Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena City College (PCC), Fuller Theological Seminary, Art Center College of Design, the Pasadena Playhouse, California School of Culinary Arts Pasadena, the Norton Simon Museum of Art and the Pacific Asia Museum. As of 2009, the estimated population of Pasadena is 143,667, making it the 168th-largest city in the United States.[1] Pasadena is the seventh-largest city in Los Angeles County, and in 1886, became the first to be incorporated in Los Angeles County, largely as a ploy to get rid of its saloons. It is one of the primary cultural centers of the San Gabriel Valley.
Tournament of Roses & Rose Bowl
Pasadena is home to the Tournament of Roses Parade, held each year on January 1 (or on January 2, if the 1st falls on a Sunday). The first parade was held in 1890 and was originally sponsored by the Valley Hunt Club, a Pasadena social club. The motivation for having the parade was, as member Professor Charles F. Holder said, “In New York, people are buried in snow. Here our flowers are blooming and our oranges are about to bear. Let’s hold a festival to tell the world about our paradise.”
The Rose Bowl, a National Historic Landmark, is host of the first, oldest, and most famous college football postseason bowl game, the Tournament of Roses Rose Bowl Game, every New Year’s Day. In 1895, the Tournament of Roses Association was formed to take charge of the parade. In 1902, the association declared that a football game would be added to the day’s events. The game, now known as the Rose Bowl, would become the first New year’s post-season college football game ever and has developed into a tradition in many college arenas. Soon outgrowing its original facility, a new stadium was constructed in the Arroyo Seco area. The new stadium hosted its first New Year’s Day football game in 1923 and was soon christened “The Rose Bowl.” [7] It is the home field for the UCLA Bruins football team and has hosted five Super Bowls. Important soccer matches include the 1984 Summer Olympics,[8] the final of the FIFA World Cup 1994 [9] hosted in USA, and the final in FIFA Women’s World Cup 1999.[10]
Education
The California Institute of Technology is in the southern-central area of Pasadena. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (managed for NASA by Caltech) is in Pasadena.[58] Caltech’s 31 Nobel Laureates have brought 32 Nobel Prizes home to Pasadena.[59] In 2005, Caltech dedicated an on-campus weather station honoring the late Nobel laureate geneticist and meteorologist Ed Lewis. The Ed Lewis Memorial Weather Station generates weather information for KNBC and thousands of other Web sites on school campuses in Pasadena and all over the nation.[60] Fuller Theological Seminary, one of the largest multidenominational seminaries in the world,[61] sits just east of downtown Pasadena. The Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts (formerly known as the California School of Culinary Arts) is located at East Green Street and South Madison Avenue. The school offers the Le Cordon Bleu accreditation and has two campuses in Pasadena. Pacific Oaks College is located next to Pasadena’s National Historic Landmark, the Gamble House. The Art Center College of Design is in the San Rafael Hills overlooking the Rose Bowl, and ranks as one of the top five art schools in the United States and one of the top 10 art schools worldwide;[62] it is particularly known for its design programs.
Los Angeles Music Academy College of Music, founded in 1996, is a contemporary music school whose acclaimed faculty of experienced professionals are active in the film, television and recording industries. The school is located between Colorado and California Boulevards on South Fair Oaks Boulevard.
Pasadena City College is a highly rated community college founded in 1924 and located on Colorado Boulevard, slightly northeast of Caltech. Until about 1970, the Rose Parade Queen’s court was exclusively selected from its students. PCC alumni include Jackie Robinson and Jaime Escalante.[63] The Pasadena Unified School District encompasses 76 square miles and includes Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre. There are 17 K-5 elementary schools, five middle schools, and four high schools.[64] There are also a number of private and parochial schools in the city.