The Little Old Lady’s Street — and the Mother Road’s Urban Heart

Jan and Dean’s 1964 hit single begins with a familiar address: “There’s an old lady from Pasadena / Who’s the terror of Colorado Boulevard.” The song made Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, California — the Route 66 alignment through this elegant San Gabriel Valley city — a fixture of American pop culture, lodging it permanently in the national imagination alongside the highway’s own mythology. But the song was merely one chapter in a much longer story. Colorado Boulevard’s history stretches back to 1876, making it 50 years older than Route 66 itself. In 2026, as Route 66 celebrates its Centennial, Colorado Boulevard simultaneously celebrates its 150th anniversary — a dual celebration that has made Pasadena one of the focal points of the Mother Road’s 100th birthday year.

Route 66 enters Pasadena from the east, crossing from Arcadia on Colorado Boulevard, and runs west through one of the most architecturally and culturally rich urban streets in Southern California. In Pasadena, the Mother Road passes the Norton Simon Museum, one of the finest art collections in the United States. It crosses the Arroyo Seco Parkway — the first freeway built in the American West, constructed in 1940 as a Route 66 alignment — and rolls across the Colorado Street Bridge, a 150-foot Beaux Arts masterpiece built in 1913 that carried Route 66 traffic from 1926 until 1940 and has been a National Register of Historic Places landmark since 1981. Along the way it passes the Pasadena Playhouse (California’s State Theater), dozens of surviving mid-century motels with neon signs, the Old Town Pasadena dining and shopping district, and some of the finest craftsman architecture in America. This is Route 66 at its most urbane — a city street that has been carrying the Mother Road through a world-class Southern California city for a century.

Where Does Route 66 Run Through Pasadena?

Route 66 in Pasadena runs along Colorado Boulevard — known as Colorado Street until 1958 — from the city’s eastern border with Arcadia (near Michillinda Avenue) westward through the downtown core and Old Town Pasadena to the Colorado Street Bridge at the Arroyo Seco. At the western end, Route 66 connects to the Arroyo Seco Parkway (State Route 110) for the freeway segment into downtown Los Angeles. The Pasadena portion of Colorado Boulevard is approximately 5.5 miles long.

A secondary Route 66 alignment splits at Colorado Boulevard and Fair Oaks Avenue in downtown Pasadena. Travelers heading south on Fair Oaks Avenue enter South Pasadena, following the original pre-Arroyo Seco alignment of Route 66 toward Los Angeles through a neighborhood of remarkable craftsman homes and historic commercial buildings.

Driving the alignment: From the east, enter Pasadena on Colorado Boulevard from Arcadia (where Colorado Street becomes Colorado Boulevard crossing Michillinda Avenue). Drive west on Colorado Boulevard through east Pasadena, through Old Town Pasadena, and continue west to the Arroyo Seco Parkway on-ramp at Arroyo Parkway. The Colorado Street Bridge is one block north of the Arroyo Seco Parkway connection, on the same corridor. “Historic Route 66” signs are posted along Colorado Boulevard through Pasadena to orient travelers on the alignment.

Colorado Boulevard and Route 66: A History of Pasadena’s Main Street

Colorado Street: 1876–1926

Colorado Boulevard’s history begins in 1876, when the opening of a general store and post office at its intersection with Fair Oaks Avenue established the commercial foundation of what would become Pasadena’s main thoroughfare. The Colorado Street Railway began operations on the boulevard on November 9, 1886, bringing horsecar service to the growing city — a line that was electrified in 1894 and eventually absorbed into the Pacific Electric system. By the turn of the 20th century, Colorado Street had become Pasadena’s primary commercial corridor, lined with shops, banks, hotels, and the automobile showrooms that would eventually make Pasadena — remarkably — the city with the world’s highest rate of automobile ownership in 1915. Colorado Boulevard was one of the largest and earliest “Auto Rows” in Southern California, a distinction that made it the natural candidate for designation as a Route 66 alignment when the federal highway system was established.

