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Glendale News Press
Think Again: Communities must respect their roots
By Zanku Armenian
5:44 PM PDT, May 9, 2011
As an American of Armenian descent, it's hard to avoid history given
its impact on culture, both the good and the ugly.
This is why there is a special respect for the elderly in Armenian
culture. As grandparents age, Armenian families take them in to live
with them; that's just the way it's done, no questions. As a result,
grandparents remain part of the nuclear family. Our baby son is
fortunate because he's not only growing up with the loving care of his
grandparents, but he's also spending precious time with his only
surviving great-grandmother.
While for Armenians their history covers thousands of years, as
Americans our history covers a couple hundred years. That's the reason
you can say we mostly all are immigrants in this country. But the
youthfulness of our country doesn't make the history any less
meaningful, if one takes time to appreciate it.
Looking at where I live, our house was built in 1928 and was part of
the early development in Glendale's Rossmoyne area. It is named after
Judge Robert Erskine Ross, who owned 1,100 acres of property on which
the Rossmoyne neighborhood was later built.
Many of the original homes are still standing, surrounded by old olive
trees Ross had planted. Our house has three olive trees from that era,
so they're even older than our house. Anyone who has olive trees on
their property knows they can be a pain when you have to clean up all
the fallen olives.
Despite the inconvenience, I love our olive trees because for me they
exude wisdom and are a symbol of the area's history. A few months ago,
I wanted to prune the trees but wanted it done by an expert
horticulturalist, so I called my friend Arsen Margossian from Bardez
Landscape Services.
These trees should be handled with great care out of respect for their
age. Though it's more expensive, the pruning was done by hand,
without chainsaws, which I learned from Margossian is the proper way
to do it.
Last week, Margossian left one of the most meaningful surprises on my
doorstep.
Turns out when he did our pruning he had collected the olives from the
cut branches and over the last couple months had been curing them. He
left a big jar of cured olives from our own trees. I can't tell you
how delicious they are and what a meaningful gift it is, like a
message in a bottle from Judge Ross from more than 100 years ago.
The Rossmoyne/Mountain Homeowners Assn. is in the process of getting
our neighborhood designated as a historical district, and I'm a big
fan of this effort. We need to respect the history of our
neighborhoods. Whether it's renovating the original houses, making
sure historical streetlights are refurbished, or caring for things
like the old olive trees, the challenge is balancing historical
preservation while also looking toward the future. The answers are
never simple or easy.
Just like we respect the history of our neighborhoods, businesses must
show the same responsibility. I was unhappy when the Americana at
Brand planned to demolish the 1928 former recording studio building
that Rick Caruso acquired to make room for Nordstrom. It's the one
building with real history in the Americana shopping center.
Caruso now says he'll incorporate the façade. If he can create a
shopping center in the spirit of the `good ole days,' then surely he
and Nordstrom can respect a building with real history and incorporate
it entirely into the design. Preserving historical buildings can make
business sense, too, because it has an anchoring effect; just look at
the success of Old Town Pasadena.
When you bulldoze such a building, you're bulldozing history, losing
something precious in the process. This brings me to Marcus Garvey's
point: `A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin
and culture is like a tree without roots.'
ZANKU ARMENIAN is a Glendale resident and a corporate communications
professional. He can be reached at [email protected].
From: A. Papazian
Glendale News Press
Think Again: Communities must respect their roots
By Zanku Armenian
5:44 PM PDT, May 9, 2011
As an American of Armenian descent, it's hard to avoid history given
its impact on culture, both the good and the ugly.
This is why there is a special respect for the elderly in Armenian
culture. As grandparents age, Armenian families take them in to live
with them; that's just the way it's done, no questions. As a result,
grandparents remain part of the nuclear family. Our baby son is
fortunate because he's not only growing up with the loving care of his
grandparents, but he's also spending precious time with his only
surviving great-grandmother.
While for Armenians their history covers thousands of years, as
Americans our history covers a couple hundred years. That's the reason
you can say we mostly all are immigrants in this country. But the
youthfulness of our country doesn't make the history any less
meaningful, if one takes time to appreciate it.
Looking at where I live, our house was built in 1928 and was part of
the early development in Glendale's Rossmoyne area. It is named after
Judge Robert Erskine Ross, who owned 1,100 acres of property on which
the Rossmoyne neighborhood was later built.
Many of the original homes are still standing, surrounded by old olive
trees Ross had planted. Our house has three olive trees from that era,
so they're even older than our house. Anyone who has olive trees on
their property knows they can be a pain when you have to clean up all
the fallen olives.
Despite the inconvenience, I love our olive trees because for me they
exude wisdom and are a symbol of the area's history. A few months ago,
I wanted to prune the trees but wanted it done by an expert
horticulturalist, so I called my friend Arsen Margossian from Bardez
Landscape Services.
These trees should be handled with great care out of respect for their
age. Though it's more expensive, the pruning was done by hand,
without chainsaws, which I learned from Margossian is the proper way
to do it.
Last week, Margossian left one of the most meaningful surprises on my
doorstep.
Turns out when he did our pruning he had collected the olives from the
cut branches and over the last couple months had been curing them. He
left a big jar of cured olives from our own trees. I can't tell you
how delicious they are and what a meaningful gift it is, like a
message in a bottle from Judge Ross from more than 100 years ago.
The Rossmoyne/Mountain Homeowners Assn. is in the process of getting
our neighborhood designated as a historical district, and I'm a big
fan of this effort. We need to respect the history of our
neighborhoods. Whether it's renovating the original houses, making
sure historical streetlights are refurbished, or caring for things
like the old olive trees, the challenge is balancing historical
preservation while also looking toward the future. The answers are
never simple or easy.
Just like we respect the history of our neighborhoods, businesses must
show the same responsibility. I was unhappy when the Americana at
Brand planned to demolish the 1928 former recording studio building
that Rick Caruso acquired to make room for Nordstrom. It's the one
building with real history in the Americana shopping center.
Caruso now says he'll incorporate the façade. If he can create a
shopping center in the spirit of the `good ole days,' then surely he
and Nordstrom can respect a building with real history and incorporate
it entirely into the design. Preserving historical buildings can make
business sense, too, because it has an anchoring effect; just look at
the success of Old Town Pasadena.
When you bulldoze such a building, you're bulldozing history, losing
something precious in the process. This brings me to Marcus Garvey's
point: `A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin
and culture is like a tree without roots.'
ZANKU ARMENIAN is a Glendale resident and a corporate communications
professional. He can be reached at [email protected].
From: A. Papazian