Citrus Grove

In barely over three quarters of a mile, Citrus Grove packs 17,000 plus residents. The neighborhood is packed to the brim with rows and rows of boxy apartment complexes—often extending from faux fronts that fool passing motorists—with occasional residential homes to break up continuum. These are not uniform structures; they were built in different periods and have been maintained with various degrees of care. Some look a bit on the ramshackle side, while other are handsome—though rarely attractive—representatives of the signature apartments of their time period.

There is little by way of residential architecture built in this century, but many of modest homes—their meager lots dwarfed by their boxy two storied neighbors—are beautifully maintained. Overall, however, most streets have a rather incongruous feel, and the thought of so many souls living jowl to jowl as these Citrus Grovers do seems a touch depressing.

At the edges of the neighborhood there are a number of commercial draws and even some good churches. This is a working class neighborhood and many of the restaurants and stores here are rather gland chain stores that sell things at a discount to attract customers. There are also stores like Trader Joes and Whole Foods in the area along with regular supermarkets. Many of the stores are focused around the Glendale Shopping Center that is just outside the neighborhood on the west.

There are a few restaurants and nightspots, however that are better than the usual run of the mill spots. For example, Skaf’s Lebonese Cuisine is located up by the 134 and offers fantastic Middle-Eastern food, while Kim’s Kitchen on the southern end of the neighborhood is a yummy place to get Korean food. As far as night life goes there are also some interesting bars that you can check out, such as Hookah Lounge, which is a Middle-Eastern themed lounge (one of those places that some people love but most people are under-whelmed by), or Coco Bango, a true dive bar including not going out of its way to please anyone too much (and succeeding). Neither of these is good enough to draw in the Silver Lake crew but if you live in Glendale and don’t want to leave, they’ll do.

There are also a bunch of mini parks around this neighborhood that didn’t look particularly hospital to me, but I didn’t see them during the day, so who knows.

Glendale High School is here. A strong school and John Wayne’s alma mater. There are also a number of churches, daycare centers and varying educational choices in this neighborhood.

Overall, you might say that this is a thicket of apartments, fenced in by schools and shopping malls.