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Amtrak’s Southwest Chief rolls to a stop at the Pasadena California station in May 1992 led by a B32-8 in the attractive ‘Pepsi-can’ livery. For years the Santa Fe’s 2nd District of the Los Angeles Division was home to the Santa Fe’s long distance passenger trains. Pasadena was the last stop before Los Angeles for westbounds and was noted as the Gateway to Hollywood on the Super Chief timetable. Many stars would use Pasadena to avoid the crowds of LA before flying became more common. The Santa Fe replaced an earlier Victorian style station with this Spanish Mediterranean style stucco building in 1935. Every morning would see the arrival of the overnight Super Chief (or Amtrak’s Southwest Chief) from Chicago until 1994 when the west end of the 2nd sub was closed for rebuilding into light rail. During construction of the light rail, the station was cut into pieces and moved out of the way. It was put back together not quite where it had been. The light rail still goes through this area but would be unrecognizable if I were to go back 35 years later. The station building still exists but appears surrounded by taller buildings on Google street and aerial views. It was a popular restaurant for many years but closed in the last year and sits empty as far as I could discover. Other than one occasion Pasadena was as enjoyable as any business trip destination can be. Nice area, good hotel and restaurants, the station was on the way from hotel to the office and sometimes Amtrak would fit my timing. And the well-stocked Original Whistle Stop hobby shop was always worth a stop or two. The one occasion was this trip when the Rodney King verdict came down the week before. Although the problems were mostly earlier and in South Central LA, I found the gas stations and package stores of peaceful Pasadena still all boarded up when I arrived on Sunday evening.