Montecito Park

Hugging the west side of Highway 2 at its northern end and just south of Montrose is Montecito Park, an upper middle class to just outright upper class neighborhood tucked away on the northern end of Glendale. Montecito Park is a hilly neighborhood, filled with homes on wide streets that wind about the hillside, seeking out every nook where homes can be perched. The farther south you go in the neighborhood, the more expensive the homes become. Up by the border with Montrose, the average home costs about $700K, but as you reach deeper into Glendale, the closer the homes come to the $1 Million range.

About a quarter of the homes here were built before 1950, but the vast majority, about 2/3 were built between 1950 and 1980. That means, as you might expect, lots of Ranch homes—though of the nicer, spread out Brady Bunch house variety. Though there are fewer newer homes, these older homes are well groomed and rarely in need a paint job or gardening service. Much of the neighborhood’s beauty comes from the hillside topography, that necessitates diving driveways or ivy bordered steps.

One of the great benefits of the area is that you can easily go up to the 210 to take it to Pasadena or the Valley, or drop down on the 2 towards downtown Glendale or LA. The excellent location also means that even though you’re close to the action, you feel as if you are far away because of the secluded hill environment. The troubles of the bustling metropolis to the south seem like those of another world on most days.

On the far northern end of the neighborhood near the border with Montrose, there are condos and a slice of the commercial area that spills over from Sparr Heights. North Verdugo forms the western border and the busiest avenue in Montecito. It is on North Verdugo that you will find Bashan, the most famous restaurant in the area—a great French place and a number of other restaurants like Indian’s Flavor and La Cabanita. Divina Cucina and New Moon Restaurants are up by the border with Montrose and well worth the visit. I would really consider all of these more a part of the quaint shopping area on the east of Sparr, than really part of Montecito Park that is really more of hilly residential area than anything else.

In the northwest corner there is also a park, Montrose Community Park that has great baseball fields and open areas.

Overall, this is a great area to live if you have kids and can afford it.