Parks closed, 10K steps achieved and enjoying the sights on Colorado Blvd.

The hills were shrouded by low clouds this morning...

The roads not raging rivers as the night before...

We didn't stop to think that due to the storms, our destination chosen to "walk off breakfast" would be closed.  The gate was locked along with a police car blocking the entrance to Eaton Canyon. We realized, duh, that it was probably unsafe to venture on to the trails if there were any downed trees or what have you.



Cactus seen on the sidewalk of a very nicely landscaped home...

Bert thought maybe another park a few miles south might be open, Bailey Canyon. Same story. Closed, dammit.

I guess it would be no nature walks for us so we went back to our hotel (which warrants an entirely separate post for the nostalgia/Americana factor alone) to freshen up. We ended up walking on E. Colorado Blvd, also known as Historic Route 66. Our coffee destination was fourteen blocks away and why yes, we could do this and take in the scenery as pedestrians instead of being lazy asses in our cars and trying to find parking on a Saturday morning (in reality, it was still early enough that we woudln't have too many problems doing so). I'm such a pessimist.   But I digress. As we headed westward up E. Colorado, we took note of many of the restaurants and interesting buildings we'd passed in previous trips.

This particular building with its ornate decor was once a hall used for events. It was now "for lease" and empty inside.

Across the street was our breakfast destination for the next day, a place recommended by my good friend Cathy.

Some of the crosswalks were painted with designs which I found quite pretty. Looks like it needs repainting though.

I've always admired the retro sign for Canterbury Record Shop.

In its window was this Ramones poster advertising the re-release of their iconic debut album (40 year ago as of 2016). In fact, there was an exhibit at the Grammy Museum,  "The Ramones - The Birth of Punk" that I'd wanted to go to before the end of this month, but chances were, we wouldn't make it due to other commitments.

Here's another painted crosswalk:

This historic building  was now a bank. The ironwork on the windows was quite striking.

Crossing over from the east side of Colorado Ave to the west, I made sure to snap a shot of the red line running through the middle. This is the route for the famous Tournament of Roses Parade.

At this point, we went to our second coffee stop of the day. That post will be separate and I'll link it back here.

Fast forward to our thirty minute walk back to our hotel.  We stopped to marvel at the juxtaposition of old and new. This older building with remaining brick columns with statues at the top was quite interesting. There were beams supporting the upper shell but the building itself was gutted out. I wonder what this used to be?




While taking this shot of another older brick building (the light was fantastic that morning, thank you overcast clouds), a fire truck whizzed past.

This billboard looks like it hasn't been changed in a while. Or perhaps it had prior billboards on top and it was removed to reveal this?  The stories it could tell.

I love taking photos of tiled entryways. They usually do not match what the current location is. Crown City Bank is now the Pasadena Coin and Stamp Company. Their sign was handpainted and the store itself looked pretty old.


More leaves on the sidewalk...


Pasadena Furniture Mart across the street...the colors popped against the gray skies.

Next to Andy's Coffee Shop was Box City.

Cathy pointed out that Andy's has an "easy" address to remember...

This poster at Comics Factory next door, made me laugh.

Ah, the golden age of lurid paperback covers. I would want to see this.

More posters for two Marvel characters (Bert loves Luke Cage, aka Powerman).

Closer to our hotel was the curiously named QQ Kopitiam, an Indonesian and Singaporean restaurant. It was closed that morning (I found out later they are not open on the weekends).

A few steps away from QQ Kopitiam was Heidar Baba, a Persian restaurant.  This was also quite close to the Vietnamese place we ate at the night before.

Here's what it looks like in the daytime.

Our hotel, the Saga Motor Inn was across the street from Pasadena City College. It's a historic hotel built during the heyday of Route 66. It's not fancy or anything, but affordable was more like it and much better than the crappy Howard Johnson we stayed at last year. Caren from Velveteria had recommended the Saga to us months ago as it is one of her favorite  and basic places to stay.


There's the Saga across the street. They have a great vintage neon sign with the exotic lettering.


I was tired from all that walking and according to Bert's phone app, we had achieved more than 10,000 steps already.

Up next, we planned to visit a free museum named after a famous actor in nearby Monterey Park. There were a few exhibits I was curious about including one about the Latino youth culture of LA from 1943 to the present...