On Saturday, however, there were no traces of gasoline residue, nor were there any cars or the type of automobile equipment that once littered the lot when it housed Stone’s Auto Service and Sales.
Instead, the beckoning Streamline Moderne-style structure is painted a gleaming white with gold and blue trim and is surrounded by patches of thick grass, cement pathways, park benches and a minimalist children’s play structure.
More than 70 people descended on the park for the opening ceremonies, and as a tribute to the park’s historic landmark, the crowd grabbed free bottles of Coca-Cola, cracked them open with a bottle opener attached to a retro ice cooler, all while ’50s-era crooners like Nat King Cole and the playful cries of children set the soundtrack.
“Seeing it on the drawing boards and mock-ups doesn’t do it justice,” Glendale Mayor Ara Najarian said. “I don’t think anybody would have imagined ten years ago that this could have been a park.”
Not necessarily true, Adams Hills resident Ute Baum said.
“We did,” she quipped.
While the park was unanimously heralded by all who attended Saturday, the final product came only after almost a decade of oft-contentious community planning and at least one major hiccup when the city council approved a re-design of the park in May, when the project was already 70% complete.
It was in March when members of the Adams Hill Homeowners Assn. realized that what was taking shape at the site was not what they had originally approved of with city planners in 2005.
That set off weeks of wrangling between them, local merchants and city staff members over how to proceed, leading to tense times in the business alcove at the foot of Adams Hill.
The tension began to calm after the council voted in May to allocate $350,000 to tear down certain parts of the park and reconstruct it to fit a redesign hashed out by the homeowner’s association and the city’s Park, Recreation and Community Services Department.
That cost was in addition to the approximately $1 million the city spent to purchase the two lots that make up the site, and the nearly $880,000 set aside for the original plans, city officials said.
But there was little talk on Saturday of the controversial re-design phase.
“It started out as something with a little controversy to it and it ended just beautifully,” Councilman John Drayman said.
Teahan agreed.
“I think its going to be one of the most photographed gas stations,” he said.
ANI AMIRKHANIAN is a news assistant. She may be reached at (818) 637-3230 or by e-mail at ani.amirkhanian@latimes.com.
