La Cañada Flintridge

La Cañada Flintridge is a city of about 20,000 people (2018) at the extreme northwest end of the San Gabriel Valley in Southern California.

Understand

La Cañada Flintridge is famous for its fancy and rather pricey homes. It is one of the nicer communities in Los Angeles County. It sits against the Angeles Crest Forest to the north and is split in half by the 210 freeway. La Cañada is a suburban, primarily residential community with few tourist attractions.

Get in

The 210 freeway runs through La Cañada and connects it to such places as Altadena and Pasadena to the east and La Crescenta to the west. The 2 freeway links the city to Glendale and inner Los Angeles to the south and ends in La Cañada, and the 2 continues (as a two-lane highway) northward through Angeles National Forest where it can be taken to such places as Palmdale and Wrightwood.

See

• 1 Descanso Gardens, 1418 Descanso Drive. Beautiful, private garden. Very similar to the Los Angeles County Arboretum, but smaller and more intimate. Make sure to visit the International Rosarium with over 3,000 roses. Adult $9, seniors and students with ID $6, children (5-12) $4, children under 5 free.  
• 2 NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), ☏ +1-818-354-9314. This is a national laboratory run by Caltech complete with a security check point. JPL is the leading U.S. center of robotic space exploration. JPL focuses on the exploration of Mars with its Mars rovers. JPL does have an annual Open House that is held on or around Memorial Day weekend (last weekend in May). During this event it is open to the public, anyone can go at that time. Other times it is mostly closed to the public at large though some tour options are available through JPL Public Services Office for groups and individuals on an advance reservation basis.  
• Angeles National Forest

Do

• La Canada Rose Float Volunteer One of 6 remaining self-built floats in the annual on January 1st of each year, this float requires year round work from volunteers to create unique and colorful designs. You can construct the float from metal to flowers all year on Saturdays from 9am-2pm at the Valley Water Company. Decoration requires signups online but takes place all day from December 26th to December 31st.

Eat

• Hill Street Cafe, 1094 Foothill Blvd, ☏ +1 818 952-1019. 7AM-10PM. Steakhouse with a wide range of foods. (updated May 2019)

Go next

• Rose Bowl - The Pasadena Rose Bowl, home of the UCLA football team, the annual Rose Bowl football game and the 1984 Olympic Soccer Finals is only minutes away.

Routes through La Cañada Flintridge

END ← North Valley ←	W  E	→ Pasadena → San Bernardino
Northwest LA ← Glendale ←	S  E	→ Angeles National Forest → Wrightwood