Article content You probably have a good idea of what happens in Pasadena, Calif., on the first day of almost every year. Recommended Videos Thanks to television, those of us in the much colder areas of North America can watch the Tournament of Roses parade, with marching bands, horses, floats creatively decorated with flower parts, and a celebrity grand marshal travelling on sunny Colorado Blvd.

Later in the day, there’s the Rose Bowl football game, in which two top U.S. college teams battle for supremacy in front of 90,000 or so spectators.

(Note: These take place on Jan. 1 “almost every year” because if Jan. 1 is a Sunday, the events happen on Jan.

2. The next time that occurs is in 2034.) But Pasadena doesn’t cease to exist in the other 364 (or 365) days of the year.

Full disclosure: My wife Ruth and I have been to Pasadena many times, but we usually kept to the East Washington neighbourhood, home of many Armenian shops such as Aladdin Nuthouse . But thanks to Visit Pasadena , we recently learned a lot more about the city, and what visitors can see and do there. GOOD HUNTING In nearby Hollywood, a “triple threat” is a valued performer who can sing, dance and act.

Just outside of Pasadena’s city boundary, in San Marino, Calif., is another valued triple threat: The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens . “Huntington” was Henry E.

Huntington. He and his wife Arabella, who were avid collectors and had the money to afford it, founded The Hunti.