Luisa's Brief Guide to SoCal for CS14

Miscellaneous culture must-knows

DO NOT JAYWALK. This means, do not cross in the middle of a block, do not cross against the light. You will freak out drivers and possibly get an expensive ticket (really!) from the cops. My husband got a jaywalking ticket for crossing against the light in an abandoned intersection. I got a ticket (moving violation) for turning right on red when a pedestrian was starting to cross on the other side of the street. Both of these things would be totally acceptable in any other city on the planet, but not in SoCal. Really, I mean it.

Nobody walks in LA. There is some public transport, but the city is INCREDIBLY big, and it's hard to get across town quickly in any fashion, much less make public transportation quick and efficient. Check out the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority website - includes trip planners, where you put in where you are and where you want to go (and when), and it tells you how to do it. Briefly, fares are $1.25/ride, or $3.00 for a day pass, for buses or light rail. (Note that the Gold Line [light rail] goes thru Pasadena.)
Grandstands on Colorado and lines on the street - the Rose Parade is a huge, huge deal here. The grandstands start to go up in November (possibly by CS14) along Colorado Blvd. The red line down the street is what the float drivers follow (they can't see forward, only down), and the blue lines around the curbs is the boundary that is supposed to keep people near the sidewalks and off the parade route itself.

Essential Services Close to the Hotel

GROCERY STORES (listed by radial distance from hotel):
- Gelson's, in the Paseo Colorado, is the closest but hardly typical or cheap.
- Trader Joes, on 345 S. Lake (Lake and Del Mar). Good food, not too expensive, but again not typical - this is a chain originating here in the San Gabriel Valley, but expanding now all the way across the country.
- Ralph's, 160 N. Lake (~0.6 mi from the hotel) - the closest biggest generic supermarket
DRUG STORES (listed by radial distance from hotel):
- Famima!! Pasadena - brand new to Pasadena, just north of Colorado on Raymond in Old Town. Tiny misc market, assorted pre-made sandwiches, magazines, drugs, sort of an upscale 7-11.
- Ralph's, 160 N. Lake (~0.6 mi from the hotel) - the closest biggest generic supermarket
- Target, 777 E. Colorado
- Rite-Aid, 1038 E. Colorado Blvd (~0.6 mi from hotel) - the closest biggest generic drug store
DOCTOR/HOSPITAL:
- Huntington Hospital, including Emergency Room - 100 W. California
- Urgent Care Clinic (Health Care Partners) - 401 S Fair Oaks Ave, (626) 795-2244.

