Pasadena

Pasadena is one of the few places in greater Los Angeles that functions as a real city — its own downtown, its own museums (the Norton Simon, the Huntington nearby), its own newspaper of record, and a civic identity that predates LA's annexation map by decades. People who grew up here often find their way back.

Architecturally, Pasadena is one of the most interesting cities in California. Greene & Greene defined American Craftsman here in the early 1900s — the Gamble House remains the canonical example, but the bungalow neighborhoods radiating from Orange Grove are full of more modest sister works. Wallace Neff's Mediterraneans, Wright's La Miniatura, and a strong stock of postwar moderns give the city real depth across eras.

The neighborhoods vary widely: the estates of San Rafael and Linda Vista; the bungalows of Bungalow Heaven; the walkable density around Old Town and the Playhouse District; the family streets of Madison Heights. There's a Pasadena that fits almost any way of life, and they all share the same civic backbone.