The rapid growth of automobile traffic created the boulevard’s first infrastructural challenge: by 1929, the city undertook the major task of widening Colorado Street by cutting back the buildings on each side by 14 feet. This extraordinary urban surgery — slicing the facades off buildings on both sides of a major commercial street to create more road space — reshaped the physical character of the boulevard and destroyed some of its earliest architectural fabric. What survived, however, was the commercial life of the street, which continued unbroken through the Route 66 era, the freeway era, and into the present.

Route 66 Designates Colorado Boulevard: November 11, 1926

When U.S. Route 66 was officially commissioned on November 11, 1926, Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena became part of the federal highway, carrying the designation eastward from the Los Angeles metropolitan area through the San Gabriel Valley toward San Bernardino and the desert crossing. Pasadena, already a prosperous and well-developed city with established hotels, restaurants, and automobile services, was perfectly positioned to serve the growing flow of cross-country travelers that Route 66 would bring. The highway designation formalized what was already true: Colorado Boulevard was the road that connected Southern California’s interior communities to Los Angeles and, through the emerging national highway system, to the rest of the country.

The Route 66 Golden Era: 1926–1964

Through the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, Colorado Boulevard thrived as Route 66. Motor courts and motels sprouted along its length, capitalizing on the steady stream of cross-country travelers making the final approach to the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rose Bowl’s stadium draws, the cultural institutions, and Pasadena’s general affluence made the city a premium stop on the California leg of the Mother Road — the kind of city where travelers were happy to spend a night rather than simply pass through. The boulevard’s commercial character evolved with the times: Googie-style architecture appeared in the 1950s and 1960s, its aerodynamic forms and neon signs reflecting the jet-age optimism of the Route 66 golden era. Several of these buildings and their signs survive today, giving Colorado Boulevard a mid-century texture that the most visited parts of Old Town Pasadena sometimes obscure.

Route 66’s California alignment through Pasadena was officially signed through 1964, when the designation was eliminated east of Pasadena. The US 66 shields began coming down in 1975, shortly after Interstate 210 was completed through Pasadena. The Colorado Boulevard segment was deleted from the California state highway system in 1986, with the remaining sections removed in 1992. But the street retained its Route 66 identity in the public consciousness, reinforced by the “Historic Route 66” signs that now mark the alignment and by Pasadena’s own active celebration of the boulevard’s history.

The Colorado Street Bridge: Route 66’s Most Beautiful Urban Landmark

The single most spectacular landmark on Route 66’s passage through Pasadena — and one of the most architecturally significant structures on the entire California corridor — is the Colorado Street Bridge at 532 West Colorado Boulevard. This Beaux Arts concrete masterpiece spans 1,467 feet across the Arroyo Seco at a maximum height of 150 feet above the streambed, with eleven graceful arches carrying Colorado Boulevard across the ravine that separates Pasadena from Eagle Rock and Glendale to the west. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has been designated a California Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

Engineering History: 1912–1913

The bridge was designed by engineer John Alexander Low Waddell of the Kansas City firm Waddell & Harrington, with crucial modifications by builder John Drake Mercereau of the Mercereau Bridge & Construction Company. The original design challenge was significant: the bridge needed to cross the Arroyo Seco at street level — not descending into the ravine as all previous crossings required — but the streambed’s soils were too weak to support the footings of a straight bridge at that width. Mercereau’s solution was inspired: he curved the bridge 52 degrees through its center, allowing the footings to rest on the stronger soils at the sides of the ravine. The result is one of the most distinctive engineering decisions in Southern California bridge history — a curved, elevated bridge with a constant 2.65-percent grade (because the east bank sits 30 feet higher than the west), creating a structure that is both a feat of engineering and one of the most visually striking pieces of infrastructure in the Los Angeles area.

Construction began in July 1912 and lasted 18 months, employing 40 to 100 workers at any given time. Horse carts brought materials down the steep ravine sides. The construction required 11,000 cubic yards of concrete and 600 tons of steel reinforcing. The bridge cost one quarter of a million dollars to build — equivalent to approximately $6.4 million in 2025 values. It opened on December 13, 1913, to great celebration: thousands of Pasadena residents drove their automobiles across the new span in a festive parade. At its completion it was the longest and tallest bridge in Southern California and was hailed as one of the finest engineering achievements on the West Coast.

