New ‘Welcome to Glendale’ sign coming to La Crescenta in show of ‘unification’
It might be a bit tricky to remember which parts of La Crescenta are in Glendale or L.A. County, but a new welcome sign will hopefully make that clearer.
The city has been working to create a “Welcome to Glendale” sign to install along Foothill Boulevard and a winning design by local resident David Gallagher was announced last week.
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“[La Crescenta] is a part of Glendale and people don’t really know it,” said Philip Lanzafame, Glendale’s community development director. “[The welcome sign] gives some identification and some unification with the city.”
A welcome or gate-entry sign along Foothill has been called for since city officials put together the North Glendale Community Plan, he said.
Lanzafame said it was always a goal of the plan to get the community involved, so a design contest made sense.
A landscape architect by day, Gallagher said he jumped at the chance to put together a concept idea that blends his professional talents and his desire to do something for his community.
He said the goal of his design was to mix the aesthetics of Glendale with those of La Crescenta. That entailed incorporating brick — a representation of the many brick buildings in Montrose — and the various types of river rock that can be found around La Crescenta.
“I like the idea of being able to use materials that are part of the design vocabulary in the area,” he said.
Gallagher works for the county and gets to work on a lot of street-improvement projects, so he wanted to loop in a welcome sign with those efforts.
“It’s just an opportunity for people to stop and notice how we can build upon and develop our corridors to be more memorable,” he said.
It’s not known exactly when the sign will go up, but it will be placed on Foothill somewhere near Pennsylvania Avenue, Lanzafame said.
The sign will be paid for with funds from the city’s public works and economic development departments, he added.
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Arin Mikailian, arin.mikailian@latimes.com
Twitter: @ArinMikailian
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