WALK 1: Five Sisters Walk
THE FIVE SISTERS WALK
Two short steep climbs, the rest are gentle hills or flats.
1. Start in the Adams Square Mini Park at 1020 E. Palmer Ave). Note KAFN and Palmer Market across Palmer for refreshments before or after your walk. This cute little park has served as a neighborhood town center since 2007. The 1936 Streamline Moderne gas station was a fixture in the neighborhood from 1936 to 1971. It then remained vacant for through the early 2000s. The gas station exemplifies the Streamline Moderne style of many gas stations in the 1930s. With its enameled steel panels and streamlined canopy fins, the design conveys machine age modernity that accompanied the “Golden Age” of motoring for recreation and discovery. The gas station was threatened with demolition in 2003-2005 and the Glendale Historical Society, Adams Hill Neighborhood Association and City of Glendale worked together to ensure its preservation and eventual inclusion in our community mini-park. Since 2007 it has served as a meeting place and art space for the Adams Hill community. Read the chronology here.
2. Head west on Palmer Avenue. Notice the Auto Repair Building on the right, 1001 E. Palmer. This 1957 building has house auto repair for decades, occasionally catering to celebrities. It mirrors the Streamline Moderne style of the gas station.
3. Turn left on Cottage Grove Ave, The house at left, 1208, called Ungerland House, is a Folk Victorian Cottage built in 1901. It was the home of the original landowner Helene Ungerland who owned 7 surrounding acres. She eventually sold off The Ungerland Tract for subdivision. Across the street, is the Palmer Homes Habitat for Humanity project built in 2007 by Heritage Architecture Group. It was designed with community input to mirror the scale, massing and style of Ungerland House.
4. Proceed up Cottage Grove. This street is Glendale’s 3rd historic district, designated in 2009. It is the only designated district south of the 134 Freeway and is currently the smallest in Glendale with 14 structures. The street was developed by The Fox Brothers (Harry, Preston, and John), in the early 1920s with uniform typology (cottage style Tudor Revival) so residents felt like they were living in an “English Village”. John Fox bought Ungerland’s house and lived in it during the construction period. Charlie Chaplin’s studio, built in 1917 and nicknamed “Ye Olde English Village” may have been an inspiration. Want to take a deep dive? Click here for the Cottage Grove Historic District Survey.
5. Jog right at Brier and then left on Reynolds to view the storybook houses at 1222 and 1226, built in 1928. Both Brier and Reynolds streets are part of Fox Brothers’ original development but are not part of the designated Cottage Grove historic district at this time. Return back to Cottage Grove and continue walking up the street. The Sycamore Storm Drain bisecting Cottage Grove was built between 1926 and 1927 by the Los Angeles County Flood Control District to serve the area around Cottage Grove Avenue. Improvements were made to the system in 1936 as part of a system necessitated by several floods that occurred in Glendale prior to 1940. The most severe of these was the famous NewYears Eve flood of 1933-34 that led to the building of the Verdugo Wash.
6. Turn left onto Green Street. Note 1263 Crescent on the right. It was the home of Mathew and Buddy, a legendary gay couple whose house was a major party central for the LA gay community starting in the early 60s. The house was painted bright pink and had a huge lush garden of artificial flowers in the front. The pair amassed hundreds of photos and their story is housed in many university archives around the country.
7. Keep heading up Crescent as it turns into Columbia, the steepest hill on this loop at about a 20% grade. Notice 1323 which is a wood shingled house built in the 1930s. There is a similar house on the east side of Adams Hill on upper Palmer Ave built in 1924. It is now illegal to build with wood siding and roofing due to fire risk. As you climb look right at the two white cantilevered houses designed in 1955 by architect Rognauldur Johansen. They’re locally nicknamed “The Beach Houses” due to their style. The one to the left, Chesler Residence, is lately owned by an architect who restored it inside and out.
8. We then come to the legendarily nicknamed “Five Sisters”, built 1926-27. They’re at 1401, 1411, 1417, 1427, and 1431 Columbia Dr. The houses were built by Virginia.J. Gurley, according to permits available for 4 of the houses. No architect is identified and it was common then for builders to serve as their own architects. Mrs. Gurley lived in LA and we know little about her. An unsubstantiated rumor persists that the five were designed by a female architect, however, there is no architect of record -- but, indeed, there is a female builder.
9. Down lower on Columbia you’ll view the back of Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Built 1906 - 1912) FLMP is 300 acres and was founded by Hubert Eaton, who invented the term “Memorial Park” to connote a cemetery that also caters to simple enjoyment for the living , e.g., walking in open space and looking at interesting features and artwork. It’s a wonderful place to hike. Forest Lawn Museum at the very top hosts excellent exhibitions.
10. Turn left at Wellesley Dr. and head up the street taking in views to the right. Where the street dead ends at Dartmouth you’ll note the small roofline of the Glendale Heights Pumping Station built in 1925 and still pumping water. It was originally designed to blend in to its residential surroundings.
11. Turn right on Dartmouth and very carefully cross busy Adams. Make your way up Berkeley Drive. Note a big Castle-like house on the right! Look back at the 5 sisters, too. Berkleley will eventually turn into Princeton and from Princeton you’ll bear left onto Marion Dr. Walk up Marion up to Park St . Marion is probably the longest street in Adams Hill and has an eclectic mix of architectural styles.
12. Turn left onto Park and head downhill to Park and Chevy Chase, where you’ll find the Adams Square Building 1100 E. Chevy Chase at Adams. This medium size Art Deco building is a rarity in Glendale and was designed by Morgan, Walls, and Clements of Wiltern, Egyptian El Capitain, and Mayan Theatres fame. It was the center of the Adams Square business activities in the 1920s-30s. The building is now home to Neighborhood Legal Services and our local Glendale Branch Library. It is eligible for both the Glendale Register and National Register of Historic Places.
13. Cross Park St and note the “English Cottages” at 1100 S. Adams, built around 1930.
This English Revival compound was constructed to house the office of Dr. J. Lane Kendall on the ground floor and a rental residence above. Dr. Kendall and his wife lived in the unit at 1104 Park, adjacent to 1100. Note the Chevy Chase Apartments (1933) at 1121 E. Chevy Chase. A Spanish style multi-unit residence constructed in the 1930s. The building is seen in historic photographs of the two huge floods that inundated Glendale, including Adams Square, in 1933-34 and 1938.
14. Continue down Adams to your left back into the Adams Square business district. As you approach the end of this loop, you’ll pass the unremarkable building at 1120-1130 Adams. The storefront housing “Kebob House” at 1130, was the original Irv Robbins “Snowbird” Ice Cream Parlor (opened December 7, 1945). Soon after Irv’s brother-in-law,Burt Baskin, teamed up and it became the very first Baskin Robbins ice Cream store. And you are now back where you started!