Adams Hill, Glendale, California


Adams Hill is a neighborhood in Glendale, California, United States. The neighborhood's business district, Adams Square, is at the base of the Glendale side of the hill.

History

From 1911 until 1918, Adams Hill was part of an independent city known as Tropico. In 1918, Tropico was annexed by Glendale.
Adams Hill was a predominantly Anglo-American neighborhood, but by the 1990s, had a rapidly growing Armenian population.
In 1998, the city began to move forward with plans to rehabilitate a 1936 Streamline Moderne filling station. In 2000, Adam Schiff, who was a state senator representing Glendale at the time, obtained $250,000 in state funds for the project. In 2016, the station was added to Glendale Register of Historic Resources and Historic Districts and converted into a public art gallery. The station and surrounding park, dubbed the Adams Square Mini-Park, are the epicenter of the Adams Hill neighborhood.

LGBT+ community

Beginning in the 1960s, Matthew Schmidt and Albert Antunes, known as "Matthew and Buddy of Glendale," hosted costume parties at their Adams Hill home for Glendale's LGBT+ community.
Established in 2017, Kafn Coffee is coffeehouse known locally as an LGBT+-friendly business.
Following COVID-19-related issues in 2020 and 2021, glendaleOUT's annual Glendale Pride in the Park, a family-friendly picnic, came to fruition in June 2022. Glendale Library, Arts & Culture joined the inaugural event as part of its effort to document the history of Glendale's LGBTQ community through audio and video testimonies.
The Glendale Public Library's Library Connection @ Adams Square branch hosts occasional LGBT+ events. These have included a 2023 GALAS LGBTQ+ Armenian Society-sponsored reading of author Nancy Agabian's "The Fear of Large and Small Nations".

Arts and culture

The Glendale Public Library's Library Connection @ Adams Square branch operates in the neighborhood.
Since 2016, the neighborhood has had a public art gallery.
In 2024, the City installed colorful crosswalks and painted curb extensions as part of the City's "Creative Crosswalks" public art program.