City Center, Glendale

As a residential neighborhood, Downtown Glendale is for the most part a working class neighborhood. Rents tend to be highest on its northern end by the freeway, and tend to drop precipitously as you head south towards Colorado St. Most of the single family homes are on the northern end, but there are apartment buildings spread throughout the entire neighborhood. Unlike other areas of Glendale where you have older nicely kept homes, here it is mostly boxy 70’s and 80’s apartments.

This being the seat of government for all of Glendale, you will find the court house and all the other city offices here. It is also home to 12,000+ residents, more than a tenth of the city’s population.

At the southwestern end of the neighborhood you will find the Glendale Galleria, one of the major shopping malls in the So Cal area, though it should not be confused with the Sherman Oaks Galleria (known simply as “the Galleria” and famous for being the filming location of the mall scenes in Fast Times at Ridgemont High”). It is, however, definitely a mammoth shopping center that gets packed for holiday shopping even during a recession. I’m not much for malls, but if you like them it has everything you could hope for in such a shopping venue, including an Anthropologie, a Cheesecake Factory and an 18-Plex Movie Theater.

Outside of the mall, there are a lot of pretty good places to eat. There is a Tony Roma’s for those that like the whole maffioso rib experience (bit pricy for me) and there is a Katsuya sushi place (also a bit pricy for me). If you want a more affordable place in the same neighborhood, try Octopus—its on the same street as Tony Roma. Sushi is solid and prices are way more affordable. My recommendation if you are in the area would be for Raffi’s Place (also on the same street). It’s a cool little middle-eastern place with nice open air seating in the veranda area. Something about the ambiance just makes you feel like you aren’t in So Cal anymore. Oh yes, and if you want a great Brazilian barbecue (though a bit pricy), made the way the South American cowboys (gauchos) prepare it—try Gaucho’s Village on N. Brand Avenue.

North Brand Avenue by the way, is definitely the central commercial artery for all of Glendale as it continues to be in this neighborhood. Lots of stores and banks and restaurants to check out there.

Overall, I would have to say of City Center, that it is a great place to go shopping but that I’m not so sure I would want to live there—unless you like apartment living that is—a bit too tightly packed for me.