The History of Adams Hill

By Eliza PARTIKA

The city of Tropico, first established in 1897, once bisected the hills encompassing what is now Glendale’s Tropico neighborhood, South Glendale, Adams Hill and parts of Atwater Village, from Forest Lawn–Glendale to Brand Boulevard all the way to San Fernando Road and Cerritos Avenue. Tropico had its own post office, bank, police and fire departments, train depot, and baseball team and boasted artists that included seminal American photographer Edward Weston who began his career in his small Tropico studio on Brand Boulevard.

Tropico grew alongside rival city Glendale thanks to the development boom in the late 1880s. As the freshly minted Southern Pacific Railroad depot facilitated the expansion of Glendale and Tropico with trains and trolley cars to bisect large swaths of land leading to and from Los Angeles, settlers in the area sought to make the area desirable for home ownership and development.

The name Tropico first appeared in 1887 when the Southern Pacific Railroad named its first train depot north of Los Angeles after the small but prosperous town it ran through. Tropico became known for its agriculture and for the artists, architects and influential business people who settled there. Tropico became an independent municipality in 1911, but struggles with basic infrastructure led Tropico to dissolution in an annexation with larger and more developed Glendale, just seven years later, in 1918.

The house of William C.B. Richardson, one of the first developers of Tropico, still stands today in the Adams Hill neighborhood at the intersection of Mariposa and Cypress streets. In the original location of the house, approximately at the current 1713 San Fernando Road address, Richardson grew citrus and other fruits, including Tropico’s famous strawberries, the “Tropico Beauties.” Richardson built the Southern Pacific Railway’s train depot that connected Tropico to the rest of Los Angeles and nearby Glendale. After many years of prosperity and commerce that heavily relied on trains and tram cars, the station was replaced in 1924 by the current Glendale rail depot.

Richardson had been one of the first to parcel out land grants in Glendale in the 1870s. After the Tropico-Glendale merger in 1918, the 1920s saw a large commercial and entertainment boom in Glendale. With the movie stars came desirable home locations just outside of Hollywood and real estate developers created neighborhoods with all the glitz and glamor to attract new residents.

Exclusivity was the prime concern of developers at that time. The streets of Acacia Hills, the precursor to Adams Hill, were named after the most elite Ivy League colleges of the time such as Berkeley, Stanford and Dartmouth. The community was guarded by towering letters in gleaming white denoting the name of the exclusive hills community with an archway entrance to Adams Square that was reminiscent of the yellow brick road.

In the hundred years this community has watched over Glendale from above, the character of the neighborhood has always been that of eclectic artistic and architectural interest. Adams Hill appeared as early as the 1920s on maps of Glendale, and developed into the neighborhood we know today with the erection of the Adams Square Building where the Glendale Branch Library and Neighborhood Legal Services sits today. In the later 1920s, the Adams Square Building included open air shops and a ballroom. The Richfield gas station was built in 1936, and the first Baskin Robbins ice cream shop became an anchor in the 1940s. A 1924 advertisement even called Acacia Hills “the coolest place to live” emphasizing the cool ocean breezes Glendale received from nearby Los Angeles. Famed architects constructed magical houses, many with the air of a fantasy novel.

Included in Adams Hill’s fantasy was Forest Lawn Memorial Park, now the Forest Lawn Cemetery. Forest Lawn’s owner and developer, Hubert L. Eaton, envisioned his land as a place for the living to celebrate the dead and built gardens that reflected the bright colors of the living world rather than adhere to the morose views of cemeteries at the time. Much of the bright colors and varied architectural designs seen in houses built at the time were inspired by Eaton’s home and the gardens he grew at Forest Lawn. Famous architects like CL Colburn built castle-like homes, and L. Seldon made Adams Hill’s architecture distinctly Los Angeles.

One of Adams Hill’s historic neighborhoods, Cottage Grove, was constructed in the late ’20s with land the Fox brothers developed. Inspired by Charlie Chaplin Studios, Cottage Grove today consists of 14 homes at the foot of Adams Hill; the buildings are primarily Tudor Revival cottages that provide the feel of an “English village.” It also includes the 1901 farmhouse that was the first structure in the neighborhood prior to its subdivision.

Mid-century modern architecture became popular on the hill as more people flocked to Glendale throughout the 1950s and ’60s. Many prominent modernist architects built homes there throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

Shirley Ann Hill, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1970 when she and her partner Joyce purchased a mid-century modern house on Marion Drive, said the charm of the houses and the creatives who congregated on Adams Hill drew them to the neighborhood. Shirley Ann, a real estate agent and Joyce, a professional figure skater found in Adams Hill a peaceful place where they could make friends and host soirees at their house, which faces the Glendale horizon. The Hills went on to become pillars in their community with Joyce becoming a chaperone for the school district and Shirley Ann selling many of the homes on the hill to others moving to the neighborhood.

Today, Adams Hill has preserved much of its artistic spirit. A 2005 campaign to save the old Richfield gas station and turn it into a community mini park ended in the successful creation of what is today the Adams Square Mini Park, a hub of arts, culture and community in Glendale. Local artists like Cathy Hrenda have yearly exhibits displayed in the old station and monthly exhibits celebrate artists from around Los Angeles. The first arts festival in Adams Hill even featured the popular band the Cramps.

Arlene Vidor, longtime resident, preservationist and member of the Adams Hill Neighborhood Association, said she is proud of how far Adams Hill has come, and what a community can accomplish when it works together.

“Adams Hill is home to a large number of creative people practicing many forms of art. Art is a great way to celebrate our community together, whether you’re from the neighborhood or not,” she said. “We love to celebrate the arts and the gifted people in the community, of which there are many.”

Vidor has provided walking tours of Adams Hill.

To find out more about Adams Hill and other neighborhoods in Glendale, go

to the Glendale Historical Society’s Past Virtual Events page to view the presentations “Treasures of Adams Hill,” “Early Glendale” and many others, or schedule a time at the Glendale History Room in the main Glendale library (222 E. Harvard St. in Glendale) to look through printed and digitized archives.