Colorado Boulevard Turns 150, and on November 15 It Belongs to People on Foot

Pasadena has spent 2026 marking two anniversaries on the same street. Colorado Boulevard turns 150 this year, and Route 66, which ran through Pasadena along that boulevard, turns 100. Since June, the anniversaries have had a gallery on Walnut Street. On Sunday, November 15, from 9am to 3pm, the street itself opens up. CicLAvia Pasadena closes 2.7 miles of Colorado Boulevard and Raymond Avenue to cars. According to the Old Pasadena event listing, the last time Pasadena hosted an Open Streets day was May 2015.

The anniversary story and the route follow the same line. Walk from Pasadena Avenue to Allen Avenue and you pass the corner where the boulevard's commercial life began, the stretch that carried Route 66 traffic for decades, and the neighborhoods the street now connects. The rest of that weekend, from a Thursday lecture to a Saturday artisan fair, sits within a few blocks of that line.

The corner where the 150 years start

The Playhouse Village Association's anniversary guide traces the boulevard back to a general store and post office that opened at Colorado and Fair Oaks in 1876, when the street was still called Colorado Street. Fifty years later, in 1926, the newly created Route 66 was routed along Colorado Boulevard, and Pasadena's main street became part of the national highway.

That Fair Oaks corner falls inside the November 15 route. The car-free stretch runs Colorado Boulevard from Pasadena Avenue east to Allen Avenue, and Raymond Avenue from Pacific Alley to Dayton Street. Along the way it passes through Old Pasadena, Playhouse Village and South Lake Avenue, and it links the Memorial Park and Del Mar A Line stations. The City's CicLAvia update quotes CicLAvia Executive Director Romel Pascual connecting the event to both anniversaries:

"The historic and iconic Colorado Blvd is celebrating its 150th Anniversary, and is part of Route 66 which is celebrating its centennial this year. This CicLAvia event showcases one of the busiest boulevards with a car-free experience and the joy of open, shared spaces together."

CicLAvia is not a race and not a bike-only event. The route has no start or finish line, and you can join or leave it anywhere. Walking, running, skating, cycling and wheelchairs are all welcome.

Sunday, hour by hour

If you live or park near Colorado or Raymond, the closures start well before the event does. Here is the day as the CicLAvia event page and the City lay it out:

1. 4am. No parking on the route, and towing starts. The same 4am to 5pm parking restriction applies on the two Slow Streets connectors.
2. 6am. Streets near the two activity hubs may close this early.
3. 7am. The full route closes to cars. Streets next to the route stay open for local access by residents and businesses, and cars can cross at six intersections marked on the route map.
4. 9am to 3pm. The event runs.
5. 3pm. The deadline to retrieve a towed car. Cars towed from the route go to the Pasadena Police Department at 207 Garfield Avenue, and any not picked up by 3pm are impounded.
6. About 5pm. Streets fully reopen to cars.

The Slow Streets extend the event beyond the closed route. These are pop-up bike lanes marked off with cones and signs, with regular traffic still running beside them. A one-mile western segment runs along Walnut Avenue from Raymond to Orange Grove Boulevard, then continues to Rosemont Avenue a few blocks from the Rose Bowl. A one-mile eastern segment runs along Colorado from Allen Avenue to San Gabriel Boulevard, connecting East Colorado to Lamanda Park. There are no freeway closures.

Only people-powered vehicles are allowed, with some exceptions for e-bikes. The City's release says Class 1 pedal-assist e-bikes are allowed, Class 2 e-bikes are allowed with the throttle off, and Class 3 e-bikes are allowed with pedal-assist off. Electric scooters, electric skateboards and hoverboards are not allowed. Manual and motorized wheelchairs are welcome.

Where to step on, west to east

CicLAvia lists five A Line stations within a mile of the route, and two of them sit right on it:

The two hubs anchor the ends of the route. The Memorial Park Hub is at 145 N. Raymond Avenue, and the Colorado Hub is at 1778 E. Colorado Boulevard near Allen. Both offer restrooms, free water refill stations, free basic bike repair, bike parking, seating, first aid and family activities. Each hub's information booth also offers free pedicab rides.

