Strip Mall

A fire that erupted in a South Glendale strip mall early Monday caused $30,000 in damage, officials said. The fire started about 3 a.m. inside a strip mall on the 600 block of Wilson Avenue, said Glendale Fire Battalion Chief Greg Godfrey. No one was injured in the blaze, which was contained to a single business inside the mall, he said. The business sustained $20,000 in structural damage and about $10,000 in contents was destroyed, Godfrey said. The cause of the fire remained under investigation.

It may be a matter of days, months, or even years, but when the historic May-Lane/La Crescenta Motel is bulldozed to make room for a planned strip mall it will take with it a bit of the past that’s been the Crescenta Valley’s claim to fame. An expired Los Angeles County conditional use permit (CUP) is all that’s holding up motel owner Jacques Massachi’s plans to demolish the structure and construct a 40,000-square-foot retail and office building on the lot at the corner of Foothill Boulevard and Briggs Avenue.

Amber Willard THORNYCROFT -- Glendale Fire officials were investigating an early morning blaze that damaged two business in a strip mall Wednesday. The fire, which officials said started in a storage area of a store in the 1000 block of East Colorado Street, was reported shortly after 12:30 a.m. Wednesday. "We had additional equipment come to the incident due to the severity of the fire and its potential to spread," Glendale Fire Marshal Steve Howard said.

Fire officials estimate damages from the blaze are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.NORTHWEST GLENDALE -- A major fire at a strip mall early Thursday morning gutted at least one business, closed several others and caused an estimated $750,000 in damages, fire officials said. The fire at the shopping center at 459 W. Broadway Ave. near Pacific Avenue started at about 1 a.m. Thursday, Glendale Fire Capt. Carlos Guerrero said, after officials received a call from someone at the Chevron gas station across the street.

Say it ain’t so! (“Strip mall still coming” — Crescenta Valley Sun, Jan. 11). Upon reading that the historic and charming May-Lane/La Crescenta Motel on the corner of Foothill and Briggs is going to be turned into yet another strip mall — another stucco scar on the boulevard — I threw down the newspaper in frustration and disgust. Now, after stewing over this latest depressing development (pun intended) for a few days, I’m wondering: Why stop at simply cramming another unnecessary retail strip mall with too few parking spaces and too many non-English-language signs?

A man last seen at a Glendale strip mall has been missing for a week, news reports said. Martin Pogosian, 33, was last seen at 2 p.m. Jan. 23 during a business meeting at a strip mall in the 1200 block of South Glendale Avenue, news reports said. Witnesses told police Pogosian left the meeting driving a white 2001 Range Rover, according to news reports. Pogosian is described as 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing about 180 pounds. He has brown hair and eyes, and was last seen wearing black jeans, a dark blazer and a dark crew-neck sweater.

Josh Kleinbaum A three-alarm fire destroyed three businesses Sunday and injured two people, including a Glendale firefighter, fire officials said. Firefighter Robert Bishop was just outside the seven-store strip mall at 4121 Pennsylvania Ave., engaging in "an aggressive interior firefighting attack," when the building's facade collapsed, pinning Bishop beneath debris, Glendale Fire Capt. Carlos Guerrero said. Other firefighters freed Bishop, who was taken to Glendale Adventist Medical Center.

Jackson Bell A Glendale man found severely burnt outside a blazing strip mall last year has been accused of setting the fire to collect on insurance, police said Monday. Tony Yarijanian, 37, faces charges of arson to structures, arson to a car that also caught fire and making fraudulent insurance claims, said Det. Miguel E. Porras of the Glendale Police Arson Unit. A warrant was issued for Yarijanian's arrest April 15, and Los Angeles police arrested him Friday at Los Angeles International Airport as he was returning to the country, Porras said.

Paul M. Anderson GLENDALE -- Harry Marshalian wanted to help, but he didn't know how. He noticed a homeless man hanging around behind the strip mall where Marshalian has worked as a jeweler for 25 years. "I told my landlord I am willing to buy sandwiches for him and give him money," Marshalian said. But the lanlord felt it would only encourage the homeless man to stick around, he said. On Monday, it became clear that hanging around the strip mall on the 300 block of North Verdugo Road was dangerous for the homeless man, Luis Lopez.

