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HPC News Glendale News Food/Drink Music/Concerts

Pop Up! Concert Series in Glendale

Glendale Arts is hosting Pop Up!, an outdoor concert series throughout the month of September.
Glendale Arts is hosting Pop Up!, an outdoor concert series throughout the month of September.

Downtown Glendale – Glendale keeps the summer month going strong by hosting the Glendale Art’s Pop Up! Concert series this month. Pop Up! is a month long event that brings in different musical talent every Thursday night during the month of September. The free outdoor concerts take place at the Glendale City Center and each week they bring out a different restaurant to provide appetizers, such as BJ’s, Olive Garden and California Pizza Kitchen.

The concerts kicked off on September 5th when crowds listened to some great music by Sean Wiggins and Lone Goat. This week, crowds gathered around to listen to Rock Bottom Betty play fantastic music. The series will continue on for the next two weeks, with the next concert taking place Thursday, September 19, featuring Shane Henry. The month long concerts will come to an end on September 26 with The Essentials playing for Glendale.

The event is absolutely free and has been a great way for the Glendale Arts to stay involved in the community as their current project is underway. The Glendale Arts have been behind the Alex Theatre renovation project that started earlier this summer. The expansion project is set to finish in November when they will have a grand re-opening.

Find more information about these concerts here: http://www.glendalearts.org/event/glendale-arts-presents-pop-up.

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Food/Drink Glendale News

Glendale Tap has Made its Mark

Glendale Tap is a relatively new beer bar in Glendale that has 52 varieties of beer on tap and is a huge hit thus far.
Glendale Tap is a relatively new beer bar in Glendale that has 52 varieties of beer on tap and is a huge hit thus far.

The city of Glendale continues to grow, and to add to the long list of places you need to visit is Glendale Tap. Glendale Tap recently opened in Glendale and it has quickly become a hit. The friendly neighborhood beer bar has 52 different beers on tap, which include ciders as well as organic beers. The cozy bar also features a wide selection of bottled beers and a few old-fashioned soda pops to continue with the authentic feel the bar gives.

The current trends in Glendale have been craft beer bars that then fall into the ‘fancy gastro-pub’ category, but going against the current is Glendale Tap who are proud to have peanut shells on the floor and would be happy to heat you up a soft pretzel. Only open for 6 months, the owners wanted to be sure to give the restaurant an old look and feel, like a bar that your grandfather went to.

The bar located on San Fernando Road is only a short drive to two of the city’s most respected breweries, Golden Road Brewing and Eagle Rock Brewery, giving you the option to support your local beers. Glendale Tap is open Monday through Thursday 5PM to 2AM, and Friday through Sunday 1PM to 2AM. They are located at 4227 San Fernando Rd., Glendale, CA 91204, just north of Los Feliz Boulevard. Check them out on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GlendaleTap.

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Glendale News

Glendale’s historical Brand Library & Art Center

The Glendale Brand Library & Art Center is currently under construction until 2014.
The Glendale Brand Library & Art Center is currently under construction until 2014.

The landmark Brand Library & Art Center in Glendale has been under construction and is looking to be a beautiful building by the time they are done. The original 1904 mansion of city father Leslie C. Brand became the city’s public library in 1956 and was later expanded to include art space. The renovations are taking place in an act to restore the original feel of the Brand household and embrace the history in Glendale.

The renovations and restorations of the building started in July 2012, and since then they have beautiful changes. They restored original hand-painted Victorian stencil work that was covered up by popcorn ceilings for more than half a century. Mahogany and oak doors that were once hidden within the walls have been exposed and are now used to separate rooms. A stone fireplace that was broken to make room for bookshelves has returned to the parlor and the wood floors are being converted back to hardwood.

Library staff hope that this “living museum” will be a destination for tourists, and eventually be complete with audio headsets and  a smartphone app for tourist to take a self-guided tour. The 5,000 square foot library and 21,000 square foot art center are expected to be completed by the end of the year and open up to the public again in spring 2014. This will be a huge benefit to Glendale’s history and campaign to keep reading and the arts alive.

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Glendale News Movies/Television

ABC Television Screening at The Americana

ABC presents Sneak Peek Night at The Americana at Brand.
ABC presents Sneak Peek Night at The Americana at Brand.

One of the largest television networks, ABC will be hosting an event at The Americana at Brand. On Saturday, August 3rd, ABC will present Sneak Peek Night, which will include free outdoor screenings of three brand new ABC comedies before their premiere dates this fall. The event starts at 7:00PM on The Green and the screenings include new series Back in the Game, The Goldbergs and Trophy Wife. The event is free and open to the public, and the screenings are scheduled to start at 8:00PM.

Back in the Game’s series premiere is September 25th and will continue to air throughout the fall on Wednesdays at 8:30PM. This show is a sitcom that follows a former All-Star softball player whose promising professional sports career comes to an end when she has a son, loses her college scholarship and dumps her loser husband.

