PASADENA LIFESTYLE AND HOMES FOR SALE
Pasadena, California was founded in 1874 and became an incorporated city to Los Angeles County in 1886.Like a fine aged wine, Pasadena is a mature city that keeps getting better with time. Pasadena has put constant efforts to preserve, yet update, it’s historic centers of commerce and has allowed for urban residential developments, therefore it’s becoming a more chic and trendy place to live.
Restaurants
From fast casual restaurants and cafes, to five star fine dining, Pasadena has no limits when it comes to the cuisine that is offered within the city. You could eat at a different restaurant in Pasadena everyday within a year and still not experience the culinary variety that is available. With 500 restaurants, Pasadena is more than equipped to delight the food-savvy crowd, serving up a diverse array of food categories and international cuisines.
Aside from restaurants, Pasadena also offers quite the nightlife. In addition to the restaurants with adjacent lounges, there are countless sports pubs, chic wine bars, and trendy clubs, many which offer live music and dancing.
With several movie theatres, stylish Bowling lanes, and the Brookside Golf club offering an 18 hold course, Pasadena offers a variety of entertainment options for people of all ages.
Culture and education
Many people come to Pasadena for private and public college and adult education including the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena City College, Art Center College of Design, and the fast growing California School of Culinary Arts.
In 2008 Pasadena hosted the first full marathon and with a growing number of registrants each year, thousands of people compete to run the 26 mile course through the various streets of the city.
Established in 1892 – the newly expanded Huntington Memorial Hospital is a non-profit 636 bed hospital and is home to the only trauma center in the region.
Transportation
The Del Mar station has been converted from the old, historic Santa Fe train depot and is surrounding by many new construction apartments and condos, including the Archstone Apartments.
Pasadena is known for it’s recent improvements in mass transportation with the Metro Gold Line, a light rail that travels from the Union Station in Downtown LA. The Metro Gold line cuts through the central sections of Pasadena and ends at the sierra madre villa station. To ease the rush hour traffic on the 210 freeway for commuters heading to and from the city, the Gold line has been extended eastbound all the way to San Bernardino County, ending at the Ontario International Airport.
Neighborhoods
Pasadena has two main urban centers, Old Town Pasadena and the South Lake Business district. Old Town is the oldest commercial center of Pasadena and today is known as the cities hotspot for its retail clothing stores, upscale restaurants, and lounges. With over 48,000 business executives employed in The South Lake Business District, it’s is predominantly a corporate environment, with a unique blend of shopping and dining, shadowed by South Lakes tall modern buildings. Recent developments in the South Lake district also include new, high end condos, including the Prado and the Pasadena Collection.
In addition to it’s urban centers, Pasadena has a high number of landmark districts within the residential suburbs of the city.
Located in Northeast Pasadena, the Bungalow Heaven Landmark District is a rare and mostly intact collection of over 800 homes built from 1900 through the 1930s and gets its name from the Craftsman style bungalows that predominate the neighborhood. Although the many fine residences of significant historic design include Spanish Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival, it’s the Craftsman bungalow that Pasadena is most well known for. Other historic landmark neighborhoods in Pasadena known for its well preserved Craftsman homes are the adjacent Garfield Heights and the upper scale Historic Highlands.
The majority of Pasadena’s most expensive homes are located in the neighborhoods known as Oak Knoll and San Rafael. The majority of the estates in the Oak Knoll neighborhood are historic homes built from the turn of the century through the 1930’s. Aside from large estates, also located in the Oak knoll neighborhood is The Langham Huntington Hotel and Spa, which attracts not just out of town visitors, but locals residents that enjoy the hotels three restaurants, high end lounge, and its newly renovated resort spa. The San Rafael neighborhood is located in the far southwest section of Pasadena, with homes that start at the $1million price range.
The Rose Bowl The Rose Bowl, a National Historic Landmark, is host of the first, oldest, and most famous college football post-season game, the Tournament of Roses. The game is every New Year’s Day, immediately following the
Tournament of Roses Parade. Pasadena is also well know for it’s historic estates that were built by some of the cities original wealthy residents. A few of these magnificient homes that still stand include the home of the Wrigley Gum founder, William Wrigley’s former home. The Gamble house, which was built by the architects Green and Greene was the home of David Gamble of the Procter & Gamble company. Built in 1930, The Cravens Estate is now headquarters for the American Red Cross.
