Leaving around 5 will put you in the thick of traffic no matter where you go, the valley would take you about 2 1/2 hours and Pasadena should be about 1 1/2. The 57 north to the 210 west would probably be your best bet for either location. If you have the Waze app on your phone that will help as well, I use it every day and I only drive 17 miles to work. Traffic can build out of nowhere very quickly. The 57 gets pretty heavy till the 60 freeway, once you pass that it should be smooth sailing from there.
The 5 has a lot of construction going on and the 405, well let's just say I try to stay away from the 405 any time of the day. That freeway is huge and is always packed, hope that helps some or if anything I just confused the hell out of you.
