Downtown Glendale: 10 don't-miss spots
Downtown Glendale has many fun places to visit, from Catlin Court to Haus Murphy's, antique shops and Cerreta Candy Company. Here are don't-miss spots.
Downtown Glendale: 10 don't-miss spots Downtown Glendale has many fun places to visit, from Catlin Court to Haus Murphy's, antique shops and Cerreta Candy Company. Here are don't-miss spots. Check out this story on azcentral.com: http://azc.cc/1sGYqW8
Downtown Glendale is one of the most fun places to be during events like Glendale Glitters in December and the Chocolate Affaire in February, but there is plenty going on year-round. David Kadlubowski/The Republic
La Piazza Al Forno | The restaurant serves crispy wood-fired pizzas like the classic Margherita and pasta like baked four-cheese ravioli. Dessert offerings include Italian almond-wine cake and hot zeppolis, deep-fried dough dusted with powdered sugar. Barbara Yost
Cerreta Candy | It's hard to choose a favorite at this candy factory and store, a Glendale institution. And you don't have to: In addition to selling its chocolate in boxed collections, Cerreta's sells its vast selection of creams, caramels, crunches, truffles and other candies by the piece. That means you can buy one of each, if you want. Michael Schennum/The Republic
Glendale 9 Drive-In | The drive-in, near 59th Avenue and Bethany Home Road, welcomed its first moviegoers in 1979, when viewers had to place a speaker in their car to hear the sound. These days, viewers listen through their FM stereo. Michael Chow/The Republic
Catlin Court | Catlin Court is home to several shops sell charming, folksy products that aren't readily available at malls, and they often are priced competitively with mass-manufactured items. Whether you are trying to beat holiday crowds or just spending a lazy afternoon shopping, Catlin Court has some of the best unique stores. David Kadlubowski/The Republic
Bitz-ee Mama's | On the east side of Glendale's town square, this family-owned restaurant serves every breakfast food imaginable, including huevos rancheros, biscuits and gravy, red and green chile omelets, pancakes, homemade chorizo and scrambled eggs and bacon. Bitz-ee Mama's
Haus Murphy | Haus Murphy's is every Americans' image of a German restaurant sprung to life. Owners Rose and Brett Hoffmann give you the full Deutschland treatment, starting with appetizers like potato pancakes, stuffed mushrooms draped with Emmental cheese sauce and sauerkraut puffs with curry ketchup and sour cream. Nick Oza/The Republic
Antique Stores | Bo's Funky Stuff, with its old ad signs, toys and local memorabilia, is listed as the first antique shop in town, but there is a store on every corner. The area is not well-known, which makes it a hidden gem. Spend the day walking around downtown and you will surely find an antique that catches your eye. Handout, Cheryl Kappes
Glendale Police Museum | The Wall of Honor honors the city's police veterans with 20 or more years of service or who retired on a medical pension. The names are displayed on five plaques.The Wall of Honor is part of the Glendale Police Museum, where visitors can view old radio equipment, badges, uniforms and law books that recall a different era. Charlie Leight/The Republic
Murphy Park | Murphy Park in downtown Glendale not only has tons of grassy spots to run around on, it also is home to several annual city festivals. The park features an amphitheater for concerts and hosts such events as Fiesta Glendale, Glendale Glitters and the Market at Murphy Park, in addition to several parades—and local American Idol Jordin Sparks has performed here. David Kadlubowski/The Republic
West Wind Public Market | The West Wind Public Market hosts the Glendale swap meet year round on Saturdays and Sundays. They have vendors selling everything from fresh fruit to electronics and they have a snack bar in case you get really hungry. They also have live music, which makes for a relaxing and fun time shopping. Cheryl Evans/The Republic
Downtown Glendale is one of the most fun places to be during events like Glendale Glitters in December and the Chocolate Affaire in February, but there is plenty going on year-round.
The Republic | azcentral.com Published 7:07 a.m. MT May 30, 2016 | Updated 7:50 a.m. MT May 30, 2016
Antique shops and boutiques are plentiful as the signature elements of downtown Glendale.(Photo: David Kadlubowski/The Republic)
Downtown Glendale is one of the most fun places to be during events like Glendale Glitters in December and the Chocolate Affaire in February, but there is plenty going on year-round. Here are our favorite places:
Also check out the map at the bottom of the story.
1. La Piazza Al Forno, 5803 W. Glendale Ave.
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Justin Piazza single-handedly put Glendale on the Valley pizza map with La Piazza Al Forno. His pizza has received a certificate of authenticity from Verace Pizza Napoletana, an Italian trade association that promotes Naples' strict traditional pizza standards. (Only two other Arizona pizzerias qualify.) The restaurant serves crispy wood-fired pizzas like the classic Margherita and pasta like baked four-cheese ravioli. Dessert offerings include Italian almond-wine cake and hot zeppolis, deep-fried dough dusted with powdered sugar.
