PASADENA: CALIFORNIA'S SMALL TOWN AMERICA

PASADENA: CALIFORNIA'S SMALL TOWN AMERICA Story and photography by Margaret & Eric Anderson
Pasadena is the unusual, unexpected spot in America: a small town in the heart of a big city. Most of the time Pasadena's traffic is fairly light -- for Los Angeles -- and parking surprisingly easy. Not only that, but curb space for parallel parking is generous, street names and road signs are well displayed, and pedestrians and other drivers exhibit exceptional manners for the LA area as if Pasadena has long taken to heart all this about a gentler, kinder America. This impression is reinforced by a drive around town which reveals gorgeous homes, interesting restaurants, a fabulous live theater and world-class museums. "Getty overflow visitors who come here," says Theresa Norman, a spokesperson for the Pasadena Convention and Visitors Bureau, "are astonished at Pasadena's museums. They shouldn't be. The Norton Simon Museum, for example, has been called the largest former private collection of one person in his lifetime. And a further pleasure for our visitors is finding that the Huntington, with its unique art collections, library and gardens is growing even bigger."
	The biggest growth in Pasadena, however, came in the 1980s with the restoration of Old Pasadena, a revitalized 26-block development of the 1930s' downtown area along historic Colorado Boulevard. This eclectic blend of 200 shops and restaurants has set the tone for the Pasadena experience.
The restaurants vary from Cafe Santorini which two Armenian brothers opened in 1993 with Mediterranean fare and which has already been called one of the best five patio restaurants in Los Angeles, to Boomerock Hot Rock Grill, an Asian-owned restaurant that brings guests the atmosphere and cooking methods of Aboriginal Australia: diners sit and cook their meals on their tables on hot lava rocks heated to 700 degrees.

Says Larry Tai, the manager, "We opened in February 1999, a one of a kind restaurant that gives diners an interactive experience with great control over what they're eating." Adds executive chef Phillip Lai with a grin, "That's why we never see food being sent back to the kitchen!" A couple of blocks south on the same street sits Spencer's, an elegant restaurant specializing in Continental cuisine expertly served -- where you can never empty your water glass because an attentive waiter fills it up again as soon as you lay it down!
	Pasadena offers up 17 inns and motels, many quaint and interesting. Hotel groups are represented from the Holiday Inn, Doubletree and Marriott to the Hilton, Westin and, of course, the famous Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel and Spa which, for nearly a century, has been a Pasadena landmark with museum-quality art and historical architecture.