Montrose

A proposed Starbucks in Montrose is getting mixed reviews from local business owners who say the corporate chain may not mesh with the independent image of the district (“Proposed Starbucks stirs up Montrose,” Sept. 9)? Did anyone not notice there was a Coffee Bean and Quiznos across the street in the picture that accompanied this story? The Coffee Bean has more than 750 locations in 22 countries and generates millions a year in revenue. Same for Quiznos, except they have thousands of locations.

I have lived and worked in Glendale since 1969. Over the years, my wife and I have enjoyed shopping and dining in Montrose. We have noted in the last few years that parking in the afternoon and evening has become more difficult. On a recent evening, we went to Montrose for dinner and noticed construction at the corner of Honolulu and Oceanview. We were surprised to discover that a Starbuck's was coming to Montrose. We were even more amazed that the city of Glendale had issued an exemption to Starbuck's for the normal required parking.

A 31-year-old man was arrested Sunday night after residents saw him spray-painting his moniker in huge letters on a wall in Montrose, police said. Richard Cordova was taken into custody about 11:35 p.m. on Honolulu Avenue and Wickham Way after police spotted him trying to flee the scene, Glendale Police Officer Matt Zakarian said. He allegedly spray-painted his moniker in nearly 5-foot-tall by 4-foot-wide letters. The tagging was not gang-affiliated, but detectives were still investigating the incident, Zakarian added.

Thank you, Councilman Ara Najarian. I was encouraged to read that perhaps one council member is coming to realize that a big part of being a representative of the people is knowing when to “really” listen to those in the community (“Road diet feeds ire,” June 19). We are adults and we love our Montrose. We know what we want to lose and what we will fight to keep. Sometimes, stepping back and taking another look is very important. The people of Glendale are not children and they do not like being treated as such.

For the past couple of months, there has been a great deal of discussion about having a Starbucks coffeehouse open near another franchise coffeehouse, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, in Montrose. (“Starbucks tries to woo business owners, Oct. 7). Montrose residents and merchants are proud that Honolulu Avenue is the home of many mom-and-pop stores. With the possible inclusion of Starbucks on Honolulu, I would like to ask the “locals” if they truly believe in the free marketplace and competition.

I read with much interest the letter from William Brown on Feb. 10 titled “ 'Road diet' plan a recipe for disaster ” and wish to comment regarding the proposed “road diet” through Montrose. I, too, agree that this ill-conceived plan is a disaster looking for a happening. Many of us local residents use Honolulu Avenue on a daily basis for our east-west commute. There are no alternate routes, other than Foothill Boulevard, which is teeming with commuters, kids and local shoppers.

A "person of interest" has been identified in connection with an Orchard Supply Hardware burglary and police pursuit that ended in a Montrose neighborhood on Monday, putting 34 homes under lockdown for three hours for a search that eventually turned up empty. The California Highway Patrol has identified Lang Patrick Martinez, 37, of Simi Valley, as a person of interest in the burglary and ensuing pursuit, which ended when the alleged burglar pulled into a driveway at Sycamore near Cloud, parked and fled on foot.

As rent prices rise in Montrose, there is debate about what the market can actually endure along Honolulu Avenue. Former shopping park president John Drayman and current president Dale Dawson state that the average retail rent in the City of Glendale is around $2 per square foot. Property owners new to the area, however, have stated that at this price, rents in the shopping park are too low. Commercial property owners that have owned units for many years in the shopping park argue that one has to understand the consumer base when determining what kind of rents are sustainable for Montrose’s mom and pop retail businesses.

The surgery to help diagnose a Montrose boy’s elusive medical condition was unsuccessful Wednesday, his mother Natalia LoCicero said. The procedure had never been done on someone so young, and 4-year-old Reece LoCicero will likely undergo a different and potentially more invasive operation in a few weeks, she said. From the time he was 10 months old, Reece’s life has been marked with myriad of symptoms difficult for doctors to diagnose, including unexplained bleeding and sores.

The Montrose Harvest Market has become so popular that vendors are fighting over a limited number of spots. The issue came to the fore on Thursday when a feud between chiropractors for booth space sparked the need for the Montrose Shopping Park Assn. to clarify rules that allow the market manager to rotate vendors of certain types. That could spell trouble for Dale Ellwein, a chiropractor who has set up a booth at the market for roughly eight years. He said he generates about 33% of his business from the packed Sunday market on Honolulu Avenue.