2. Cerreta Candy Company, 5345 W. Glendale Ave.
Joe Cerreta makes chocolate ducks for Oregon fans at Cerreta Candy Company in Glendale. (Photo: Michael Schennum/The Republic)
Chocolate-coated creams. Or chocolates shaped like the state of Arizona. Or Camelback pecan-caramel clusters. No, wait. Green French-mint truffles. It's hard to choose a favorite at this candy factory and store, a Glendale institution. And you don't have to: In addition to selling its chocolate in boxed collections, Cerreta's sells its vast selection of creams, caramels, crunches, truffles and other candies by the piece. That means you can buy one of each, if you want. For more chocolate fun, take a guided factory tour, held 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Monday-Friday. Just make sure you're not in a hurry. You'll want to have time afterwards to shop.
3. Glendale 9 drive-in, 5650 N. 55th Ave.
Isaih Arcilla, 8 from Phoenix, watches a preview with his family before the start of Megamind at the Glendale 9 drive-in movie theaters November 30, 2010. (Photo: Michael Chow/The Republic)
The drive-in, near 59th Avenue and Bethany Home Road, welcomed its first moviegoers in 1979, when viewers had to place a speaker in their car to hear the sound. These days, viewers listen through their FM stereo. The owners of the Valley's only remaining drive-in theater say they aren't going anywhere. The outdoor movie spot near downtown Glendale upgraded from 35mm films to digital in 2013, which improves the picture quality on enormous screens that have stood in open fields at the Glendale 9 for decades.
4. Catlin Court
The Catlin Court area typifies Glendale's historic downtown neighborhoods. (Photo: David Kadlubowski/The Republic)
Catlin Court is home to several shops sell charming, folksy products that aren't readily available at malls, and they often are priced competitively with mass-manufactured items. Whether you are trying to beat holiday crowds or just spending a lazy afternoon shopping, Catlin Court has some of the best unique stores.
5. Bitz-ee Mama's, 7023 N. 58th Ave.
Bitz-ee mama's restaurant in downtown Glendale. (Photo: Bitz-ee Mama)
On the east side of Glendale's town square, this family-owned restaurant serves every breakfast food imaginable, including huevos rancheros, biscuits and gravy, red and green chile omelets, pancakes, homemade chorizo and scrambled eggs and bacon.
6. Haus Murphy's, 5739 W. Glendale Ave.
Haus Murphy's German Restaurant & Lounge in downtown Glendale. (Photo: Nick Oza/The Republic)
Haus Murphy's is every Americans' image of a German restaurant sprung to life. Owners Rose and Brett Hoffmann give you the full Deutschland treatment, starting with appetizers like potato pancakes, stuffed mushrooms draped with Emmental cheese sauce and sauerkraut puffs with curry ketchup and sour cream.
7. Antique stores
Hundreds of items from more than 20 downtown Glendale shops will fill the lawn and porches in Catlin Court for the 19th annual Catlin Court Front Porch Festival and Old Towne Marketplace on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2013. (Photo: Handout, Cheryl Kappes)
Bo's Funky Stuff, with its old ad signs, toys and local memorabilia, is listed as the first antique shop in town, but there is a store on every corner. The area is not well-known, which makes it a hidden gem. Spend the day walking around downtown and you will surely find an antique that catches your eye.
8. Glendale Police Museum, 6835 N. 57th Drive
Museum founder and curator, Ret. Officer Dan Kallberg has collected badges, patches and other memorabilia from the 100 years of the Glendale Police Department at the opening of the new home of the Glendale Police Museum in the lobby of the downtown Glendale police station. (Photo: Charlie Leight/The Republic)
The Wall of Honor honors the city's police veterans with 20 or more years of service or who retired on a medical pension. The names are displayed on five plaques.The Wall of Honor is part of the Glendale Police Museum, where visitors can view old radio equipment, badges, uniforms and law books that recall a different era. That includes a 1913 book of Arizona Revised Statutes, which spells out a ban on the use of profanity in front of women and children.
9. Murphy Park, 58th and Glendale avenues
Murphy Park in downtown Glendale glows with Christmas lights. (Photo: David Kadlubowski/The Republic)
Murphy Park in downtown Glendale not only has tons of grassy spots to run around on, it also is home to several annual city festivals. The park features an amphitheater for concerts and hosts such events as Fiesta Glendale, Glendale Glitters and the Market at Murphy Park, in addition to several parades—and local American Idol Jordin Sparks has performed here.
10. West Wind Public Market, 5650 N. 55th Ave.
Andrea Amaro, 13, works at the Discoteca Andrea booth on a hot Saturday morning at Glendale 9 Swap Meet. (Photo: Cheryl Evans/The Republic)
The West Wind Public Market hosts the Glendale swap meet year round on Saturdays and Sundays. They have vendors selling everything from fresh fruit to electronics and they have a snack bar in case you get really hungry. They also have live music, which makes for a relaxing and fun time shopping.
