Santa Claus

Tim Willert City workers spent part of the day Monday preparing for Wednesday's annual holiday tree-lighting ceremony behind City Hall by stringing lights on the city's giant Christmas tree. The event, co-sponsored by Parks, Recreation and Community Services and the Facilities Services division, will include traditional holiday Christmas songs and a visit from Santa Claus. It will start at 7 p.m. in Perkins Plaza, 141 N. Glendale Ave., adjacent to City Hall.

Tim Willert GLENDALE -- Santa Claus, at the request of the city's parks, recreation and community services division, will appear at five city parks on Saturday. Santa will appear at 11:30 a.m. at Montrose Park, 3529 Clifton Place, Montrose. At 12:15, Santa will be at Glenoaks Park, 2531 E. Glenoaks Blvd. Santa will appear at Carr Park, 1615 E. Colorado Blvd. at 2 p.m., and then be at Palmer Park, 610 E. Palmer Ave., at 2:45 p.m. The jolly fellow will make his final appearance of the day at 3:45 p.m. at Maple Park, 820 E. Maple St. Pictures with Santa will cost $2.50 each.

Karen S. Kim DOWNTOWN -- Santa Claus is hosting a special guest at the Glendale Galleria on Saturday: a 4-year-old black Labrador named Abby. Abby, an advanced certified disaster search dog, helped her handler, Debra Tosch, during the search-and-rescue efforts at the World Trade Center in New York. The canine will help kick off the Galleria's Pet Photos with Santa event from 9 to 11 a.m. Customers are invited to bring along their pets to sit on Santa's lap at Santa's Holiday Bake Shoppe in the mall to take a holiday photo.

Ten Years Ago ... The Montrose Parade attracted an audience of 60,000 as Santa Claus came to celebrate the holiday in the glow of the hundreds of sparkling little white lights adorning the sidewalk trees up and down Honolulu Avenue. It was the 19th annual Glendale-Montrose Christmas Parade, and it met everyone's expectations for the night. Twenty Years Ago ... La Crescenta Woman's Club Juniors hoped Foothills residents would share their Christmas with a special person in the Glenridge Center at their traditional "Angel Tree."

INDEX Around Town, A4 Classifieds, A9-10 Community Forum, A2 Obituary, A5 Sports, A6-8 Youth Sports, A7 WEATHER Partly cloudy skies today, with a high of 71 and low of 47 expected. FOR THE RECORD The city of Glendale and VNACare and Hospice in the Home each will hold tree-lighting ceremonies Wednesday night. The city's tree-lighting ceremony is at 7 p.m. in Perkins Plaza, 141 N. Glendale Ave., in the City Hall complex.

Honolulu Avenue will be closed from La Crescenta Avenue to Verdugo Road on Saturday to make way for the Montrose Christmas Parade. The closures will begin at 4 p.m., police said. Access to Honolulu from intersecting streets will also be restricted to traffic. The parade, which will include 14 bands, two floats, several classic cars and a Santa Claus fly-over in the Glendale Police Department helicopter, will begin at 6 p.m. Saturday. Last year's event drew 20,000 people and organizers are expecting the same number of people Saturday.

Claudia Peschiutta GLENDALE - Santa Claus is coming to town a little early this year. St. Nick will be in Glendale Dec. 6 for the city's annual Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony. The event will feature musical performances and Canyon Cafe will provide free hot chocolate and candy canes. Karen Fries, recreation and community services coordinator for the city, said the event has become a tradition and usually draws about 1,000 people. It's purpose it "to bring the community together as a kickoff to the holiday season," she said.

Claudia Peschiutta GLENDALE -- The Glendale Police Officers' Assn. brought holiday cheer to hundreds of local disadvantaged children with its annual Christmas party. Cops for Kids, a subgroup of the association, organized the celebration for about 300 kids, 6 through 12, who were chosen by the Glendale Community Development and Housing Division and the Homeless Coalition. At the event, held at the Glendale National Guard Armory Saturday, kids were treated to lunch, arts and crafts and a visit from a gift-toting Santa Claus.

Claudia Peschiutta GLENDALE - Santa Claus is coming to town...again...and again...and again. Kids will have a chance to get their last-minute requests into Santa when he visits six Glendale parks Wednesday. The following is a list of Santa's scheduled appearances: 11:30 a.m. at Glenoaks Park, 2531 E. Glenoaks Blvd. 12:15 p.m. at Montrose Park, 3529 Clifton Place 2 p.m. at Carr Park, 1615 E. Colorado St. 2:45 p.m. at Palmer Park, 610 E. Palmer Ave. 3:30 p.m. at Pacific Park, 501 S. Pacific Ave. 4:15 p.m. at Maple Park, 820 E. Maple St. For more information, call 548-3785.

Character actress Louise Dresser and her husband, Jack Gardner, lived in Glendale for many years. As a young girl, the former Lulu Kerlin grew up singing in choirs and shows. As a teen, she ran away from home, setting her sights on vaudeville, according to imdb.com . Her contralto voice brought her to the attention of Tin Pan Alley composer Paul Dresser, who changed her stage name to Louise Dresser. She sang his biggest hit, “My Gal Sal.” Dresser made it to Broadway, debuting in “About Town” in 1906.