Glendale is one of Southern California’s leading office markets highlighting a huge range of properties and amenities. It is known for its lively downtown area which is the home of restaurants, boutiques, and businesses. It has parks, historical landmarks, and recreation areas. Here are the best things to do in Glendale, California:
1. Museum of Neon Art
Museum of Neon Art – it was founded in 1981 by an artist Lili Lakich and Richard Jenkins in downtown Los Angeles that centered on showing off the art of the distinctive medium of neon and the museum rotates the items in its long-lasting collection of more than 100 fantastic and distinctive neon signs. The only museum on earth that is devoted simply to art in electric
media, kinetic art, and neon art and it provides educational programs like workshops, lectures, and tours. It is also known as MONA which provides an eccentric day out and has relocated its collection of vintage.
2. Verdugo Park
Verdugo Park – is one of the largest parks and it lies close to the Verdugo Mountains which feature many open areas surrounded by grass and trees which are charming and stimulate a comfortable, relaxed atmosphere and an ideal place to visit. It is a rough park with numerous
potholed roads like the 2-mile La Tuna Canyon Trail. It has a 36-acre park that caters playground, skate park, horseshoe court, basketball court, and baseball field. It has picnic areas that animate you to spend the afternoon gratification of the Californian sun. It has outdoor 15,000-square-foot real skate equipment that is well-designed for in-lined skaters and skateboarders. The plane trees give an extraordinary shade to keep the visitors or tourists cool on hot summer days.
3. Alex Theatre
Alex Theatre – is considered a Los Angeles County landmark which is opened to the public in 1925 and it was named after C. L. Langley’s son who is a Southern California businessman who owned West Coastal theatres. The theatre showcases over 250 live theatrical performances, which include plays, dance performances, comedy shows, symphony orchestras, ballet recitals, musical theatre, movie screenings, special events, concerts, and television and film industry award ceremonies. It has 1,450-seat complete with Egyptian-style and Greek motifs. You can also have backstage tours of the theatre for small groups and organizations by request.
4. Forest Lawn Memorial Park
Forest Lawn Memorial Park – is an extraordinary final resting place full of oversized art, amazing statues, dead celebrities and the most eclectic cemeteries with a 300-acre park of
awesome art displayed that includes complete replicas of Michaelangelo statues, plenty of magnificent stained glass windows and a giant statue of George Washington. The final resting place for over 250,000 graves/people which includes celebrities like Jimmy Stewart, Michael Jackson, Humphrey Bogart, Elizabeth Taylor, Walt Disney, Clark Gable, Mary Pickford,
Sammy Davis Jr., Carole Lombard, Nat King Cole and George Burns. The memorial park was opened in 1906 by a group of San Francisco businessmen and a hilltop museum that displays a variety of fine arts exhibits, the Hall of the Crucifixion and Resurrection.
5. Glendale Galleria
Glendale Galleria – is the fourth-biggest and three-story shopping mall in Los Angeles County that offers more than 1.6 million square feet of retail and business space the appearance consists of plain and windowless brickwork in keeping with similar retail centers that was constructed in the US in the middle of 1960s and 1970s. It is one of America’s highest-grossing shopping centers which is owned and operated by Brookfield Properties Retail Group.
It is the original site of Disney Store and Apple Store locations and the first three-story Target location in the world which was opened in 2007 of July. The trending boutique stores are Lush
and Zara.
6. Americana at Brand
Americana at Brand – is an exemplary and world-class shopping complex in Glendale center with over 80 stores including high-end international retailers like Tiffany & Co., Barnes, and Noble, Forever 21, Nordstrom, and Cartier combined with brand names, trendy dining, and an 18-screen cinema. It is also a place for some cafes, restaurants, and bars that serve seasonal and everlasting favorites. The shopping center facets public art
installations, which include a 120-foot tall fountain or rides around the mall in an electric-powered caster. You can also dine at the center from food pop-ups and quick-casual chains to gourmet full-service restaurants like the Cheesecake Factory, Pinkberry, and Shake Shack. It has also a cinema, a public park with an animated Waters of America fountain showcasing hourly
musical performances, and 242 luxury condominiums.
7. Raffi's Place
Raffi’s Place – a peculiar dining savvy and has become a local family-owned favorite since 1993 for its Mediterranean and Middle Eastern dishes. It is a few minutes from Americana at Brand and it is the hidden jewel of Glendale. They make use of fresh, locally sourced ingredients and the signature kebab dishes with mouth-watering skewers of spicy beef. It is a famous dining spot throughout the Los Angeles region that was visited by celebrities like Jon
Voight, Anthony Hopkins, and Metta World Peace. Outdoor and indoor settings is accessible like seating within a fully landscaped courtyard and patio area.
8. Brand Park
Brand Park – is a 31-acre park that is located at the foothill of the Verdugo Mountains, and aims for a huge variety of indoor and outdoor recreational and entertainment opportunities for tourists and visitors of all ages. It features walking paths, a playground, biking trails, a library, and picnic facilities. The park was named for Leslie C. Brand which is operated as the Brand Library and Art Center since 1956. It is a 26,000-square-foot complex that mimics the East Indian Pavilion at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. It has more than 110,000 holdings that focus on visual arts and
music. There an outdoor recreational facilities like basketball courts, children’s playgrounds, seasonal wading pools, softball fields, and biking and hiking trails that accommodate walkers,
runners, and leashed canines.
9. Deukmekjian Wilderness Park
Deukmejian Wilderness Park – is a 709-acre park located along the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains adjoining the northernmost portion of the City of Glendale. The park is adjacent to the Angeles National Forests and displays elevation ranging from 2,159 to 4,775 feet throughout its chaparral, woodland ecosystems, and sage scrub. You can do picnicking, hiking, bird watching, and plant study. Hundreds of moderately abrupt trails pass the
Indigenous flora and fauna like yellow monkey flowers, lupines, Canterbury bells, and poppies. There are also animals in the park like coyotes, mountain lions, and over 110 bird species like the Red-crowned Parrot and Canyon Wren. The McFall Oak is a 200-year-old and there are trails like the 2-mile Dunsmore Canyon Trail that ends with wonderful vistas over Crescenta
Valley.
10. Doctors House Victorian Museum
Doctors House Victorian Museum – is a beloved Victorian landmark in Glendale and was built in 1888 and was named after a series of four notable doctors who live there. It has a colorful history full of intrigue that in 1979 volunteers cut the house in half to save it from demolition and moved it to its recent location in the dead of night. In the 1900s, a popular silent
film star and producer who lived there with her family and a coterie that includes two bear cubs and that is Nell Shipman.