Linda Vista-Annandale

This guide covers the part of Pasadena west of the Arroyo Seco between the 210 Freeway and the 134 Freeway, out to the city lines with Glendale and Los Angeles. The City of Pasadena maps it as the area of the Linda Vista/Annandale Association, with the center of the Arroyo as the eastern edge, so the Rose Bowl and the Brookside Golf Club are inside and the museums and houses on the east rim are next door.

People use several names here. Linda Vista comes from Linda Vista Avenue, the main road through the hills, though some sources draw Linda Vista smaller, from Oak Grove Drive to Colorado Boulevard and west of Linda Vista Avenue. Annandale comes from the Annandale Golf Club in the canyon just north of Colorado, though the old Annandale community also took in land south of Colorado that's now split between Pasadena and Los Angeles. You'll also see San Rafael, but Pasadena uses that name for several different places, which is why this guide doesn't.

In the city's zoning code, the San Rafael hillside neighborhood is a separate overlay south of Colorado Boulevard. San Rafael Elementary is on Nithsdale Road, also south of Colorado. The Alta San Rafael Association is a small area near Linda Vista Avenue, north of the 134. And the San Rafael Hills run on into Glendale; they share their name with the old Rancho San Rafael, a Spanish land grant given to José María Verdugo in 1784. If a listing says San Rafael, ask which one.

The hills are in Pasadena's Hillside Development overlay, Chapter 17.29 of the zoning code. A new house, any new square footage above the first floor, or a first-floor addition of 500 square feet or more needs a Hillside Development Permit. Houses can't exceed 28 feet above the slope at any point or 35 feet from the lowest point to the top of the roof, lot coverage tops out at 35%, and the top of a house has to sit at least 30 feet below the nearest ridge.

Floor area is capped by formula. On an RS-2 hillside lot the base is 22.5% of the lot plus 500 square feet, it shrinks as the average slope climbs past 15%, and on lots of 10,000 square feet or more, any part steeper than 50% doesn't count toward the lot area. On rim lots shown on the city's Arroyo Seco slope bank map, nothing can be built over the top edge of the slope, and anything within 20 feet of it needs a hillside permit.

Trees are the other constraint. Pasadena protects native trees, including coast live oaks, California sycamores and California bay, once the trunk is more than 8 inches across at 4½ feet above the ground. And SB 9's lot-split and duplex rules come with extra conditions in very high fire hazard zones, so check with the city before you count on them.

The Rose Bowl opened in October 1922, designed by Myron Hunt, and has been a National Historic Landmark since 1987. It seats 89,702, UCLA has played home games here since 1982, and it's scheduled to host the soccer gold medal matches at the 2028 Olympics. The flea market takes over the grounds on the second Sunday of every month, as it has since 1967.

Around it, the city's Brookside Golf Club has two 18-hole courses, the C.W. Koiner and E.O. Nay, designed by William P. Bell. Brookside Park, just south, covers 61.1 acres with Jackie Robinson Stadium, lighted softball diamonds and a big multi-use field, and the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center and Kidspace Children's Museum sit next to it. The city's Rose Bowl Loop circles the stadium and golf course, part of the 22 miles of trails in Pasadena's Arroyo Seco, open sunrise to sunset.

Big events bring crowds and traffic into the Arroyo and onto the roads around it. Before you buy near the Rose Bowl, drive your route on a game day or a flea market Sunday. The Colorado Street Bridge, opened in December 1913 and 1,467.5 feet long, crosses the Arroyo just south of the 134 at the southern edge of the area.

Insurance first. I ask for written quotes on the exact address during the first days of escrow, and I ask the seller for the defensible space documentation state law requires in this zone. Then the permit history: hillside permits, additions, retaining walls and any grading, compared against what's actually built and what the assessor has on record.

Pasadena's presale program also applies. Before escrow closes, the seller needs a Presale Certificate of Completion, which requires certifying there's no unpermitted construction over 120 square feet and that the living space isn't 10% or more over the assessor's record, or a city inspection certificate. If the inspection finds problems, the seller can transfer them to you in writing, so read that document.

Then the ground. On a slope I want a geotechnical opinion on the retaining walls, drainage and any cracking, and a look at the flood map: two of the three points I checked are FEMA Zone X, but the third, on a hillside, came back Zone D, meaning the flood risk hasn't been determined. I walk the house and the slope with you before we write the offer.