When Parkway Grill opened in 1984, one of its most distinctive features had already been around for more than half a century.
Our expansive wooden bar is an original from 1920s Chicago, transported to Pasadena in the early 1980s as Parkway Grill was taking shape. Its journey west is fitting for a city with longstanding ties to the Midwest. During Pasadena’s early growth, many of those who came west to Southern California arrived from Chicago and other Midwestern cities, drawn by the climate and the promise of a new life in the emerging “Crown City.”
More than a century after it was crafted, the bar remains a centerpiece of the restaurant and has been part of Parkway since the beginning. Over the past four decades, countless celebrations, first dates, business dinners and evenings among friends have unfolded around it.
While much has changed since 1984, the bar remains much as it was intended—a welcoming place to pull up a seat, enjoy a cocktail and become part of Parkway Grill’s continuing story.
For a bar that began its life in Chicago more than a century ago, it has certainly found a fitting second home. After more than 40 years at Parkway Grill, this piece of Chicago history has become a piece of Pasadena history, too.
