Glendale, California is a bedroom comunity of approximetly 200,000 residents, situated between the San Fernando Valley and the San Gabriel Valley. In and of itself it is not a popular tourist destination. There are no amusement parks, beaches, camping areas or famous museums in the city. There are only a couple of hotels, the best one is a Hilton, but there are several high end motels and all of the hotels and motels are very reasonably priced.

There are several hundred restaurants, and although there are no high priced restaurants there are dining establishments like Damons on Brand Boulevard that serves aged prime cuts of beef and provide excellant service (They just do not charge an arm and a leg for the meal.) and restaurants like Tony Romas, the Olive Garden and the Panda Inn, as well as numerous high end coffee shops (Try Conrads, they have a brightly lit coffee shop area, a nice outdoor patio and a dimly lit lounge area that will remind you of a good steak house. You can get a filet mingon dinner for under $20.00 thats as good as the dinners served in most high end steak houses. Additionally, their fried chicken is as good as you can find almost anywhere and their service is excellant.) and ethnic cuisine of almost every type.

The best thing about Glendale is it's location. It's less than a ten (10) minute drive on Los Feliz Blvd. to Hollywood and on the way there is the Los Angeles Zoo, Griffith Park and the Griffith Observatory And Planetarium. Take a ten (10) minute drive east on the 134 freeway or on Colorado Blvd. and you will find yourself in Old Town Pasadena after having driven past the Rose Bowl and the Norton Simon Museum. Ten minutes to the south you will find yourself in downtown Los Angeles after having gone past Dodger Stadium. Go west on the 134 freeway and you have the entire San Fernando Valley (Universal Studios is also less than ten (10) minutes from Glendale.). Additionaly there is an Amtrak train station in Glendale. Parking is only a few yards from where you board the train, the station is never crowded and you can travel down the coast to the Mexican border or up the coast past San Francisco.

Of course you could just stay in Pasadena, Hollywood, Universal City or downtown Los Angeles but, you will find Glendale to be much less expensive and quieter with less traffic and fewer parking problems.

By the way, if you are into shopping, this city is the home of the Glendale Galleria, one of the largest and best shopping malls in southern California.