My brother and I are planning to go this year, we found a cheap airbnb in Monterey I believe. Plan to walk and take an uber everywhere for the weekend. We fly in Saturday morning, game is Monday, we fly our Tuesday afternoon.
Seems like the parade route is within walking distance of the stadium with about a 2-4 hour time between depending on when you leave the parade.
Any and all advice or tips are appreciated. Thanks!
Hopefully your Airbnb is in Monterey Park…
I’ve run around the rose bowl during non-event times. It’s very pretty. There’s a Zankou Chicken restaurant somewhat nearby that is tasty. Pasadena is near Burbank, where shows are taped. You could go sit in a studio audience, which is kind of interesting and entertaining. Why not?
I think I saw that the 10 has issues, so be advised that traffic might be bad. I don’t quite know where the 10 troubles are located.
If you’re going to Monterey, not Pasadena, then that’s even better. The Monterey Aquarium and Cannery Row are great. Pacific Grove is cute. Pebble Beach golf course is scenic. I think I’d prefer that area over Pasadena, but the Rose Bowl parade is super cool, too. I think it might be great to see the bands in the parade. I saw a video of an INSANELY cool drum major doing some crazy shit. I would go bananas if I saw that in person.
John LaVange is the name of OSU’s drum major from a few years ago, I think. Check out the first 20 seconds of his tryout video:
https://youtu.be/RZq8UvIsUec?si=ReEH2MD2wki-I-na
https://youtu.be/isKPxVNifc8?si=BaosEhVgTdCEUZfU
Can you imagine keeping time and moving that way?!
I’m not a football fan. I hope/expect that the rose bowl parade is like this. Gimme some Zankou Chicken and a marching band show like that, and I’d be pretty happy with the afternoon.
Monterrey to the Rose Bowl is going to be a very expensive Uber.
Monterrey to the Rose Bowl is going to be a very expensive Uber.
From what I understand that entire area is expensive. Car rental would be cheaper, but parking and dealing with parking that weekend would be more expensive and a bigger headache. Public transit seems like a viable option coupled with uber as needed for us.
Monterrey to the Rose Bowl is going to be a very expensive Uber.
From what I understand that entire area is expensive. Car rental would be cheaper, but parking and dealing with parking that weekend would be more expensive and a bigger headache. Public transit seems like a viable option coupled with uber as needed for us.
Monterey to Pasadena is 319 miles…
Unless you mean Monterey Park. Two very different places.
Monterrey to the Rose Bowl is going to be a very expensive Uber.
From what I understand that entire area is expensive. Car rental would be cheaper, but parking and dealing with parking that weekend would be more expensive and a bigger headache. Public transit seems like a viable option coupled with uber as needed for us.
Monterey to Pasadena is 319 miles…
Unless you mean Monterey Park. Two very different places.
Having never heard of Monterey Park I was pretty confused on that one.
I’m also assuming you are staying in Monterey Park and not Monterey.
Have never been to the parade or game but did drive the parade route the day before many years ago. Folks were already starting to camp out on the sidewalks to stay all night and have a good (free) vantage point the next day.
It was a party before the party but i would just go for the grandstand tickets
Yes to both. Grew up in L.A. Really great experience, especially if you have an alliance with one of the teams.
Granddaddy of them all as Keith Jackson eloquently noted.
You may want to consider a different lodging locale, maybe even somewhere in Pasadena. Get there early, traffic will be an issue.
My brother and I are planning to go this year, we found a cheap airbnb in Monterey I believe. Plan to walk and take an uber everywhere for the weekend. We fly in Saturday morning, game is Monday, we fly our Tuesday afternoon.
Seems like the parade route is within walking distance of the stadium with about a 2-4 hour time between depending on when you leave the parade.
Any and all advice or tips are appreciated. Thanks!
I grew up in the area and have gone to the parade/game many times.
I am seconding everyone else’s comments that hopefully you are not staying in Monterey, CA.
Do you have tickets to the Rose Bowl game?
If you are going to the Parade, be aware that 1.) hordes of people camp out overnight on the Parade route. You won’t be able to just uber over from Monterey Park the morning of the parade and get a spot where you can actually see the parade. I’m not even sure how close an Uber can get you to the route - be prepared to walk a bit. 2.) traffic is a giant clusterfuck all over town all day. It’s a good idea to walk to the stadium from the parade route (chose your spot on the route wisely then, since it’s a 5 mile parade route), but also plan to walk/take a bus out of the stadium at the end of the night as well.
There are grandstands set up on the parade route at various places, most famously the corner of Orange Grove and Colorado Blvd. (that’s where the TV cameras are). Don’t try to go there to get a spot to view.
If you cheap airbnb is in Monterey Park you won’t be walking too many places.
You can check out this guide for transit assistance: https://tournamentofroses.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/2023_Event_Guide_FOR_WEBSITE_12.21.22.pdf
My brother and I are planning to go this year, we found a cheap airbnb in Monterey I believe. Plan to walk and take an uber everywhere for the weekend. We fly in Saturday morning, game is Monday, we fly our Tuesday afternoon.
Seems like the parade route is within walking distance of the stadium with about a 2-4 hour time between depending on when you leave the parade.
Any and all advice or tips are appreciated. Thanks!
I’ve been to the Rose Bowl, but it was in the summer several years ago to watch Chelsea play LIverpool.
