Editor's Letter: July/August 2024

When I first moved from Santa Monica to Pasadena in 2007, I thought I’d live here for a couple of years and then hightail it back to the Westside. I was a beach girl. I wore flip-flops that always had sand caked on the bottom. There was no ocean in Pasadena. I thought I had landed on the moon. Where were the seagulls? But then life took over along with two kids and preschools, and here I am in 2024. Admittedly, while I would never have planned it, Pasadena turned out to be not only a city I call home, but a city I truly love .

What do I love most about Pasadena? So many things. So many places. And, yes, so many people. What comes to mind first is the friends that I have made. The first thing I did when I arrived in Pasadena–honestly, it might have been 10 minutes before I pulled into my driveway–was call the local Chabad, the synagogue on the corner of Walnut Street. I had a 13-month-old, and I needed to make some friends. Within days, I was sitting on the floor of Chabad of Pasadena with my little boy at a meet-up of local parents. Twelve years (and another kid) later, that same little boy, Boaz, became a bar mitzvah at Chabad. I’ve made friends there that I will have for life.

Putting together our Best of Pasadena issue has been a way to celebrate so much of what I adore about this city. From leisurely walks with my dogs across the Caltech campus (its turtle pond is my favorite go-to spot), to the Dunkin’ on South Lake Street where I always order a large, iced tea, Pasadena really has everything one could ever need. I’ve spent so much time at the Langham hotel, it’s practically my second home, and Tortas, a little mom-and-pop owned Mexican eatery on Fair Oaks Avenue, has the best vegetarian tacos in L.A. County.

In choosing a cover subject for this month’s issue of Pasadena , Dr. Drew Pinsky felt like the perfect choice. The famed internist and TV and radio personality grew up here, went to Polytechnic and, later, was a staff doctor at Huntington hospital. His beautiful home in the Pasadena hills, with its sweeping backyard views of the Arroyo Seco below, is a reminder of what makes this city so great.

We hope you enjoy this issue of Pasadena as much as we did making it come to life. Happy reading!