By Charly SHELTON

Pasadena’s big claim to fame has got to be architecture. From the Rose Association Mansion to the iconic Pasadena City Hall to the beautifully preserved Gamble House where the Craftsman movement originated, some of the best architecture in LA is in Pasadena. And being within “the Zone” – the 30-mile radius area around the major studios of LA – it is a popular film destination. Now My Valley Pass and the Pasadena Tourism and Convention Board have come together to show off some of the most well-known film locations in one convenient, comprehensive three-hour bus tour.

CV Weekly was invited on the inaugural tour, which will open to the public in July, and it was enlightening. I live in Pasadena, I started my career at a screening and press junket in Pasadena, and it’s where I spend almost all of my leisure time. But I had no idea that I was living just blocks away from the “Father of the Bride” house, the Peach Pit from “Beverly Hills 90210,” Don Draper’s house from “Mad Men” and Indiana Jones’ house from “the fourth one that we don’t talk about.”

In addition to seeing the locations as they are today, host Jared Cowan gives ample history of the location and backstory of how the filming happened, all while showing the screen caps from the film for guests to reference. Because I vaguely remember what the house from “Benson” looks like, but it’s not something I think about every day.

Notably, I didn’t recognize Smith and Hugus Alleys (the trendy back alley district just half a block north of Colorado Boulevard which is home to Il Fornaio Italian Restaurant and Sugarfina Candy Store) as the gambling den from “The Sting.” Apparently, the rundown alleyway was a perfect match for the building occupied by one of Paul Newman’s illicit gambling houses in depression-era Chicago.

Being a child of the ’90s, I didn’t know that Old Town Pasadena was, back in the ’70s, a largely abandoned, rundown district in horrid disrepair and populated mostly by the homeless and downtrodden. The trash and discarded furniture were already in place; just add some escaping sewer steam and Robert Redford and you have a movie. “The Sting” filmed in several alleys around Pasadena as well as Castle Green Apartments, because Pasadena has that unique look that can be old, modern or timeless, depending on where you point the camera.

The tour was fantastic and informative. Tickets are on sale now for the July 28 tour, so get them while you can. It will change the way you see Pasadena.

Tickets and more info can be found at MyValleyPass.com.

  Charly Shelton