Packing the Parrot

On Sunday afternoon at Wild Parrot Brewing Company in East Pasadena, Neighbor Day did what it now does with ease: it packed the place.

The Fourth Annual Pasadena Neighbor Day — a locally born, feel-good idea with actual traction — turned the brewery into a standing-room-sometimes swirl of music, raffle tickets, and lots of beer. This year’s lineup was a full neighborhood mixtape: the melodic Licata Brothers (yes, they’re brothers), jazz/soul stylist Lina Nares, Americana rockers Jason Heath and the Greedy Souls, and the NextDoors — Russell Mark and his wife, Mika Larson — the duo who actually created the event back in 2023.

It had the happy chaos of a very familiar party. People squeezed between tables like they were navigating a concert in someone’s living room. Music carried over the crowd in bright bursts — with enough musical lineups to keep things hopping. A rumbling, shiny red PFD Fire engine parked across the street also drew its share of happy, excited neighbors on Selfie Alert. And the Rams were on the big screen TV, beating the Chicago Bears in the NFC Divisional Whatever.

It was quite the shindig.

This year, Neighbor Day pushed out its boundaries, with nearly two dozen local businesses across Pasadena adding their own mini-celebrations: deals on meals and services, pop-in specials, and at least one roving act of civic caffeine generosity — someone trawling local coffee houses and buying people free cups of coffee like a low-budget superhero whose only power is community spirit.

There were also lots of donated raffle prizes, because no Pasadena gathering is complete without at least one person clutching a ticket, hoping destiny has their number. The event was once again hosted by the city’s own erstwhile “Mr. Pasadena,” Michael Calderon, who kept the program moving from music to raffle to Mayor and back to music.

Mayor Victor Gordo, who has been publicly supportive since the earliest days, said Neighbor Day has grown into something that feels lasting. He recalled the moment it was pitched to him as a civic challenge: the NextDoors, he said, urged him to make Neighbor Day official — to declare it and give it a real place in Pasadena’s calendar. His office responded with a playful SNL-style Instagram reel, and Gordo said the point was simple: a reminder that “none of us live on an island.” We live in neighborhoods, and those neighborhoods deserve attention — especially now.

The turnout, he noted, has climbed every year. “We’re part of a city, a county, a state, a country and a world,” said Mayor Gordo.  “That’s how it should be.”