Results tagged “glendale”

It was January 26th, 2005 when Juan Alvarez parked his gasoline-drenched Jeep Cherokee on train tracks in Glendale. He said it was an attempt to commit suicide before he changed his mind the last minute. He jumped out of the way before "a fast-moving Metrolink train struck the SUV, derailed and struck a parked Union Pacific locomotive before colliding with another Metrolink train traveling in the other direction," as the Associated Press describes. 11 people died and 180 were injured. Alverez was convicted of murder last year.

The large annual Harley Davidson ride and charity from Glendale to Fairplex has been canceled this year. Although 25,000 bikers attended last year, topped off with performances by ZZ Top and Foo Fighters, the reality of pulling off the event meant to raise money for various charities just wasn't there for organizers as pre-sales were way down.

The aftermath of the Station Fire means picking up the pieces for those who live in communities tucked into the foothills, like La Cañada-Flintridge and La Crescenta. What lies ahead, however, is the one-two punch of Mother Nature, as heavy rains will likely trigger mudslides and debris flow down the slopes of the recently-scorched hillsides.

After going to court yesterday to determine how tonight's funeral will be paid for, Michael Jackson is scheduled to be buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale around 7 p.m. tonight. For locals on the tail end of rush hour, there will be street closures in effect (map below). No specific time for closures has been listed by the city of Glendale on its website, but expect them to begin in the afternoon, lasting into the evening.

This afternoon the monstrous Station Fire continued its slowed-burn of the Angeles National Forest and San Gabriel Mountains, moving east towards communities to the north of Pasadena, as predicted earlier today.

[Update, 4:55 p.m.: All Station Fire mandatory evacuations have been lifted in La Cañada Flintridge and La Crescenta except one area, says Bruce Quintelier of the Forest Service. The area still under an evacuation order is north of Markridge between Pennsylvania and Lowell with a voluntary evacuation from Santa Carlotta to Markridge between Pennsylvania and Lowell. See a map below]

The following evacuation orders are currently in place in the Glendale-La Crescenta-La Cañada-Altadena areas due to the Station Fire, according to InciWeb:
• Mandatory evacuations in the City of Glendale north of Santa Carlotta St between Lowell and Pennsylvania. A new evacuation center is located at the Civic Auditorium at 1401 N. Verdugo Rd., Glendale, CA 91208.
• Mandatory evacuations in Big Tujunga Canyon between County Camp #15 and the Ranger Station as well as Camp Colby which is located at 23828 Angeles Crest Highway.
• Mandatory evacuations include east of Ocean View Blvd, north to High Rim Rd and south to Fairhurst Drive.

       

The word Recess brings back memories of freedom and play. Chef Sevan Azarian, private chef to the stars, late of Fury Rok & Rol Sushi Lounge, had exactly that vibe in mind when he opened up this little coffee house/cafe/charcuterie in Glendale last weekend. The atmosphere is relaxed and easy and the menu is dotted with playful touches - plus there are giant cookies!

Investigators have begun looking into what caused yesterday's hillside brush fire in Eagle Rock and Glendale, which ultimately grew to 60 acres, triggered voluntary area evacuations, and required about 300 firefighters to extinguish. The fire, which "broke out near the interchange between the 134 and 2 Freeways at about 4:10 p.m." is now fully contained, and no homes were damaged and no one was injured, according to abc7.com.

A brush fire has reportedly grown to about 20 acres (LAFD officially says 4 to 5 acres) and may be threatening homes in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles near the Glendale border.

Earlier this month, Robert Korda's family used the internet to round up help to find a missing loved one. Van Nuys resident and Los Angeles Philharmonic veteran Robert Korda never showed up to work after suffering a heart attack the night before. But when his body was brought to the coroner's office, sans identification, fingerprint databases were used and he was erroneously identified as Robert Norda, not Korda. That prompted a manhunt over next few days until the misspelling was figured out. In an article about Korda's memorial tribute in August, the Daily News explains that Korda died while doing some do gooding:

Van Nuys resident Robert Korda had been missing for a few days, prompting a police and community search fueled by the media and social media tools like blogs and Twitter. Korda died Wednesday night at a home in Glendale and although the search by police included the coroner's office, he wasn't discovered until last night after an autopsy was performed--at some point, his last name was input incorrectly as "Norda," not "Korda." He died of what appears to be natural causes, but a specific cause has not been determined. Korda played for the Los Angeles Philharmonic for about 20 years and his disappearance became an issue after he did not show for a music gig on Thursday morning at Sunset-Gower Studios.

It's pretty much been known for months, but today Assemblymember Paul Krekorian announced his campaign for Los Angeles Council District 2, which crosses the Valley from Sherman Oaks to North Hollywood to a handful of Northeast Valley neighborhoods like Shadow Hills and Tujunga. Currently, Krekorian represents the 43rd Assembly District, which covers Burbank, Glendale and portions of LA including Valley Village, Valley Glen, Toluca Lake, Atwater Village, Silver Lake and Los Feliz.

                     

Inspired by a panel we caught at the recent Dwell on Design conference, and some time spent ogling recipes in three beloved cookbooks (The Santa Monica Farmers' Market Cookbook, The San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market Cookbook, and Fresh From the Farmers' Market) last Thursday we headed over to Glendale to check out their weekly market. Occupying a stretch of Brand Boulevard, the market was focused mostly on multiple tables of fresh locally-sourced produce, and enriched by the presence of folks with breads, nuts, and fresh juices. It's a modest market, but we were able to work our way from one end to the other efficiently, sample some of the best items the growers had to offer, and fill our bag with what wound up being a week's worth of fresh produce (and bread) for less than $20.

