Twice a year, the City of Pasadena's Cultural Affairs Division puts together an evening during which many of the museums and historic sites remain open late, and offer free admission. This offers a wonderful opportunity for local residents to check out a new museum or site, learn a thing or two, and take the kids to see something new in a low-stress, welcoming environment. Lines for some attractions are longer than others, so be sure to have a list with your priority spots to make the most of your time! In keeping with social distancing requirements, Spring Art Night 2021 was virtual. The next Art Night has been planned for October 8, 2021. You won't want to miss it! read more

I've done DTLA Artwalk plenty.. But Pasadena Art Night? I'm ashamed to say this was my first year! Art is universal and what's so beautiful about that is how differently it's expressed. Through stages, spaces and mediums. Pasadena had a great line up for all the art they had to showcase. They delivered it much better than some of the artwalks I've been to in the past. How so? Well, let me tell you: Pasadena Art Night is much less flashy, much more community, and much more organized. It's definitely a night for the family as much as it can be for a date. Because this Art Night is much more community friendly and interactive, there's much more heart coming from the community itself either as the showstoppers or the audience! With a huge line-up of art exhibits, my friend, her son and I managed to hit up four destinations to get our fill of the spectacular evening in store for us. Our first stop was none other than, Kidspace Children's Museum! They had the night lighting up with all the kids' best moves whether it was dancing, jump roping or hula hooping and making sure everything from rope to hoops to even bubbles were lit up! It was practically a mini rave for tiny humans and my friend's kid had a blast. Music was also well selected. From there we took one of the many trams reserved specifically for Art Night goers! All trams were labeled based on destination which made the night all that more accessible to every and all interested! We made it over to the park right by city hall. The park was hosted by a nonprofit org called Day One who delivered an Alice and Wonderland "Down the Rabbit Hole" theme! Tea was being served with tea pots and cups hanging from trees, chalk art welcoming you in, a book tunnel leading you right to the stage of poets and story tellers to the left and luminescent trees with happiness keys being hung right along the branches to your right. The keys were gorgeous with blank tags waiting to be written on. After getting lost down the rabbit hole, we fell upon city hall which was more of a quick pit stop. Only leading us to our final destination, Paseo! Paseo's courtyard was being hosted by MUSE/IQUE. They were showcasing a free basic dance class by the hour or so! They had displayed step by step instructions on the ground of different dances. We made it just in time to learn one of their routines! After being taught, they allowed the participants to find a partner & dance the night away. We had finally made it to the end of our little friend's energy and decided to end the night with some happy feet! We got right back on the tram hassle free. City Hall was the only destination that had every bus for every direction come into! As we ended a well organized and run Art Night in Pasadena, my friend and I promised to attend the next one to come as her little one sang us Wheels on the Bus all the way back to kidspace where our cars were safely parked. Will I do this again? Ooh you betcha. Hope you check it out too, yelpheads read more

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The art night is such a great event Pasadena provides. You get a chance to see the different area to go for free. A nice event to enjoy with the whole family or just alone. read more

10/13/2017 First time attending and definitely not my last. We had a blast!! How can you beat free entrance to so many participating museums?!?! Our first visit was to the Pasadena Museum of History to view dresses from the past Rose Court and our last was the Norton Simon Museum. Since we were lucky to find free street parking which was walking distance from the Pasadena Museum, we were able to take the free shuttle service nearby provided for the evening from 7-10 PM. Everything was well organized. There were several shuttles that could take you to different museums for the night so the wait time was short. Since several of the museums were close by, we even walked to a few. There were even food trucks and music near City Hall. If they have this event next year, I definitely encourage all art lovers/families to attend. read more

Pasadena Art Night - Art Galleries Near Me - Pasadena, California

What a fun neighborhood event! A delightful way to spend the evening walking or riding around from venue to venue. As a newbie to Pasadena, it was a great way to be a "tourist" in my own city. After recently being on city tour buses in Spain, this felt all too familiar and was neat to locally hop on/off and explore the museums and other artistic venues & entertainment located throughout the routes. The volunteers/staff working the event were very helpful/insightful and our shuttle bus tour guide shared that each route had about six shuttles rollin around. That's a lot considering there were six routes. Think it's worth noting that last year C.I.C.L.E. had a ride that rolled through the routes encouraging/supporting bikers and hopefully this can be integrated again in the next ArtNight so less of a carbon footprint is made. Think globally, act locally! Nonetheless, it was a wonderful way to support local galleries and artists! Hats off to everyone who makes this event possible each year. read more

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I was able to attend the Oct 2017 Pasadena Art Night this time. I have found free parking at one of the location since I have arrived early enough. The lines for the shuttles at City Hall were not organized. People were cutting in to get on the shuttle. There is a lack of control. The shuttle drivers don't have written directions. The drivers depended on the volunteer for right and left turns. The shuttles had air conditioning, which is fantastic. Making left turns took forever in Old town Pasadena since there is no left turn arrow signal. I was able to visit a few places this time. USC Asia Pacific Museum wasted my time and it was a disappointment since it wasn't open. In general, the volunteers on the shuttle and stops were very friendly. There isn't enough time to visit all of the sites. I saw a giant roach near a volunteer's foot area at the Music Conservatory. My shuttle announced the wrong stop name and I got off. I waited about an hour to get back on another shuttle. The shuttles did not let people get on because it was full. This is bad. By the time we got back on a shuttle, the night was over. A few people quit waiting and got on the Uber or Lyft to get back. It would be nice if this was either a 2 night event or all day event. read more