View Larger Map A man held two pregnant pharmacy workers at gunpoint Wednesday after demanding powerful prescription painkillers in a note. Karmen Sefyan, owner of Arianna Medical Pharmacy in Glendale, and a co-worker were alone just after noon inside the drugstore in the 3600 block of North Verdugo Road when she said a man walked in pointing a gun at them. Sefyan - whose pregnancy is nearly full term - and her co-worker were not harmed during the incident. "The whole thing took a few minutes," she said The man, described as wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap, was gripping a demand note for the prescription narcotic pain reliever Norco, which Sefyan, a pharmacist, said is stronger than the popular painkiller Vicodin.

The motorist who was killed Monday after her vehicle careened off Angeles Crest Highway has been identified by coroner's officials as Montrose resident Maral Joulakian. An autopsy for Joulakian, 43, was still pending, according to Los Angeles County coroner's spokesman Ed Winter. County firefighters were called to the 32.2-mile mark of the highway about 1:45 p.m. after someone saw a vehicle leave the roadway, the L.A. Times reported. The cause of the accident, in which her car tumbled several hundred feet down a steep ravine, remained under investigation.

Reading in the Glendale News-Press' Feb. 27 Forum page about the Clint Eastwood cutout, the reports of his demise have been grossly exaggerated. On a hike to the top of the hill above the Glendale (2) Freeway, I discovered poor old Clint dug out of the ground and about 30 feet down the hill from his previous location. He is all there, cement galoshes and all. Clint has his arm extended holding a bell. On the back of the cutout is a sign which asks anyone reading it to ring the bell and become an organ donor.

Crossing the threshold at Casa Cordoba in Montrose is like crossing eight time zones. You land smack dab in southern Spain. A bubbling fountain in a Spanish courtyard lures you in. Strains of classical guitar draw you deeper inside where custom-built tiled tables and Moorish lanterns stand among Picasso, Miro and Dali prints. Another room holds pretty earthenware imported from villages in Andalusia, traceable on a large, beautifully lit map under glass. Owners Jeannie and Chris Bone took their time decorating the cafe, an homage to their beloved vacation spot of Cordoba, and they did a splendid job. The food matches the decor - unique yet well-suited to the Southern California lifestyle.

This post has been corrected, see below for details, Lured by the promise of barbecue and profits, nearly 4,000 people reportedly showed up for the opening celebration of a "fine suburban town" known as Montrose on Feb. 22, 1913. This weekend, the Montrose Shopping Park Assn. will try to more than double that number at the Western-themed centennial celebration honoring that first land sale. “The more the merrier,” said Jake Menachian, the association's events chairman.

There's an old saying, "a rose is a rose is a rose," and, with apologies to Gertrude Stein, I'd like to say "a legend is a legend is a legend. " I'm referring to the “Legend of Montrose.” But in this case, it turns out the legend regarding the beginnings of Montrose is based on some inaccurate information. That's what Robert Newcombe, author of the new book “Montrose,” has discovered. The “Legend of Montrose” is not just slightly inaccurate, he says. In fact, “some of it is wrong.

When former Councilman John Drayman didn't turn in money he collected from the Montrose Harvest Market on time, that should have been a warning sign that something was amiss, said an accountant who spoke to market officials about improving their financial practices. “Obviously, the fact that he didn't make deposits in a timely manner should have been a red light” even though Drayman was a trusted person, said Pasadena accountant Steven Fishman at the Montrose Shopping Park Assn.

Montrose, a 300-acre 'planned community' opened Feb. 22, 1913 and more than 4,000 people showed up for the grand opening. Many arrived by horseback or on horse-drawn vehicles, according to Carroll W. Parcher, writing in “Glendale Area History,” published in 1981. The developers, Holmes and Watson, promoted their new development in a large display ad placed in the Feb. 21, 1913 Glendale News Press. “Montrose, a few minutes ride up the Foothill Boulevard from Glendale, right at the junction of the Verdugo, La Crescenta and La Canada Valleys.” “Be prepared to buy a lot or two. You've made money on your holdings in Glendale.

In spite of its so-called Mayberry charm, Montrose has undergone lots of change in its first 100 years. From its dirt-road, one-store, seven-year “birth” to its blossoming in the roaring '20s, to its near-death experience in the 1960s, followed by its park-like makeover in 1967, Montrose has transformed itself several times. The discussion about chain stores destroying Montrose is not new either. National and Southern California chain stores have had a presence in Montrose long before Starbucks, Coffee Bean, Quizno's, and Trader Joe's even existed.