A new fiscal year means a new Metro Board chair at the helms of L.A. County public transportation. Meet Glendale City Councilman Ara Najarian, who has served the city since 2005 and once as the rotating Mayor from 2007 to 2008. “As the new Board Chair, I look forward to providing the leadership necessary to enhance transportation options throughout the region,” Najarian said in a statement. “This next year will be both challenging and rewarding as we move the agency through difficult financial times while at the same time, begin implementing transportation improvement projects voted by the public with the passage of Measure R, the half-cent sales tax initiative.” Damien Newton at StreetsblogLA notes that Najarian could be a plus for the pedestrian and bicycle communities.

A man dressed in a business suit entered the Pizza Hut at 1261 S. Central Ave. in Glendale on Sunday at 11:10 a.m. He produced a gun and crossed over the counter, demanding money from the 18-year-old female shift manager, who was working alone. "He confronted the young woman in the back of the building and, at gunpoint, demanded money from the safe. After getting some cash, he turned around, shot the victim in the shoulder and also took her purse," explains cbs2, adding that the investigation authorities "say they believe he meant to kill her." The restaurant has released surveillance video showing the heist and shooting; the employee was wounded, but is expected to survive. The crime netted the robber "several hundred dollars," according to an abc7 video report.

                     

Was it Spring Break or was this some kind of educational experience? Yesterday, thousands of people prodded by FOX News and other media outlets fanned out across the country to protest taxes, the stimulus and the bailout. A few hundred with their kids in tow made it to Glendale City Hall.

For the fourth year running, "impresaria" Jamie Nichols is presenting what she calls "9 of the most cutting edge dance companies in Los Angeles" for one performance only, this Saturday, March 14th in Celebrate Dance at the historic Alex Theatre in Glendale.

With their counterparts in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) staging sit-ins to protest pink slips yesterday, Glendale Unified School District (GUSD) teachers are whining about smaller things in today's LA Times. Smaller things as in small kitchen appliances.

    

Post and photos by Michael Ngim for LAist

Verdugo Mountain Park is now the 6th largest park in Los Angeles, thanks to Councilwoman Wendy Greuel's $2.7 million expenditure of Proposition K money to purchase 225 acres of open space, securing it from outside development. The park is located in the northeast Valley at the edge of northern Glendale and is home to an annual hike and trail run in November.

Monday afternoon, R&B singer Chris Brown was in Glendale. He wasn't shopping at the Americana, mind you, but rather was showing up for his first anger management class. Brown, who turned himself in after allegedly making criminal threats against his girlfriend, Rihanna, is not required to take the class, but his team think it's a good idea, according to the New York Daily News. "Chris doesn't actually have to go by law but he believes it will make him look better to the public, and he wants to try to get in a few classes before [his] March 5[th court date]," a source told the paper. Just how much of the law will affect Brown is not known, but many believe he won't face jail time. He will, however, have to face Rihanna, who is expected to testify against the 19-year-old in court. 'Looking better' is a curious concern for Brown, who certainly didn't do much to improve Rihanna's appearance on the night in question.

Bruce Jeffrey Pardo killed nine people, and then himself, on Christmas Eve. Dressed in a Santa Suit, the distraught man entered the Covina home of his ex-wife's family and went on a shooting rampage, then torched the home. Following what has become known as the "Santa Massacre" Pardo went to his brother's home and committed suicide.

If you're doing Black Friday shopping over at The Americana at Brand in Glendale, then Crumbs has a free treat for you. The cupcakery opened last Saturday abut the mall--its third location for the Los Angeles area--but today they are celebrating the new storefront with free cupcakes all day. It was originally reported that 1,000 complimentary cupcakes would be given away, but when we called around 11:30 a.m. to see if they were all gone, we were told they "would be giving them away all day." As Eater LA put it, "As with the other two openings (Beverly Hills, Larchmont), free cupcakes for all who want to deal with the lines. At a mall. The day after Thanksgiving." Enjoy.

    

Instead of being scrapped, one of the train cars involved in the 2005 Metrolink crash that killed 11 people was donated to the Los Angeles Fire Department for training purposes. As evident by these photos from LAist Featured Photos contributor OxDx (also of LA Taco), it's not a high security area. A crew hit the train, but also someone with more... political inclinations of sorts.

The folks at Barnes and Noble at the Americana "shopping experience" in Glendale are bracing for the Monday arrival of Martha Stewart. The lifestyle guru will be on hand to sign copies of her latest cookbook, Martha Stewart’s Cooking School: Lessons and Recipes for the Home Cook.

Yesterday was about more ire than tobacco sparking on the streets of Glendale, as it marked the kick off for a new ban on "smoking in hallways of apartment complexes and in public areas - including parks, parking lots and parking structures, and even standing in line to use the ATM."

                     

We all saw a lot of memorable things yesterday during the historic election. Here's one perspective captured with an Angeleno's camera.

Even going 10 MPH can be deadly. A supposedly distracted mother who just dropped off her own child to Toll Middle School in Glendale hit an 11-year-old girl as she drove through a marked crosswalk yesterday morning. Vehicles going in the other direction had yielded for the children, according to TV news reports. The driver stayed at the scene and was cooperative with police. She was let go, but her Nissan Pathfinder was taken by investigators.

Grove and Americana developer Rick Caruso is running for Mayor. No wait, he is not running for Mayor, but he is, oh no he isn't... and so the broken record goes. Today the LA Weekly takes a look at Rick Caruso, his background, his developments and his political aspirations. Some worry as mayor he would turn the city into one big Disneyland-like development with Cheesecake Factories everywhere, but the Weekly looks at the closer into the man who has influenced a lot of what Los Angeles is today. Here's a little from the large profile: