USC Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, Guía del visitante y qué hacer cerca

The USC Pacific Asia Museum is a museum of Asian and Pacific Islands art on North Los Robles Avenue in Pasadena, California. It occupies a 1920s building with Chinese-inspired architecture that looks quite unlike its neighbours, built by the collector and dealer Grace Nicholson. The building is as much a reason to visit as the collection inside.

The story behind it

Grace Nicholson settled in Pasadena in 1901 and opened a shop selling curios and objects from other cultures. She became especially drawn to Native American baskets and weavings, and she travelled widely across the United States to collect them and to learn about the techniques and cultural history behind them.

Her business outgrew the small shop, so she commissioned a purpose-built home for her collections, working from her own ideas of how it should look. The result, finished in the 1920s, drew on Chinese architecture and stood apart from the rest of Pasadena even at first glance. The building later became a museum devoted to the art and culture of Asia and the Pacific, and it is now run by the University of Southern California.

What to look for

• Study the overall shape of the building from the street, and notice how its Chinese-inspired design contrasts with the buildings around it.
• Look closely at the entrance, which is the most striking part of the exterior and sets the tone for the whole building.
• Find the inner courtyard garden, a calm space that feels far from the traffic outside.
• Notice how the architecture itself reflects one collector's taste, since Nicholson planned the building to suit the things she loved.

Tips for your visit

• Allow about 20 minutes to admire the exterior and surroundings, and longer if you plan to go through the galleries.
• Check current opening hours and admission details before you go, as these change and exhibitions rotate.
• Morning or late afternoon light is kind to the facade and makes for better photos.
• The museum sits in central Pasadena, so it combines easily with a stroll through the nearby Old Pasadena streets.

See it on a quest

Pasadena: Stop the Bomb brings you to the USC Pacific Asia Museum on foot as one stop on a longer route through Pasadena. The app tells you about each place as you arrive, and you solve a puzzle based on what is in front of you, so you look at the building far more closely than a quick pass would allow. One ticket covers the whole group, and you can start whenever you like, with no guide and no schedule.