Norton Simon Museum
Renoir, Van Gogh, Degas, Picasso — one of the most important private collections ever assembled, hung in a Frank Gehry-renovated building beside a sculpture garden.
Arts & Culture
World-class museums, neighborhood stages.
Culture in Pasadena isn't behind velvet ropes — it's woven into the streets, the gardens, and the lobbies of theaters that have been launching American careers for a hundred years.
Where to start
Four cultural anchors.
The Huntington Library
A Gutenberg Bible, the Blue Boy, 120 acres of themed gardens. A library that reads like a palace, in San Marino just south of town.
Pasadena Playhouse
The official State Theater of California — where Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman, and Sally Field cut their teeth, and where new American theater is still being made.
Public art everywhere
From the Levitated Mass on the way to LACMA to murals in the Playhouse District, Pasadena's art doesn't stay behind glass.
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