California People, Please tell me about Glendale

Huge Armenian population.

In Glendale all seems to breathe freedom and peace, and to make one forget the world and its sad turmoils.

OP, not sure about now, but when I was growing up, Glendale was the closest thing next to Hollywood, outside of Beverly Hills, that embodied the “Leave It to Beaver” vibe.

It was extremely conservative, almost all Republicans, upper middle class, white, and yes, a large Armenian population as well.

Glendale has a downtown and an "uptown"--hilly section. Not sure if Verdugo Hills is its own place these days or part of Glendale but there are some VERY nice and expensive areas in the upper sections. La Canada and Flintridge are at the far upper end of Glendale and are very upscale, but separate municipalities. It's a pretty area basically--used to be very politically right wing. I grew up many years ago in Burbank, which is adjacent to Glendale. When I was a kid, you never saw anybody but white people on the streets Glendale is much nicer than Burbank and at the other end adjacent to Pasadena, which is a very nice city except for the summer heat and smog. Pasadena and its adjacent towns are closer to downtown. Glendale is also hot and smoggy for a good portion of the year (as is Pasadena) so you'll definitely need AC. The Armenian restaurants and bakeries are mostly all downtown. Armenian food is really great, I gotta say.

Re getting downtown--not sure how long it takes these days because I live in Santa Monica and never go to that area anymore, so you'll have to check google maps for average commute times. With no traffic, the closest part of Glendale (i.e., the flats) to downtown is probably 10-15 minutes. So it's not that far away. But that's like a Sunday at 11 a.m. But it's not a bad location for working downtown as things go. It's always been a pretty clean and tidy area, again since it's an independent city. If Glendale is too expensive, I'd suggest checking out Burbank or cheaper parts of the San Gabriel Valley (filled to the brim with Asians in some towns--to where most signs are in Chinese).

Eagle Rock is close to downtown and has been gentrifying for a long time and used to be on the lower end price wise. Another place close to downtown to check out is Highland Park. Highland Park would be a very good area commute-wise.

Good luck!

r4 here: Rereading my post, I see you might be confused when I say downtown sometimes. I always mean downtown LA in those cases. Also not sure if people who live in Glendale say "downtown Glendale" or "the flats". In Burbank we used to say uptown and downtown Burbank, but not sure if that applies in Glendale. You'll learn fast enough once you're here--like all the eccentric pronunciations of Spanish names--for example, La Canada has a tilde over the n, so it's pronounced "Canyada." Glendale is close to a part of LA named "Los Feliz" (very nice area BTW with a lot of celebs living there) but this is always pronounced "Las or Los Veelis" never "Faylees" as in Spanish. In fact if someone says Los Feliz" with correct Spanish pronunciation, you know they're newcomers because nobody ever says it that way who's from here.

Then there's Rodeo Drive in BH, which is pronounced the Spanish way but there's a street in centralish LA called Rodeo, pronounced like the equestrian event rodeo in English. Another street in BH is called "Canon" and even I think spelled with a tilde on signs but always pronounced like the word cannon. You'll catch on eventually. There are no reasons for any of it of course.

[quote] they seemed to have at least one or two contestants a week on "The Price Is Right" who would proudly say they were from Glendale.

Most game shows are filmed in LA, and 90% of contestants live there. So they always tell the contestant to not say they're from "L.A." on the air when asked, but instead say the suburb or district of LA, like Glendale, Burbank, North Hollywood, etc. My friend used to work on game shows.

Glendale has the original Porto's bakery -- a Cuban bakery that serves great pastries.

I took a swimming class at Glendale Community College about three years back just for fun and the locker room was pretty damn cruisy.

I think the area I grew up in is still pretty white and conservative. I also grew up in NY, since my parents shared custody.

Anyhow, personally, I loved Glendale as a kid and teenager, but it was hyper-conservative. Not in the way the South is, because people were well educated, but kinda like Orange County used to be, with the preppiness of the East coast, if that makes any sense?

I’m still close to plenty of my friends from high school, and they’re ALL full on Republicans, except for one woman, and myself.

