Revving It Up Along Brand

You know how some weekends are roll-up-your-sleeves-and-get-it done busy? Those are the ones that you kind of dread because – darn it! – you already put in a full week and now you have weekend chores.

And then there’s the kind of busy that isn’t so bad. I had one of those last weekend.

I knew it was going to be a busy weekend so I decided to kick it off on Friday night with a relaxing dinner with my best friend Amy at Ocean View Bistro. The weather was so nice as we enjoyed a glass of wine and fantastic food al fresco. I love people-watching and sitting outside on the corner of Florencita and Ocean View really lends itself to kicking back and seeing what everyone’s up to.

Saturday was time to rev my engine – along with the cars along Brand Boulevard taking part in the 21st Annual Cruise Night. The event was sponsored by the City of Glendale, the Downtown Merchants Assn. and (not surprising) the Brand Boulevard of Cars. The boulevard was packed … it’s estimated that 50,000 folks made their way along Brand between the show’s hours of 5:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Sales rep extraordinaire Lisa Yeghiayan and I were there in a booth to greet many of these car aficionados, handing out licorice (red and black) and Smarties candies (because anyone who reads the Crescenta Valley Weekly is smart) plus copies of the paper. Despite having a second batch of papers brought to our booth, by the end of the night we had almost run out of everything. But we sure met a lot of interesting people.

Not the least of these was pyrotechnician Skip Deckard of Pyro Spectaculars who pulled together the first ever fireworks display for Cruise Night. I had a chance to talk exclusively to Skip and learn all the ins-and-outs of presenting a show in the middle of downtown with 50,000 spectators nearby. (You can hear my interview by clicking the QR code or visiting www.cvweekly.com/NEWS and looking up the story).

As evening approached and Abbey Road, a fantastic Beatles cover band, and The Kingsmen of “Louie Louie” fame, played on the main stage, Skip was busy putting the finishing touches on the fireworks presentation. At 10:30 as The Kingsmen were winding down, fireworks went off just behind the stage to the applause of the audience. What a great finale to a full day.

  robin goldsworthy