[photo credit: Rusnak Auto Group]
Morning Octane, the free cars-and-coffee gathering that Rusnak Auto Group has staged for 13 years, returns to the Civic Center landmark on Saturday, July 18, from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. The series — born in 2013 as an impromptu meetup in the Rose Bowl parking lot — has since rotated through venues across the region, from the Colorado Street Bridge to Santa Anita Park. The July 18 edition brings it back to 100 North Garfield Avenue, where past gatherings have filled the grounds with everything from Ferraris to JDM tuner cars.
The series’ origin story has become part of its lore. Paul Rusnak, the founder, chairman and CEO of Rusnak Auto Group, expected a modest showing at that first 2013 gathering. “We thought 20 or 30 (other) cars would show up,” Rusnak said. “We were surprised when over 50 mostly exotics showed up at 8:00 a.m., along with the police.” No permit had been obtained; officers arrived but allowed the event to continue on the condition that future gatherings would be properly permitted.
The concept was the idea of Andrew Arizmendi, then the general manager for Rusnak’s Rolls-Royce, Maserati, and Bentley operations. What started as a monthly Saturday-morning gathering at the Rose Bowl grew into a series held at some of Pasadena’s most recognizable settings — including the Colorado Street Bridge, the 1913 span listed on the National Register of Historic Places. At a June 2019 Morning Octane on the bridge, 140 cars lined the deck, with spillover into the adjacent Elks Lodge parking lot.
The vehicles on display tend toward the curated end of the spectrum. “We just look for anything unique,” Pierce Twohig of Rusnak said at the 2019 bridge event. “… Exotics, JDM cars, tuner cars, race cars, our brands — we have about 140 of them here today.”
Rusnak Auto Group, a family-owned company that has operated in Pasadena for 60 years, sells luxury brands including Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, BMW, Audi, and others across multiple Southern California locations. The dealership group recently broke ground on a new 61,000-square-foot Porsche facility in East Pasadena, expected to open in 2027.
Pasadena City Hall, completed in 1927 and designed by architects John Bakewell and Arthur Brown, anchors the Pasadena Civic Center District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The building’s highest point — the lantern atop the dome — rises 206 feet above the ground.
Councilmember Steve Madison, whose District 6 includes City Hall, promoted the July 18 Morning Octane in his district newsletter.
Morning Octane takes place on Saturday, July 18, 2026, from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. at Pasadena City Hall, 100 North Garfield Avenue. Admission is free and no tickets or registration are required for spectators; complimentary coffee is provided. Parking information for the event had not been announced by the organizer at the time of publication. For more information, call Rusnak Auto Group at (626) 449-0770 or visit rusnakcars.com/morning-octane. Those wishing to display a vehicle can register at events@rusnakautogroup.com.
At 8:00 a.m. on a Saturday, the lot at City Hall will fill with machines that growl and gleam — and with the people who love them.
