1Hours

Day	Hours
Monday	8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Tuesday	8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Wednesday	9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (opens one hour late)
Thursday	8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Friday	8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Saturday – Sunday	Closed

Hours per the official DMV office page. State holidays can change hours — confirm on dmv.ca.gov before you go.

2Services at this office

• Licensing Services (driver licenses, ID cards, REAL ID)
• Testing (knowledge/written tests — note: not offered after 4:30 PM statewide)
• Title Transfers
• Registration
• Plates, Permits, & Placards
• Replace Lost/Stolen/Damaged (plates, registration, title)
• Records
• Request miscellaneous original documents
• Self Service Terminals — this office has a self-serve kiosk (quick registration services, no appointment)

Drive tests: the official page does not break out behind-the-wheel availability. Check the appointment-type step in the official scheduler.

Payments accepted: Cash, Check, Credit Card, Debit Card, Digital Wallet, Money order.

3Booking an appointment here

1. Go to the official DMV appointment scheduler.
2. Choose your appointment type (field-office visit vs. behind-the-wheel drive test).
3. Search by ZIP (91107) or “Pasadena” and pick this office.
4. Booking is free — the DMV never charges to make an appointment.
5. Prefer phone? Call 1-800-777-0133 (automated 24/7; live reps Mon–Fri 8 AM–5 PM).

Booking difficulty — honest notes: If Pasadena is full, El Monte, Montebello, and West Covina are nearby alternatives in the same scheduler search. Confirm whether your task needs a visit — many renewals get no counter service.

For the full walkthrough — which type to pick, what to do when nothing’s available — see our California DMV appointment guide.

4Nearby DMV offices

• El Monte — 4000 Arden Drive, El Monte, CA 91731 (no kiosk listed on its official page)
• Lincoln Park — 3529 N Mission Road, Los Angeles, CA 90031 (kiosk available)
• Montebello — 424 N Wilcox Avenue, Montebello, CA 90640 (kiosk available)
• West Covina — 800 So Glendora Avenue, West Covina, CA 91790 (kiosk available)

Also in Southern California: our full guide to the Riverside DMV office.

5Frequently asked questions

Address (already verified): 49 S Rosemead Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91107 Research date: October 18, 2026. New extra data only — address/hours already covered by prior brief. Confidence tags: VERIFIED = confirmed on an official source (dmv.ca.gov, transit agency). REPORTED = from reviews/third-party sites, attributed. UNVERIFIED = could not confirm — marked, not asserted.

Google/Yelp reviews — what people actually say

Google rating: 3.8 from ~1,309 reviews . That is notably stronger than nearby offices on the same listing: El Monte 3.1, Montebello 3.1, Glendale 3.2, Compton 3.6, Bell Gardens 3.6 — Pasadena and West Covina (3.8) rate highest in the east-San-Gabriel cluster (REPORTED). Recurring complaint — parking and crowds : The author describes parking as “really difficult” to find, then inside found the office “teeming with citizens, every single chair was taken and people lined the back wall — Just waiting.” This is the office’s signature complaint pattern: an undersized lot plus a packed waiting room. Recurring pattern — appointments still mean waiting. The same author had booked an appointment 11 days in advance and “still waited 30 minutes.” This aligns with the broader statewide review pattern that appointments reduce but don’t eliminate waits. Recurring theme — staff overwork, not rudeness. The author asked staff what happens to everyone still waiting at closing (5pm) and was told: “We shut the doors at 5 and have to process every single person” — the employee said she “usually” stays until 7pm, “working 11 hour shifts most days.” The author’s framing: the staff are overworked rather than hostile. No named-employee rudeness complaints specific to Pasadena surfaced in this research. Long waits are the norm, not the exception. A third-party Pasadena DMV guide (wdch10.laphil.com) advises visitors to “be prepared for wait times and bring snacks or water” (REPORTED). However, do not trust that page’s specifics: it lists the office address as “7000 East Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91106” and claims Saturday 9am–1pm hours — both contradicted (the verified address is 49 S Rosemead Blvd, 91107, and dmv.ca.gov shows Saturday closed). Treat that page as UNVERIFIED/contradicted and do not cite its address or hours.

Drive test info — behind-the-wheel exams

Pasadena DOES conduct drive tests, unlike Long Beach. Two notable facts :

• Fail rate is roughly 30% — “significantly higher than the average of between 22% and 25% in 175 state offices.”
• The office is used as a testing site for big rigs and buses as well as regular drivers — attributed to branch manager Rawlin Mull. Practical implication for test-takers: you may be sharing the lot and surrounding streets with commercial-vehicle test traffic.

What the test route reportedly covers : The route is described as approximately 15 miles covering highways, local roads, and intersections, with an emphasis on traffic-signal approaches, full stops, pedestrian and cyclist awareness (high foot-traffic areas), and consistent mirror/blind-spot checks. Street-level route detail: No credible Reddit or forum post naming the exact test-route streets (e.g., which blocks around Rosemead/Del Mar the examiner uses) was found in this research — marked UNVERIFIED/omitted rather than invented.

