TOURIST SEASON in Pasadena!
How do I know? Well, as a wise old justice of the peace on the USA Supreme Court once commented when referring to pornography, to paraphrase: ‘I can’t define it, can’t describe it, but I know it when I see it.’
I will say this much. You see a brunch more of them around summer & Christmas/New Years seasons. Naturally. Just Sunday I saw hints of these visitors. And like any season, Pasadena just feels a bit different. I’ve seen this faithfully occur over & over many a year.
Oh, but I’m not out searching for tourists either. I haven’t been to the Huntington all year (KB!), didn’t do the Tournament House tour, nor repeat the Prospect Park home tour, & y’all know how I feel about the tourist trap called Old Town (I know what some of you might say on this point), et al.
No, the tourists have been visited upon me. Sorta like my internet experience where websites/things find me on my way to, say, a Pasadena blog such as artist Jacquelyn’s.
Now, visitors from the adjacents, say AltaDena or L.A. – they don’t count as tourists. Strange & different as they can be, we’ll still consider them locos.
Q: Can you tell it’s the season? How do you know?
Drop me a line. Agree or Disagree. Right or Wrong. Visitors/Out of Towner’s – if you happen to have been led astray onto this website while looking for some decent cafe/restaurant in Pasadena, please you do the same.
Before I forget, let me “preface” to say I like & welcome tourists. It’s a thrill to meet peoples from distant or strange lands. The city & chamber of commerce does as well, at least for the economic benefits. In fact, if you can contribute to the betterment of Pasadena, then as far as I’m concerned you’re from Pasadena in spirit!
All this is said in light of having to bid bon voyage (temporarily) to some truly beautiful Pasadena area born & bred girl friends as they leave their home – hell the state! – in search of furthering their life advancement.
I sense a strangeness in the air around these times…
Ok, gotta run, gotta catch some break-fast!
Cafe Pasadena 
When there is a line out the door at Barney’s Beanery, you can always tell that people are in town for a game at the Rose Bowl. I’m sure some locols like that place, too… but I haven’t met one yet!
this was a good post, you are getting a lot of “comment-ilage” from it.
Actually, I’ve been gone only a week & been back for a week now. But it’s more fun to post stuff from back east for now. I’ll have to quit that & get back to the peninsula in a day or two.
Hmmm, we don’t get many tourists around these parts! Nope they tend to stick to London….although I DID spot a few on my last trip to Canterbury! :O I know, the shock of it all let me tell ya. But I used to live in a tourist town and yep, when they came a comin’ they came a comin’! It was a little town called Newport on the Oregon coast. Know it? Gorgeous, my hometown. Miss it there! x
Mesina!, where you been!? I was thinking of you & I guess it got back to you! “My Hometown”, recalls the song with that title. If I ever visit your hometown it will have to be w/you as tour guide. Keep up the insightful writing.
Shelley: And if one of us ever visits the other, we’ll xchange macaroons!
Pasadena’s a Great town. Who wouldn’t want to visit?
Friar, it sounds like you’ve paid a visit. I woodn’t mind having a monastery in Pasadena!
KB: I’d better do a spellcheck here. Did you mean to say magical “mushrooms”, instead? I should treat you, MF, & PA if she behaves herself to FM’s one day! Maybe not – MF might not be able to sleep if she even heard of this offer.
Where are these magical macaroons?
I work in retail and, during the summer months especially, we have a lot of international visitors. Some days, I feel like a tourist guide, however, the experience has also made me very aware of how blessed I am to be living where I live. Every day I meet people who have traveled great distances just to see my part of the world.
Thank you for stopping by my place and leaving such a lovely note on my doorstep. I wrestle with the same issues you mentioned with regard to your faith. I’m getting better at trusting that all things work out as they should, in the proper time. However, I definitely do have my moments of doubt and worry. I’m not sure my Big D Dream will manifest as I have so boldly stated, however, it may prove to be a catalyst for other change that may look different and yet provide the essence of my dream. Time will tell…
*Hugs*
Carolynn
Carolynn: next time I leave the country (next yr) I hope to find sympathetic helpful natives like you there. And if I ever visit your part of the world I know who to look up for tour guidance! Keep the faith & follow your dreams.
Shelly, like I already told you: excellent French macaroons on your next visit to Pasadena are on me.
SG Painter of The Sky: you’ve lived or worked in Pasadena so you have your permanent resident card. Tex-Mex? Well, I hope you, Laurie, Judy, et al are Tex/Mex!
