Article and Photos By: Scott S. Smith and Sandra Wells
We have previously highlighted interesting places to visit in the San Gabriel Valley, including the Huntington Library and Gardens and the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. We are highlighting the events of Jan. 1, 2025, since they require planning.
The Tournament of Roses aka Rose Parade https://tournamentofroses.com/about/ , 5.5-miles of flowered-covered floats, marching bands, and equestrian units, takes place on New Year’s Day in Pasadena. If you want a good place to view it in person (not to mention being able to park nearby) you will be in competition with 700,000 and need to pay for a reserved seat or camp out the night before. It’s worth it even if you’ve seen this many times on a screen (like 50 million do around the world). Alternatively, afterwards and the next day you can see the floats up close at the 2.5-mile Floatfest, but know that 60,000 will also be trying (see photo and this link for more: https://tournamentofroses.com/tor-photo-gallery/2023-floatfest/#lg=1&slide=11).
The Rose Bowl Football Game will be in the afternoon of Jan. 1, the 111th time and another event watched by 50 million (counting social media), yet few have sat in its 92,500 seats for the post-season collegiate clash between conference champions
https://rosebowlgame.com/news/2024/2/19/general-the-111th-rose-bowl-game-will-be-a-college-football-playoff-quarterfinal.aspx?print=true
The Rose Bowl Stadium Tours for the general public take place on the last Fri. of every month at 10:30 am and 12:30 pm for 90 min. and you need to sign up in advance https://www.rosebowlstadium.com/tours. Even if you have no interest in sports, the tour is one of the best and largely undiscovered experiences in SoCal. Our guide, Sam Hodson, was entertaining and informative as we learned about its amazing history. It started in 1902 as bleachers for a few thousand watching football games at a nearby location and the Bowl was originally built in a horseshoe shape with the first games there in 1923. The field is real grass because it is more forgiving for rough play and less hot than artificial turf (see photo). Three fields are cultivated in Palm Springs to replace grass that dies. On the tour of the 7-story structure you get to see the field up close, sit in the press box (which has interesting features), check out the luxury seats, and visit the original locker room, which has impressive artifacts and an outstanding presentation on events that have taken place, such as concerts by Jay-Z and Beyonce in 2018 and the Rolling Stones 2019. It will be the site for soccer contests at the 2028 Olympics.
The Rose Bowl Flea Market https://www.rgcshows.com/calendar/ has taken place on the second Sunday of each month for half a century and is the most well-attended swap meet in the U.S. (see photo). It’s not unusual to see celebrities buying high-end collectibles and you can spend hours browsing just for fun or serious buying among of vintage clothing, original art, handcrafted jewelry, health remedies, and new merchandise at a steep discount.
The Rose Bowl’s Fireworks Spectacular on July 4th are another great in-person experience, but for good viewing you need to pay to get into the stadium or park in its lot. Otherwise, the surrounding trees and neighborhoods where you can’t legally park make a free view difficult. Timeout Magazine listed recommendations for other locations around L.A. where fireworks displays are impressive: https://www.timeout.com/los-angeles/things-to-do/4th-of-july-events-where-to-see-fireworks-in-la.
Tournament House and Wrigley Gardens https://tournamentofroses.com/house-tours/ is the Italianate mansion that was donated by the Wrigley family as the HQ of the Tournament of Roses, with a 4.5 acre garden of 1,500 varieties of flowers. Tours are offered Apr-Aug on Thursdays 2 pm by reservation.
Mission San Gabriel Arcangel https://missionsangabriel.org/ was founded in 1771, the fourth mission in California , but had to move four years later from the original location to what is now Arcadia to avoid floods and earthquakes. The church that stands today (the fourth and last one on the property) was started in 1795, built by Native Americans of stone, brick, and mortar and finished by 1809, with a bell tower added in 1828. The cemetery is the oldest consecrated one in L.A. County and 5,600 of the Gabrieleno Indians (who call themselves the Tongva and began arriving 7,000 years ago) are buried there. The mission’s holdings encompassed all of L.A., Riverside, San Bernardino, and Orange counties. A devastating fire started by an arsonist in July 2020 did great damage to the church, but after $7 million in restoration (mostly covered by insurance) it and the grounds were reopened in July 2023. Self-guided tours are available every day but Monday. The church is beautiful inside, especially the statues of the Angel Gabriel, St. Francis, the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception and others, made of hand-carved polychromed wood in Spain commissioned by the king (see photo). The museum in a series of adobe buildings has a collection of everything from magnificent embroidered vestments to elaborately-woven baskets. The new exhibition “Mission San Gabriel Arcangel, 1771-1900: Natives, Missionaries, and the Birth of Catholicism in Los Angeles” was put together by Indigenous and academic leaders to provide a better understanding of their legacy. Of particular interest was how the tribal community found a way to blend Catholic and traditional beliefs and maintain their culture even today, elucidated by a video by Chief Red Blood, chairman of the Gabrieleno https://www.gabrieleno-nsn.us/.
Arboretum of Los Angeles County https://www.arboretum.org/ in Arcadia is a 127-acre paradise of more than 30,000 plants of all kinds representing 10,000 species and varieties from around the world that have adapted to the California climate. It has one of the largest gardens of orchids in the U.S. and a forest of endangered cycads, the cone-bearing trees that flourished in the Jurassic Age 200-145 million years ago. On the Forest Path visitors learn about the importance of trees in creating oxygen for the planet, as well as the more than 200 movies that were filmed there. Other sections feature such plants as desert cacti, a tropical greenhouse, and the plants of Australia. There are year-round classes for adults on everything from organic gardening to soil science. What the Arboretum may be most famous for, however, are its 250 peafowl with their spectacular feathers (see photo).