A Few Restaurants in and Around Pasadena

place	location	notes
Rubios	Paseo Colorado and elsewhere	In SoCal, we have high standards for Mexican food, so even our Mexican fast food is pretty good. I like Rubio's salsa, and their fish tacos, but the food overall is better at Baja Fresh - the closest one of those to the hotel is at Lake and Del Mar, a bit of a hike (~1 mi) from the hotel.
PF Chang's	Paseo Colorado	Asian Fusion. Great, and everyone knows it, so be prepared for a long wait, especially at night.
Yardhouse	Paseo Colorado	Totally generic and perfectly acceptable brewpub
Coldstone Creamery	Paseo Colorado	Yummy!
Islands	Paseo Colorado	SO NOT WORTH IT. don't bother.
See's Candies	just north of the paseo, across the street on Colorado	Yummy and quintessentially SoCal chocolate. (The first Barbie outfit was for a See's Girl.)
Cheesecake Factory	Old Town Pasadena, Colorado and Fair Oaks	A national chain, but within that universe reasonably good food. The menu resembles a book. Great cheesecake. Costs a bunch, but you get a LOT of food. Always a wait for a table, even if you are not in a big group.
Louise's Trattoria	Old Town Pasadena, Colorado and Fair Oaks	Small LA chain. Good Italian food, or so I think.
Lucky Baldwins	Old Town Pasadena, Raymond, just S. of Colorado	British pub. HUGE astronomer hangout, has been for probably decades. Great place to watch soccer - er - football. Great beer. And the food? Well, just stick to the fish and chips.
Jamba Juice	multiple locations: Old Town Pasadena and Lake St	Quintessential LA juice bar. Want a shot of wheat grass with that?
Jake's	Old Town Pasadena, on the south side of Colorado	Burgers upstairs; burgers, beer, and pool downstairs. Good burgers, but not as good as In-and-Out.
The Crepe Vine	Old Town Pasadena, alley off south side of Colorado, past Jake's (above)	New wine bar. Good food too.
Gordon Biersch	Old Town Pasadena, north side of street, hidden in a large alley known as "One Colorado Place"	I think this is just an ok restaurant tied to a brewery, but many people are totally devoted to this place.
Johnny Rockets	Old Town Pasadena, north side of street, hidden in a large alley known as "One Colorado Place"	Burger joint. OK burgers, but not nearly as good as In-and-Out.
In-n-Out burger (audio will play when you click)	closest one to the hotel is 2114 E. Foothill Blvd. 2.7 mi from hotel, ~5 min by car	THE SoCal burger experience. They only do burgers, and they do them so well. Don't forget about the secret menu! Yum. See, now I wanna go there tonite.
Zankou Chicken	closest one is East of the hotel on Colorado, 1296 E. Colorado Blvd (1.2 mi from hotel)	Local Armenian chain of moist and juicy and cheap and fast chicken. Definitely try the garlic sauce topping (looks like white paste served in a plastic side cup) and the hummus. Their cheap and recognizable T-shirts can be seen on starving actors and musicians all over town.
several fast food joints	East of the hotel on Colorado, almost to Hill Street and Pasadena City College (~1.5 mi from hotel)	If you absolutely must have a fix.
Tommy's	170 N. Hill, just north of Colorado (1.6 mi from hotel)	Greaseburger central, just past the fast food cluster above. I'd MUCH rather go to any of the other burger joints on this list than here, but this place is mythical among Caltech undergrads.
A little further afield: Shiraz	211 S. Glendale Ave, Glendale. (~7 mi from hotel)	Great Armenian food. (There is a huge Armenian community in Glendale.)
A little further afield: Chevy's Fresh Mex	101 North Brand, Glendale (~7 mi from hotel)	Yeah, a chain, but we like it. (We live in Glendale so if you want more Glendale recommendations, just ask.)

Shopping in and around Pasadena

The Paseo Colorado is pretty darn upscale - I don't think I've ever purchased anything but movies and food here.
Old Town Pasadena (West of the hotel on Colorado) has more normal shops, but still is often very expensive.
East of the hotel on Colorado gets into less-dense and cheaper stores. Go far enough and you'll hit Vroman's (695 E. Colorado), one of the last independent booksellers.
(South) Lake Street (east from the hotel and south of Colorado; Lake is perpendicular to Colorado) - another nice shopping district.
Need a real SoCal massive mall experience where you can afford to buy something on a grad student salary? Head to the Glendale Galleria. Grab a cab or take the 780 (express) or 180/181 (local) MTA bus (note MTA, not Pasadena or Foothill transit etc etc) west down Colorado to the Galleria in Glendale (get off at Central). See MTA website for specifics, but express should take you ~25 min; local, could be up to an hour. If you have a car, get on the 134 west and get off at Central Ave heading south and go a few blocks. You'll know when you get there. There's an In-n-Out (see in restaurants above) there, as well as many other shops and restaurants around the mall.

Weather and weather-related phenomena

Santa Ana Winds (formal definition) = what we call strong winds off the desert. Blows all the pollution out to sea and warms up Pasadena considerably, making for a gorgeous few days, unless you're flying out of Burbank (in which case, take some Dramamine), or trying to control a forest fire. A winter phenomenon, entirely likely during CS14.
Marine Layer = what we call the thick layer of clouds that forms over the (warm) land when the wind blows in off the (cold) Pacific Ocean. Most typical in June, but can create fog or low clouds anytime. In Pasadena, usually the Sun will burn through by mid-day, but if it's thick, it will just be cloudy all day. Most likely to be thickest near the Ocean (e.g., if you go to the beach, don't necessarily expect Sun, even if it's sunny in Pasadena).
El Nino = (see wikipedia entry for formal definition) = change in ocean currents such that SoCal gets rain, and lots of it. Winter is our rainy season; normally we get ~15 inches. In 2005, Mt. Wilson recorded three (3) feet of rain over the winter. LA formally had 37.25 in of rain that year. El Nino is firing up again, and could affect weather during CS14.
CNN.com weather (enter zip 91125 for Pasadena)
Yahoo weather

Earthquakes, Fires, and Traffic (oh, my!)

recent earthquakes in the Los Angeles region
recent earthquakes in California and Nevada
Active Forest Fire Maps from the Forest Service. (jump directly to the CA/NV map)
Sigalerts/traffic flow. (A "SigAlert" is when a lane is totally blocked, as in no traffic flow through on that lane or road.)