Between the hubs, several local businesses have posted specials for the day:

• Jenette Bras, 18 E. Holly Street. $50 gift certificates for the first 10 attendees and 15% off sports garments.
• The Bar Method Pasadena, 32 Mills Place. A free class pass for anyone who arrives on foot, bike or wheels during the event.
• Bokãos Aveda, 52 Hugus Alley. Free sidewalk consultations and styling, 15% off at their table, and a drawing for an extensions service valued at $1,000.
• Carbon Health, 600 E. Colorado Blvd., Suite 120. Water, Liquid IV and first aid supplies, with priority walk-in care for participants that day.
• Strong Sports Gym, 985 E. Colorado Blvd. Store open, with mini lessons in the gym.
• Tea Spots, 1443 Colorado Blvd. 10% off for Pasadena residents.

Mills Place and Hugus Alley are the narrow Old Pasadena passages off the main blocks. On a car-free Sunday they are an easy detour off Colorado.

The western Slow Street also runs to the anniversary exhibit. The Pasadena Museum of History sits at 470 W. Walnut Street, at the corner of Orange Grove and Walnut, where the Walnut segment turns. The museum's galleries are open Thursday through Sunday from noon to 5pm, so they are open on event day.

Thursday and Saturday read the same street

The museum's exhibition, Where History Meets the Road: Celebrating Route 66 & Colorado Boulevard, looks at the boulevard as both a transportation corridor and a cultural symbol. It uses photographs, memorabilia and four new oral histories recorded by Pasadena Heritage about life along Colorado. Its centerpiece is the Route 66 Pathway Project from Claremont Graduate University's Center for Humanities in Practice. The project is a 70-foot-long, five-foot-high illustrated canvas scroll tracing the route from Santa Monica to Needles, inspired by the National Old Trails Road map booklets the Southern California Automobile Association published in 1915.

Two museum programs fall in the days before CicLAvia:

• Thursday, November 12, 7pm to 8:30pm. "Route 66: Travelers and Tribes," with Shawn Price, historian and director of the Dine'Tah Navajo Cultural Program, on the highway's economic impact on tribal communities in the Southwest. Galleries open at 6pm. Admission is $18 general or $13 for members, and reservations are required.
• Saturday, November 14, 7pm to 8:30pm. Free Route 66 trivia at Wild Parrot Brewing Company, with prizes for the top three teams and no RSVP needed.

The Jackalope Indie Artisan Fair also returns to Central Park, 275 S. Raymond Avenue, on November 14 and 15 from 10am to 4pm. Admission is free, and the fair lists more than 200 hand-selected artisans. Its Sunday hours fall almost entirely within CicLAvia's. Jackalope points drivers to the cash-only Fishbecks lot at 150 S. Raymond and notes that the Del Mar station is a two-minute walk from the park. Del Mar is one of the two stations directly on the CicLAvia route, so a Sunday visit to the fair and a walk up Raymond can start from the same platform.

Saturday evening and afternoon belong to Playhouse Village, the district the anniversary guide calls an essential stop on Route 66:

• Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Avenue. "Passing Strange" plays at 2pm and 8pm on November 14. The Playhouse calls the production the show's long-awaited Los Angeles premiere.
• Boston Court Pasadena, 70 N. Mentor Avenue. "at the very bottom of a body of water" plays at 2pm, with tickets from $15 to $82. An 8pm chamber concert features the Monterey Piano Trio, with tickets from $25 to $52.
• Monopole by Wine RX, 21 S. El Molino Avenue. A Champagne & Sparkling Extravaganza at 2pm, priced $35 to $100.

After the cones come up

Colorado reopens to traffic by about 5pm Sunday, but the anniversary programming continues after that. "Passing Strange" runs at the Playhouse through November 29. The museum's "Pasadena Palette" exhibition, which features artists who lived and worked in Pasadena and scenes painted around the city, is on view through December 27. "Where History Meets the Road" stays up through January 24, 2027, after both anniversaries have ended.

We enjoy watching Pasadena celebrate its main street. If a weekend on the boulevard has you thinking about which Pasadena blocks suit you best, or how a home with its own history should be presented when it's time to sell, Sabatella Delair Group would be glad to walk those streets with you. Work With Us.