Route 66 on the Bridge: 1926–1940

The Colorado Street Bridge became part of U.S. Route 66 in 1926 when the federal highway designation was established. For fourteen years — from 1926 to 1940 — every Route 66 traveler crossing from Pasadena toward Los Angeles drove across the bridge’s 1,467-foot span, 150 feet above the Arroyo Seco, with the San Gabriel Mountains visible to the north and the arroyo canyon falling away below. The bridge was only 28 feet wide with two lanes of traffic — already considered inadequate for the volume it was carrying by the 1930s. When the Arroyo Seco Parkway opened in 1940, the bridge was relieved of its Route 66 designation, though it continued to carry traffic as an alternate route until 1964.

“Suicide Bridge”: The Bridge’s Tragic Legacy

The Colorado Street Bridge has a darker identity alongside its architectural distinction. It became known as “Suicide Bridge” after the first recorded person leaped from its railings on November 16, 1919 — just six years after the bridge opened. During the Great Depression, as economic despair drove acts of profound desperation, the bridge became the site of a terrible series of suicides, with the death toll eventually estimated at more than 100 people. One of the most haunting incidents occurred on May 1, 1937, when a despondent mother threw her infant daughter over the railing and then jumped herself. The mother died; the infant, thrown into thick trees growing below, survived.

The bridge was patrolled by police specifically to prevent suicides at the height of the crisis. By the 1980s, the structure had also deteriorated significantly — chunks of concrete were falling from its ornate arches and railings — and after the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, it was closed as a precautionary measure. A $27 million restoration funded by federal, state, and local sources brought the bridge back to its original splendor, complete with all the original ornamental details — the classical balusters, the cast-iron multi-globed lamp posts, the Beaux Arts arches. It reopened in 1993 with 8-foot-high anti-suicide fences added to the railings. The bridge’s haunted reputation has made it a subject of ghost stories, paranormal investigations, and the kind of dark California mythology that the Arroyo Seco has always seemed to attract.

The Bridge on Film

The bridge’s visual drama has made it a recurring film and television location. It appears in Charlie Chaplin’s 1921 film The Kid, where a mother is shown at the east end of the bridge. In the 2016 film La La Land, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone take an evening stroll across the bridge in one of the film’s most celebrated sequences. It has also appeared in Yes Man (2008, bungee jumping scene), and in television productions including Full House and ER. From the bridge’s walkway, looking north toward the San Gabriel Mountains or south into the Arroyo Seco canyon, the views are among the finest available from any pedestrian vantage point in the Los Angeles area.

The Arroyo Seco Parkway: Route 66 and the First Freeway in the West

One block south of the Colorado Street Bridge, the Arroyo Seco Parkway (State Route 110) begins its southward run from Pasadena into downtown Los Angeles — and with it, one of the most significant chapters in Route 66’s history and in the history of American transportation. The Arroyo Seco Parkway, completed and opened on December 30, 1940, was the first freeway in the United States west of Pennsylvania — the road that invented the California freeway system, that changed the relationship between American cities and their transportation infrastructure, and that replaced the Colorado Street Bridge as the Route 66 alignment from Pasadena to Los Angeles.

The parkway was conceived as a scenic pleasure drive along the Arroyo Seco, following the contours of the seasonal river from Pasadena south to the Figueroa Street connection with downtown Los Angeles. Its design reflected the parkway tradition of the eastern United States — graceful curves, landscaped verges, and an aesthetic sensibility that differentiated it from a utilitarian highway. It was designed for 45 miles per hour — the appropriate speed for 1940 traffic volumes — and its narrow lanes, tight curves, and the absence of the interchange geometry that later freeways would standardize make it a fascinating artifact of the first moment in American freeway history.