A fire that erupted in a South Glendale strip mall early Monday caused $30,000 in damage, officials said. The fire started about 3 a.m. inside a strip mall on the 600 block of Wilson Avenue, said Glendale Fire Battalion Chief Greg Godfrey. No one was injured in the blaze, which was contained to a single business inside the mall, he said. The business sustained $20,000 in structural damage and about $10,000 in contents was destroyed, Godfrey said. The cause of the fire remained under investigation.

If you are searching for an eclectic fish menu, you would be hard pressed to find one more appealing than Fish Dish Grill Burbank. You can choose from fish and chips to fish tacos or fish burritos, fish salad entrees, fish dish bowls or 13 different charbroiled fish dinners. It is next door to the entrance of Bob Hope Airport in a newer strip mall that includes eight restaurants and not enough lunchtime parking. Fish Dish has a new menu that is not yet posted to its website. Fried clams are no longer on the menu.

SOUTH GLENDALE — Two men who pretended to be customers Tuesday afternoon at a dry cleaning shop on Broadway handcuffed one of the shop’s owners and demanded cash, one of the owners said. No injuries were reported as store owner Suzan Tenekedjyan and her husband tried to make sense of the apparent robbery. Both were working at their shop, Broadway Cleaners, when a man walked in about 12:50 p.m. carrying several pieces of clothing, she said. She didn’t think much about the man at first, but he later appeared to be nervous, she said.

Local wildfires, the highly anticipated completion of the Americana on Brand and the La Cañada Town Center and a murder at the interchange of the Glendale (2) and Foothill (210) freeways were just some of the notable moments that made up 2008 and were reported in the pages of the Crescenta Valley Sun. Not surprising were the ongoing budget battles regarding funding for public schools, an issue that will most likely not be put to rest in ’09. Proposed development along Foothill Boulevard and the demolition of one of the oldest homes in Montrose caused concern if not downright uproar by local residents.

GLENDALE — Several tenants who lease storefronts at the Glen Vine Center said they are losing customers since they can’t post signs with their business names on the center’s exterior. The tenants of 20/20 Video and Postal Pack n Ship occupy space in the seven-unit center in the 400 block of South Central Avenue. They have leased units since the fall. Tenants opened their businesses and placed banners on the center’s exterior in the fall. But Jana Kanner, the center’s property manager, asked that the banners be taken down.

Cheers to ‘My Thoughts’columnist Just wanted to write on how much we enjoy Jim Chase’s in the Crescenta Valley Sun. It’s so well titled, “My Thoughts, Exactly.” His innate sense of humor makes a great companion to that few moments of paper-reading at the breakfast table. It’s a great counterpoint to all the negative headlines we see, even in the great “Wall St. Journal” (we do not take the L.A. Times). In fact, Chase is the reason we have now moved the Sun to an important priority.

Say it ain’t so! (“Strip mall still coming” — Crescenta Valley Sun, Jan. 11). Upon reading that the historic and charming May-Lane/La Crescenta Motel on the corner of Foothill and Briggs is going to be turned into yet another strip mall — another stucco scar on the boulevard — I threw down the newspaper in frustration and disgust. Now, after stewing over this latest depressing development (pun intended) for a few days, I’m wondering: Why stop at simply cramming another unnecessary retail strip mall with too few parking spaces and too many non-English-language signs?

It may be a matter of days, months, or even years, but when the historic May-Lane/La Crescenta Motel is bulldozed to make room for a planned strip mall it will take with it a bit of the past that’s been the Crescenta Valley’s claim to fame. An expired Los Angeles County conditional use permit (CUP) is all that’s holding up motel owner Jacques Massachi’s plans to demolish the structure and construct a 40,000-square-foot retail and office building on the lot at the corner of Foothill Boulevard and Briggs Avenue.