July 2004 --
This charming yellow-shingled inn is located in a residential neighborhood in the quaint by metropolitan area of South Pasadena. Within walking distance of the Gold Line Metrolink, and also to several good restaurants (one of which, FIREFLY, has garnered several awards and is highly recommended), this is a welcome retreat for frequent travelers who are tired of The Doubletree, yet want easy access to good dining and the train which goes straight to downtown LA.

The rooms are decorated with artistic themes. "Degas" "Gaugin," "Expressionist" are in a separate cottage and have jacuzzi tubs. The other rooms are wonderfully decorated in the big house, and have all the nooks and small sitting areas you'd expect to find in a B&B. In the backyard is a large wall that has been painted to look like George Seurat's "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte."

The breakfast is excellent, perhaps the best I've had in my many travels of frequenting B&B's. The new innkeepers are British, and have a few plans for repainting and general TLC and they are incredibly kind, and gregarious.

The room was very clean and whimsically decorated. All the rooms are air conditioned, and our room not only had a jacuzzi, but a gas fireplace and a four-poster bed, tv, sitting room, and a verandah.

I'd highly recommend this B&B. The Firefly Cafe is a wonderfully romantic place to dine, and the entire family runs the operation. The food is imaginative and not over the top.

Bugs? I saw no bugs.

The inn was quite pretty and charming. The breakfasts were delicious. But some bugs bit me all over my legs and stomach and back. I told the owner. She said that I must have picked up some bugs from walking through the grass or maybe the bugs were in my car! Two months later I still have scars from where the bugs bit me. Maybe it was a spider. I stayed there in March, so it was odd that I got so many bites-maybe 25 bites.