On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether youâre traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
?BillinGlendaleCA
Nikki the Cocker Spaniel was off at the doggie day spa so I took the opportunity to visit Brand Park and hike up the Brand Family Cemetery. I started off at the library, getting some shots of the front as well as looking out from a passageway on the right side of the library.
On my way over to the Japanese Garden/Gazebo/Doctor’s House, I passed the Lady of the Green Cross monument that dates back 100 years to a movement to preserve forest lands. The Japanese Garden was not open, so I shot photos of it, the gazebo and the Doctor’s House though the fence.
From there, the hike to the cemetery involves climbing a hill next to a debris dam. Debris dams are the first part of Southern California’s flood control. They trap, as the name implies, debris like boulders, trees and sediment that would otherwise clog up the flood control system downstream. These basins don’t contain much water at anytime during the year and the debris that they trap are cleaned out during the dry season.
On the way up to the crest of the dam, I spotted a California Quail walking along the side of the road. At the upstream end of the debris basin the road forks, to the right it continues up the Brand Motorway to the top of the Verdugo Mountains, to the left a wide trail heads to the Brand Family Cemetery narrowing to a one track trail heading up the canyon.
The Brand Library was Leslie Brand’s home and was donated to the City after his death becoming a library.
At the right side of the front of the library is a passageway to the back of the house, if I recall correctly Brand’s study was above this passageway. I shot this using exposure bracketing and blended a couple of photos preserve the highlights in the sky.
The Lady of the Green Cross monument was originally down the hill until it was repeatedly struck by several cars, it was then moved near the Brand Family Cemetery where she lost one of her arms to vandals. The statue sat in a city maintenance yard for several decades before funds were raised to restore her and mover her into Brand Park.
The Japanese teahouse.
The gazebo.
The Doctor’s House was originally in downtown Glendale and was moved to this location. It was the home to many doctors, hence the name.
A birb!
The Brand Family Cemetery is dominated by a large pyramid which was pretty common in the mid-1920’s when L.C. Brand died.
I Suppose, Especially Because I Was Asked, That We Should Say a Few Words About Today’s Israeli Elections
JWR
Back in the early 1980’s, a friend and his GF convinced me that hiking up to that cemetery late at night was a fun thing to do, especially since the Hillside Stranglers were another thing going on at the time. Oh, the memories…
Mary G
I’ve been there! The library specializes in art and music and has some great books you can’t find anywhere else and can’t afford to buy. Plus a quail, yay!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@JWR: I’ve lived in Glendale for almost 35 years and didn’t visit Brand Park until about 10 years ago, I didn’t know about the cemetery until looking at Google Maps.
@Mary G: Yup, I’ve only been inside once, just to see what it looked like.
StringOnAStick
Interesting place; I love local history for the “how people lived then” aspect.
Our backyard is on the circuit for at least two groups of these quail, so fun to see them.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@StringOnAStick: I didn’t mention that the California Quail is our State Birb.
J R in WV
I think the second photo, that is mostly effectively B&W — but with the splash of color out the interestingly shaped doorway — is one of the most artistic photos you have shown us to date. Great contrast between the foreground and the colorful background…
And the birb is sweet too.
I guess much of the striking “fall” color is false color from the infrared? That’s OK, not my thing, but looks good in its own way.
Anyone in the pyramid?
Grain storage?
heh
Thanks for sharing, good work!              ;~)
opiejeanne
Great photos, Bill, and thank you for introducing us to Brand Park. The San Gabriel Valley was where my family lived when I was growing up.
Interesting that there’s a doctor’s house that was moved to the park. Cal State Fullerton’s Arboretum has one that was moved from downtown Fullerton.
JustRuss
Your photos always evoke a great sense of place. I don’t miss SoCal enough to move back, but I do enjoy a quick visit. These are the next best thing.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@J R in WV: I shot that archway before and wanted to try it again with the AeroChrome emulation. The foreground looks B/W since the walls are white.
AeroChrome was a film produced by Kodak at the request of the War Department in WW2. The Germans developed really effective camouflage so this film was designed to portray real vegetation as red(don’t bomb) and the camouflaged area would shot up as a different color. It was introduced as a consumer film after the war and was pretty popular in the late 60’s and early 70’s. It’s pretty popular in the infrared photography community.
I think Leslie Brand may be in the pyramid.
@opiejeanne: It was a good thing they saved the Doctor’s House when they redevolped the land. There’s another house near the Doctor’s House’s original location that they ended up building an apartment building around.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@JustRuss: Glad you like ’em, I’ve got some good stuff coming up. I made a daytime trip to Joshua Tree on Monday.
citizen dave
I like these, great artistry as always! I think you could sell them as Martian photos. The red looks like another world.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
I’d never heard of Leslie Brand. Thanks for a fun visit. I love the shot through the arch. Odd to see one CA Quail all by itself. All of our local ones show up in groups.
dilbert dogbert
Re: Debris Dams
Noted in John MCPhee’s book “Control of Nature”.