Adams Hill is a neighborhood in the south area of Glendale, California, United States. The neighborhood's business district, Adams Square, is at the base of the Glendale side of the hill.
History
From 1911 until 1918, Adams Hill was part of an independent city known as Tropico. In 1918, Tropico was annexed by Glendale.
Adams Hill was a predominantly Anglo-American neighborhood, but by the 1990s, had a rapidly growing Armenian population.
In 1998, the city began at the behest of Mayor Eileen Givens to revitalize Adams Square, which was considered blighted at the time. Mayor Givens sponsored a "Visioning Tour" so the neighborhood could provide input about how they envisioned a revitalized square to look and feel. Funding for a Community Development Block Grant and the City of Glendale's Redevelopment Department was provided to give the entire revitalization program momentum. A separate initiative to revitalize/restore the 1936 Streamline Moderne gas station was initiated with support from a grassroots group, The Friends of Historic Adams Square including a vision to surround it with a green space. In 2000, Adam Schiff, who was a state senator representing Glendale at the time, obtained $250,000 in state funds for the project. In 2016, the station was added to Glendale Register of Historic Resources and Historic Districts and converted into a public art gallery. The station and surrounding park, dubbed the Adams Square Mini-Park, are the epicenter of the Adams Hill neighborhood.
Arts and culture The Glendale Public Library's Library Connection @ Adams Square branch operates in the neighborhood.
Since 2016, the 1936 Richfield Oil Company gas station has been readapted as a public art space and The City of Glendale's Arts & Culture Commission has curated and sponsored art installations in the station as a public art gallery.
In 2024, the City installed colorful crosswalks and painted curb extensions as part of the City's "Creative Crosswalks" public art program.
LGBT+ community Following COVID-19-related issues in 2020 and 2021, glendaleOUT's annual Glendale Pride in the Park, a family-friendly picnic, came to fruition in June 2022. Glendale Library, Arts & Culture joined the inaugural event as part of its effort to document the history of Glendale's LGBTQ community through audio and video testimonies.
The Glendale Public Library's Library Connection @ Adams Square branch hosts occasional LGBT+ events. These have included a 2023 GALAS LGBTQ+ Armenian Society-sponsored reading of author Nancy Agabian's "The Fear of Large and Small Nations".
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