HIDDEN GEM TRENDY ADAMS SQUARE BOOMING.

Byline: Helen Gao Staff Writer

GLENDALE - Hidden behind worn-out facades and dated storefronts, Adams Square merchants and nearby Adams Hill residents believe there is a potential for their historic neighborhood to become like trendy Los Feliz or Silver Lake.

Their dream might just become true, with the city having been scheduled to break ground Saturday on a $664,000 project to improve streets, enhance landscaping and build a public plaza along with entry monuments in the south Glendale neighborhood.

``I think the potential to be one of the hippest little neighborhoods around is there,'' said Arlene Vidor, who is involved with Friends of Historic Adams Square and the Glendale Historical Society.

``If the local merchants and citizens really exert pride in ownership, then the area will blossom tremendously,'' she said.

City officials are already considering a second phase of public improvements.

At the same time, they are working closely with a half-dozen merchants in public-private partnerships to renovate storefronts. The city has set aside $312,000 in matching grants - $15,000 per store front - for the first batch of renovation projects.

``We are very excited. We never thought we would be here to see it,'' said Carol Cianfrini, who along with her husband, John, spearheaded the revitalization movement.

The couple, who have operated Crysti Cleaners in Adams Square for four decades and raised their children in the area, are among the first group of merchants to participate in the facade improvement program.

Founders of the Adams Square Merchants Association, which is credited with bringing the area political clout, the Cianfrinis spent the last five years lobbying City Hall for attention.

``A lot of influential people in the last couple of years have said you are whipping a dead horse,'' said John Cianfrini, who heads the association with a down-to-earth, no-nonsense style softened by a deadpan sense of humor.

``Do you really think you are going to succeed?'' he recalled others asking him. ``So I go down to hound the City Council some more.''

Besides winning major public investment, the association boasts another major victory - bringing into its fold an owner of the landmark pink building popularly known as the Adams Square Building.

Hal Coskey, who represents a partnership that owns the building, attended a monthly association meeting for the first time early this month and is now close to signing an agreement with the city to spruce up the building.

The building - the work of the prestigious architecture firm of Morgan, Walls and Clements, which also designed the El Capitan and Wiltern theaters - will be repainted to earth tones with lighting for its distinctive tower.

``It's a gorgeous building. It will be an eye stopper,'' Coskey said.

Al Valenzuela, owner of Glendale Motor Center and an association founder, hopes the revitalization efforts under way will be a catalyst for other business owners - particularly Armenian merchants who have been reluctant to get involved - to start making improvements.

``Once people start to see right in front of their eyes progress, I think then other business owners will say, how do I get involved?'' said Valenzuela, who is also renovating his business.

Despite canvassing efforts and trying to get the word out with fliers in Armenian, the association has managed to get only a few Armenian business owners involved.

``They are not completely familiar with the American way of doing business probably,'' said Matt Mattevossian, who is helping the association recruit Armenian members. ``Language is the primary thing.''

Located off Adams Street and Chevy Chase Drive, Adams Square is a quaint, multi-ethnic commercial zone of about 43 businesses, anchored by the Adams Square Building.

Past the building, Adams Street winds around into a semicircular commercial zone where small businesses operate next door to homes and apartments. In the loop stands the one-story building where Baskin-Robbins was born and which today houses Crysti Cleaners.

According to historians, Irvine Robbins opened Snowbird Ice Cream Store - the predecessor of Baskin-Robbins - there on Dec. 7, 1945.

The Cianfrinis, whose business occupies only a portion of the building, hope to lease out the remainder to a coffee shop.

Also in the loop are the remains of an old-fashioned gas station featuring streamlined modern architecture, which was widely used in the 1930s by oil companies.

Surrounding Adams Square is Adams Hill, a residential neighborhood of charming homes - in Spanish Colonial, English Tudor and other unique styles - built mostly in the 1920s.

Just as in neighboring Eagle Rock, Vidor said her neighborhood is being discovered by young professionals and creative types because of its character homes.

``With all the young professionals and people from the entertainment industry and creative artists moving into the area, (the neighborhood) is begging for a coffeehouse, a nice restaurant and entertainment features to move in,'' she said.

``Then it's just going to explode.''

CAPTION(S):

3 photos, map

Photo:

(1) Crysti Cleaners owners Carol Cianfrini, left, and her husband John are working to help revitalize the historical area of Adams Square in Glendale.

(2) This 1920s-era building located in Glendale's historical Adams Square is among the properties slated for renovation.

(3) Al Valenzuela, standing in front of a European-style home in Adams Square hopes other businesses in the historical area will get involved in renovations.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News

Map:

Adams Square