Thanks, Cafe Observer, what a lovely offer! And I really will take you up on it if I’m ever in town.
If I ever come to Pasadena, I’ll be one of the brunching tourists, for sure! Do they make tree-shirts for that? 😉
You really read adjacent’s word loco as “taco”? I’m getting hungry. Wait. That’s your line. Guess I’ll tourist over to Pasadena for something to eat even though the tortillas here don’t begin to equal those in Austin. Ever had real Tex-Mex?
go on, CO, give a tourist the top ten places to visit in Pasadena. I’ll kick it off with Norton Simon. A walk across Suicide Bridge. A walk in the Arroyo. (Uh-oh, I’m going on a walk tangent…)
I don’t want more visitors, KB, who mite decide to convert to stayers. This canine isn’t gonna do the job of the chamber of comm, the bureau of convention/visitors, ToR, or PIO.
But, I see you’ve started your own list for the visitors to visit. I assume the last place on your tourist list would end at de Colorado(Suicide) Bridge…
My own list, w/o going into specifics, would only advise them to concentrate on the Altadena district of Pasadena.
I live 4 miles away & I don’t wanna go to Pasadena. Ever. Well.. cept for the kickass dog park on Orange Grove & Bulgarini’s (but that’s really Alta Dena). The city gets tourists? You’re kidding? To do what? Watch comedy at the Ice House? Eat chained food at Cheesecake Fuctory?. Hang out with geeky Asians at Cal Tech?
Tony Sinosoul, if only more tourists had your mentality. It’s not really a tourist problem as it is the increase in the city population & the accompanying problems it brings when people decide to stay. Actually, we love our little Pasadena town, but not so much for what apparently brings the outsiders here. More for the sense of community & connection we have which makes it seems like an even smaller town, and the people such as the many creative types. But, the people just keep coming for their own reasons; newbies from other lands near & far. Oh hell…Now, I’ve let out another reason for people to come here – one of the last things I want!
Coincidentally, I was just reading today about Gastronomer complaining about you leading her astray on some restaurant. But, keep up your food writings! I gotta go ck out your latest pics & prose. If you ever make it to our town I would break bread with you – but I guess not. Btw, I like to hang out with the foodie & sexy Pasadena Asians!
Could you be speaking about me? a loco?
Now, are you sure it was a wise old Justice of the Peace who said “I can’t define it, can’t describe it, but I know it when I see it.’ ? I think it was David Lettermen in reference to Bill O Reily’s bs. Not so different when you think about it.
New pick…lunch special “Basil” in Arcadia…run pup n observer run
Pa, you talking about the thai joint? Didn’t I refer you to this family place? I read your handwriting of loco as “taco” for some reason.
Two foodie girlfriends & I just came back from lunch @ de new Korean bistro in the S. Lake district: Cham. Good Value & my Korean food comrade liked it enuf to clean her plate and then order more!
nT: I’d count you as a foodie friend who I gotta come down to see real soon! (I know, you’ve heard it all before) Restaurant Row.com – who knew. It’s good to know they’ve learned their lesson from being in the hospitality bizness. BMW’s in the parking lot? Are you sure it wasn’t your house?
JS, IMHO you do your best work in cafes & with live figure drawing.
I’m sure you’d count me as a loco.
You will love this one – the business in the old homestead in Rye is RestaurantRow.com!!! lots of BMW’s in the parking lot in the back. Seems like less than 10 people work there. I didn’t put their name up cuz one young woman was very snooty when I went in there to take a look inside – she couldn’t be bothered to have me look around cuz “they were working!”
Hi! I just wanted to check in and say that I haven’t abandoned (permanently) urban landscapes and cafe scenes. Look for more in the late fall and winter. And sooner, if the cooler weather holds.
Enjoy the tourists–and the locals. Seems like many fewer folks have taken off for the summer.
You make me laugh sometimes; you really do.
(And of course, his every pun is intended. CO is a very meticulous guy.)
kB, sometimes is Ok. It’s those who are non-stop laughers that make me pause. But, since you’re my past Editor I would expect at least an occasional smile from you.
MF, always seeing through the eyes of food, and your inner Julia Child!
Toad: Everything is unintentionally intentional here! Yes, do brunch in Pasadena one day. I think you could even find some shapely frog legs on the menu.
Brunch more seems to say it all.
“A brunch more” – I love that. It was intentional, right? I should tourist over for brunch sometime.