Pasadena City Hall is a historical landmark that’s been a favorite filming location for dozens of movie and television shows. Now it’s become a favorite destination for quinceañera photoshoots.
The iconic 16th-century Renaissance-style building by San Francisco architectural firm Bakewell & Brown was completed Oct. 25, 1927 and opened to the public in December that same year.
Since then, it’s served as a set location in Charlie Chaplin’s Oscar-nominated film “The Great Dictator” and as the fictional city hall in the popular NBC TV series “Parks and Recreation.”
The building has also been a stand-in for Napa Valley’s town square in the 1995 movie “A Walk in the Clouds” and as an embassy in the 1960’s era TV series “Mission: Impossible”.
These days, you’re as likely to find Latina teenage girls in colorful, sparkly, ball gowns as you are a film crew.
On a recent Saturday afternoon, fourteen-year-old Barbara Elias waited patiently at the entrance of City Hall as another quinceañera finished up their photoshoot.
Elias was wearing an off-shoulder, fuchsia pink, glittery ball gown, a diamond jeweled princess crown and holding a bouquet of soft pink and white roses.
When it was her turn, Elias made her way up the steps, placing her long ball gown’s tail to hang on the staircase ever so effortlessly.
“I think this location was really good for that reason,” Elias explained. She was accompanied by her mother, Patricia Dueñas, who said she considers Pasadena a traditional and famous city.
“It’s unique, even though many Hispanics who come here take photographs aren’t aware of the culture. We don’t know the significance, but we’re more driven to what looks beautiful,” said Dueñas.
The interior of City Hall’s garden courtyard is filled with trees, hydrangeas, azaleas, rhododendron bushes and roses.
On this day, at least half a dozen quinceañeras posed in the courtyard’s corners with guidance from their hired photographers.
One of them was Brissa Suarez, a 15-year-old from Los Angeles, who held a bouquet of red roses decorated with bejeweled butterflies.
Suarez struck a pose behind the 22.5-foot-tall Baroque-style fountain in a red beaded, embroidered, floral ball gown.
“I was born here in LA, so I’ve been known about this spot. I just wanted to look into it more, and this was the nicest place I found for pictures,” Suarez told The LA Local.
Positioning herself alongside the pink flower beds, fourteen-year-old Melanny Rodriguez said she discovered Pasadena City Hall on social media.
“I saw a lot of stuff like on my TikTok for you page,” explained Rodriguez, who wore a glamorous champagne ball gown.
She plans to come back with the rest of her royal court of damas and chambelanes.
“This is my pre-shoot, and then my quinceañera is next month. So, we’re taking my pre-shoots today, and then for next month I’m going to be with all of them,” she said excitedly.
