City Council expected to designate Niodrara Drive as historic Glendale neighborhood
To the left, Niodrara Drive and surrounding streets in Glendale’s Verdugo Woodlands neighborhood once contained a natural stream. The stream, seen here from Niodrara and Fernbrook Place circa the 1920s, went dry in 1986. To the right, the neighborhood is shown from Niodrara Drive and Fernbrook Place on Tuesday, April 12, 2016.
After more than two years of planning and garnering widespread support, a tract of stately homes in Glendale’s Verdugo Woodlands neighborhood is nearing the finish line toward becoming officially historic.
On Tuesday, the City Council introduced an ordinance that would establish 32 houses, most along Niodrara Drive, into a city-designated historic district, a distinction that aims to preserve the area’s appearance and historic character.
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The council is scheduled to make its final consideration about the proposed district on April 26. If approved, Niodrara will be Glendale’s seventh historic district created since 2006. The city’s Historic Preservation and Planning commissions recommended the designation earlier this year.
Property owners in Glendale’s historic districts, which also include Cottage Grove and Brockmont Park, face city review and required approval before making alterations to their homes, such as new siding, exterior finishes, doors, windows, roofs or porches.
Most of the proposed district’s homes — which also include houses on Fernbrook Place, Wabasso Way as well as Hillside and Colina drives — were built between 1909 and 1962, which city officials consider to be the historically significant period of the tract’s development.
The Glendale City Council is looking to establish a historic district along the 1800-2000 block of Niodrara Drive in Glendale.
The houses were built in a variety of styles, including Spanish Colonial Revival, Prairie Foursquare, Ranch and Modern. Mature oak and sycamore trees line the streets and yards.
City staff noted that Niodrara once had a natural stream running through it. However, the stream has since dried up. Remnants of it include ponds, creek channels and footbridges.
Glendale Historical Society Vice President and Niodrara Drive resident Catherine Jurca, who organized the effort to establish the district, called her neighborhood “truly unique” within Glendale. Many who don’t live there enjoy walking or biking through it, she said.
“It truly is a community resource,” Jurca said. “Our neighborhood really is a wonderful place to live.”
Mirna Stanley, president of the Verdugo Woodlands West Homeowners Assn., noted that the name Niodrara has Native-American roots and means “running water.”
“Our board is so enthusiastic in supporting this,” Stanley said.
Councilman Zareh Sinanyan said considering Niodrara’s Native-American name, it really “gives the concept of ‘historic’ a whole new dimension.”
“You don’t see the streams today, but we know they [were] there,” Councilman Vartan Gharpetian added.
Niodrara’s stream, which traveled from Wabasso to Verdugo Park, went dry in 1986, according to the Los Angeles Times, which reported residents suspected the cause of the water cutoff to be the city’s increased pumping from nearby water wells.
City officials, at the time, contended it was because of a drought and new sewer systems that replaced septic systems that had been returning water into the ground.
Niodrara resident Lorene Simon told the Times in 1991 that she remembered the stream as “clear and clean and cold. We had crawdads, ducks and geese. It was a beautiful, pristine place.”
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Bradley Zint, bradley.zint@latimes.com
Twitter: @BradleyZint
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