Images: Top left - Arthur Egeli, "May LIght," oil on canvas  16" x 20" (courtesy Tirage Fine Art Gallery); Top Right -

Linda Brown, “The Bridge Again, “ oil on canvas, 6” x 8” (courtesy Segil Fine Art Source); Bottom Left - R Jay Ewing, “Through the Arches,” oil on canvas, 11” x 14” (courtesy Segil Fine Art Source); Bottom Right - Donald Hildreth, “Weathered Crossing,” oil on canvas, 36” x 60” (courtesy Tirage Fine Art Gallery)

PLEASE JOIN US on the grounds of Pasadena Museum of History as we celebrate the City's 127th birthday and commemorate the 100th anniversary of Pasadena's beloved landmark, the Colorado Street Bridge.  Join the Mayor and City Dignitaries for Birthday Cake courtesy Vons/Pavilions and enjoy nonstop entertainment and activities that explore our Bridges to Community, Exploration, Health, History, Imagination, and Understanding.  Fun for all ages!  Free admission & parking!

The Cake

The gala cake cutting is scheduled for 3:00 pm; further details about this year’s cake extravaganza is being kept tightly under wraps! The cakes, all courtesy Vons/Pavilions, will reflect the themes highlighted at this year’s Happy Birthday Pasadena event. Stay tuned for updated information closer to day of the event.

Special Children's Activities

We are thrilled this year to welcome three outstanding organizations to assist us in exploring the art, innovation, and science of bridges with our youngest visitors!

• Kidspace Children's Museum will host a hands-on bridge-building workshop with different types of materials to discover which work well, which do not, which structures are more successful and why. A weight test will let us see if our bridges could accommodate passengers safely.  Have fun while learning the physics behind bridges - why certain structures work and why some bridges collapse!  Our youngest visitors will join the fun, building bridges with blocks.
• Side Street Projects will invites children and family members to create an imaginative bridge from the perspective of the surrounding wildlife, using biodegradable materials. Use your imagination! How would a fish design a bridge? What would a butterfly do? Using the format of a suspension bridge, kids will create a combination 2-D/3-D project inspired by the Arroyo Secco wildlife below the Colorado Street Bridge.
• We Tell Stories will present three storytelling productions on the Museum Stage at 1:30 pm-- all around our theme of 'bridges."  WTS performances blend storytelling and audience participatory theatre to bring world folklore, fairy tales, literature, legends, and mythology to joyful life.

Displays & Entertainment

Nonstop activities, displays and entertainment will give visitors of all ages the opportunity to enjoy and explore all things Pasadena!

• The Pasadena Ballroom Dance Association will keep party-goers on their toes with a variety of dances and demonstrations.  Join in or sit, relax, and enjoy the show!
• History "Pods" have become a defining and much-anticipated feature of Happy Birthday Pasadena events.  This year we celebrate Pasadena's physical bridges and use the concept of bridging to explore other facets of our City's vibrant lifestyle:
  • Bridges to Community - Meet Pasadena's community of Bloggers!  They are our eyes and ears; they share Pasadena-related thoughts, images, inspirations, and news from unique perspectives.  Here's your chance to chat with them in person.
  • Bridges to Exploration - From Pasadena to Mars and beyond: JPL representatives will amaze, enlighten, and inspire you!
  • Bridges to Health - Did you know that many early Pasadena settlers came here seeking health cures?  Our amazing medical history comes to life in this presentation.
  • Bridges to History - Our oconic landmark, the Colorado Street Bridge, is 100 years old in 2013.  Pasadena Heritage will preside over a display that celebrates this milestone and all of our City's physical bridges.
  • Bridges to Imagination - Kidspace Children's Museum and Side Street Projects will keep youngsters fully engaged in imaginative, hands-on projects.  Meanwhile, Gold Bug, Old Pasadena's neo-Victorian emporium, will amuse, engage, and delight the imagaination and senses of visitors of all ages.
  • Bridges to Understanding - The Pasadena Sister Cities Committee will feature details about our special relationships with Ludwigshafen, Germany; Mishima, Japan; Jarvenpaa, Finland; Vanadzor, Armenia; and Xicheng District, Beijing, China.
• "World's Smallest Motor" - In 1959 famed CalTech physicist Dr. Richard Feynman offered a $1,000 prize to anyone able to make an operating electric motor only 1/64th of an inch cubed (about the size of a speck of sand).  Pasadena's William McLellan, a CalTech graduate and miniaturization specialist, successfully claimed the prize just a year later, effectively ushering in the field of nanotechnology.  The McLellan family recently donated the tiny motor to PMH, and we are presenting in in a special display -- mounted under a microscope -- in the Archives on this celebratory afternoon. 

Schedule of Events

   1:00 pm – 5:00 pm

                  Bridging Pasadena Presentations

                                    Bridges to Community – Pasadena Bloggers

                                    Bridges to Exploration - JPL; McLellan Micromotor Display

                             Bridges to Health

                                    Bridges to History – Pasadena Heritage; Tavo Olmos; ASCE

                             Bridges to Imagination – Gold Bug Emporium; Kidspace; Side Street Projects

                             Bridges to Understanding – Pasadena Sister Cities Committee

                  Exhibit | History Center Galleries

                                     I Do! I Do! Pasadena Ties the Knot, Part I (1850-1950)

                  Food Vendors

                                     Pie ‘n Burger Truck

                              Trattoria Neapolis

   1:00 – 3:00 pm

                  Dot the Clown

                  Face Painter Theresa King

   1:30 pm – 2:15 pm

                  We Tell Stories -Bridges of Wonder, story-theater suitable for all ages

   2:15 pm – 3:00 pm

                  Pasadena Ballroom Dance Association

   3:00pm – 3:45 pm

                  Gala Cake Cutting Ceremony

               Free!  Birthday Cake – Italian Sodas – Coffee

                            courtesy Vons Bakeries and Trattoria Neapolis

   3:45 pm – 5:00 pm

                  Pasadena Ballroom Dance Association