokin]

Awesome!! Thanks man. Really appreciate the help.

Remind me (if I forget) and I'll give you some of the high spots later.

If you have time that'd be great. If not, no worries (I'm searching the LA forum as we speak).

Have fun in Old Pas!

[jessemh431]

If you were to live in Pasadena, you would be able to take the Metrolink all the way to LAX. You would have to transfer, but it would be much faster than driving. Also, LAX is much nicer than Ontario. It is very hot in Ontario. LAX is in a very nice part of LA with nice weather so that you can actually walk outside during a break at your work in the summer.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't a Metrolink line go through Glendale also?

[pokin]

Update!!!

Just got back from Socal. We loved Pasadena and ended up signing a lease for a 2 bedroom on California Blvd at Madison. It's a 5 min walk to Lake and maybe 15 min to Old Town. We really loved both of those areas and just the whole city in general.

We got lucky and just saw the for rent sign while walking down California. The owner said he normally doesn't have a for rent sign up for more than a day or two before it gets rented out so the timing worked out perfectly.

Thanks so much for your help and if anyone has any recommendations for cool places in Pasadena let me know.

Thanks.

Pete

[Sorcerer68]

Originally Posted by pokin

Update!!!

Just got back from Socal. We loved Pasadena and ended up signing a lease for a 2 bedroom on California Blvd at Madison. It's a 5 min walk to Lake and maybe 15 min to Old Town. We really loved both of those areas and just the whole city in general.

We got lucky and just saw the for rent sign while walking down California. The owner said he normally doesn't have a for rent sign up for more than a day or two before it gets rented out so the timing worked out perfectly.

Thanks so much for your help and if anyone has any recommendations for cool places in Pasadena let me know.

Thanks.

Pete

THIS is why it's good to walk the neighborhood you like! Congrats, you'll love South Lake Avenue. I love to go into Williams & Sonoma and drool. L.A. Fitness is a thoroughly decent gym, I was a member when I lived there. You chose wisely.
King Taco: Drive N on Arroyo Pkwy until it ends at Holly St. It's just before this and will be on your left.

Thai Dishes: Best Thai in Old Pas. It's on the NE corner of Colorado and Marengo Ave.

Stand on the bandstand at Memorial Park and sing your lungs out. You'll feel like a star.

Out Of The Closet on Colorado just east of Hill, thoroughly decent thrift store.

Castle Green 99 S. Raymond: grand dame of Pasadena. Stand there and drool and then enjoy a walk in Central Park afterwards.

Holly St. Grill: Quiet, semi formal, family owned restaurant on Holly b/t Marengo and the Arroyo Pkwy terminus. Not odd to see people dressed to the hilt getting out of Rolls Royce limos. They are really nice. I love that place.

PF Chang: Chinese interpreted. Upstairs at Paseo Colorado. Eat the lettuce cups.

This will get you started. Ask me ANYTHING about Pasadena, I'm one of the resident experts here, there are others as well.

[sgvkev]

California and Madison is a great choice... here's more cool stuff to do in Pasadena:

Paseo Colorado (Colorado between Los Robles and Marengo)- Pasadena's mall. It is both indoors and outdoors.

Hotels- Los Robles and Colorado are full of them... the area of low-rent hotels on Colorado in unincorporated east Pasadena isn't that great of an area though (bit run down, not pretty at all).

Rose Parade- Around December you'll notice large rows of seats on Colorado. The street is closed off on New Year's for the parade and you can watch live in those seats.

Norton Simon Museum on Colorado and Orange Grove- Very cool art museum...

Pasadena Playhouse on El Molino and Green- If you're interested in watching plays this is the place for you.

The Rose Bowl's there too if you're a college football fan...

Lots of stuff to do there, especially south of the 210 and west of Lake...

[Sorcerer68]

If you're moving to Pasadena, chances are you enjoy flea markets. PCC has a really good one and the Rose Bowl is the queen of all swap meets! It's like 1000's of antique and junk stores dumped into one place.

Pasadena Public Library is on Walnut at Marengo. It's gorgeous. Pasadena has lots of interesting history and much of it is well documented and available right here.

The post office is just as pretty, it's on Colorado across from Paseo Colorado.


Check out the newly restored City Hall, you can't miss the dome from just about anywhere in Old Pas.

Walk toward the back and you'll come to a courtyard featured in "Rumor Has It" with Jennifer Aniston and Mark Ruffalo. The comical thing is that they shoot the front, then they put a fake San Francisco skyline in the background of the rear area and use it for S.F. It's a great Pasadena movie, watch it before you move there.

Gamble House-Go north of Orange Grove from Old Pas and you'll see it on the left. It was Doc's house in Back to the Future. This Greene and Greene treasure isn't called the Ultimate Bungalow for nothin'.


Turn around and go south on Orange Grove and you can't miss a gigantic white mansion...it's the former Wrigley mansion now used as the headquarters for the Tournament of Roses Parade.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a167/wild8hrt/Pasadena_Wrigley_Mansion_Sm.jpg (broken link)

The other best thrift store in Pasadena is Salvation Army at 56 W. Del Mar. This store is the central donation clearing house and gets all the best stuff. I used to buy things here and re-sell them in my antique and vintage goods store. 1 block south on Waverly is their little Antique outlet. Don't miss it, they get some great finds.

And I have to throw in a pic of the Castle Green:
http://www.condosource.com/properties/image.php?Id=336&image_table=tbl_files (broken link)

[pokin]

Thanks again for the great suggestions. We're making a huge list of all the places to check out when we get out there. My girlfriend makes the drive from Cincinnati on Thursday and then I'll follow about a month later. We can't wait.

[Rats]

Originally Posted by Sorcerer68

Thai Dishes: Best Thai in Old Pas. It's on the NE corner of Colorado and Marengo Ave.

That's awesome. Until now I've never seen anyone else but me recommend that place.

Originally Posted by City-Data

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Sorcerer68 again.

[Sorcerer68]

Originally Posted by Rats

That's awesome. Until now I've never seen anyone else but me recommend that place.

It was 1.5 short blocks from my front door and we ate there every Friday like clockwork. Next time you're in there, look closely at some of the "art" on the walls. It's very interesting...