Visiting Pasadena, United States: Top Sights on Foot

The best things to do in Pasadena include exploring historic architecture, visiting major museums, and following the city’s bridges, gardens, theatres, and sporting landmarks. From the Craftsman detail of the Gamble House to the collections of the Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena offers plenty to see at a relaxed pace. Neywo has a free audio guide for Pasadena with 75 narrated places.

Pasadena is in California, in the United States. Its attractions are spread across several districts, so a self-guided route is a practical way to connect the city’s architecture, culture, and Arroyo landscapes.

What to see in Pasadena

The Gamble House

The Gamble House is one of Pasadena’s most distinctive historic homes and a remarkable example of the American Craftsman style. Designed by Greene and Greene, it was built between 1908 and 1909 as a winter residence for David B. Gamble and his wife, Mary.

The house, furnishings, gardens, and terraces were conceived as one complete work of art. The gardens and terraces are especially important: they extend the home’s design outdoors and show how the building was planned around outdoor living. The City of Pasadena acquired the house in 1966, and it is now open to the public for tours and events.

Colorado Street Bridge

The Colorado Street Bridge spans Pasadena’s Arroyo Seco with a sweeping concrete arch. Its curved form is both visually distinctive and practical, providing more solid ground for the bridge’s footings.

Also known as the Pasadena Bridge, it is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and recognized as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. The bridge is one of the city’s most recognizable structures and connects Pasadena’s architectural story with the landscape of the Arroyo.

The Rose Bowl

The Rose Bowl is one of Pasadena’s best-known sporting landmarks. The outdoor stadium opened in October 1922 and remains closely associated with the annual Rose Bowl Game. It became the home of the UCLA Bruins football team in 1982.

Its history also includes five Super Bowl games and major international football events, including the 1994 FIFA World Cup Final, the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final, and the 1984 Olympic soccer gold medal match. Architect Myron Hunt based the original plan, conceived in 1921, on the Yale Bowl in New Haven. The stadium began as a horseshoe-shaped venue before becoming a complete bowl in 1928.

The Norton Simon Museum

The Norton Simon Museum brings together European and Asian art in a setting where sculpture continues into the gardens. Rodin works stand near the entrance, while further sculptures line Colorado Boulevard and surround a large pond.

Inside, the collection includes European paintings, sculptures, and tapestries, as well as Asian sculptures, paintings, and woodblock prints. More than 11,000 artworks belong to the collection, although only around 800 to 900 are usually displayed at one time. The Norton Simon Theater also presents daily film programs.

Pasadena Playhouse

The Pasadena Playhouse is a performing arts venue with more than a century of history. Recognized as California’s state theater, it presents professional performances, self-produced plays and musicals, cultural events, and community engagements.

The building’s Spanish Colonial Revival design and 1920s interior give it a strong architectural identity. Its auditorium seats 686 people, and the stage has hosted premieres by playwrights including Eugene O’Neill, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Tennessee Williams. A theater tour can also reveal the green room and a Craftsman-style library.

First Trust Building and Garage

The First Trust Building and Garage, also known as Lloyd’s Bank, stands along Colorado Boulevard. Built in 1927, it was designed by Cyril Bennett and Fitch Haskell.

Its architecture combines Mediterranean Revival, Renaissance Revival, and Beaux-Arts influences. Decorative stonework, a red tile hip roof, a cupola, a frieze, and a balustrade give the building a richly detailed appearance. Murals inside depict scenes from around Pasadena. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.

Royal Laundry Complex

The Royal Laundry Complex offers an unusual example of adaptive reuse. Once a laundry plant, the complex has been converted into offices and serves as the world headquarters of Bluebeam, Inc. It covers close to 72,500 square feet.

Architect Gordon Kaufmann designed the complex in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. The building is also significant in Kaufmann’s career because it marked a shift toward the modern elements that later became more prominent in his work.

Friendship Baptist Church

Friendship Baptist Church traces its origins to a congregation founded in 1893, making it Pasadena’s oldest Black Baptist church. The present building was constructed in 1925 and designed by Norman F. Marsh.

Its Spanish Colonial Revival design combines a tower, bell-gable, tile roof, and stained-glass windows. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 20, 1978.

Storrier-Stearns Japanese Garden

The Storrier-Stearns Japanese Garden is a Hill and Pond Strolling Garden designed to be experienced gradually. Its paths pass ponds, waterfalls, hills, and bridges, with each turn offering a different view.

The garden covers 1.45 acres and follows the traditional Japanese chisen kaiyu shiki design. Its ponds extend to 25 feet, and many of its granite, bronze, and wood features were imported from Japan. The teahouse also came from Japan and became a meeting place for Japanese cultural activities in Pasadena. After burning down in 1981, it was rebuilt according to the original plans during a restoration led by Takeo Uesugi.

Hotel Green and Castle Green

Hotel Green, also known as Castle Green, is a historic complex formed by three connected buildings. The first was completed in 1893 for George Gill Green, with two further buildings added in 1898 and 1903.

The complex was once associated with the Valley Hunt Club and the Tournament of Roses association. During the 1920s, it became private residences for artists, collectors, designers, and musicians. Castle Green began in 1898 as the Central Annex to Hotel Green. Its Mediterranean Revival design includes arched walkways and stone verandas, while the grounds provide a quieter setting for appreciating the complex.

La Loma Bridge

La Loma Bridge, also known as La Loma Road, carries La Loma Road across the Arroyo Seco. It is a smaller bridge landmark that fits naturally into an exploration of Pasadena’s bridges and hillside landscape.

Other historic homes and sites

Pasadena’s architectural interest continues beyond its major landmarks. The Edmund Blinn House is a local historic landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2001.

The former site of Miss Orton’s Classical School for Girls recalls an early educational institution for young women. Run by Anna Orton, the private school opened in 1890 and prepared students for college in the eastern United States.

The Batchelder House is a large 1910 bungalow with a Swiss chalet-like character. Decorative tiles along the front walkway and chimney reflect its artistic identity, while the backyard stage hosted chamber music concerts organized by Alice Coleman Batchelder. The house became part of the Lower Arroyo Seco Historic District and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

The Louise C. Bentz House, built in 1906, is considered the best surviving example of the homes Charles and Henry Greene designed for Pasadena’s middle-class residents. Its bungalow form includes chalet-like overhangs, a pitched roof, Japanese-influenced roof edges, and a strong horizontal emphasis. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 2, 1977.

Explore Pasadena with a self-guided audio tour

Neywo offers a free Pasadena audio guide with 75 narrated places. Its four walking tours, one bus route, and one bike route let you explore different sides of the city without joining a group or following a fixed schedule.

• Colorado Boulevard: Playhouse Village to the Civic Center — a 2.27 km walk lasting 89 minutes, with 11 narrated stops.
• Arroyo Craftsman: Gamble House, Wright and Rodin — a 3.35 km walk lasting 115 minutes, with 10 stops.
• Old Pasadena: Stages, Castles and Laundries — a 3.04 km walk lasting 102 minutes, with 11 stops.
• Caltech and East Colorado: Science and Landmarks — a 3.02 km walk lasting 76 minutes, with 7 stops.
• Metro 180: Along Colorado Boulevard to the Arroyo — a 4.2 km bus route lasting 18 minutes, with 8 stops.
• Rose Bowl Loop and Brookside Park — a 1.2 km bike route lasting 6 minutes, with 3 stops.

The app tells the story of each place as you reach it, at your own pace, with no group and no schedule. Narration is available in 11 languages. Download Neywo and explore Pasadena through its homes, museums, bridges, gardens, theatres, and landmarks.