Moore
Lab Visitor Information
The California Institute of Technology is located at 1201 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, California, 91125. The Caltech campus is bounded by Wilson and Hill Avenues west and east, and by Del Mar Avenue and California Boulevard north and south. It is a small campus, only one city block square. Limited free parking is located on streets around the perimeter of the campus. Permits are required for parking in parking structures and on campus lots. Vehicles are not permitted within the campus area except by permission of Campus Security.
1. Historic photos of Pasadena.
2. Maps of Pasadena and the freeway system .
3.Information about the City of Pasadena, attractions, dining and transportation.
4. Current weather conditions in Pasadena.
5. For an overview on living in the USA , go to: http://www.edupass.org/living
6. Caltech Visitor's Guide pdf
Places to go in the Pasadena area : Angeles National Forest, Descanso Gardens, Eaton Canyon Natural Reserve, Gamble House, Huntington Library, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Los Angeles County Arboretum, Mission San Gabriel Archángel Museum, Mount Wilson Observatory, Norton Simon Museum, Pacific Asia Museum , Pasadena Playhouse, Southwest Museum, Pasadena Museum of California Art, The Getty Museum, Day Trips around Pasadena.
Getting to Pasadena
The Greater Los Angeles area includes five major airports: Los Angeles International, Burbank/Glendale/Pasadena, Long Beach, Ontario, and Orange County John Wayne International (see map below). Pasadena is accessible by freeway from any of these airports; the most convenient is Burbank, just 20 minutes away.
Caltrans (the California Department of Transportation) provides information on freeway conditions in the Los Angeles and Orange County area. An alternate freeway condition site for Los Angeles can be found here. It is a good idea to check this information before travelling, as the traffic in Los Angeles is some of the heaviest in the nation.
Finding Caltech
SuperShuttle- Airport Van - Los Angeles - LAX, Ontario (ONT), Bob Hope Airport (Burbank - BUR) , Long Beach ( LGB) , John Wayne (Orange County, SNA) Airports
SuperShuttle which offer door-to-door service from the airport and has several drop-off stops at campus. Instructions for campus people coming from LAX, BUR or ONT can be found here . Instructions for non-campus people or originating from LGB and SNA can be found here. Caltech is located in the San Gabriel Valley.
Campus SuperShuttle stops:
- S1, located at the south end of the Parking structure (building 66) on 370 S. Holliston Avenue.
- S2, located just north of Moore Laboratory at the end of Chester Avenue.
- S3, located in the parking lot near the south-east corner of 450 South Catalina.
- S4, located in the traffic turnaround off of California Boulevard and south of Arms Laboratory.
Driving Instructions
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Caltech. For mapquest directions, click here. By car (45 minutes-1 hour), take Sepulveda Blvd. (1) South and follow the signs to the Glenn Anderson Fwy (105). While on Sepulveda; you go downhill and through a tunnel. Turn right at the end of the tunnel onto the 105 on-ramp. Go east on the 105 to the Harbor Fwy (110). Go north on the 110 - Harbor Freeway, which turns into the Pasadena Fwy (this is still the 110) and drive to the end of the freeway. Keep going north at the end of the freeway as it turns into Arroyo Parkway); turn right (east) on California Blvd. Proceed approximately one and a quarter miles. The Caltech campus will be on your left. Turn left (north) at Hill Ave. Turn left (west) at San Pasqual St. Turn right (north) onto Holliston Ave. Proceed to the Holliston Parking Structure on your right at 370 S. Holliston Ave. (Building #66 on the campus map) to register your car and receive instructions on where to park.
From the Burbank/Glendale/Pasadena Airport: Follow the signs leaving the airport to the Golden State Freeway (5). Proceed south on the 5 to the Ventura Freeway (134). Go east on the 134 to the Foothill Freeway (210). Continue east on the 210 to Hill Ave.Travel south (right) on Hill Ave. until you reach campus.
From Downtown Los Angeles; Proceed north on the Harbor/Pasadena Freeway (110) until it ends on Arroyo Parkway in Pasadena. Continue north on Arroyo Parkway to California Blvd. Turn right onto California Blvd, and proceed to Caltech.
