Glendale--why not? (Orange: apartments, insurance, live)

[RhymesWithOrange]

Originally Posted by socal88

The big plus with Glendale is that it's centrally located. Assuming you're coming from in and around downtown Glendale, it's only 15 minutes to Silver Lake / Los Feliz / Hollywood. Also, easy to get to Downtown, Pasadena, and the Valley.

I know a few long-time residents that have certainly complained that Glendale has become too busy and clogged with traffic, but compared to much of LA proper, it's really not that bad.

Especially in the last 5 or so years with the addition of some solid restaurants and other stores in and around Americana, there's plenty to do in terms of food / shopping, etc. Also, Glendale is generally pretty clean and safe, and police are on the ball.

Glendale has a nice balance between having a suburban feel, but a thriving downtown with some action. And if someone wants to go somewhere "cool and edgy," Silver Lake and adjacent neighborhoods are just a stone's throw away.

This pretty much encompasses my thought process. I appreciate someone with some more knowledge weighing in and affirming these thoughts. Thank you!

[RhymesWithOrange]

Originally Posted by NJ Brazen_3133

Isnt Glendale a monoculture of Armenians? If you dont mind moving to an ethnic neighborhood, than why not any other ethnic neighborhood that is clean, and bustling like one in SGV?

Yeah, the ethnicity thing wasn't really a consideration for me. I've been to Glendale and the Armenian culture/population is ever-present but the area doesn't appear to whatsoever be monocultural, as far as I can tell. That would be a turn-off for me, since I like diversity. :-) I'd be willing to bet that Glendale is, in fact, far more diverse than most suburbs at least in-part because of the Armenian presence, not in spite of it.

[NJ Brazen_3133]

Originally Posted by RhymesWithOrange

Yeah, the ethnicity thing wasn't really a consideration for me. I've been to Glendale and the Armenian culture/population is ever-present but the area doesn't appear to whatsoever be monocultural, as far as I can tell. That would be a turn-off for me, since I like diversity. :-) I'd be willing to bet that Glendale is, in fact, far more diverse than most suburbs at least in-part because of the Armenian presence, not in spite of it.

I have also driven through the main streets of Glendale. I too did not notice much armenian signage on the businesses. I have only read on this forum that it is heavily armenian. But one would think if so heavily one ethnic group, then it be the SGV and all the chinese signage.

[KoNgFooCj]

Originally Posted by RhymesWithOrange

So, I currently live in Franklin Village (Hollywood), and I'm having a hard time figuring out why I shouldn't move to Glendale. It seems to me like Glendale is a just a less expensive and more comfortable option that is still easily commutable to all of the spots that I care about. I've been here a little over a year, and I'm realizing that I virtually never have occasion to go to Weho as I thought I might; I occasionally end up in Mid-Wilshire, but I mostly just care about commutability to Silver Lake, Echo Park, Los Feliz and Hollywood. (I don't drive, by the way, so my commuting is primarily Uber/Lyft or buses.)

Glendale also has a walkable downtown area of its own. Sure, it isn't so cool and edgy as those other spots, but if I'm being honest I spend most of my off-work time at home anyways, so what does it matter? It'd be nice to actually be within walking distance to music venues and the like in Silverlake, but I'm not sure I can afford it right now anyways.

I feel like people have a bit of a general negative connotation regarding Glendale, and I can't quite figure it out except for loss of "cool" factor. For what it's worth, I'm a 30 year old, single, straight dude.

Anything obvious that I'm missing here?

I didn't know anywhere in the LA metro area was considered "edgy". Guess it depends on the subjective definition.

[RhymesWithOrange]

Originally Posted by KoNgFooCj

I didn't know anywhere in the LA metro area was considered "edgy". Guess it depends on the subjective definition.

Alright, how about just “cool”, then?

[Spikett]

Originally Posted by RhymesWithOrange

Yeah, the ethnicity thing wasn't really a consideration for me. I've been to Glendale and the Armenian culture/population is ever-present but the area doesn't appear to whatsoever be monocultural, as far as I can tell. That would be a turn-off for me, since I like diversity. :-) I'd be willing to bet that Glendale is, in fact, far more diverse than most suburbs at least in-part because of the Armenian presence, not in spite of it.

No, it's not monocultural, but it can have an impact. In a period of about 2 years, I saw two traffic accidents caused by young, Armenian men running lights and/or tailgating - the guy who ran the light t-boned a truck and did a lot of damage. And there were many near misses. It seems to be a cultural thing. And - a few years ago the FBI had a sting operation on the Armenian Mafia and hit a lot of retail businesses for skimming credit and debit cards. I just Googled Glendale, CA, Armenian Mafia and FBI and got more hits than I expected. Here is one: (it runs into N. Hollwood and some areas of Burbank too).

https://www.laweekly.com/taking-down...-modern-mafia/

PLEASE note that I am certainly not saying there is anything wrong with Armenians in general - just that there are good and bad (just like everybody else),

[LilLisa83]

Glendale is great! Perfectly fine. I lived in Pasadena for a few years and I visited Glendale often. My daughter was born in Glendale. If you can afford it, go!

[homenj]

Originally Posted by Taiko

Monoculture, no there is a Filipino enclave and like the rest of the Southland a Latino contingent. Along with the general population with no specific ethnic village noticable

I believe the head of the police dept. is also Latino in Glendale.

[timtemtym]

I lived near downtown Glendale for about a year. I worked near MacArthur Park and I drove (20 minutes each way). A few times I took the bus. There is a bus right by the mall that goes down Central and it's actually a nice tour of Silverlake and Glendale. It goes down to MacArthur Park and then into downtown I think. It was a decent bus.

Glendale is walkable. I could walk for food, groceries, drugstore, movie, shopping at the mall, etc... The one problem is THE DRIVERS. There is no sense of watch out for pedestrians. I had so many near misses from people simply not watching. I was walking down the sidewalk and they would barrel past into a parking lot or turn right on red without stopping while I'm in the crosswalk. It's pretty bad.

You can get a LYFT or Uber any time of day and there were ALWAYS cars circling around. Almost every trip I took out of Glendale was with an older Armenian or Persian male driver. Then coming back from LA I would have a younger male or female. I always thought that was funny. I never had an issue getting a LYFT to LAX or Burbank airports when I flew out.

That's another plus. Burbank airport is close!! It is the cutest, easiest airport in that part of LA. I rank it right up there with Long Beach for ease of use.

Glendale is safe. Those cops will not put up with any foolishness.

Glendale pushes the homeless to LA or somewhere because they certainly don't keep them in Glendale. I walked everywhere and the only homeless you see in Glendale are the severely elderly/disabled. The police leave them alone, but I did see a few helping some out (checking on them, not harassing them as far as I could tell).

Glendale is mostly quiet. I never really had any issues there. I left for Orange County for a pay raise and brand new apartment with super amenities. My quiet little crap shack in Glendale was affordable and safe. I lived near that high rise old hotel where the news guy died from some freaky stuff.

[maghy7]

I have lived in Glendale for 2 years and I hate it, can’t wait to finally leave and never come back, not even to visit. Don’t get me wrong, the city is nice, clean, has everything you need and not many homeless, you might see one walking around but never see tents. My problem is with the people and whoever said it’s 40 to 50% must not live here.