Looking for Something to Do? Free Events May 17 to 23

Here are my top picks for events scheduled from Saturday, May 17, to Friday, May 23.

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

For Bike Week Pasadena's final event, experience downtown Pasadena in a whole new way as you walk, ride your bike, skate or use another non-motorized means of transportation through the streets of our community with other individuals and families Saturday, May 17, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. beginning at Pasadena City Hall. Registration is required. There will also be an organized bike ride with Mayor Bill Bogaard, who is an avid biker. Afterwards, stay and watch the top professional cycling teams with the AMGEN Tour of California as they race into Pasadena.

Teens will explore writing flash fiction during the Teen Creative Writing Workshop Saturday, May 17, at 2 p.m. at Pasadena Central Library. Writing experience is not required. Selected stories will be featured on the library blog and the new Teen Zine. 

Readings, author talks, performances and more will take place in the byways, bookstores, wine bars, theaters and streets of the Playhouse District as LitFest on the Prowl kicks things up Saturday, May 17, from 5 to 10 p.m.

Are you a closet florist who loves beautiful blooms? On Sunday, May 18, from 10 a.m. to noon in the courtyard at One Colorado, professional florist Stephanie Shur will lead Flower Arranging 101, a workshop for amateurs who want to hone their skills in flower arranging. Flowers and supplies will be provided. RSVP to info@onecolorado.com with your name, email address and phone number. 

The Gamble House and Pasadena Museum of History are among the institutions that will participate in the 25th annual Museums of the Arroyo Day Sunday, May 18, from noon to 5 p.m.

See 140 vintage and modern Ferraris spanning three blocks on Colorado Boulevard between Raymond and Pasadena avenues in Old Pasadena during Concorso Ferrari Sunday, May 18, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Clinging desperately to a masquerade of southern grace, Blanche DuBois's world comes apart in a spiral of violence and madness, A presentation by an LA Opera community educator Monday, May 19, at 1 p.m. at Pasadena Senior Center will explore the adaptation of the opera "A Streetcar Named Desire" from Tennessee Williams's classic play. You don't have to be a senior or a member of the Pasadena Senior Center to attend.

In honor of Memorial Day, La Pintoresca Branch Library will screen the Academy Award-winning best film "The Longest Day" (1962, G) starring Robert Mitchum, Henry Fonda and John Wayne Monday, May 19, at 3:30 p.m.

How can astronomers study what they can't see? Dr. Andrew Bensen, George Ellery Hale distinguished scholar in theoretical physics at The Carnegie Observatories, will describe the many ingenious ways astronomers have found, and continue to find, to understand the nature of dark matter, an invisible substance that holds together galaxies and clusters of galaxies Monday, May 19, at 7:30 p.m. at A Noise Within as part of the observatories' 2014 Astronomy Lecture Series.

Random Acts of Music, the flash performance group from Pasadena Symphony & Pops, will be at Hastings Branch Library Wednesday, May 21, from 11 a.m. to noon.

Classical guitarist Isamu Nakashio will perform Wednesday, May 21, from 12:10 to 12:40 p.m. for the popular Music at Noon concert series.

Steve Kurtz, founding member of Critical Art Ensemble, will discuss the collective's use of scientific and sociological experimental methods to promote social change and create new cultural possibilities and how the meaning of experimentation has recently expanded in the arts Wednesday, May 21, at 6 p.m. at Caltech's Baxter Hall (#77 on this map).

In honor of Memorial Day, La Pintoresca Branch Library will screen the Emmy Award-winning film "Tuskegee Airmen" (1995, PG-13)" starring Laurence Fishburne and Cuba Gooding Jr. Thursday, May 22, at 3:30 p.m.

From modest beginnings nearly 80 years ago to state-of-the-art propulsion systems on 21st century spacecraft, technologies at Jet Propulsion Laboratory have advanced dramatically through the decades. JPL's Todd J. Barber will highlight the history and the future of propulsion as it applies to solar system exploration Friday, May 23, at 7 p.m. in the Vosloh Forum (building UU on this map) at Pasadena City College. 

Photo credits: Cool Hunting, First Covers, LitFest Pasadena, The Gamble House, Examiner, Chicago Lyric Opera, Great American Things, National Geographic, Pasadena Symphony & Pops, Isamu Nakashio, The Influencers, AOPA Aviation Summit, NASA.