• El Monte DMV — 4000 Arden Dr, El Monte, CA 91731
• West Covina DMV — 800 S Glendora Ave, West Covina, CA 91790
• Montebello DMV — 424 N Wilcox Ave, Montebello, CA 90640
• Glendale DMV — 1335 W Glenoaks Blvd, Glendale, CA 91201
• Lincoln Park DMV — 3529 N Mission Rd, Los Angeles, CA 90031

Because Pasadena’s own fail rate is reported high, some test-takers shop other offices; dmv.ca.gov does not publish per-office fail rates or per-office drive-test schedules, so comparative easiness claims beyond the roadlesstraveledstore piece are UNVERIFIED.

Services at this office

Per dmv.ca.gov’s Pasadena field-office page (VERIFIED): Licensing Services, Testing, Title Transfers, Registration, Plates, Permits, & Placards, Replace Lost/Stolen/Damaged, Records, Request miscellaneous original documents, and Self Service Terminals (kiosk).

Office-specific notes:

• Self-serve kiosk on site (VERIFIED) — registration renewals and records requests “with no wait times,” per dmv.ca.gov. A nearby off-site kiosk is listed at Superior Grocers in El Monte, 10683 Valley Blvd, El Monte (open Mon–Sun 7am–10pm) (VERIFIED on dmv.ca.gov).
• Drive tests including commercial/big-rig testing (REPORTED, manager quote) — the standout service distinction vs. nearby offices like Long Beach.
• A third-party directory (countyoffice.org) lists smog checks and VIN inspections among Pasadena DMV’s services — REPORTED but unverified on dmv.ca.gov; do not state as official fact.

Best and worst times (as reviewers report — never official fact)

• The qless firsthand account describes a packed lobby late in the afternoon (past 4pm), with all chairs taken — suggesting afternoons are the worst window at this office (REPORTED).
• The same account shows appointments were booking ~11 days out at the time — expect a similar lead time rather than assuming next-day availability (REPORTED).
• Staff reported processing everyone inside at close, often working until ~7pm (REPORTED) — practical takeaway: arriving very late in the day doesn’t guarantee being turned away, but it does guarantee a long evening.
• General California DMV timing guidance (costulessdirect.com; dwellworks.com relocation guide — REPORTED, statewide, not Pasadena-specific): mid-week (Tuesday–Thursday) and mid-month are typically less busy; Mondays, Fridays, and first/last days of the month typically worst; arrive at opening. Note Pasadena opens at 9am on Wednesdays vs. 8am other weekdays (VERIFIED on dmv.ca.gov), so Wednesday is a later start.

Nearby practical info — parking and food

Parking: “Really difficult to find a parking spot” is the direct firsthand description (qless.com, REPORTED). The lot is small relative to demand; street parking on Rosemead Blvd and side streets is the overflow, and arriving early is the reviewer-supported workaround.

• Nikki C’s — 470 S Rosemead Blvd, rated 4.5 (listed 184 ft from the reference point on the corridor)
• President Thai Restaurant — 498 S Rosemead Blvd, rated 4.4
• Taco Bell — 333 S Rosemead Blvd, rated 4.5
• Mamma’s Brick Oven Pizza & Pasta — 311 S Rosemead Blvd, rated 3.9
• El Pollo Loco — 262 S Rosemead Blvd, rated 4.4
• Del Taco — 230 S Rosemead Blvd, rated 4.3

These sit along the same boulevard as the office (49 S Rosemead Blvd), so they’re all within roughly a half-mile south of the DMV — practical for killing time during a long wait. (Distances from the food96 listing reference point, not individually re-verified — REPORTED.)

Public transit

Metro Line 266 runs directly along Rosemead Blvd (VERIFIED on Metro’s official schedule, mybus.metro.net, Line 266 Mon–Fri effective schedule):

• The line runs Sierra Madre Villa Station ↔ Lakewood Center Mall via Rosemead Blvd and Lakewood Blvd, with Rosemead Blvd timepoints including Rosemead & Las Tunas, Rosemead & Garvey, and Rosemead & Whittier (VERIFIED).
• The office at 49 S Rosemead Blvd sits on this corridor. Moovit reports the nearest stop — Del Mar / Rosemead — about 30 yards / 1-minute walk away, served by Metro Lines 187, 266, and 267 (REPORTED, Moovit).
• Connecting rail: Sierra Madre Villa Station (Metro A Line) is the northern terminus of Line 266 — a transit path to the office without driving (REPORTED via route structure; nearest A Line station by Moovit is Allen, ~58 min walk — not practical on foot, but reachable via the 266).
• Note: Route 60 (“City College via SMV A Line Station”) also appears near the Rosemead/Del Mar stop on Moovit (REPORTED).

No Pasadena Transit city-bus routes serving the immediate office block were confirmed from an official source — marked UNVERIFIED/omitted.

*End of Pasadena DMV ultra-deep research. All facts carry source notes; unverified items are marked rather than asserted.*

Official office page: dmv.ca.gov/portal/field-office/pasadena/

Last verified against dmv.ca.gov: October 2026