R8: Your friends from high school may still be Republicans, but Glendale as a whole has become Blue, and guess who the congressional rep is: the great (IMO) Adam Schiff. His district includes Burbank too, where he lives. Also all the statewide and city officials from Glendale are now Democrats. Probably the big Armenian population plays a large part in that (?) 4 out of the 5 city council members are Armenian as is the mayor. Interesting!

^Now that you mention it, I have no clue which way Armenian-Americans swing politically. I know a few younger Bernie people, but amongst the older set, I think one of their single most important issues seems to be voting for whomever recognizes the Armenian genocide and not being entirely in Turkey's pocket.

[quote] Probably the big Armenian population plays a large part in that

Why would you think Armenians are Dems?

Armenians are pro-Schiff since last year anyway, when he helped get a bill condemning the Armenian genocide through Congress for the first time in history. And they would be anti-Trump since he buddies up to Erdogan the Turkish dictator.

R9, I had no clue. Thanks for the heads up.

Some stayed in Glendale, most moved. We only see each other once every few years, and have a rule about not discussing politics or religion.

I think that they just basically ended up following what their parents did.

I commend op for actually using please.

Shit hole.

[quote] Is it an easy commute to South Flower, downtown?

Yes. You can take Metrolink train from Glendale station to Union Station, then hop on the Red/Purple Line subway to Pershing Square. Much nicer than dealing with traffic.

Gracie) That movie was wonderful, isn't Alan Ladd handsome?

Blanche) He certainly is. Well time to go home and back to our husbands

Gracie) Gee, after spending the day with Alan Ladd, going home to George is like stepping off the Super Chief and on to the Glendale bus

Gracie) Go ahead George, show him how strong you are, rip a phonebook in half

George) I can't rip a phonebook in half

Gracie) Not even a Glendale phonebook?

Gracie) Don't you think you'll get away with giving me a ticket. My husband knows people. He'll have you walking a beat in Glendale.

Kobe's helicopter flew over it before the crash.

George) Who knows what lies beyond the great unknown

Gracie) Glendale

In the movie Mildred Pierce lives in Glendale.

Gracie) I'll win the election. I'll get all the votes in California and Mexico too.

George) This may come as a shock to you, but there are places which aren't part of the United States.

Gracie) So how many voters live in Glendale

Mrs Abbington) Mrs Burns my son started walking when he was only two

Gracie) Wow, he must be going through Glendale about now

Highest Chest Hair Per Capita count west of the Mississippi. Roto Rooter makes a killing unclogging drains in the city.

Is it mostly suburban?

Not really. More like, it is part of the urban sprawl.

Glendale sprawl

Home of the Glendale Gallerie AND Americana at Brand - right across the street from each other and they BOTH have an Apple Store!

Galleria, not Gallerie. Sorry.

It is also the home of fabulous Forest Lawn cemetery, with many famous permanent residents like MJ, Walt Disney, Liz Taylor, etc.

The food at Zankou Chicken off Colorado is pretty damn good. Order the tarna plate with muttabal!

The Days Inn is convenient for mid-day hookups!!

Armenians have thick cocks and hairy asses.

R34 Not in my experience. They are hairier than apes, but the several Armenian guys I have been with had small dicks. It was like a game of Where's Waldo? in all that hair.

I've been with my share of Armenian guys and they vary in size. The younger guys tend to trim and overly-manscape these days though.

It used to be a stronghold for Los Angeles area white supremacists. Through to the 1980s. Demographics started to shift in the 90s.

R6, are you still living in the 1950s? Video tape arrived in 1958. Today shows are digitally-recorded, though "Taped" is still used to describe the process.

R7 was it filled with hairy young Armenians?

R39, there were a fair number of them!

My Armenian friend lives in Glendale

Seems like a really bland area. Which may be a good thing - simple, relatively safe and clean existence. Nothing exciting architecture wise. A simple uninteresting ranch house with a driveway. Like all of LA, has become bizarrely expensive for what it is.

