South Pasadena, CA

The city of South Pasadena was officially incorporated on March 2, 1888 with a population slightly over 500 residents, becoming the sixth municipality in Los Angeles County. South Pasadenans voted eighty-five to twenty-five for incorporation and elected the city’s first board of trustees, consisting of Ammon B. Cobb as marshal with Marshal B. Selmen as deputy. The first mayor of South Pasadena was Donald McIntyre Graham. South Pasadena has its own Police Department, Water Department and Fire Department. It has a beautiful Public Library and attached Senior Center. For more detailed information about South Pasadena, please feel free to reach out to our team at your earliest convenience.

RICH HISTORICAL HERITAGE: Long before the city’s founding in the late 19th century, Native Americans inhabited the area as part of the Hahamog-na tribe, a branch of the Tongva Nation that covered most of what is modern day South Pasadena. For many centuries, South Pasadena held claim to some of the oldest and most historic sites in the San Gabriel Valley, including its adjacency to a natural fording place along the Arroyo Seco that served as a gateway to travel and commerce for aboriginal peoples in the area and along the coast. It was here that the initial buildings on the 14,403-acre Mexican land grant known as the Rancho San Pascual were built, giving subsequent birth to the cities of Pasadena, South Pasadena, and Altadena. Notably, the first of these adobe structures was used by Mexican General Flores and his staff as headquarters, where in 1847 they agreed to surrender to American forces, ending Mexico’s colonial rule in California. Over time, the land that now comprises South Pasadena was acquired by the San Gabriel-Orange Grove Association. In 1875, the stockholders of the association voted to name their town Pasadena, and shortly thereafter the southern residents of Pasadena started referring to themselves as “South Pasadenans.” The establishment of the Cawston Ostrich Farm and the Raymond Hotel (both around 1886) played a vital role in the history of the city, and made South Pasadena a wellspring for tourism, and a destination for large waves of new residents in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.

COMPREHENSIVE PARKS AND TOP-RATED SCHOOLS: The city features over 90 acres of parks. There are also areas for tennis, a playground, grilling and the ability to reserve tables for family events. In the summer, a series of summer Sunday concerts is hosted at the park. When it comes to schools, South Pasadena is quite simply the leader of the pack. Its high school and middle school are both California Gold Ribbon award recipients, and all three of its elementary schools (Arroyo Vista, Marengo, Monterey Hills) are California Distinguished Schools with AV also receiving a National Blue Ribbon designation. Education matters in South Pasadena as evidenced by the citizen/charity organization SPEF (South Pasadena Education Foundation), which raises hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in support of the city’s educational programs. South Pasadena Schools rank in the Top 5 in California – and at the lowest cost for home buyers. Independent testing has confirmed that Just recently the 2018 scores for the online California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) tests in English Language Arts and mathematics have just been released. These comprehensive tests show the South Pasadena Unified School District to be in the Top 5 of all K-12 unified school districts in California.

HOME TO SEVERAL NOTABLE LANDMARKS AND AN ACTIVE CITY FOR ALL: South Pasadena neighborhoods, flora, and architecture have a classic American look, which is one reason why the city is used by motion picture, television, and commercial productions as a popular stand-in for Midwestern and Northeastern towns. A few of the notable films shot on location in South Pasadena include The Terminator, Gone with the Wind, Halloween, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Legally Blonde, and Back to the Future. On Thursday nights, South Pasadena hosts a very popular farmers market adjacent to the Gold Line subway station. A block away, in the business district, strollers can peruse the town’s “Mom and Pop” retail shops composed of a variety of cute, boutique-like merchants. Nearby is the historic Mission-West district which sits on the original U.S. Route 66 and contains the historic Fair Oaks Pharmacy and Soda Fountain. The Mission-West area is also the site of numerous, stand alone, high quality, one of a kind restaurants featuring every cuisine imaginable.

The City of South Pasadena website perhaps says it best — “The quiet, historic character of its attractive neighborhoods is a testament to the preservationist efforts of residents in protecting both its architectural and natural beauty. The city enjoys a low crime rate and the benefits of a close-knit, participation-oriented community. Small, proud and independent, the City of South Pasadena has battled for a hundred years to preserve its status as a distinct and distinctive community.”