I did see the parade one year, but we had seats in the grandstands through some connections. So I probably can’t help much. I do recall getting up very early and a long walk from wherever we parked. Hot chocolate was really appreciated with lots of walking and waiting in cold.
If the actual parade is too much of a logistics challenge then look into post-parade float viewing
My brother and I are planning to go this year, we found a cheap airbnb in Monterey I believe. Plan to walk and take an uber everywhere for the weekend. We fly in Saturday morning, game is Monday, we fly our Tuesday afternoon.
Seems like the parade route is within walking distance of the stadium with about a 2-4 hour time between depending on when you leave the parade.
Any and all advice or tips are appreciated. Thanks!
I grew up in the area and have gone to the parade/game many times.
I am seconding everyone else’s comments that hopefully you are not staying in Monterey, CA.
Do you have tickets to the Rose Bowl game?
If you are going to the Parade, be aware that 1.) hordes of people camp out overnight on the Parade route. You won’t be able to just uber over from Monterey Park the morning of the parade and get a spot where you can actually see the parade. I’m not even sure how close an Uber can get you to the route - be prepared to walk a bit. 2.) traffic is a giant clusterfuck all over town all day. It’s a good idea to walk to the stadium from the parade route (chose your spot on the route wisely then, since it’s a 5 mile parade route), but also plan to walk/take a bus out of the stadium at the end of the night as well.
There are grandstands set up on the parade route at various places, most famously the corner of Orange Grove and Colorado Blvd. (that’s where the TV cameras are). Don’t try to go there to get a spot to view.
If you cheap airbnb is in Monterey Park you won’t be walking too many places.
You can check out this guide for transit assistance: https://tournamentofroses.com/...WEBSITE_12.21.22.pdf
Yup, we have game tickets, bought them this weekend. Everything minus the tickets is refundable if we decide to go somewhere else. My brother is a Michigan alum and would prefer to see them play if they go somewhere else, but we both have wanted to go to the Rose Bowl game for decades, this is an ideal for both of us to go.
Good to know about the camping overnight. We don’t mind walking and prefer to avoid traffic as best as possible, hence not wanting to rent a car. Might do public transport if we need. Seems like its walking distance from parade to stadium, getting to parade might be a bit different.
Looking at what to do in the area on Saturday and Sunday when we get into town.
There’s tons of restaurants/bars in Old Town Pasadena, and it’s usually pretty hopping with fans of the teams there.
When we lived in Southern California (pre-pandemic) we went to the parade multiple times and also the game once. If I recall correctly, you are from the midwest and it is something to see.
What we did
Arrive very early before the parade at the staging area for the floats. You can get quite close to them before the start and see the detail. Our parents typically wanted to do this to see the detail and it was fun to see them up close (beware, it can be colder in Pasadena than you think)Walk around to find a spot to watch some of the parade. This was typically a secondary objective as we weren’t there to see the bands, but we were able to see the parade, always standing. As people have noted, camping out the night before is a thing.Tailgating between the parade and gameGame time - make sure to at a minimum take a sweatshirt or something warm. When the sun drops in the 3rd quarter, if you are in the shade you will appreciate the layer (again, colder than many non-Californians would expect)
We always had a car, so some years we went early to see the floats and drove home, without much trouble. Another year we parked at Rose Bowl Stadium. In either case, we came in on the 10 (or 210) and left that way. I do not remember it being problematic.
If you haven’t been to LA, I would always recommend a trip to Santa Monica, walk the pier, the beach and 3rd street promenade. It used to be that they would have a pep rally on the pier, but I am not sure if anyone does that now.
You can purchase tickets to the parade which makes for a much more enjoyable parade experience. You would want to get seats towards the beginning of the parade as it is closer to the Rose Bowl and early enough that the floats, marching bands and parade participants have not fallen apart yet. I would advise you to dress for cold weather as it can get as low as the 30’s in the early morning in January and will be cold again in the evening after the sun goes down in the stadium.
It almost never rains during the parade or game but seems to rain frequently on Dec 31 for some reason.
Parking for the parade and game is really challenging. Between the two events there will be well over 500,000 people in the area. Game parking is on a public golf course next to the stadium and there are only 7 exit routes out of the area. If you park a car there you could be stuck for an hour before you can exit.
The Metro Train Line has a stop at Victory Park in Pasadena that is close to the parade route and about 1.5 miles from the Rose Bowl Stadium. It is an easy walk and goes near the bar and restaurant area of Pasadena that someone else mentioned in an earlier response.
That area will be crowded but is a good place to hang out, get some food and watch a bowl game on tv in the timeframe between the parade and the game and also after the game.
After the game you can walk back up to the restaurant area or train station. I would expect that there are also some rideshare options in that area.
You should also check to see if there are any shuttle buses that will be taking people from the Monterey Park area to the parade and game as Monterey Park has a lot of public transportation options.
If you are interested in working out, there are 2 50 meter pools about 1/4 mile south of the Rose Bowl (Rose Bowl Aquatics Center) and a lap around the Rose Bowl is just about 3 miles and always has a lot of runners and cyclists.
I grew up in this area and know it well. I have been to the parade (I have a friend who drives one of the floats), worked on the floats, run the parade route in the early morning before the parade starts, worked at the game and attended the game.
Let me know if you have any questions.