Some traditions earn a change of scenery.
For 23 years, the Pasadena Police Department staged its annual car show along Colorado Boulevard, at The Paseo. This year the muscle cars and custom paint shift to a grander backdrop: Pasadena City Hall.
Enter the 24th Annual Car Show, today — Saturday, June 6. Classic cars, modern show cars, and food trucks line up from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
But the real horsepower is what all that chrome pays for. Proceeds fuel two programs that keep Pasadena kids busy long after the engines cool.
First up: the Police Activities League, which has run after-school and summer sessions in golf, swimming, and boxing for more than 3,500 young people over the years.
Then there’s Explorer Post #19, a 22-week academy that puts teens ages 14 to 21 on ride-alongs and heading toward careers in law enforcement.
Two-plus decades of fundraising buys a lot of afternoons, and PAL knows what to do with them. The League opened its doors in the summer of 1999, the year it earned nonprofit status, with The Salvation Army providing backup.
Home base sits at 960 East Walnut Street. An average of 85 kids turn up after the last bell; roughly 110 fill the summer roster.
Every member draws a youth adviser and one academic marching order: keep that grade-point average at 2.0 or better. Past the sports, the days run on culinary arts, field trips, and arts and crafts.
“Tutoring and education have always been a major pillar for PAL,” said Cpl. Cristian Allen.
Explorer Post #19 plays the longer game. Clear the bar — a “C” average, decent physical shape, and a genuine interest in the badge — and a 22-week academy stands between you and the title of Police Explorer.
The post meets the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month at the station, then logs the miles: ride-alongs, courtrooms, city events. The proof is already on patrol. Several officers walking Pasadena’s beat today started out as Explorers.
Come for the show cars, stay because the whole afternoon is for the kids.
100 Garfield Ave., Pasadena. Sat., June 6, 10 a.m.–3:30 p.m. (gates 7 a.m.). Registration $45 per vehicle, closes June 5. eventbrite.com/e/24th-annual-