10 ways you know you're a Glendale native
Glendale in the past decade or so stepped onto a larger stage as home to the NFL Cardinals and NHL Coyotes, but the 'burb due west of Phoenix has long been the West Valley's anchor city and today has some 237,000 residents. Can you claim long-timer status? Here are 10 ways you can tell that you're a Glendale native. Cheryl Evans/The Republic
You shopped at Valley West Mall: The indoor mall once located at Northern and 59th avenues is today known as Northern Crossing, home to a Walmart and other strip-mall shops. But back in the day (Valley West Mall opened in the early 1970s), there was a movie theater, an arcade and enough stores to keep Glendale kids entertained. As for entertainment, "Eight Legged Freaks," a 2002 sci-fi movie about monstrously sized spiders that imbibed too much toxic waste, was filmed there. By then, the mall was called Manistee Town Center and it was struggling. It was razed not long after. The face-lift that turned the area into Northern Crossing was actually part of the deal Glendale city leaders struck in 2001 with Steve Ellman, who at the time owned the Coyotes. Glendale would build the arena, and Ellman would upgrade the shopping complex, in addition to building a new one, Westgate. Warner Bros. Pictures
You identify your grade school by a number, rather than a name: The Glendale Elementary School District has 18 schools from Glendale American to Don Mensendick. But the district founded in 1892, along with the town, has a history of "unit" schools, or one-classroom buildings. Glendale students would identify their school by unit number long after the unit system faded from practice. For instance, a Glendale student didn't identify as attending Isaac Imes Elementary. Rather, he went to Unit 2. Landmark was Unit 1. The colloquialism eventually fell out of fashion. John Severson/The Republic
You remember the sweet scent of citrus on its way to becoming Squirt: The brick fortress at Glendale and 52nd avenues was home to the Squirt soda factory from the 1930s to the 1980s. Citrus would be hauled in by train to make the grapefruit-flavored concentrate. The iconic building had opened in 1906 as a beet-sugar factory, which is the name it goes by today. The building has stood vacant since about 1985, and plans to turn it into a liquor distillery with a tasting area have not materialized. Glendale Arizona Historical Society
You watched the balloon races at Thunderbird: Hot-air balloons filled the sky over the Thunderbird School of Global Management from 1974 to the 1990s when the Thunderbird Balloon Classic moved to the Glendale Municipal Airport and then out of town entirely. The races would attract more than 150 balloons and crowds of about 50,000. Dave Seibert/The Republic
You know where chicken park is: On the books, it's Bonsall Park, near 59th Avenue and Bethany Home Road. But locals know it as chicken park, a reminder of the chicken farm once located there. Michael Schennum/The Republic
You cruised Metrocenter: When Metrocenter opened in 1973, West Valley teenagers' lives were forever changed. The mall perimeter was the ideal circular cruising spot to see and be seen. Despite "no cruising" signs. Metrocenter, near Interstate 17 and Peoria Avenue, was the largest mall in Arizona and cool factors included an indoor ice-skating rink and the 1989 classic "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" was filmed there. Pat Shannahan/The Republic
You remember when anything north of Bell Road was citrus groves — or the place for desert parties: Pretty much anything north of Bell Road was (seemingly) remote desert and citrus groves — ripe for teen mischief. In the late 1970s, developers from Texas approached Glendale leaders with bold visions for a master-planned community on a former citrus ranch that covered about 5,000 acres. Glendale annexed the area and construction of Arrowhead Ranch began by the mid-1980s. Arrowhead mall, built on the north side of Bell, opened in 1995. Charlie Leight/The Republic
You remember when the biggest football game in town was high school: Back in 1970, Glendale's population of roughly 36,000 would have filled about half of University of Phoenix Stadium. Residents got into football before the Cardinals came to town, rooting for the Apollo Hawks, the Glendale Cardinals and other high school teams. The Deer Valley Unified School District, which today covers northern Glendale, didn't open its first high school in Glendale until 1980. Joey Anchondo/The Republic
You managed to get around before the 101: Apart from Interstate 17 and eventually I-10, the West Valley was without freeways until Loop 101 came to town in the late 1990s. Unless Grand Avenue counts. Mark Henle/The Republic
You watched Fourth of July fireworks at GCC: Streets leading to Glendale Community College were choked with traffic as people came from far and wide for the Glendale fireworks. Today's fireworks are at the Westgate Entertainment District, which used to be farm fields farther west than most Glendale residents ever ventured. Westgate opened at Loop 101 and Glendale Avenue in 2006 and began hosting the city's fireworks celebration in 2013. Dave Seibert/The Republic
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