Looking for Something to Do? Free Pasadena Events March 21 to 27

Here are arts and cultural events scheduled Saturday, March 21, to Friday, March 27.

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

Espionage, intrigue and strong women, oh my!

March is One City, One Story month -- our community reading celebration with that include book discussions, films, presentations, special programs and more.

Have you read the current selection "The Secrets We Kept" by Lara Prescott yet, which is inspired by true events? (I have!) At the height of the Cold War, two female secretaries are pulled from the typing pool at the CIA and given the assignment of a lifetime, filled with intrigue and risk: smuggle Boris Pasternak's manuscript for his epic novel "Doctor Zhivago" out of the USSR, where no one dares publish it, and help it make its way into print around the world, and then smuggle copies of the book translated into Russian back into the USSR. The story is intertwined with that of the decades-long affair between Pasternak and mis mistress/muse, Olga Ivinskaya, who was dragged to Gulags twice for her involvement in the book and who inspired the "Doctor Zhivago" heroine Lara. 

One City, One Story events are scheduled all month long. There are two events scheduled this upcoming week:

• Join a book discussion about "The Secrets We Kept" Saturday, March 21, at 10:30 a.m. at Hill Avenue Branch Library or 11 a.m. at San Rafael Branch Library.
• Click here for the full calendar of events.

"The Loved One" (1965, NR) starring Robert Morse and Jonathan Winters will be shown Saturday, March 21, at 2 p.m. at Allendale Branch Library. A British poet falls in love with a funeral-home cosmetician, who in turn is loved by a prissy funeral director. See the trailer here. This film is not for children.

Third@First presents American bass Nathan Stark in a program titled "From Opera to Broadway" Saturday, March 21, at 4 p.m. at First United Methodist Church. 

The PBS documentary film "Medal of Honor" (2008, TV-14) will be shown Wednesday, March 25, at 1 p.m. in the Donald R. Wright Auditorium at Central Library. Some remarkable soldiers found the strength to face almost certain death to save the lives of others during wars spanning the Civil War to the Iraq War. Discover some of the most inspirational stories of bravery ever to emerge from the battlefield. See the trailer here. The Medal of Honor, first given during the Civil War, is the highest U.S. award for valor in combat. The film was produced by Ken Burns and narrated by Alfre Woodard.

"Ford v Ferrari" (2019, PG-13) starring Matt Damon and Christian Bale will be shown Friday, March 27, at 1 p.m. in the Scott Pavilion at the Pasadena Senior Center. American car designer Carroll Shelby and British-born driver Ken Miles battle corporate interference, laws of physics and their own personal demons to build a revolutionary new race car for Ford Motor Company that will take on the dominating race cars of Enzo Ferrari at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans in France. The film is based on true events. 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: City of Pasadena, Filmways Pictures, Nathan Stark, PBS, Chernin Entertainment.