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L.A. TIMES COLUMNIST STEVE LOPEZ WILL DISCUSS HIS LATEST BOOK “INDEPENDENCE DAY” JUNE 21 AT PASADENA SENIOR CENTER

Four-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and longtime Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez will discuss his most recent book “Independence Day: What I Learned About Retirement from Some Who’ve Done It and Some Who Never Will” Wednesday, June 21, at 2 p.m. at the Pasadena Senior Center, 85 E. Holly St. A book signing will follow.  

To register or for more information, visit www.pasadenaseniorcenter.org and click on Activities & Events, then Special Events or call 626-795-4331.

As he grappled with his own decision of whether to retire in his 60s after a long and rewarding career in journalism, Lopez used his reporter skills while researching and writing “Independence Day” to look inward as well as interview famous people and average Americans to collect a variety of perspectives about retirement decisions.

He spoke to Mel Brooks, still working at 96, and Norman Lear who, at 100 years of age, vows to keep working until the very end, as well as people who have retired by choice and reinvented themselves outside the constraints of work and those who would like to retire but can't because of financial issues.

A member of the Pasadena Senior Center, Lopez has written several other books, including “The Soloist: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship and the Redemptive Power of Music” published in 2008 about his relationship with Nathaniel Ayers Jr., a sometimes homeless schizophrenic who attended Juilliard. It was made into a 2009 film titled “The Soloist” that starred Robert Downey Jr. as Lopez and Jamie Foxx as Ayers.

In addition to online classes, onsite events and other activities, members and nonmembers of the Pasadena Senior Center are encouraged to visit the website regularly for a quarterly online magazine, free food delivery for older adults in need, COVID updates specifically for older adults and more.

The center is an independent, donor-supported nonprofit organization that has served older adults for more than 60 years. Extended spring and summer hours are Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon. Rooms are sanitized after each use. Masks are optional.