Happy 140th Birthday, Pasadena!

On June 19, 1886, Pasadena was officially incorporated as a charter city, making it the second city to incorporate in what is now Los Angeles County. One hundred and forty years later, the Crown City is still going strong.

But the story of this land stretches back far longer than 140 years.

The Hahamogna: The First People of This Land

Long before the Rose Parade, before Colorado Boulevard, before the city had a name at all, the Hahamogna people called this valley home. According to the City of Pasadena's own history, the Hahamogna Tribe of Native Americans were the original inhabitants of the land that would become Pasadena, living in villages scattered along the Arroyo Seco and the canyons stretching from the mountains down to what is now the South Pasadena area. They subsisted on local game and vegetation, building a life in one of the most fertile and beautiful corridors in Southern California.

That way of life was upended with the arrival of Spanish colonizers and the establishment of the San Gabriel Mission on September 8, 1771. Most of the Hahamogna people were converted and put to work providing labor for the mission — a process that fundamentally and permanently disrupted their communities and culture. As the mission grew prosperous, with sprawling orchards, vineyards, and herds, the land the Hahamogna had stewarded for generations was absorbed into the colonial system.

The land passed from the mission to Mexican ranchos, then to American hands after California's statehood in 1850. It wasn't until 1873, after multiple ownership changes, that the land began its transformation into what we now know as Pasadena.

As we celebrate this city's birthday, it's worth sitting with that longer history — honoring the Hahamogna people and acknowledging that the land we're celebrating has always been, first and foremost, theirs.

A City Born on Colorado Boulevard

The Pasadena that was incorporated in 1886 moved quickly. Sewers, paved streets, and electric lighting followed within years. On January 1, 1890, the Valley Hunt Club launched a mid-winter festival with flower-bedecked horses and carriages — a tradition that would become the iconic Tournament of Roses. Throop Polytechnic Institute was founded in 1891, eventually becoming the California Institute of Technology. A city was taking shape.

This year, Pasadena's birthday coincides with two other major milestones woven into the city's identity: the 100th anniversary of historic Route 66 and the 150th anniversary of Colorado Boulevard. The convergence is fitting. Colorado Boulevard is more than a street — it's the spine of the city, the stage for the Tournament of Roses, and one of the great American thoroughfares. And Route 66, which passed through Pasadena on its legendary run from Chicago to Santa Monica, helped define the city for generations of road-tripping Americans throughout the 20th century.

140 Years of Being Unforgettable

What makes Pasadena remarkable after 140 years is that it has never had just one story. You can walk from a Craftsman bungalow to a Michelin-starred restaurant to a world-class art museum in the span of a few blocks. The same city that produced the Jet Propulsion Laboratory also gave us the Gamble House. The same streets that host Formula E racing host the most-watched parade on New Year's Day.

Pasadena has always punched above its weight — in culture, in science, in architecture, in food. It has the bones of a great city and the soul of a neighborhood. At 140, it wears its age with grace and keeps reinventing itself without losing what makes it distinctly, irreplaceably itself.

A full and honest celebration of this city means honoring all the layers of its story — including those that predate its founding by centuries. The Hahamogna people shaped this land long before anyone else arrived, and their legacy is part of what makes this place worth celebrating.

Happy 140th, Pasadena. Here's to the next chapter.

---

*Want to celebrate? The Pasadena Museum of History's exhibition "Where History Meets the Road" is open through January 24, 2027, at 470 W. Walnut St. General admission is $9; free for members, students, and visitors under 18.*