Editing Old Pasadena (section)

{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{More citations needed|date=December 2007}}

{{Infobox NRHP
| name = Old Pasadena Historic District
|  nrhp_type = hd    | image = Old Town Pasadena and Metro Local bus.JPG
| caption = Old Pasadena (intersection Fair Oaks Ave and Colorado Blvd) and [[Metro Local]] bus, 2013
| location = Roughly bounded by Interstate 210, Fair Oaks, Raymond Aves., Arroyo Pkwy., Del Mar Blvd., and S.R. 134.
| nearest_city = 
| coordinates = {{coord|34.145757|N|118.15047|W|display=inline,title}}
| locmapin = USA Los Angeles Metropolitan Area#California#USA
| mapframe             = yes
| mapframe-marker      = building
| mapframe-zoom        = 12
|mapframe-caption      = Interactive map showing the location for Old Pasadena
| area = 
| built = 
| architect = 
| architecture = 
| added = September 15, 1983 
| visitation_num = 
| visitation_year = 
| refnum = 83001200
| mpsub = 
| governing_body = 
| nocat = yes
}}

'''Old Pasadena''', often referred to as '''Old Town Pasadena''' or simply '''Old Town''', is the original commercial center of [[Pasadena, California|Pasadena]], a city in [[California]], United States, and had a latter-day revitalization after a period of decay.

Old Pasadena began as the center of a research hub where science and research institutions such as [[California Institute of Technology|Caltech]] and the [[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]], and companies such as [[Beckman Instruments]] and [[Aerojet]], were founded. The large concentration of such companies in the area gave it the nickname "Athens of the West".<ref>Scheid Lund, Ann (1999). ''Historic Pasadena''. San Antonio: Historical Publishing Network. p. 63. {{ISBN|1-89361901-X}}</ref>
 
The area was also an artistic center, the home to [[Andy Warhol]]'s West Coast museum debut and the first Marcel Duchamp retrospective, both at the Pasadena Art Museum (one of the earliest modern art museums in the country, now the [[Norton Simon Museum]]). Before that, Pasadena was a center of suffragist and pacifist movements and other liberal causes. By the late 1940s, the downtown area was blighted by [[flophouse]]s, [[dive bar]]s and pawn shops. It later became a [[hippie]] destination, with [[head shop]]s, adult bookstores and massage parlors. By the late 1980s, Old Pasadena was undergoing a period of urban renewal and [[Urban regeneration|regeneration]].{{citation needed|date=December 2016}}