Page 21 - 2023-2024 Travel Guide to California

PASADENA: Rose Bowl & Bungalows
Located 10 miles northeast of downtown
Los Angeles at the foot of the imposing San
Gabriel Mountains, this pretty city of
139,000 is best-known for the Granddaddy
of ’em All, the annual Rose Bowl football
game, as well as the ever-popular Rose
Parade and a delightful parody, the whim-
sical Doo Dah Parade. Some 800 restored
early 20th-century Arts & Crafts wooden
bungalows, clustered in the Bungalow
Heaven historic district, give Pasadena its
defining architectural look. Shopping and
dining are abundant along pedestrian-
friendly South Lake Avenue and in revived
PALM TREES ALLEY, Palm Springs, left;
Gonzalo Lebrija's History of Suspended Time
(A Monument for the Impossible), Palm Springs
Art Museum, below; Richard H. Chambers
Courthouse in Pasadena, bottom.
22-block Old Pasadena. The Huntington
combines a distinguished library, priceless
fine-art collection and extensive and beau-
tiful botanical gardens. Don’t miss the
landmarked 1925 Pasadena Playhouse,
California’s official state theater.
NAPA: More Than Wine
Napa is three places: city, valley and
county. Time was when Napa city was a
place visitors stopped only for gasoline.
Now the city brims with fine dining, new
hotels, happening bars, a handsome prom-
enade downtown along the Napa River,
and foodie favorite Oxbow Public Market
with its locally sourced seasonal bounty.
The Napa Valley Wine Train rumbles north
and south on two hour, three hour or full
day excursions, offering full meals on
wheels, and, of course, California wines.
Michelin-starred La Toque in the Westin
Verasa Hotel highlights refined in-city
dining. First Street showcases a cluster of
art galleries and eye-catching public art
pieces. Napa’s renovated Uptown Theatre
presents a variety of fine music and
comedy shows, while the spruced-up 1880
Napa Valley Opera House is a jewel-box
venue for music and performances. More-
over, center-city Napa is speckled with