There's no reason to be in Glendale unless you live there. Which you don't want to. It's hot. La Canada is nice. Eagle Rock is turning hipstery. Highland Park is hipstery. Los Feliz is definitely hipstery.

I once new an Armenian-Mexican, and then he died...

Spend a glorious Sunday afternoon at the Bette Davis Picnic Area.

R43, I'm fond of Montrose-La Crescenta.

Do they do filming there like in Burbank?

R47, not really. Burbank has Warner Brothers Studios and more 'industry' people there.

Lots of furry men.

Glendale is quite nice. That said, it is on the boring and suburban end of the scale for LA "hoods". Lots of sexy male Armenians and white hipsters. A great outdoor mall... Lots of car dealerships. The must-see Forest Lawn Memorial Park. Easy grocery shopping. Some really cool houses with views up in the northern hills. Pricey like all of LA, but less so than the Westside. A QUICK drive (a couple minutes max) to all the Pasadena has to offer and just as fast to Toluca Lake, Studio City and the east portion of the Hollywood Hills. Right next to Los Feliz and Griffith Park and Observatory. It can take a while to get to WEHO and BH (tons of lights and traffic). No one really goes to downtown LA if they can avoid it (or work there) - but it's not far. La Canada up the hill to the north is beautiful but super pricey and little to do outside of a few shops and restaurants. Hell, there isn't an area in LA that isn't pricey days - except perhaps parts of South-Central. I love the pedestrian nature of Glendale and both the Armenian and Lebanese food is fantastic.

Little, old Armenian ladies mistakenly speak to me in Armenian when I occasionally shop at Jons.

A bit of history: Forest Lawn Memorial Park used to be in the independent city of Tropico, lying just south of Glendale. The city was world famous for its delicious strawberries called "Tropico Beauties." Southwest of Tropico was Edendale, which was home to most of the major studios on the West Coast, mostly occupying a four block stretch of Alessandro Street, which was later renamed Glendale Blvd. All of these communities were connected to Downtown LA via the Pacific Electric streetcars known as "red cars," and one could travel from Glendale to Downtown in less than ten minutes.

Glendale annexed Tropico in 1918, the Edendale movie studios moved west to Hollywood, and the street cars were dismantled in the 1940s-50s in favor of freeways. Edendale was divvied up into the communities of Echo Park, Silver Lake, and Los Feliz.

In Mildred Pierce, for some reason Vida was ashamed to be from Glendale and wanted to be a Pasadena girl.

There's a newish Netflix show which supposedly takes place there -- about a bunch of teens in post-apocalyptic Glendale or some such thing.

And R53 - that remains a valid opinion. Though one may need to refer me a specific area of Pasadena, in general Pasadena can be upper class. Glendale is middle class.

Pasadena around the Rose Bowl and just south of Pasadena City College is indeed very upper class, in terms of economics anyway. North of the 210 freeway used to be the ghetto section of Pasadena though nowadays, even old houses there are going for close to a million. Small ones can be had for 600K?

For kids who lived near DTLA, Glassell Park and Highland Park in the 80's, the Glendale Galleria was the weekend destination. As a very poor kid, hanging out at the Galleria and being around people I very rarely interacted with, white middle class folks, was something out of the ordinary. I usually only had enough money to do one of three things; watch a movie, eat or buy something. Never could do all three of them at once. And there were times I didn't do any of them, just tagged along with my friends as they shopped. I remember the day I could finally buy a Quiksilver t-shirt, all the cool kids wore them--I was as they used to say, so stoked.

Glendale = Armenians.

R57, yes. I stopped hanging out at the Galleria by the early 90's as I went to high school in Hollywood. When I would venture back to Glendale over the years, it was startling to see the demographic change. I don't have anything against Armenians but it was like a piece of my childhood/Glendale disappearing. Actually more than Armenians were the makeover of the Galleria and the shuttering of the stores and movie theaters on Brand.

What are Armenian men like in bed?

Armenian men are usually very closeted. It is a cultural thing. I'm a top so I have only hooked up with bottoms. They all were either married to a woman or had girlfriends. I would say that they are very masculine and very good at taking dick.