Verdugo Views: Woman led drive to form Cottage Grove Historic District

She discovered a 1918 map indicating that Palmer Avenue was originally Moore, and that her neighborhood was Ungerland’s subdivision. Other research indicated that her house was built on the corner of Palmer in 1901 and was later moved 10 feet back to make way for an apartment.

The other houses on Cottage Grove were developed in the 1920s by the Fox brothers, John and Preston, who then lived at 1212 and 1221 Cottage Grove, respectively. The dwellings are predominantly Tudor Revival and were advertised in the newspapers in 1925 as “English Dream Houses,” according to the Glendale Historical Society’s website.

Baum recruited her neighbors to help get signatures on the petition to form a historic district.

“We succeeded in getting 12 out of the 14 homeowners to sign,” she said. “Because of the high percentage, the city moved the final application through quickly.”

On Oct. 28, 2008, the Glendale News-Press reported, “A cottage-lined street at the foot of Adams Hill is close to becoming a historic district.” The designation became official on Feb. 3, 2009. “Five houses are now occupied by second-generation owners,” Baum said. “This neighborhood has something going for it.”

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Katherine Yamada’s column runs every Sunday. To contact her, call features editor Joyce Rudolph at (818) 637-3241. For more information on Glendale’s history, visit the Glendale Historical Society’s web page www.glendalehistorical.org; call the reference desk at the Central Library at (818) 548-2027; or visit the Special Collections Room at Central on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m. or make an appointment by calling (818) 548-2037.

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Readers Write: Connie Carlson Hanson recalled the neighborhood sign that stood at both ends of Mary Street in the Crescenta Valley in 1953.

“There were many olive trees on our street — and in our backyard. There were signs at both ends of our street declaring it Olive Woods.” She said they were wooden signs and had an olive tree design on them.

Hanson and her parents, Dave and Marie Carlson, and her younger brother, Tom, left a brick house in Chicago and moved West along with her grandparents, Edward and Matilda Ohlund.

“We bought two brand-new ranch houses, which shared a long driveway up to the two garages.” The backyards were connected. “It was amazing to move from Chicago’s cold climate and live in a place with the San Gabriels in the background.”

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If you have questions, comments or memories to share, please write to Verdugo Views, c/o News-Press, 221 N. Brand Blvd. 2nd Floor, Glendale, CA 91203. Please include your name, address and phone number.