The Goldberg’s will first premiere on television on September 24th and will be a Tuesday night show that airs at 9:00PM weekly.  The show is a comedy that is set in the 1980s and follows The Goldberg family as they try to survive in a decade filled with bright colors, no computers and over-sized sweaters.

Trophy Wife is scheduled to air on Tuesday nights at 9:30PM after The Goldberg’s and will make its first debut on September 24th. The sitcom will revolve around a reformed party girl who marries a guy she meets at a karaoke bar and who must now learn to deal with his two ex-wives and their children.

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Glendale News

Cruise Night is Back for its 20th Year

Glendale's 20th Annual Cruise Night will take place Saturday, July 20th in Downtown Glendale.
Glendale’s 20th Annual Cruise Night will take place Saturday, July 20th in Downtown Glendale.

Downtown Glendale — Glendale’s annual Cruise Night is back for its 20th year! Southern California’s most popular car show will take place on Saturday, July 20th from 5:30pm to 10:30pm. Visitors from all over will flood into Downtown Glendale to see over 400 classic pre-1979 cars, and learn more about how the owners maintain their classic car’s performance and efficiency. In addition to viewing beautiful cars, there will also be activities for children, making this a fun night the entire family can enjoy! The event is completely free to attend. The 2013 Cruise Night musical headliners will be The Tokens and The Surfaris, who are celebrating the 50th anniversary of their chart-topping song “Wipe Out.”

The event is expected to bring in over 50,000 people to Brand Blvd. based on past years’ turnouts. The Glendale Cruise night previously depended on the city’s Redevelopment Agency to provide funds for the event, but since its elimination, the event has had to cut back on its budget. This will be the second year since its extreme budget cuts, but they are not worried because the 2012 event continued on without a hitch, and they are expecting the same for this year.

While this is a great opportunity for car enthusiasts to check out what cool cars are in the area, it is also a great way to get people to Downtown Glendale to check out the fantastic shops and dining in the area. This day is projected as the largest one day sales generator of the year.

To learn more about this exciting event, visit their website at www.glendalecruisenight.com.

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Glendale News

Alex Theatre Closing until November

The Alex Theatre will be dimming its iconic spire for 5 months.
The Alex Theatre will be dimming its iconic spire for 5 months.

The Alex Theatre Performing Arts & Entertainment Center in Glendale first opened its doors in 1925. For nearly 90 years it has served as the centerpiece of the City’s arts, culture and community programming. On Sunday, June 30th, The Glendale Arts will host the Alex Theatre Open House that will allow the public to enjoy the history of the Alex Theatre before they close their doors for an expansion project. The Alex Theatre on Sunday night will be open for self-guided tours, food from local restaurants, a look back at the last 20 years of programming and a sneak peak of what’s to come. The event has garnered a lot of support from local businesses in the area as they hope to keep this icon alive.

The 6,400 square foot renovation is set to start shortly after the event and will continue into November. The $5.3 million construction project will improve the historic venue and make it more competitive as it is slowly taken of an annual government subsidy. The improvements will allow the theatre to house larger, more technical productions in the future, hopefully leading to a wider-range of clientele.

The theatre’s operator, The Glendale Arts, will be closing down the theatre for 5 months to make an expansion to the theatre. The event starts at 6:00pm and at 8:30pm there will be a ceremonial dimming of the Alex’s iconic spire. Please RSVP to this fantastic Glendale event on Facebook @GlendaleArtsCA. This free open house is made possible through a generous grant from The Walt Disney Company.

The theatre is located at 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale, CA 91203. For more information visit Glendalearts.org.

 

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Glendale News

Glendale’s Downtown Hopes to See a Parklet Soon

Glendale's rendering of a "parklet" to be built on Brand Blvd.
Glendale’s rendering of a “parklet” to be built on Brand Blvd.

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.

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Hollywood News Press Release Uncategorized HPC News

New ‘Hollywood’ site

Production center opens downtown building targeting entertainment industry clients.

BLACKNEWADDOWNTOWN — The Hollywood Production Center celebrated the opening of its newest office building Thursday, even as it enters a market with low demand and more than 1 million square feet of empty downtown work space.

Hollywood Production Center, which owns a property in Hollywood and another downtown, hopes its new 70,000-square-foot building on the corner of Broadway and Louise Street will draw tenants as a space for entertainment-industry workers or individual entrepreneurs who are not interested in conventional offices.

The center’s open lobby, with curvy suede arm chairs and blue accent walls, leads directly to individual offices and suites, giving tenants the opportunity to mix and network, said Lucy Mardonovich, the company’s general manager.

But while Hollywood Production Center has historically succeeded in drawing entertainment-industry tenants with flexible leases and stylized work spaces, the company did not start the project expecting to be opening during a recession, Mardonovich said.