Glendale mayor John Drayman was a great tour guide for this past weekend’s Old Town Montrose Tour. He related family histories, building facts, and development issues in the course of the leisurely stroll along both sides of Honolulu Avenue. What I took away from the tour was that for almost 100 years here businesses have been working together to create a community environment for residents and customers.
The Historical Society of the Crescenta Valley organized the tour, and some of those walking along knew these stories almost as well as Drayman, whose family has owned a local business in the area for decades.
The retail center itself dates back to 1914, when locals began building along a level east/west street (Honolulu), instead of the originally intended, but steeply ascending, main street (Montrose). The Montrose Shopping Park, established in 1968, is the fifth Business Improvement District (B.I.D.) to be set up in the entire nation.
Local retailers used the B.I.D. to study successful retail centers in other parts of the nation, and subsequently created parking lots behind storefronts by buying up residential properties directly to the south. They also established a ground level zone of exclusively retail walk-in businesses (along with banks and a post office) to pedestrian traffic. There were two or three small car dealerships along this stretch, not including the recently closed Hauter Ford, as well as small big-name stores like Safeway and J.C. Penney.
Plaques and memorials are placed throughout the district, including the verifiably oldest Vietnam War memorial, at the northwest corner of Honolulu and Ocean View, dedicated in 1968. Drayman encouraged those of us on the tour to attend the local Memorial Day ceremony held right here; I’m putting it on my calendar. Right next to this stands a tall flag pole and plaque commemorating the national establishment of Flag Week, which was instigated by a Montrose business owner.
I found the story of the Zwick brothers’ memorial most touching: the developer of a two-story retail complex, on the site of the former Zwick home, found childhood handprints the two brothers made in a concrete wall. The handprints were incorporated into the hardscape of a courtyard fountain (right outside of Jane’s Cakes and Chocolates). The Zwich brothers were both World War II pilots who died within one month of each other in 1943; a plaque on the opposite wall of the complex pays tribute to them.
There are 216 businesses in the current Montrose Shopping Park, as compared to 260 in the Glendale Galleria. While the two shopping areas are comparable in size, Montrose has a high proportion of family-owned and individual businesses, as opposed to chain or franchise operations.
Drayman’s attachment to the area, and to the business community it built, were quite apparent, and consistent with comments he made at last week’s November 18 Glendale City Council meeting. Reviewing a draft plan for revitalizing the Brand Blvd. business district, which has suffered tremendously during the recent downturn, Drayman, and other council members after him, directed city staff to focus efforts on creating a B.I.D. for Brand Blvd. area retail businesses.
If downtown Brand Boulevard becomes a B.I.D., it will be the fifth in the city of Glendale, which currently hosts the Montrose Shopping Park, Adams Square, Sparr Heights, and Kenneth Village. More on B.I.D.s later.
Thank you, Mayor Drayman, for an entertaining history of Montrose.
Thank you also to local blog Tropico Station for posting about the upcoming tour – I’m glad I found out about it and attended.