The Arroyo Seco Parkway is itself a National Scenic Byway and a National Historic Landmark, recognized for its significance as the first freeway in the West and as a masterpiece of Depression-era public works engineering. Driving it today — particularly northbound, approaching Pasadena — provides the closest available contemporary experience of what Route 66 travelers felt arriving in the San Gabriel Valley in the early 1940s, the moment when the open desert road became the urban parkway and Los Angeles revealed itself ahead.

The Route 66 Corridor: Key Landmarks Along Colorado Boulevard

Norton Simon Museum

Sitting directly on Colorado Boulevard at 411 West Colorado Boulevard, the Norton Simon Museum is one of the great art museums in the United States — and the only world-class art institution with its primary entrance facing a Route 66 alignment. Industrialist Norton Simon spent over 30 years assembling a collection that encompasses more than 12,000 works spanning 2,000 years of European art history, South and Southeast Asian sculpture, and works on paper. The museum’s permanent collection includes works by Rembrandt, Goya, Degas, Picasso, Van Gogh, and an extraordinary collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings. The adjacent garden, designed by landscape architect Nancy Goslee Power and featuring a Monet-inspired lily pond, is one of the finest public garden spaces in the Los Angeles area. The museum is open Thursday through Monday; admission is charged.

Pasadena Playhouse

California’s State Theater since 1937, the Pasadena Playhouse at 39 South El Molino Avenue (one block south of Colorado Boulevard) has been one of the most important theatrical institutions in American history since its founding in 1917. The Playhouse launched the careers of performers including Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, William Holden, and Jamie Farr, and has maintained a continuous history of productions for over a century. The building itself — a Spanish Colonial Revival structure with a tiled courtyard and ornate facade — is a landmark of California architecture from its period. The Playhouse continues active operation as one of Southern California’s premier regional theaters.

Pasadena City Hall

One block off Colorado Boulevard at 100 North Garfield Avenue, Pasadena City Hall is one of the most beautiful civic buildings in California — a 1927 Italian Renaissance and Spanish Revival masterpiece with a red tile roof, a central rotunda topped by a green copper dome, ornate fountain, and a lush garden courtyard. The building has been a filming location for dozens of films and television productions, most notably as the exterior of the City Hall of Pawnee, Indiana in the NBC television series Parks and Recreation. Its combination of Mediterranean elegance and civic grandeur makes it one of the Route 66 corridor’s finest examples of the architectural confidence of 1920s California.

Old Town Pasadena

The stretch of Colorado Boulevard between Arroyo Parkway and Los Robles Avenue constitutes Old Town Pasadena — the historic commercial core of the city, revitalized through a major urban redevelopment effort beginning in the 1980s that transformed what had been a declining downtown into one of the most successful restaurant, retail, and entertainment districts in Southern California. Old Town retains many of its 1920s and 1930s commercial buildings — facades from the same era as Route 66’s golden years — behind which modern restaurants, boutiques, movie theaters, and bars now operate. The Paseo Colorado retail center and the various restaurant rows north and south of Colorado Boulevard make Old Town an ideal stop for travelers needing a meal, a coffee, or simply a walk on a human-scale street after miles of desert driving.

The Foothill Boulevard Milestone

Near 1308–1320 East Colorado Boulevard (in front of the McDonald’s at Holliston Avenue), a small concrete marker on the sidewalk reads like a tombstone — and is, in fact, a piece of pre-automobile California road history that predates Route 66 by more than two decades. The Foothill Boulevard Milestone (Mile 11) is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of the surviving markers from Alfred Bancroft’s Ten-Block System, established in 1902 to measure distances along Foothill Boulevard from the old courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. This particular stone was installed in 1906 — when Colorado Boulevard was still a dirt road — and marks Mile 11 of the pre-highway measurement system. It is one of those easily overlooked gems that rewards the attentive Route 66 traveler who walks Colorado Boulevard rather than simply driving it.