TV/Movie (and Studio) things

Want to see a blockbuster on a big screen close to the site of CS14? Head to the Paseo Colorado for their big screen feature. (Other movies, not their headliner, will be on smaller screens.)
Want to see a smaller, independent film, one that you probably would not be able to see at home unless you rented the DVD? Head to any Laemmle Theatre - there are two in Pasadena, both on Colorado: one at 673 E. Colorado, and one in Old Town at One Colorado Place (a large alley north off Colorado).
Want to see a movie in Hollywood? Two great choices:
- Head to Grauman's Chinese Theatre (it is famous enough to merit a wikipedia entry). One headliner on their massive screen, but smaller theatres next door in the mall have more showtimes and movie options. Note that the mall has a great view of the Hollywood sign from inside the mall (by design!).
- Arclight Cinemas, including their incredible Cinerama Dome, at 6360 W. Sunset Blvd. The dome is a wraparound big screen. Reserved seating (call or use the web to get tickets), no ads before the movie, enforced "no kids" policy for some shows, and baguettes instead of hot dogs at the snackbar. They say "where movie lovers belong" and they're right.
moviefone.com - search for what is playing, where; buy tickets in advance if you want to.
Rotten Tomatoes - my favorite site for movie reviews.
Warner Brothers VIP studio tour (NB: link plays audio at you) - weekdays (not that I'm encouraging you to skip CS14 sessions!), not cheap at $30. But so much fun! Does require basic working knowledge of pop culture enough to appreciate seeing where your favorite TV shows are taped. Each tour, each day, is different depending on what is going on at the studios that day.
Jay Leno tapes daily weekdays at 4pm (not that I'm encouraging you to skip CS14 sessions!). I've never made it yet to a taping. Ticket information here - basically, you have to write via US Mail in advance or hope there are some available at the door. Depending on the guest, the line for tickets may be long.
NBC studios offer tours. Again, I've not yet made it on the tour (we missed the cutoff by a few minutes). non-NBC-website information on NBC studio tours.

Museums

Off the Beaten Path

Petersen Automotive Museum. The history of LA as seen through automobiles. Very Angeleno. You can get to this one via the "Miracle Mile" Excursion on Wednesday of CS14. The cars hanging off the side of the building give it away!
Museum of Neon Art. Unfortunately, CS14 is too late in the year for you to take their open-air night bus tours of the neon around LA (they don't run it except in the summer because Angelenos think it gets too cold). But still a cool museum.
Museum of Jurassic Technology. Another in the "I still haven't made it there yet" category, but I have heard fabulous reviews.
The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising is a school, but they have a museum that hosts visiting exhibits. We saw an exhibit on Star Wars costumes that was mind-boggling. During CS14, they will be hosting an exhibit entitled The Annette Green Perfume Museum Premiere: Fashion Makes Scents. Sounds intriguing.
Museum of Television and Radio. Often hosts broadcasts for special events. You guessed it, I still haven't made it there. Guess I need an excuse to go. Maybe, oh, like about ~300 people coming to town?

Other ones I just HAVE to mention

Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits. A must-see for anyone interested in fossils and Ice-Age history of North America. And in November, it's cold enough that the tar isn't too stinky! This is something else you can see via the "Miracle Mile" excursion on Wednesday of CS14.
Griffith Observatory. LA's planetarium. It's been closed for several years for a major remodel and is reopening in early November. We tried to get a CS14 excursion lined up to go there, but it was just too close to their opening. Unfortunately, you probably won't be able to get tickets easily, at least on this trip.

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rebull at jpl.nasa.gov

Last substantially modified 24 Sep 06 by rebull
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