Things to Do in San Fernando
Recommended Things to Do by Groupon Customers
What was once the personal collection of Pasadena residents Bob and Arlene Oltman is now a three-story institution with more than 10,000 square feet of gallery space. The Pasadena Museum of California Art features art, architecture, and design from all over the state and aims to explore cultural issues that are unique to California.
As a child in Buenos Aires, Angel Echeverria would sit on the porch of his family home and watch his aunt and uncle dance the tango. Music often spilled into the streets of his neighborhood, where many tango musicians lived. By the time he was a teenager in the early 1960s, Angel began studying the tango himself, and nearly 50 years later he founded The Tango Room Dance Center with Julie Friedgen. Like Angel, Julie grew up watching her parents’ Argentine friends dance tango at parties, and eventually became a ballet and flamenco dancer. Though she didn’t begin learning the tango until 13 years ago, once she started she immediately knew it was the dance to which she would devote the rest of her life.
Not surprisingly, The Tango Room is dedicated to the Argentine style of dance; many of the instructors hail from Argentina and lead classes in traditional, contemporary, waltz, and milonga variations. On Saturday nights the school transforms into El Encuentro—which translates to “the encounter”—a fast-paced dance party modeled after the tango clubs of Buenos Aires. Beyond tango, the school also hosts classes in salsa, belly dance, and R & B line dancing as well as Zumba and bujinkan, a Japanese martial art.
An online wine community, Bottlenotes connects vino enthusiasts in the pursuit of discussing wines, getting recommendations, and connecting with experts. Staff members organize public interactive tastings in 10 major cities, gathering people of varying experience to sample vintages and blends from around the world or from a particular region. Each interactive event expands into creative spaces, such as art galleries and museums, emulating the ancient practice of how artists celebrate their paintings' birthdays.
Bottlenotes' online wine collection—supplied through retailer Sherry-Lehmann—gives enophiles a communal browsing space for popular tipples. To help guide purchases, the website's interactive forum lets commenters share their tasting notes and wine ratings for each bottle. A daily e-newsletter also fills subscribers' inboxes with articles discussing interesting winemakers, wine-related products, and winemaking regions, keeping them up-to-date on current wine trends and the migration patterns of grapes.
Since its inception in 1979, The Museum of Contemporary Art has devoted itself to post-1940 artwork, a focus that sets it apart from all other Los Angeles museums. Its permanent collection harbors more than 5,000 art objects, encompassing media from video installations and documentary photography to pop art. Works from renowned artists such as Roy Lichtenstein, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Diane Arbus share gallery space with pieces from up-and-coming artists across the museum’s three facilities.
To complement its permanent collection, the museum hosts rotating temporary exhibits, such as the current Amanda Ross-Ho exhibit, Teeny Tiny Woman, which incorporates architectural elements and large-scale paintings. The museum staff also augments these displays with events, such as their summer concert series in Geffen Plaza, which explores the intersection of music and art like a guitar decoupaged with pages from DaVinci’s journal.
The Jade Apple’s extensive lineup of instructors leads a schedule brimming with rejuvenating yoga and dance styles for all levels and interests. Classes include introspective restoration sessions, which buoy soothing postures with pillows, blankets, and a studio pumped full of helium, affording students time to reflect on the day. On early mornings, Rise to Shine jolts drowsy ligaments awake with classic Hatha asanas and periodic traffic updates, while hips twist in energetic belly dance classes. The studio also hosts events to promote participation in the ancient art such as a family workshop. There is also a boutique that accessorizes students' ever-expanding range of postures with goods ranging from yoga mats ($30) to Jade Apple T-shirts ($22).
