City is studying purchase of Rockhaven

CITY HALL — Sparked by a multi-faceted proposal by Glendale City Councilman John Drayman, city staffers are studying the possibility of purchasing the former Rockhaven Sanitarium in Montrose and turning it into a library, city officials said on Tuesday.

Drayman proposed the idea at a budget study meeting last week, during which the council discussed possible capital improvements for the city's library system.

The plan calls for moving the current Montrose library — which abuts Fire Station 29 on Honolulu Avenue — three blocks west to the Rockhaven site. The move would leave room for the fire station, which is slated to be revamped, to expand in its existing location, Drayman said.

The city-owned parking lot across the street from the library and fire station, which has been mentioned as a potential site for a new fire station, could then be used as a site for a retail anchor for the Montrose Shopping Park, said Drayman, who suggested a market such as Trader Joe's.

"By pursuing this course, we will get our new fire station, a new library, new retail anchor for a premier business district in the city, preserve a historic site and we will have adaptive re-use of that site," Drayman said.

The issue will require extensive study and likely won't come back before the council until July, Councilman Dave Weaver said.

The Rockhaven property, which sits on about 3.5 acres north of Honolulu Avenue between Pleasure Way to the east and La Crescenta Avenue to the west, is the former home of the Rockhaven Sanitarium.

Built in 1922 and once known as the "Screen Actor's Sanitarium," Rockhaven was once home to storied Hollywood actress Frances Farmer, as well as to Marilyn Monroe's mother, said Mike Lawler, president of the Historical Society of the Crescenta Valley.

Original structures still stand on the property, many of which are surrounded by mature oak trees.

More than a dozen community members attended the City Council meeting on Tuesday to lobby for Drayman's proposal that the city purchase the site.

Currently, the property is owned by Ararat Home of Los Angeles, Inc., a nonprofit organization that owns and operates assisted living and convalescent facilities for the elderly Armenian community in the Los Angeles region.