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!