Pasadena Bad Weather Shelter Stayed Open Around the Clock

The City’s Bad Weather Shelter was open for nearly three days to provide a place for unhoused people seeking shelter during the powerful storm that slammed the southland earlier this week.

The shelter opened on Saturday at 8 p.m. and kept its doors open until Tuesday morning. According to Director Laura Van Alstine, it was nearly at capacity with 45 to 50 guests.

The shelter will be open on Wednesday. According to The Weather Channel, tomorrow night temperatures could fall as low as 40 degrees.

During the two-and-a-half-day stint, people using the shelter were well-fed and had access to hot cocoa and tea. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were served, and guests played board games, bingo, and there was even a dance-off.

The storm dumped 6.07 inches of rain on Pasadena on Monday night, adding to record-setting rain totals that already reached double digits in some areas of Los Angeles County and caused mud and debris flows.

The shelter has been open since Jan. 15. The weather-activated shelter is open when the temperature falls below 40 degrees, or there is at least a 40% chance of rain, or when 40 mph winds hit the area.

The shelter can hold up to 50 guests a night. The City Council approved contracts to operate a Bad Weather Shelter at Trinity Lutheran Church, 997 E. Walnut Street, last year.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pasadena’s seasonal winter shelter (the Bad Weather Shelter) was operated by Friends In Deed for over 30 years out of a local church gym. After over three decades, Friends In Deed lost its long-time lease of a church gym in March 2020.

The loss of that shelter prompted a years-long search for a replacement.