I'm planning to live in US , and I want to know if Pasadena is a good city to live???If Pasadena isn't a good city , What's the best city , then????(I would like a city with good security , goods universitys to study , with goods office and ...

San Marino, near Pasadena, would be a more affluent choice.

Why are you coming to the U.S. -- to study, to work, to retire? Different cities are good for different purposes.

Pasadena is a jewel in the middle of crazy LA. Some beautiful old homes, interesting people and the newly revived Old Pasadena for restaurants and night time things. Plus the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl. We lived there for only 6 years before a job relocation moved us to Northern CA, but both of us would return in a minute and even talk about retiring there. It's correct that San Marino is a more affluent choice, but Pasadena, a city of more than 100,000, has the diversity and excitement that we loved. We miss it very much and envy you the possibility of living there.

Vinicius,

We need more details to form an intelligent response.
With that in mind, I agree with Kam. I live in nearby LA and am seriously considering moving to Pasadena for all the reasons she listed.Plus, as an ex-New Englander/New Yorker, Pasadena reminds me of the East with palm trees and much better weather.( This is my secon attempt at posting, so I hope you don't get a duplicate response).

Vinicius,

We need more details to form an intelligent response.
With that in mind, I agree with Kam. I live in nearby LA and am seriously considering moving to Pasadena for all the reasons she listed.Plus, as an ex-New Englander/New Yorker, Pasadena reminds me of the East with palm trees and much better weather.( This is my secon attempt at posting, so I hope you don't get a duplicate response).

Michele, Go for it. You'll love Pasadena and you can always come back down to L.A.whenever you want to. The only downside to Pasadena is the air quality in the summer. Be sure you have A/C and take it easy on smoggy days. The Westsiders like to say they don't have any smog, but anyone flying in or out of LAX knows that there's smog in the entire basin. I'd return in a minute!! I love to garden and miss my roses and citrus and avocadoes as well as the big old swimming pool that would have to be heated up here to the tune of hundreds of dollars. I envy you the possibility of living there.

Yes, Pasadena is great -- if you don't mind being surrounded by gang members from nearby Highland Park and other "lovely" areas close by!!

Len,

Well, I guess we have strayed from Vinicius' questions, but I fear if you want to live in a city environment you have to deal with the unpleasant side of it, such as gangs and grafitti, just about anywhere you live. I live in Los Feliz which is beautiful, but I have to drive through East Hollywood, which is always struggling to keep itself presentable. But, hey, I like a LITTLE
urban grit, so I deal with it.

Vinicius, what is bringing you to the USA and Pasadena? Are you a Cal Tech student an Art Center student any type of student?

"Deal with . . . gangs and graffiti anywhere you live?" Well, perhaps in a REAL city, but Pasadena is really a SUBURB, and one would NOT expect to find gang members, etc., straddling the outskirts of a fine suburb like Pasadena. So you see, despite your remark, one does NOT find this in many other fine suburban locations around the United States! It quite simply is NOT the norm!!

I don't think of Pasadena as a suburb, but a smaller city.( I think Kam describes it quite well). It is right next door to a big city and is logically going to get some of the unpleasant aspects of that city as spillover.

Len, I think if you research a bit of history here, you will find that Pasadena was an incorporated city when Los Angeles was just a mission and some orange trees. Pasadena was founded about 1900, long before the "industry" came to L.A. and started "Hollywood". To call Pasadena a "suburb" is to admit that you really don't know a whole lot about the history of southern California. Also, I don't think of Highland Park as a place that is especially horrible. I think you might be having a really bad day.

Thanks, KAM.

First of all, I don't give a damn about the history of California OR Pasadena, for that matter. Secondly, many suburban areas, by way of political construction, become incorporated "cities," but they are still suburban areas in nature nonetheless, which is certainly the case with Pasadena! As for Highland Park NOT being horrible, well, all I can say is, you must be originally from New York because only a New Yorker could find Highland Park even remotely "decent!"

Dear Len:
You do seem amazingly hostile. But I live in small town in southern Kansas. We have to worry about gangs. Gangs, unfortunately, have become part of the american experience in most of our urban and suburban areas.

I am referring to upscale suburban areas such as Bethesda, Maryland, Scarsdale, New York or Laguna Hills, California. There aren't any gang members in those locales!!