Thursday, July 9, 2026

Norton Simon Screens ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ as Part of Route 66 Centennial Series

[photo credit; Visit Pasadena]

The Pasadena museum on Colorado Boulevard, part of the historic highway, presents the Depression-era film free with admission

The Joad family’s forced migration west along Route 66 will play out on screen this month at a Pasadena museum that stands on the highway itself.

“The Grapes of Wrath,” John Ford’s 1940 adaptation of John Steinbeck’s novel, screens Saturday, Aug. 15, at the Norton Simon Museum as the third of four films in “Film Series: On Route 66.” The museum built the program around the 100th anniversary of Route 66, the road that runs between Chicago and Los Angeles — and through Pasadena along Colorado Boulevard.

The museum stands at 411 West Colorado Boulevard, on a stretch of road that Visit Pasadena identifies as part of the historic highway. According to the museum’s program notes, the film follows Tom Joad, played by Henry Fonda, who returns from a prison term to find the family homestead overwhelmed by drought. With little work to be found, the family packs up and heads for California.

In the novel, Steinbeck called Route 66 “the mother road,” a name that endured as Dust Bowl families followed it toward California in the 1930s. The museum’s series notes state that each of the four films features the California section of the highway.

The screening begins at 4:30 p.m. and runs to about 6:40 p.m., with the theater opening at 4:00 p.m. Seating is first-come, first-served, and the museum takes no reservations. Joe Petricca, a filmmaker and educator who organized the series, introduces each film.

The series opened Aug. 1 with “Easy Rider” and continued Aug. 8 with “Hollywood or Bust.” It closes Aug. 22 with the animated film “Cars.”

Pasadena is marking the centennial across the year, according to Visit Pasadena, which has paired it with the 150th anniversary of Colorado Boulevard. The boulevard is best known locally as the route of the annual Tournament of Roses Parade, and the museum, at the corner of Colorado Boulevard and Orange Grove Boulevard, appears on television each New Year’s Day as the parade passes its steps.

“The Grapes of Wrath” screens Saturday, Aug. 15, at 4:30 p.m., with the theater opening at 4:00 p.m., at the Norton Simon Museum, 411 West Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena, California 91105. The film is free with museum admission, which is $20 for adults, $15 for seniors 62 and older, and free for members, students with identification and everyone 18 and under. The museum’s parking lot is free, with limited free parking on nearby streets. For more information, call (626) 449-6840 or visit nortonsimon.org.

Eighty-six years after Ford put the Joads’ westward journey on film, the road they traveled still runs past the museum’s front steps.

Route 66 Film Series: “The Grapes of Wrath” (1940) — Saturday, August 15, 2026, 4:30 p.m. | Link: https://www.visitpasadena.com/events/film-series-on-route-66/ Just Like Heaven