Park(ing) Day calls for more open space
Glendale joined the ranks of cities around the world on Friday in the annual Park(ing) Day, where residents, artists and activists collaborated to temporarily transform metered parking spaces into temporary public places for just one day.
Several volunteers created an interactive setting spanning four parking spaces in front of the Glendale Marketplace at 106 S. Brand Blvd., across the street from the Americana at Brand.
This year’s theme was imagining a day without automobiles, said Cynthia Momdjian, a La Crescenta resident and public relations director for arCOLLAB, a group of 16 members who helped organize Park(ing) Day Glendale.
“As Los Angelenos, we’re very dependent on our vehicles and unfortunately this sometimes limits our appreciation for greener spaces around town,” she said. “We came up with the hashtag, #adaywithout, for this reason and wanted to encourage passersby/supporters of our movement to promote this idea with items that they could live a day without.”
The Glendale installment consisted of seven bins (mimicking car wheels) marked with vehicle-themed issues that commuters are confronted with (Parking, Roadkill, Pollution, Accidents, Payments, Fuel, and most notorious, Traffic). Visitors picked up bean bags and tossed them into the bins that most resonated with them.
“Additionally, with this year’s instillation, we aimed to reinterpret the conventional notion of a junkyard as an urban playground, facilitating social interaction with the carnival-style/bin game we designed,” she said.
The idea for the project began in 2005 when Rebar, a San Francisco art and design studio, converted a single metered parking space into a temporary public park in downtown San Francisco. Park(ing) Day has evolved into a global movement, with organizations and individuals creating new forms of temporary public space in urban contexts around the world on the third Friday in September.
The mission of Park(ing) Day, organizers say, is to call attention to the need for more urban open space, to generate critical debate around how public space is created and allocated, and to improve the quality of urban human habitat.
Park(ing) Day has accomplished the installations of 800 parks in more than 180 cities in 30 countries on six continents during past events. For more information, visit www.parkingday.org.
Golden era theme of home tour
Glendale’s Golden Age is the theme for the Glendale Historical Society’s annual fall home tour from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 30. There will be five homes of the 1920s and 30s, and a storybook courtyard including the work of builder Ben Sherwood, who is known for his Snow White cottages.
The tour begins at the historic Alex Theatre in Glendale. FastFrame of the Foothills, 2222 Foothill Blvd. La Canada Flintridge will donate framed posters of this event that will be raffled.
Tickets are being sold through Glendale Arts Online and the Glendale Arts Box Offices at the Alex Theatre, Americana at Brand and at Glendale Community College. Tickets will be on sale at the Alex Theatre on the day of the tour beginning at 10:30 a.m.
For more information, visit www.glendalehistorical.org.
Army of Pink fighting breast cancer
Glendale Adventist Medical Center has enlisted a group of men to join the Army of Pink campaign throughout October to increase awareness about breast cancer and local resources at the hospital.
The brave soldiers are Bob Doyle, deputy fire chief, Glendale Fire Department; Carl Povilaitis, captain, Glendale Police Department; Mayor Frank Quintero; Dr. Vicken Sepilian, president, Armenian American Medical Society; Richard Sheehan, superintendent of the Glendale Unified School District; and Larry Caviness, president, Southern California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
Army of Pink captain emcee Paula Devine will get the community involved in the online voting initiative to increase awareness about breast cancer. Each candidate will be provided with their own campaign materials, a video, fliers to hand out, dog tags and other creative pink collateral material. Voting polls will be open online from Oct. 1 to 26.
Everyone is encouraged to vote online at www.glendaleadventist.com/armyofpink for the candidate that they think is best spreading the word about breast cancer disease awareness and at the same time looks best in pink.
The winning candidate will have the medical center’s cancer center waiting room named after them. The winner will also be invited to ride on the 2013 city of Glendale Tournament of Roses float.
The community is also invited to help celebrate the campaign by attending the “Marching to the Power of Pink” kick-off event presented by Dr. Norick Bogossian Cancer Care Guild and the Guild at Glendale Adventist Medical Center from 4 to 7 p.m. Sept. 30 at the Rosemont Pavilion in Pasadena.
Visit www.glendaleadventist.com/armyofpink for more details, including profiles of the 2012 candidates.
JOYCE RUDOLPH can be reached at rudolphjoyce10@gmail.com.