Adams Square

Karen S. Kim SOUTHEAST GLENDALE -- The city will host a groundbreaking ceremony for the Adams Square streetscape improvement project Saturday at the corner of Chevy Chase Drive and Adams Street. The ceremony will mark the beginning of a project that includes a landscaped center median on Chevy Chase Drive at Acacia Avenue, parkway landscaping on Chevy Chase Drive and Tyler Street, two monuments marking the entrance to Adams Square and a 2,000-square-foot plaza with a fountain and walls for sitting on the southwest corner of Chevy Chase Drive and Adams Street.

Karen S. Kim SOUTHEAST GLENDALE -- A rendering of how the city's facade improvement program will enhance the look of four adjacent businesses in Adams Square has hung in the window of Palmer Market for so long that its colors and text have faded. But after two years of delays and slow processing, eight Adams Square businesses are finally getting the face-lift they were promised. "We're very happy about it because this area is dead over here," said George Nazaryan, owner of Palmer Market on Palmer Avenue.

Rarely, if ever, does an old gas station make for a nice place to picnic, play or, to just sit back and pass the time away, chatting with friends and neighbors over a few Cokes. But it’s a scenario that played out on Saturday at the opening of the new Adams Square mini park, and it’s a scenario that’s likely to play out on a regular basis for years to come, said Michael Teahan, who as president of the Adams Hills Homeowners Assn., was a force in designing and realizing the park.

Josh Kleinbaum Saro Tomasian is confident in his food. Three months after opening the Philly Cheese Steak and Pizza House in Adams Square, Tomasian already has a loyal base of customers. He just needs to expand on that. "I'm just trying to get my food out there so they can taste it," Tomasian said. "I'm sure they'll be back once they taste it." Tomasian will get plenty of exposure Saturday, when his cheese steaks will be for sale at the Fifth Annual Adams Square Summer A'Faire.

Ryan Carter "Adams Square" is all turned around. For the past 1 1/2 years, the concrete and brick monument that let people know they were in the Adams Square merchant area faced west. This allowed drivers headed east on Chevy Chase Drive to see the sign as they reached the Adams Street intersection. But, citing traffic concerns, city work crews rotated the sign, making it parallel to traffic. Now the "Adams Square" lettering faces north toward an apartment building, and that has merchants in the southern Glendale revitalization project upset.

Adams Square Business Improvement District members put the tinsel and ornaments on their Christmas tree Tuesday, preparing the square for the holiday season. "We had an incredible turnout this time," said Carol Cianfrini, a member of the district's board of directors. Adams Square will hold its annual tree lighting ceremony Saturday at 1:15 p.m. at Chevy Chase Drive and Adams Street. The tree lighting is part of an afternoon festival from 1 to 5 p.m. Christmas music will set the scene, and Santa Claus will be in the square, posing for pictures with kids.

35Husband-and-wife leaders of the business scene in southeast Glendale ... as owners of Crysti Cleaners in the Adams Square shopping district, they have led the effort to beautify the area, tapping city help and trying to drum up interest in south Glendale as a viable business area ... with a group of local merchants, they organize the annual Summer A'Faire block party ... longtime residents of the area who made money...

Park design favored in neighborhood In Rima Shah's front-page article on the proposed Adams Square mini-park ("Group wants mini-park's foot off gas," Thursday), only one person from the Adams Hill area was interviewed -- Carol Cianfrini. Cianfrini may be "pumping up some controversy" about the park's design, but everyone at the community meeting on May 12 appeared to be in full support of the plan. If Cianfrini has so many concerns about the proposed park, why didn't she voice them at the meeting?

Ryan Carter Adams Square merchants are touting the development of a new shopping center in the area as a boon to the tightly knit business district. The small center, which includes six spaces of about 1,100 square feet each, is at the southwest corner of Adams Street and Chevy Chase Drive. The spaces are slowly being filled with tenants who want to do business in an area of south Glendale they feel is an untapped market for their services. Merchants expect the center will be filled by the middle of next year.

Fred Ortega The City Council approved final plans for a $1.8-million mini park in the Adams Hill area and instructed staff members to proceed with planning for a pocket library in an Adams Square storefront Tuesday. Council members made one alteration to the final mini-park plans by recommending the narrowing of a 10-foot-wide concrete walkway intersecting the park, which includes a 70-year-old service station converted to provide shading for park benches.

The association in charge of the Montrose Shopping Park is looking to add another employee to its ranks, making it the city's only business improvement group with such a robust workforce. The Montrose Shopping Park Assn. board of directors, which decides how roughly $360,000 gets spent to promote the quaint shopping district along Honolulu Avenue, is mulling over adding a “Montrose Ambassador” to meet with business owners and bring their comments or complaints back to the board.

ADAMS HILL ? In a move that members say will allow it to better represent the neighborhood, the Adams Hill Homeowners Assn. will now welcome renters and businesses into its ranks. The group, now called the Adams Hill Neighborhood Assn., is the only such association to make the move. ?We?ve always welcomed people who were renters to come to our meetings and express their opinions,? said President Christopher Welch. ?We wanted to make it a little more official and really truly welcome all people who live in the neighborhood.

TODAY The Crescenta-Cañada Family YMCA offers Poi Juggling from 4:15 to 5:15 p.m. every Monday and Wednesday, July 6 until July 29 at Crescenta-Cañada YMCA, 1930 Foothill Blvd. Lessons are open to children ages 7 to 14. For more information, contact the Healthy Lifestyles Director Ana Marie Schaefer at amschaefer@ymcac.org or call (818) 790-0123, Ext. 231. ? TUESDAY The Crescenta-Cañada Family YMCA offers three types of art classes every Tuesday, July 7 to July 28 at Crescenta-Cañada YMCA, 1930 Foothill Blvd.

From the moment Santa Claus stepped out onto Park Avenue in Adams Square on Saturday, he had command of dozens of children and their parents. They flanked him for quick snaps of their digital cameras before he settled down on his padded wicker bench, where one by one, youngsters took their turn posing for that seminal childhood picture. Some were eager; others were less so. After 4-year-old David Tsarukyan and his cousin, Nicole, 3, were planted on the bench, the clock ticked on voicing their Christmas wishes.

Suspect escapes after police chase A police chase through Northeast Los Angeles and Glendale ended with a thud Saturday morning when police cars smashed into an allegedly stolen vehicle in Adams Square Saturday morning. No injuries were reported, and the suspect disappeared from officers’ view despite five units each from the Los Angeles and Glendale police departments and four dogs from the Northeast LAPD division, officials said. The chase began near the Eagle Rock Mall at 10:45 a.m. when officers spotted a reportedly stolen sport utility vehicle driving away from the shopping center, LAPD Sgt. Sanford Rosenberg said.