Old Pasadena's First Holiday Passport Runs Past Holly Street and Into the Alleys

Old Pasadena's Holiday Passport runs November 15 to 29, and an entry needs stickers from at least 12 of the 21 participating small retailers. East Holly Street has eight of them.

The other 13 are spread across the district. Five are in or next to One Colorado, four are on Colorado Boulevard, and four are on Raymond Avenue, De Lacey Avenue, Morgan Alley and Fair Oaks Avenue. This is the first year Old Pasadena has run a passport, as Pasadena Now reported on November 6, so there's no earlier version to compare it to. Because of the 12-sticker threshold, no single block can fill a passport. A shopper has to cover at least two parts of the district.

How the passport works

The rules on the Old Pasadena Holiday Passport page are short.

• Pick up a passport at any of the 21 participating shops. They've been available since Sunday, November 15, when they were handed out at CicLAvia Pasadena.
• Ask each shop for its sticker. You don't have to buy anything.
• Collect at least 12 stickers by Sunday, November 29.
• Fill in your name, phone number and email, take a clear photo of the page showing your stickers, and email it to [email protected] by 5 p.m. PT on November 29.
• You must be 18 or older, and each person can enter once.

There are three prizes. Two $500 packages each hold gift cards and merchandise from 12 of the participating shops. The $1,225 grand prize includes gift cards and merchandise from all 21. Every qualifying entry is eligible for all three. The drawing is Monday, November 30, at 3 p.m. PT, and winners will be announced on Old Pasadena's Instagram and Facebook.

Tonight on Holly gets you nine stickers

Today, Thursday, November 19, is the 15th annual Holidays on Holly open house. Nine small businesses stay open late with discounts and refreshments, generally from 2 to 8 p.m. unless a shop notes otherwise. All nine are also passport shops: the eight on East Holly Street plus Homage at 100 N. Fair Oaks Ave. That makes tonight the quickest way to collect a large share of the stickers in one evening.

Nine stickers still leaves a shopper three short of an entry.

One Colorado and its alleys hold five stickers

The next-largest group is in and around One Colorado. Three of these shops have alley addresses, and the other two face Fair Oaks Avenue and Colorado Boulevard.

• M. Andonia, 15 Douglas Alley, sells handmade, one-of-a-kind handbags and accessories.
• The Unicorn Store, 12 Douglas Alley, carries toys, gifts, party supplies, costumes, art and craft supplies, books, stationery, plush toys and holiday décor.
• Rebecca Crews, 52 Hugus Alley, sells women's tuxedos and suits, along with shoes, handbags, accessories and cosmetics.
• PlayLab Beauty, 25 N. Fair Oaks Ave., specializes in hard-to-find K-beauty, J-beauty and other cosmetics and skincare. The shop opened in Old Pasadena in spring 2024, according to Glossy's report on its opening.
• Shopaholic Sample Sales, 37 W. Colorado Blvd., sells discounted contemporary women's designer clothing, including Velvet by Graham & Spencer.

These five shops alone would close the gap after Holly Street. They also matter on Small Business Saturday. The City of Pasadena and Visit Pasadena have named 24 businesses across the city as Shop Local Pasadena welcome stations for November 28, and six of them are in Old Pasadena. Four of those six are in this One Colorado group: Rebecca Crews, M. Andonia, PlayLab Beauty and The Unicorn Store. The other two, Jenette Bras and Homage, are both Holidays on Holly participants.

Colorado Boulevard and the side streets cover the rest

If you'd rather skip the alleys, or want stickers to spare, the other eight shops are along the main boulevard and on the streets south of it.

On Colorado Boulevard, two shops sit on the east side of Fair Oaks and two on the west.

• Crown City Games, 42 E. Colorado Blvd., stocks tabletop and trading-card games and hosts miniature painting and role-playing sessions.
• NEO Pasadena, 33 E. Colorado Blvd., sells sneakers, hats, vintage clothing and local Los Angeles apparel. Its directory listing says it has been part of Old Pasadena for more than 25 years. It started at street level in the early 2000s and later moved to a below-ground space.
• The Dog Bakery, 36 W. Colorado Blvd., sells fresh-baked, all-natural dog treats, toys, clothing, and birthday cakes and party packs for dogs.
• LATHER, 40 W. Colorado Blvd., sells body and skincare products made with natural ingredients, including olive-oil soaps and aromatherapy candles.

South of the boulevard and off the main grid are three more.

• Doggee Club, 22 S. Raymond Ave., carries natural dog food and treats, accessories and toys. It soft-launched in June 2025, according to Local News Pasadena, and the Pasadena Star-News reported a grand-opening party planned for that September. With The Dog Bakery on West Colorado, two of the 21 stickers come from shops for dogs.
• Imizzu, 54 S. De Lacey Ave., sells collectibles, blind boxes, keychains and accessories. The company's own timeline dates its Pasadena store to 2024.
• Store 242, 123 Morgan Alley, mixes vintage and current apparel with music and artist pop-ups.

Homage, on Fair Oaks, is the eighth. If you missed it at tonight's open house, you can pick up its sticker any day through November 29.

Old Pasadena also has a Google map of all 21 shops, which makes it easy to plan a route that crosses Colorado Boulevard once instead of several times.

The last weekend has four dates

The passport's final stretch overlaps with the city's Small Business Saturday campaign and the start of One Colorado's holiday season.

1. Friday, November 27. Pasadena Transit rides are free, according to the Old Pasadena event page, and they stay free through Saturday. Schedules and real-time arrivals are at PasadenaTransit.net. One Colorado's holiday program also begins, running through December 24 with Santa visits.
2. Saturday, November 28. It's Small Business Saturday. All 21 passport shops will give out Shop Small tote bags and enamel pins while supplies last. The six welcome stations will also hand out free canvas totes from the city campaign, first come, first served. Old Pasadena's Small Business Saturday page links a Shop Small / Dine Local map of nearly 200 independent businesses, with the passport shops marked by a star.
3. Sunday, November 29. One Colorado's holiday bazaar runs from 2 to 6 p.m. Passport entries are due by email at 5 p.m. PT that day, which falls during the bazaar. Five passport shops are in or around One Colorado, so a shopper one or two stickers short can finish there and send the photo before the deadline.
4. Monday, November 30. The three winners are drawn at 3 p.m. PT.

One Colorado's calendar continues into December

One Colorado's courtyard programs keep going after the passport ends. Wreath workshops are on Saturday, December 5, with sessions from 1 to 3 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. A snow-globe workshop runs Saturday, December 12, from 1 to 3 p.m. Santa Snacks & Stories is Sunday, December 20, from 1 to 2 p.m. The district's holiday decorations, including snowflake projections, are up from November 4 through January 6.

On December 13, Castle Green at 99 S. Raymond Ave. holds its annual holiday tour from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., about a block from Doggee Club.

Part of the reason Tony Dowdy works in Old Pasadena is the shops along these alleys and side streets. If you own a home or condo within walking distance of Holly Street and One Colorado and would like to know what it's worth this season, request a free home valuation and Tony will prepare a current, Old Pasadena–specific estimate for you.