The Howard Motor Company Building

At approximately 1000 East Colorado Boulevard, the Howard Motor Company Building is a 1927 automobile showroom in the California Churrigueresque style of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture — a highly ornate variant of Spanish Colonial that uses elaborate sculptural ornamentation derived from the 18th-century Spanish Churrigueresque tradition. Built at the height of Pasadena’s Auto Row era, it represents the aesthetic ambition that California’s car dealers brought to their showrooms in the years before Route 66 — when the automobile was still a luxury item and its vendors designed buildings that communicated elegance, modernity, and aspiration. The building is currently vacant, but its facade remains one of the most architecturally distinctive on the entire Route 66 corridor through Pasadena.

Historic Route 66 Motels on Colorado Boulevard

Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena retains a remarkable collection of surviving mid-century motels from the Route 66 era — more than many Route 66 cities can claim, reflecting both Pasadena’s status as a premium travel destination and the boulevard’s continuing commercial vitality. These motels are the physical evidence of the golden era of American road travel, when Route 66 travelers pulled off the highway in Pasadena and checked in for the night before the final push to the coast.

The Saga Motor Hotel — At approximately 1633 East Colorado Boulevard, the Saga is one of the most architecturally distinctive Route 66 motels in Southern California. Built in 1957 and designed by architect Harold Zook specifically to attract the attention of passing motorists along Route 66, the Saga features a bold mid-century modern design that was intended from the outset as a piece of roadside theater. It has been recognized by Pasadena’s historic preservation program and continues to operate as a hotel — one of the few places along the California Route 66 corridor where travelers can still sleep in a purpose-built, architecturally significant Route 66 motel. The Saga’s rooms were described by Route 66 travelers as “a cut above” the typical Mother Road motel.

The Astro Motel / Astro Pasadena Hotel — At 2818 East Colorado Boulevard, the Astro is a 1962 survival in the Googie architectural tradition — the space-age, jet-age style of 1950s and 1960s commercial architecture that originated in Southern California and became one of the defining aesthetics of the Route 66 era. The Astro was once part of a regional motel chain; today it operates as the Astro Pasadena Hotel and is recognized for its authentic mid-century design. Googie architecture — characterized by dynamic, sweeping rooflines, angular forms, and futuristic signage — was the visual expression of the car culture and Space Age optimism that Route 66 embodied at its peak.

The Hi-way Host Motel — Another surviving neon-era motor court on Colorado Boulevard, part of the cluster of independently owned Route 66 motels that faced tough competition from national chains but managed to preserve their original architecture and signage through successive economic cycles. The Hi-way Host’s classic motel layout and period signage contribute to the Route 66 visual texture of Colorado Boulevard’s eastern stretches.

The Ace Motel — A smaller, independently operated survivor on Colorado Boulevard, maintaining the classic one-story motor court form that defined roadside lodging in the Route 66 era.

Classic Route 66-Era Stops Along Colorado Boulevard

Andy’s Coffee Shop

One of the most authentic Route 66-era dining experiences on Colorado Boulevard is Andy’s Coffee Shop, which has been serving the community for over 80 years and has made numerous Hollywood film and television appearances. The interior — classic diner counter, booths, the accumulated patina of decades of service — is an immediate transport to the Route 66 era. Located in east Pasadena on Colorado Boulevard, Andy’s is described by locals and travelers alike as one of the few places on Colorado Boulevard where the physical atmosphere genuinely delivers the experience of a mid-century roadside diner rather than a contemporary approximation of one.

The Original Whistle Stop

At 2490 East Colorado Boulevard, The Original Whistle Stop is a model train and hobby store that has been serving Pasadena since 1951 — making it one of the oldest continuously operating specialty retail businesses on the Colorado Boulevard Route 66 alignment. The store’s classic neon train sign, dating to the store’s founding year, became the subject of a celebrated preservation dispute with the City of Pasadena’s sign ordinances. After extensive negotiation, the Pasadena Cultural Heritage Foundation designated the sign a California Cultural Historical Landmark, clearing the way for its installation. The sign is now considered one of the finest neon artifacts on Colorado Boulevard and a landmark of Pasadena’s Route 66-era commercial character.

