Crescenta Valley adopts new community flag

LA CRESCENTA — Steven Park said he created Crescenta Valley’s first-ever community flag out of his love for the area he has called home for 10 years.

Park entered a design contest in June that the Crescenta Valley Town Council held to get residents to participate in creating a community flag for La Crescenta and Montrose. About 25 people submitted designs for the flag, and council members selected six finalists. Residents voted for their favorite in November.

Park’s design overwhelmingly won the contest.

“I was hoping for it, but I didn’t expect it,” he said. “It was surprising.”

Town officials unveiled the new community flag to residents Saturday during the town’s Arbor Day celebration at Two Strike Park, 5107 Rosemont Ave.

The flag depicts the Verdugo and Glendale mountains, the skyline of La Crescenta’s business corridor and the towns’ names. Park said he wanted the design to include happy, bright colors.

“I just wanted to create a design that represents La Crescenta and Montrose,” Park said, adding that he enjoyed contributing to the community.

He was looking through his 10-year-old son Justin’s school folder last spring when he saw a flier about the design contest.

Park, a freelance industrial designer, saw the contest as opportunity to teach Justin and his other son, 7-year-old Bryce, the process of design, he said.

He created several designs and showed the drawings to his sons and wife, Helen Park, who he said critiqued them.

Park and his family picked the four designs they liked the best and submitted the drawings into the contest, one of which was chosen for a communitywide vote.

Councilman Robert Thomas got the idea of having a community flag for La Crescenta and Montrose while driving on the Glendale Freeway near Harvey Drive.

Thomas said he saw a flag representing the community of Eagle Rock flying from a post. Inspired, he began researching what the community did to get a flag and why they decided to design it.

Eagle Rock is a neighborhood of Los Angeles, but Thomas said community officials wanted to establish their own identity, so they created the flag.

La Crescenta and Montrose, he said, are similar to Eagle Rock in that both towns have their own communities and identities separate from the larger city of Glendale.

Park’s design represents the towns’ prosperity and that there are “better days ahead,” Thomas said.

“It’s a bright future,” he said.

The council is hoping to hang the flag outside the new town library — which is slated for completion in September — and will get permission to fly flags in area parks, county buildings and businesses, Thomas said.

But for now, the flag will be displayed during council meetings, he said.

The flag will unite residents and might encourage other residents who want to hang the flags outside their homes, said Jean Maluccio, president of the Crescenta Valley Chamber of Commerce.

“Any time you can do something that brings the community together is always a good idea,” she said.

Park and his family have always known they belonged to a community.

Now, he said, he can show his appreciation to the whole town.

 VERONICA ROCHA covers public safety and the courts. She may be reached at (818) 637-3232 or by e-mail at veronica.rocha@latimes.com.