1. So nice they named it twice.
Every once in a while someone on social realizes, and then tweets, about how a Glen and a Dale are the same thing - both are defined as valleys - so that really Glendale translates into Valleyvalley. "Valleyvalley, California" has not an unpleasant ring to it, and when you see an old photo of Valleyvalley, you can understand the enthusiasm for redundancy.
I had some time this week to peruse the City of Glendale's History Collections Online page, a portal to many resources for local meandering, which becomes quickly addictive. I clicked my way through them and found more than a few really cool things, but I'll only torture you with a few.
2. The Glendale Hotel v. The Hotel Glendale v. The Other Hotel Glendale.
This is the Glendale Hotel. It was built in 1887 on Broadway between Isabel and Jackson (currently Glendale PD). It was three stories and had 75 rooms. It never opened. It would be a girl's school an Episcopal church, and at one point Leslie Brand owned it. In 1905 it would become the Glendale Sanitarium. Business was so good a newer, larger Hospital/Sanitarium would be built adjacent to this building, on Wilson. The original Glendale Hotel closed and was razed in 1924.
This is The Other Hotel Glendale. This photo was found on the Cal State Northridge digital collections site. Opened 1906, this was on the northwest corner of Wilson and Brand, where the B of A is today. It was the first bank in Glendale, and there is a plaque on the B of A stating this. The description of this photo states the streets as being originally "Crow Ave. and 3rd St.," which, let's be honest, is WAY cooler than Wilson and Brand. I'm not sure this hotel's life span.
From the Los Angeles Public Library we get this shot of The Hotel Glendale...
...this from USC Digital Library... (which I've previously posted)...
...and from the Glendale Public Library this was pinned to History Pin.
But this week's lovely discovery are two sets of photos that show The Hotel Glendale's lobby, mezzanine, and rooms when The Hotel first opened. These are also from USC's Digital Library. They were taken by "Dick" Whittington Studios, "the largest and finest photography studio in the Los Angeles area from 1924 to 1987... clients including Max Factor, the Broadway, Bullock's, and May Co. department stores, the California Fruit Growers Association, Signal Oil, Shell Oil, Union Oil, Van de Kamp's bakeries, Forest Lawn, Sparkletts Water, CBS, Don Lee Television, Goodyear Tire and Rubber, real estate developers, construction companies, automobile, aircraft, and railroad companies, and drive-in theaters."
Here is Set 1.
The lobby, (now the Cafe Broadway).
The mezzanine, which I could swear I once saw referred to as "The Ladies Lounge."
Clearly a kitchen, based on the door I'm thinking for the one-bedrooms on floors two, three, and four. Cool kitchen.
The second batch:
This is the living room of the one-bedroom on floors two, three, and four.
This is the living room on floors five and six.
You know, "I Love Lucy;" Ricky was like this big-time band leader for a huge club, and they lived in what is, by today's standards, that very modest one bedroom apartment. LOOK! there's nowhere for Lucy to sit!
Forget Lucy, she was living large, what about the Kramdens?
A few posts ago I wrote about the famous depth of failure that is this Hotel's legacy, but when you see these photos it's not as convincing. The rooms are bright and there was plenty of room for Lucy.
I bet if Alice ever did go to the moon, she'd have loved to spend a few nights first at the luxurious Hotel Glendale in Valleyvalley, California.