Orange Grove Boulevard: Millionaire’s Row and Route 66’s Cultural Corridor

At the intersection of Colorado Boulevard and Orange Grove Boulevard in Old Town Pasadena, Route 66 touches a street long known as “Millionaire’s Row” for the grand estates that once lined it. Several of the most historically significant buildings in Pasadena are accessible from this intersection:

The Gamble House

At 4 Westmoreland Place, the Gamble House is one of the greatest surviving examples of American Arts and Crafts architecture — and one of the most recognizable buildings in California popular culture. Built in 1908 by architects Charles and Henry Greene as the winter residence of David and Mary Gamble (of the Procter & Gamble consumer products dynasty), the house is a National Historic Landmark and a California Historical Landmark. The Greenes designed every element of the building — the furniture, the light fixtures, the hardware, the landscaping — as a unified artistic composition. The result is a building that architecture historians consistently rank among the finest of its era in the world.

The Gamble House is also one of the most filmed private residences in America: most notably as the exterior of Doc Brown’s house in Back to the Future (1985) and its sequels. Public tours of the interior are available; check the Gamble House’s website for current tour schedules and admission. In the Route 66 Centennial year of 2026, the Gamble House is hosting a special programming series honoring America’s car culture and the Route 66 centennial, making it a particularly appropriate stop for Mother Road travelers.

Tournament House and Wrigley Gardens

At 391 South Orange Grove Boulevard, the Tournament House and Wrigley Gardens — the headquarters of the Tournament of Roses Association — was originally built in 1914 by William Wrigley Jr. of the chewing gum empire as his California winter residence. The Italian Renaissance mansion and its lush formal gardens were donated to the Tournament of Roses Association by the Wrigley family in 1958. The property is open for tours on specified days throughout the year; the gardens are accessible during daylight hours.

The Rose Parade: Route 66 and Colorado Boulevard’s Most Famous Annual Event

Colorado Boulevard, the Route 66 alignment through Pasadena, is also the route of the Tournament of Roses Parade (the Rose Parade) — one of the most watched annual events in the world, drawing hundreds of thousands of spectators to the boulevard on New Year’s Day and broadcast to more than 100 countries globally. The parade has run since 1890 — predating Route 66 by 36 years — and has used Colorado Boulevard as its path since the boulevard was widened in 1929. The parade route travels north on Orange Grove Avenue and then east along Colorado Boulevard to Sierra Madre Boulevard, passing through the heart of the Route 66 alignment.

The Rose Parade’s relationship to Route 66 is one of the more charming historical coincidences on the entire Mother Road: the same stretch of Colorado Boulevard that carried Dust Bowl migrants and cross-country travelers on Route 66 carries elaborately decorated floats, marching bands, and equestrian units on New Year’s Day. For Route 66 travelers timing their journey to arrive in Pasadena around the New Year, the boulevard takes on an additional dimension of American cultural history that the standard road trip itinerary rarely offers.

Pasadena in 2026: The Route 66 Centennial and Colorado Boulevard’s 150th Anniversary

In 2026, Pasadena is uniquely positioned as the city that hosts both major anniversaries simultaneously: the 100th anniversary of U.S. Route 66 (commissioned November 11, 1926) and the 150th anniversary of Colorado Boulevard (whose commercial history begins in 1876 at the Fair Oaks Avenue intersection). Pasadena’s tourism bureau has organized an extensive program of centennial events, including:

The Gamble House Route 66 Centennial Car Culture Series — Special programming at the National Historic Landmark honoring America’s car culture and the Route 66 era.

The 47th Annual Doo Dah Parade — A beloved Pasadena tradition, in 2026 saluting both anniversaries and reviving the “Little Old Lady of Pasadena” pop culture legacy.

Colorado Boulevard 150th Anniversary Mural Project — Large-scale public art murals, including 3D-effect centerpiece works, installed along Colorado Boulevard in honor of both anniversaries.

The Great Race — A nine-day, 2,300-mile classic car rally featuring antique automobiles, with Pasadena as a key waypoint on the Route 66 Centennial route.

Practical Information for Your Pasadena Route 66 Visit

Getting to Pasadena on Route 66

From the East (from Arcadia/Monrovia/San Gabriel Valley): Follow Colorado Boulevard west into Pasadena from Arcadia (where Colorado Street becomes Colorado Boulevard at Michillinda Avenue).

