Community Spotlight: Glendale with Councilmember Ardy Kassakhian and Community Leader Elen Asatryan, The Stark Group

Beginning as a Spanish Rancho in 1798, the City of Glendale incorporated in 1906 and has grown to become the fourth largest city in Los Angeles County with a population just under 200,000.  Over time, Glendale has also become home to significant companies in the Greater Los Angeles region. Headquarters to notable companies including International House of Pancakes, Avery Dennison, LegalZoom and Public Storage, Glendale also boasts an impressive array of leading creative companies, including Walt Disney Imagineering, Disney Interactive, Marvel Animation Studios, Walt Disney Animation, and KABC-TV, to name a few.

Since the 1960s, Glendale has also become home to the largest diaspora of Armenians in the U.S., representing roughly 40% of the city’s overall population. This, in stark contrast to the historic prevalence of racially restrictive covenants in Glendale, and its status as a “sundown town” well into the mid-20^th century. That said, as of late 2020, Glendale was only one of three cities in the United States to acknowledge and apologize for its racially exclusionary past.

Join CivitasLA for our latest “Community Spotlight” with Councilmember Ardy Kassakhian and Elen Asatryan, two noted community leaders, as we discuss the issues and opportunities facing Glendale today and the central role the Armenian community plays within the city, our region, and continues to play internationally. To learn more, please visit: https://www.glendaleca.gov/government/city-council/councilmember-ardy-kassakhian.