Downtown Glendale – Downtown Glendale hopes to open a “parklet” on Brand Blvd. soon in order to give the street more of a comforting atmosphere. Last month, the 200 block of Brand Blvd was ruined by a fire that blazed through a multi-unit building. The fire devastated two businesses, Skaf’s Lebanese Cuisine and Regali Preciozo, and both expect to be closed for months. As a way to bounce back from this scarring fire, the city of Glendale has decided to replace four parking spaces with a 300-square foot “parklet,” a small open space that will invite the residents of Glendale to relax and enjoy the city’s beauty.
The park will front the two businesses closed down by the fire, as well as Sedthee Thai Restaurant, which was able to escape the fire’s devastation. The city plans to keep the parklet for a year and then assess its success. If deemed successful, they will plan similar changes to other parking spaces in the city. While this is Glendale’s first attempt at converting parking spaces into parks, other surrounding cities have already adopted the idea.
Glendale hopes that this open space filled with plants and seating will draw in community members and be used in the future for community events. The Library, Arts & Culture Department plan to set up a library there based on the honor system. The concept is that a person takes a book from the library, replacing it with another book they may have. This encourages people to exchange reading material and has been known to be popular in small coffee shops.
The parklet will be located south of the corner of Brand Blvd. and California Ave., just north of Chess Park. The project is set to be complete by the end of July.
