Community Bash to Celebrate Glendale’s 90th Birthday

When Larry Zarian first moved to Glendale with his parents 44 years ago, he remembers seeing sagebrush on the rolling hills that are now covered with expensive real estate.

As a teen, he remembers hunting rabbits in Chevy Chase Canyon with his friends, or hanging out at local diners with carhop service, including the original Bob’s Big Boy on Colorado Street.

He remembers the early 1960s, when the city dropped a ban on ballroom dancing, and when the first department store, a Robinson’s, came to town.

Today, the 13-year city councilman will be among the hundreds of city officials and residents expected to attend a 90th birthday bash for Glendale, which has grown over the decades from a sleepy suburb into a sprawling urban melting pot of nearly 200,000 people.

Although the mood will be celebratory, Zarian says it is also a time to reflect on the city’s dramatic changes, especially those of recent decades sparked by large-scale redevelopment projects aimed at making the city an economic player in the Southland, and by the problems associated with large influxes of new people, mostly immigrants.

“What I think Glendale has lost over the years is the look of a small town, but the feel of it is still here,” said Zarian, 58, who also serves as chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

“Our biggest challenge is to maintain the amenities and the quality of life of a close-knit community, and to keep Glendale’s identity as a good place to raise a family. And I think to a great extent we have succeeded.”

Glendale dates back to 1784, when a Spanish soldier named Jose Maria Verdugo obtained a land grant from the governor of California to establish the Rancho de San Rafael, which comprised most of present-day Glendale, Burbank and Eagle Rock.

Verdugo and his descendants raised cattle and horses there until the late 1800s, when the land was divided and sold to various farmers and developers. The township of Glendale was formed on 150 acres by six settlers in 1884, but it grew to nearly 1,500 acres before the city incorporated on Feb. 16, 1906. Today, Glendale covers 30.4 square miles and has the third-largest population among the 84 cities in the county.

In addition to music, food and fanfare, the city’s birthday party will also feature appearances by some of the city’s oldest residents and employees.

One of them, John Kreider, 90, said he still feels at home in the city after all the years, unlike many of his peers who long for the days before big development, population increases and the loss of Glendale’s homogenous white community.

“I came here from a community that didn’t discriminate against anybody, so that sort of thing was pretty hard to get used to,” said Kreider. “But Glendale has grown, and grown up quite a bit since then. We have quite a diverse community now.”

The event runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at City Hall, 613 E. Broadway. Traffic will be cordoned off on Broadway between Glendale Avenue and Isabel Street, and stages will be set up for live entertainment.

Performances are scheduled throughout the day by local high school bands, Armenian and Latino music and dance acts, and other acts. There also will be an open house at City Hill with displays and food.