A night of art in Old Town Pasadena
Noe Alvarado
Issue date: 3/26/09 Section: Entertainment
A night of free art and cultural exchange is a welcomed way to mix it up on a Saturday night. A departure from the dry clubs with single note music bumping over and over again with a fast enough beat for people who just can not dance or the lonely locals bars with pretentious flat screens playing nothing interesting at all on ESPN.
Being the emerging cultural center that Pasadena is, the city held an open house for the arts on March 13 and 14.
Pasadena is a beautiful place on a weekend night. People walking about under the cover of darkness, forgetting about the car-centered metropolis they are bond to, late night record stores desperately clinging to a better time before iTunes and auto-tune nonsense, a menagerie of bars and grills and sushi bars and sushi bars and grills and a town square on the cities main drag fully equipped with a jazz lounge, movie theater, high-end dinning and a Footlocker all in one place, Colorado Blvd.
The most appealing aspect, aside from the low low cost of nothing, was the circulating shuttle service dropping off and picking up art patrons with no need for a schedule. A few of the more daring, athletic, and sober art onlookers participated in the organized bike tours. And still, with most of the venues within walking distance the scene was very positive and reminiscent of a pub crawl, an art crawl so to speak.
Pasadena doesn't seem so far if you live in Pico or on the west side of Whittier. Just a quick shot down Rosemead Blvd and a sharp left on Colorado Blvd before the sight of mountains and a bright red light. My first destination was Pasadena City College where I left my car for the night in the warm embrace of the half full lot and the invisible shadow of the library at night.
PCC was hosting an exhibit entitled "Simply Because You're Near to Me" which consisted of video installments by their artist-in-residence Eileen Cowin. Never being able to understand new media art and things of the sort I bypassed it and instead opted for the shuttle to the next destination, photos and paintings just seem more appealing. There was, however, a funky band outside the exhibit giving the scene some much needed ambiance.
Being the emerging cultural center that Pasadena is, the city held an open house for the arts on March 13 and 14.
Pasadena is a beautiful place on a weekend night. People walking about under the cover of darkness, forgetting about the car-centered metropolis they are bond to, late night record stores desperately clinging to a better time before iTunes and auto-tune nonsense, a menagerie of bars and grills and sushi bars and sushi bars and grills and a town square on the cities main drag fully equipped with a jazz lounge, movie theater, high-end dinning and a Footlocker all in one place, Colorado Blvd.
The most appealing aspect, aside from the low low cost of nothing, was the circulating shuttle service dropping off and picking up art patrons with no need for a schedule. A few of the more daring, athletic, and sober art onlookers participated in the organized bike tours. And still, with most of the venues within walking distance the scene was very positive and reminiscent of a pub crawl, an art crawl so to speak.
Pasadena doesn't seem so far if you live in Pico or on the west side of Whittier. Just a quick shot down Rosemead Blvd and a sharp left on Colorado Blvd before the sight of mountains and a bright red light. My first destination was Pasadena City College where I left my car for the night in the warm embrace of the half full lot and the invisible shadow of the library at night.
PCC was hosting an exhibit entitled "Simply Because You're Near to Me" which consisted of video installments by their artist-in-residence Eileen Cowin. Never being able to understand new media art and things of the sort I bypassed it and instead opted for the shuttle to the next destination, photos and paintings just seem more appealing. There was, however, a funky band outside the exhibit giving the scene some much needed ambiance.
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