From Los Angeles / West (arriving on the Arroyo Seco Parkway / Route 110): Take the Arroyo Seco Parkway north from downtown LA. The parkway ends at Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena — the historic Route 66 junction. Turn east on Colorado Boulevard to enter Old Town Pasadena and the Route 66 corridor.

By Metro: The Metro Gold Line (A Line) serves Pasadena with multiple stations along the Colorado Boulevard corridor, including Del Mar, Memorial Park, Lake, Sierra Madre Villa, and others. The Gold Line connects downtown Los Angeles to Pasadena in approximately 40 minutes from Union Station.

Time Required

A thorough Route 66 Pasadena visit — Colorado Boulevard driving tour, Colorado Street Bridge walk, Old Town Pasadena, Norton Simon Museum or Gamble House, Arroyo Seco Parkway drive — requires a full half-day to a full day. The Norton Simon Museum alone warrants 2–3 hours. Adding the Gamble House tour and a meal in Old Town Pasadena fills a comfortable full day.

Where to Stay on Route 66 in Pasadena

The Saga Motor Hotel (1633 E. Colorado Blvd.) is the most historically significant overnight option for Route 66 travelers — a 1957-built, architecturally designed motor hotel on the highway alignment itself. The Astro Pasadena Hotel (2818 E. Colorado Blvd.) offers a 1962 Googie-era alternative. Old Town Pasadena has several hotel options within walking distance of the historic boulevard, including national brands. The historic Constance Hotel (built 1926, on the Rose Parade route at Colorado Boulevard) offers a period-appropriate setting for travelers seeking the full Route 66 Pasadena experience.

Climate and Best Time to Visit

Pasadena has a Mediterranean climate — warm, dry summers and mild winters. Summer temperatures can reach 100°F (Pasadena sits in a heat pocket relative to the coast), but the city is fully air-conditioned throughout its commercial district. The most comfortable visiting seasons are spring (February–May) and fall (September–November). The Colorado Street Bridge and the Old Town streetscape are particularly beautiful at the golden hours of early morning and late afternoon.

Route 66 Before and After Pasadena: Connecting the California Corridor

Route 66 in California — Complete Guide — The full overview of all 314 miles of California’s Route 66, from Needles on the Arizona border through Barstow, Victorville, San Bernardino, Pasadena, and Los Angeles to the End of the Trail at the Santa Monica Pier.

Santa Monica Pier — End of the Trail — Approximately 30 miles west of Pasadena via the Arroyo Seco Parkway and Santa Monica Boulevard, the iconic End of the Trail sign at the Santa Monica Pier marks the symbolic western terminus of Route 66’s 2,448-mile journey from Chicago.

Aztec Hotel, Monrovia — Approximately 15 miles east on Route 66 (Colorado Boulevard/Huntington Drive) in Monrovia, the 1925 National Historic Landmark is the first Mayan Revival architecture building in the United States and one of the most visually extraordinary buildings on the entire Mother Road.

The Wigwam Motel, San Bernardino — About 55 miles east on Route 66, the iconic teepee-shaped Wigwam Motel in San Bernardino has been one of Route 66’s most beloved overnight stops since 1950.

Route 66 in San Bernardino, California — The Original McDonald’s Museum site, the Wigwam Motel, and the full Route 66 heritage of the gateway city to the California desert corridor.

California Route 66 Museum, Victorville — About 75 miles northeast via Route 66, the free California Route 66 Museum in Old Town Victorville preserves the Hulaville Collection and the full story of the Mojave Desert communities the Mother Road shaped.

Route 66 Centennial 2026 — The 100th anniversary of Route 66 is November 11, 2026. Pasadena is celebrating simultaneously with Colorado Boulevard’s 150th anniversary. Check this page for California centennial events and Pasadena’s specific celebrations.

Route 66 — Complete Guide — The definitive guide to all 2,448 miles of the Mother Road, from the Begin sign in Chicago to the End of the Trail at the Santa Monica Pier.