El Miradero

El Miradero is a charming neighborhood with a mixture of traditional California architectural styles built early to mid 20th Century. The best features of the neighborhood are the meticulous lawns, treed streets and proximity to Brand Park and Library. Kenneth Village is located at the most Western portion of the community and is a great place to grab lunch and do a limited amount of errands. Further West on Glenoaks Blvd. you will find every type of store imaginable..although no upscale boutiques which would seem fitting to have close to such a lovely upscale neighborhood.

The yards and the houses are larger the further East you go into the community. My favorite styles include the Tudor style homes, Colonial Spanish Revival and the Arts & Crafts style.

A great location to live with convenient access to the 5 and the 134. The prices tend to be on the higher end $600K to 1 million. Square footage averages about 2500 sq. feet 3-4 bedrooms in the $700-800 K range.

El Miradero is a beautiful and convenient neighborhood. The architecture is elegant older homes with a mix of styles. Brand Park is a well maintained and active park located in the community backing to the Verdugo Mountains. The community is close to all types of restaurants and shopping.

El Miradero is the neighborhood that stretches out just south of Brand Park and east of Burbank. The neighborhood gets its name from Leslie C. Brand, a famous wealthy physician who made his home here, dubbing his mansion El Miradero. The mansion is now the Brand Library at the northern end of the neighborhood—at the base of Brand Park. Brand Park is a beautiful sprawling nature reserve where locals like to do everything from hike to get married. The park has an excellent playground and some historical spots. The Doctor’s House is often the setting for weddings of local Glandalers. There are also basketball courts, baseball fields, a wading pond and several bike and hiking trails.

The hills along the southern border of the park also offer some great views of Glendale itself. The architecture along these winding streets is varied and interesting, with boxy two story modernist homes with flanking cylindrical towers perched along sharp inclines and recessed missionary homes where only the tiled roofs are visible from the front road. The flora is similarly varied. Although there is not heavy tree cover in this area—typical of the Verduga and Santa Monica mountains—there are varied types of trees along the hilly streets. Along with the indigenous bay and oak trees of the area, individual lots adorn their front yards with pines and especially squat palm trees. The City of Glendale, by the way, has an ordinance that protects the indigenous species of trees in the area, part of the local governments attempts to retain the neighborhood’s distinctive character. (If you are planning on buying a lot and removing one of these, you may need a special permit—check with local parts department to avoid punitive measures.)

As the neighborhood flattens out one finds the wide sunny, palm tree lined lanes that are so often featured in films about southern California. Lawns are large and well-kept here and homes are the typical mix of Ranch and Mission Revival styles but most of them are beautifully maintained or restored. Rents are high with three bedroom homes starting at $3K per month, though most residents own rather than rent their properties.

The Western Reservoir is quietly tucked away in the southeastern corner of the neighborhood and just two blocks away you find El Miradero Avenue, where just about every home is in the Mission Revival style—adobe walls and red tiled roofs—the slight variations on this general theme making for a really appealing lane—architecture buffs may find this an interesting detour if they are in the area.

Balboa Elementary School is the local public K to 5. According to Great Schools Website, Balboa gets an 8 out of 10 rating, beating out Joaquin Miller in nearby Burbank and Thomas Jefferson and having comparable favorability ratings to the local Montessori private school.

Overall this is a great neighborhood to raise a family if you can afford it.