I think I built it up too much. Art Night Pasadena wound up being just okay for me. After not having an in-person Art Night since 2019, I expected more. I expected more wine and snacks at the different venues. I expected more live music and/or DJ sets at each of the venues. I thought The Gamble House would open their doors and allow the public to look inside. Instead, we were relegated to outdoors only. The outdoors part was nice, but it would have been better to at least have had access to the foyer indoors so we could see some of house. The PCC Jazz Ensemble was supposed to play at Pasadena City College, but they never showed up. The effort it took to drive to PCC to find parking only to not get the full experience of what was promised online was a letdown. The best venue wound up being The Pasadena Museum of History. It was educational and fun. Would I go to Art Night Pasadena again? Probably not. There just wasn't enough considering they had three years of planning to make this one the best yet. read more

I love Art Night. Pasadena puts on a great show(s). It's free, as the things conerning the Arts should be because the Arts are for everyone, which is not always the case, but here, on Art Night, that is the case. We took in the Pacific Asia Musueum, the history Musuem and Side Streets. There was so much we didn't see and you can blame that on all the awesome food trucks that turned us all into stuffed sofas. This is a great event for couples, families and a group of friends. Knowledge of the Arts is not required. Appreciation of the Arts isn't even required (though you will probably leave with at least some appreciation of the Arts). Get here early and park somewhere in Old Town. There are shuttles to move you to some of the more distant venues but be aware that it gets hectic. If you're in a large group, it will be hard to get seats on the shuttle. Bring plenty of cash, come hungry and look for the Hungry Nomad. read more

On a last minute whim, I decided to join some friends for Art Night. We parked at Paseo shopping center (1.5 hours free, 2 dollars per hour after with a max of 6 dollars). We started at 7PM and ended at 10PM, which is when it ended. We visited (which I'm not going to cover since they really warrant reviews of their own): Armory Center for the Arts Light Bringer Project at Day One Pasadena Museum of California Art USC Pacific Asia Museum (City Hall and Muse/ique, not really counting these as they were more like stops than visits) I loved loved loved the event! It was very well-organized. Free museum entries, free shuttles, friendly knowledgeable folks scattered about? Yes, please! They had Art Night guides scattered around the area with brochures/maps and shuttle stickers readily available for wanderers. The ones I spoke with were friendly and energetic, familiar with the generals of the event, knowledgeable of the routes and location of the museums and shuttle stops. Being that I just wanted to wander from museum to museum, I really didn't care too much which museums I went to--it was perfect! We hopped on shuttles when it could not be walked (the wait for me really wasn't bad, 8-15 minutes once and almost immediate the second time) and just hopped off at the following stop or was directed to the next walkable museum by the guides. However, if you are particular on where you want to go, get a map, plan it out, run it by a guide for feedback, and proceed. On the last ride on the shuttle, I got talking to the guide and she was super friendly and so sweet! She was briefing us on her night and giving us suggestions on where to go after. At the stops, she wanted to make sure she got everyone she could and was contemplating making another round even though it was obvious it would come out of her own free time to ensure no one was left behind. There were food trucks (which I agree with the other yelper that it would be awesome if they were included in the map), so if you get hungry there are those options! I didn't take advantage of it because I was so swept away by everything else going on. There were all sorts of people and everyone was united by one thing: appreciation of arts and good vibes. The museums available included a good variety, so there was something for everyone. In my short little 3 hour participation, I was able to spend time appreciating eastern arts, modern arts, outdoorsy whimsical art, cubism, and electronic installations (I'm sure there were more I just don't know the names of them). Thank you Art Night organizers for hosting such a wonderful event! read more

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We had never attended the Pasadena art night before last Friday, 3/9/18. We got to Pasadena around 7:30 pm. I wasn't sure what the parking was going to be like but it ended up not being too bad. We parked on the street near Pacific Asia museum. We had already seen the current exhibit at Pacific Asia Museum and decided to take the shuttle to the Armory as we had never been there. They had a some wonderful exhibits there, notably "Life Death and Breath" with inflatable lawn decorations that would inflate and deflate with some original music playing in the background. There was also a lovely band "Janet Klein and her Parlor Boys" playing live music from the 1930s. We then hopped on the shuttle and took a ride. It's wonderful that all the museums of the area were participating and that it is a free event. I never realized Pasadena had so many museums. The next tine they have an art night we will definitely go and check out some of the other places, namely City Hall. read more

Pasadena Art Night - Art Galleries Near Me - Pasadena, California

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I enjoyed the concept of this evening...but made a horrible mistake. I decided to take the free shuttles. In the two and a half hours I was at this event with my BF. I only got to see one museum...the rest of the time was spent both waiting and riding the shuttle. Other than that I would def do it again...just with my own car. read more

I really enjoyed Pasadena Art Night. They provided free shuttles from museum to museum (although it was quite impossible to get to ALL the participating galleries/museums). The weather was kind of a downer, but it didn't stop a lot of people from coming out to this unique event. I really liked the fact that I was able to visit Pacific Asia Museum and the Pasadena History Museum, two of the ones I've been meaning to visit and never got around to it! It's killing multiple birds with one stone. If I"m still in CA next year, I will definitely do this again. read more

This is an event that only happens a few times a year so check the website for upcoming dates ( http://artnightpasadena.org/ ) It actually includes many different locations over all of Pasadena but Pasadena City Hall (100 Garfield Ave, Pasadena, CA 91101) is considered the hub or center of the event where event staff and busses end up. Free shuttles will loop throughout the evening with stops at each venue. Park at any one venue and ride to the others on FREE charter buses in service just for this event. There are food trucks at different stops and restaurants in Old Town and all of Pasadena. read more

Last year this entire evening was wonderful. This year the transportation helpers and the bus routes and the general efficiency were very low. The two venues we got to were fine but the infrastrcuture was a mess. The bus people were not helpful which lead to our getting on a bus-with three children- which was the absolutely least efficient way to go to where we wanted. Forty-five minutes of unnecessary travel is a turn off. read more