Pasadena Restaurateurs (Finally) Anticipate Busy Weekend

Guests dine outside at Anayas restaurant along Colorado Blvd during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Playhouse District just west of El Molino Ave in Pasadena, Saturday, July 11, 2020. (Photo by James Carbone)

Street barriers are placed along Colorado Blvd just west of El Molino Ave for restaurants to set-up tables for outdoor dinning during the Covid-19 pandemic at the Playhouse District on Saturday July 11, 2020. (Photo by James Carbone)

Guests dine outside along Colorado Blvd during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Playhouse District just west of El Molino Ave in Pasadena, Saturday, July 11, 2020. (Photo by James Carbone)

Street barriers are placed along Colorado Blvd just east of Fair Oaks Ave for restaurants to set-up tables for outdoor dinning during the Covid-19 pandemic in Old Pasadena, Saturday July 11, 2020. (Photo by James Carbone)

A young woman walks past the street barriers that are placed along Colorado Blvd just east of Fair Oaks Ave for restaurants to set-up tables for outdoor dinning during the Covid-19 pandemic in Old Pasadena, Saturday July 11, 2020. (Photo by James Carbone)

Guests dine outside along Colorado Blvd in Old Pasadena, Saturday, July 11, 2020. (Photo by James Carbone)

Though the official opening was 10 a.m. Saturday, local restaurant workers spent were still wrangling tables, chairs, and umbrellas out to streets and sidewalks well into afternoon, for the first official weekend evening of extended street dining.

Some traffic lanes were eliminated along Colorado Boulevard as the parts of the main thoroughfare were converted to diagonal parking. The City also provided dozens of barricades for local eateries.

Already some local restaurateurs were seeing the return of customers taking advantage of summer weather, and venturing into Old Pasadena and the Playhouse District.

At least nine restaurants were opening onto alleys, streets and sidewalks today, including the strip of boutique restaurants on Union between Raymond and Fair Oaks—Blind Donkey, Union, Perle, and others. Other restaurants on Colorado Boulevard, including Sorriso Ristorante and Bar and Bar Celona were anticipating a busy evening.

‘We has a busy night last night,” said Jack Huang, owner of Sorriso and Bar Celona, “and we’ve hired additional staff for tonight.”

These new dining areas in Old Pasadena and the Playhouse District opened Saturday:

• Colorado between Madison Ave to El Molino Ave (north and south curb)

• Colorado between Fair Oaks Ave to Raymond Ave (south curb only)

• Union Street west of Raymond Ave (north side)

The City said it will continue to work on advancing plans for additional on-street dining opportunities and was anticipating the following partial street closures to be in place by July 25th, if not sooner: