Looking for Something to Do? Free Pasadena Events January 25 to 31

Here are arts and cultural events scheduled Saturday, Jan. 25, to Friday, Jan. 31.

All events are free, so take a look -- and don't you dare say there's nothing to do in Pasadena!

Kidspace Children's Museum and USC Pacific Asia Museum will be among 40 Southern California arts institutions that will open their doors for free during Museums Annual Free-For-All Day Saturday, Jan. 25, during regular operating hours.

Celebrate the Year of the Rat during USC Pacific Asia Museum's annual Lunar New Year Festival Saturday, Jan. 25, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. with live performances, artmaking workshops, free admission to galleries and more.

Every Person Has a Name Saturday, Jan. 25, at 7 p.m. through Sunday, Jan. 26, at 8 p.m. in front of Pasadena City Hall, 100 N. Garfield Ave., will begin with a commemoration ceremony followed by a 24-hour vigil with the reading of the names of victims who perished during the Holocaust. This event coincides with United Nations Holocaust Remembrance Day. Monday, Jan. 27, is the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp. To volunteer to read names, sign up here.   

Admission to the new Southern California Children's Museum exhibition "Wild California" is free Monday, Jan. 27, from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The exhibition highlights Southern California's diverse natural landscape, educates about ecology and recreational opportunities within each biome and emphasizes whole-body movement through physical activities and imaginative role-play.

Children 5 to 12 are invited to celebrate the Year of the Rat, hear the tale "The Great Race: The Story of the Chinese Zodiac" and make traditional Lunar New Year decorations Monday, Jan. 27, at 3:30 p.m. in the Children's Story Room at Central Library, presented by USC Pacific Asia Museum. To sign up, call (626) 744-4066, option 4.

"Heart Like a Wheel" (1983, PG) starring Bonnie Bedelia and Beau Bridges will be shown Wednesday, Jan. 29, at 1 p.m. in the Donald R. Wright Auditorium at Central Library. Shirley Muldowney becomes a National Hot Rod Association top fuel drag race champion in spite of overt industry sexism and increasing jealousy of her pit-mechanic husband. The film is based on true events. See the trailer here.

When you think of space telescopes, Hubble is probably the first one that comes to mind. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has made a name for itself as well with stunning images captured with highly sensitive instruments that allow scientists to peer into cosmic regions that are hidden from optical telescopes, including dusty stellar nurseries, the centers of galaxies and newly forming planetary systems. As the telescope's mission nears its end, more than 16 years after launch and four decades after conception, Dr. Thomas Soifer, director of Caltech's Spitzer Science Center, will lead a presentation Wednesday, Jan, 29, from 8 to 9:30 p.m. at Caltech's Beckman Auditorium (#91 on this map) that will describe the innovations that led to Spitzer's long lifespan and illustrate the mission's main findings, which include revealing a stellar system with seven earth-size planets as well as massive galaxies in an infant universe. Registration is requested. Caltech parking lots and parking structures are free after 5 p.m.

Musicians from the Pasadena Symphony and Pops will perform a concert of enlivening, engaging and fun music in the Scott Pavilion at the Pasadena Senior Center Thursday, Jan. 30, from 2 to 3 p.m. You do not have to be a member of the Pasadena Senior Center to attend, but you do have to be 50 or older.

"Judy" (2019, PG-13) starring Renée Zellweger and Rufus Sewell will be shown Friday, Jan. 31, at 1 p.m. in the Scott Pavilion at the Pasadena Senior Center. Thirty years after "The Wizard of Oz" shot her to stardom, Judy Garland arrives in London to perform a five-week, sold-out run, sometimes unreliably due to substance abuse and other issues, and reminisces about her brutal experience as a child star at MGM, all the while living up to her legendary status as "the world's greatest entertainer." See the trailer here. You do not have to be a member of the Pasadena Senior Center to attend, but you do have to be 50 or older.

Photo credits: Real Estate Unlimited, Los Angeles Times, United Nations, Southern California Children's Museum, Twentieth Century Fox, Wise Horoscope, NASA, Pasadena Symphony and Pops, BBC Films