From Orange County or the San Gabriel Valley: Travel north on the San Gabriel River Freeway (605) to the Foothill Freeway (210). Go west on the 210 to the Hill Ave. exit. Turn onto Hill Ave. and follow it to campus.
Parking at Caltech.
Caltech has limited parking located all around the perimeter. Permits are required. Use the CALTECH CAMPUS MAP to find the location of the Moore Laboratory, (Electrical Engineering Dept. ), and parking areas. Most street parking is generally limited to 1 or 2 hours during the day. The limits are enforced and you will be ticketed or towed away. On Del Mar Ave, just north of the Moore Laboratory, the purple rectangle below on the map, indicates where you can park on the street, Monday-Friday, 9AM-4PM. The yellow boxes are the parking structures. The blue boxes are the two connected parking lots just north of the Moore Laboratory.
Visitors are required to display a permit if their vehicle is parked on campus between the hours of 7am-5pm, Monday-Friday.
Permits are available at automated pay stations at the following locations:
1.structure #1 (North Wilson structure B), 2. Parking lot #6 (Tournament Park Lot), 3. Structure #3 (California St. underground structure by the tennis courts- bottom of map below) 4. Structure #4 (Holliston structure A - ticket machine on 3rd level), 5. Parking Lot #12 (Lura St. Lot)
Visitor permits may be purchased at the rate of $1 per hour, $5 per day or $15 per week. A $5 daily permit is valid through the end of the business day (5PM) in which the permit is purchased.
Hotels
Pasadena has a wide range of accomodations, from the luxurious Ritz-Carlton to the basic, friendly and close, Saga Motor Hotel. Typical room rates for area motels are $66/night single, $76/night double, plus an 14.5% room tax. Click on the following "list of hotels near Caltech", for a map and Caltech rates. Click here for a list of hotels suggested by the city of Pasadena.
Caltech is home to the Athenæum, which serves as the faculty center and meeting place of the Caltech Associates, an organization of donors to Caltech from the surrounding community. "The Ath" has rooms available at $95/night for a single or double room for guests of members or of campus departments.
Dining, Attractions and Buses/Trains
Pasadena's major shopping districts are the Old Town also known as Old Pasadena, around Fair Oaks Avenue and Colorado Blvd; and South Lake Avenue, between California Blvd and Walnut Street.
The Los Angeles County Public Metro Transit System Map in Los Angeles in pdf format can be downloaded here. (885 KB). This map includes all buses and trains in the county.
The Gold Line Metro Rail opened July 2003. For information on the fares and routes, click here. The Gold Line is linked to the Blue, Green and Red lines which cover Los Angeles. The Lake St. station is a 10-15 mimute walk from campus.
Click
on map to download pdf version to print.
A local bus service called the Arts Bus throughout Pasadena. The end of the shuttle line is a five minute walk from Caltech, convenient for students and visitors alike. The cost is 50 cents per ride with free transfers when travelling in the same direction. If you transfer from the Gold Line rail or a regular bus, the cost will be 25 cents.The current ARTS bus map can be downloaded in pdf format by clicking here. (148 KB)
The Pasadena area includes several four-star restaurants, as well as more affordable fare in dozens of ethnic varieties. The Visitors Bureau has some restaurant information online. Click here to view the City of Pasadena site listing of Maps of Pasadena and Los Angeles .
Several internationally renowned museums and art galleries, including the Norton Simon Museum, the Huntington Library and Gardens, and the Pacific Asia Musuem, call Pasadena home. In the early part of this century, Pasadena was the birthplace of the Craftsman school of architecture, made famous by the firm of Greene & Greene; many examples of the Craftsman bungalow style are scattered throughtout Pasadena, including the Gamble House, maintained by the University of Southern California as a National Historic Site. The many attractions throughout Southern California, from the Getty museum in Malibu to Disneyland in Anaheim, are just a short drive away, as are several beaches and mountain ski areas.
Caltech itself has a great program of
entertainment events and lectures. More information is available through
the Office of Public Events,
(800) 423-8849, or by e-mail to tickets@caltech.edu.
