Red Lion now officially a Hilton

Robert Shaffer

DOWNTOWN -- The Hilton Glendale officially became the Hilton Glendale

Tuesday.

The Glenoaks Boulevard hotel, formerly the Red Lion Hotel, actually

switched to its current name last month. But with pomp and circumstance

-- and an appearance by Mayor Ginger Bremberg -- the hotel was officially

welcomed into Glendale.

At the ceremony, the company presented a donation to Glendale

Community College to establish the Hilton Glendale Scholarship Program.

The money will provide financial assistance to students who need it in

perpetuity.

The $1,250 gift will be matched each year by proceeds from the

Glendale College Foundation, which distributes about $300,000 to students

each year through the school’s scholarship office.

The hotel’s donation will go to students in the college’s culinary

arts program.

Ann Ransford, executive director of the foundation, said the business

community has historically been a big donor to the college.

“Many partnerships are done with businesses like this one at the

community college level,” she said. “They are very important.”

The 19-story, 350-room hotel became part of Hilton Nov. 30 when the

company bought Memphis-based Promus Hotels Corp. for about $4 billion.