Since Pasadena knows how to keep it fresh, without bulldozing the wonderful historic character of the city, it’s become a modern city, while maintaining the charm of a bygone time. Pasadena is a well planned city that offers modern, urban centers with endless entertainment and employment, charming and historic residential suburbs, and the San Gabriel mountains that serve as a beautiful backdrop and a retreat for those that want to explore the cities natural elements. A richly cultured city, with a colorful past, targeted to serve community needs and enhance the quality of life, Pasadena is a California community at its best.
THE GAMBLE HOUSE
The Gamble House built by architects Greene & Greene. I took this photo earlier today. Love Pasadena Craftsman Bungalows!!!Contact us if you are thinking about buying in Pasadena:
RAMIRO & ERICA RIVAS ~ JOHN AAROE GROUP
Pasadena Real Estate Agents
Ramiro: 626-497-4606 | Erica: 818-257-1054
Info@PasadenaHomesAndLifestyle.com 
HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

RAMIRO RIVAS & ERICA SWANSON ~ JOHN AAROE GROUPPasadena Real Estate Agents
Call/Text us at: 626-497-4606
Info@PasadenaHomesAndLifestyle.com
Client Testimonial
Erica & Ramiro,Thank you so much for your hard work and dedication to not only finding us a house, but OUR house! We couldn’t have done it without you both and you guys make a kick ass Rock Star Team. Be on the look out for an invite to see the place when it’s ready to be shown off.
Paul & Amy M.

RAMIRO RIVAS & ERICA SWANSON ~ JOHN AAROE GROUP
Pasadena Real Estate Agents
Call/Text us at: 626-497-4606
Info@PasadenaHomesAndLifestyle.com
OLD TOWN PASADENA
Old town Pasadena is nationally recognized for its historic and vibrant main street, Colorado Blvd. Old Pasadena offers memorable architecture and reflects the traditions of early California, blending in a collection of shopping, excellent restaurants for dining and endless entertainment.What we now know as Old Town Pasadena, first emerged as a town in the 1870’s. Old town began to see an increase of development in the 1890’s when the main throuroughfaire, Colorado Blvd, was paved. By this time blacksmith shops, carriage sales, storage enterprises, and livery stables all ran down Colorado Blvd.
The world renowned Rose Parade is centered in Old Town. The first Tournament of Roses was staged in 1890 by members of Pasadena’s Valley Hunt Club. These club members were former residents of from the East and Midwest eager to showcase Pasadena as the place where the “flowers were blooming” on January. They wanted to tell the world about “their new paradise.” More than 2000 people came out on that day to view a parade of flower-covered carriages, foot races, and polo matches. Today, most floats are built by professional float companies and take almost a year to design and construct. An estimated 350 million television viewers in more than 80 countries around the world join nearly one million curbside spectators for the Rose Parade on new years day.
Old Pasadena is unique in that the majority of its commercial buildings along the Colorado Boulevard were constructed during the period from around 1886 to 1918, and still house commercial enterprises with little change to many of their facades.
Originally the Hotel Green, just north of Central Park in Old Pasadena is the well known historic Castle Green. Converted over from a hotel into condos in the 1920’s, the Castle Green is still the home to 50 residential units and are owned by residents that have respect and admiration for Pasadena’s history.
There have also been recent modern residential developments in old town that offer modern loft living above ground floor commercial buildings.
Although old town is so well known for it’s shopping, just as eminent is the dining and night life, which is becoming more and more sophisticated in the new century.
Old Pasadena features over 100 diverse restaurants, including award-winning fine dining and charming outdoor cafés, as well as museums a world class movie theatre, sports pubs, wine bars, and a wide array of places for late night live music and dancing.
The historic streets and alleyways, rustic brick façades and architectural accents of Pasadena’s original business district refuses to fade into history.
Homes for Sale in La Canada Flintridge
Homes for Sale – La Canada FlintridgePASADENA NEIGHBORHOODS
Since Pasadena knows how to keep it fresh, without bulldozing the wonderful historic character of the city, it has drawn in a stylish crowd of people. An ever increasing amount of residents are purchasing the Craftsman bungalows that became rundown because of neglectful owners or long periods of vacancy due to foreclosure and are restoring them back to the charming character homes that are hidden behind overgrown shrubs and displaced shingles. With many new, modern commercial/retail centers in the urban hub ofPasadena, homeowners can buy a historic craftsman in the suburbs without feeling like they will live amongst streets that are lined with old Cadillacs and houses painted a marigold color that was popular in 1970. Although the historic homes with the outdated exteriors still exist, they are fewer and farther in between.