About Glendale's Northwest Glendale

Hoover High School's 51 st Annual Tour of Homes is Saturday, December 13th from 10am-5pm. The Tour is a fundraiser that benefits Hoover students. This year the Tour is showcasing four very distinctive homes each featuring is a special feature. The award winning Hoover Jazz Ensemble will be performing at 1661 Valley View Rd., The Hoover Chorale will be performing at 863 E. Mountain St., there will be a Country Kitchen selling wonderful sweet treats at 319 E. Randolph St., and at 1415 Royal Blvd. there will be a Complementary Tea with area dignitaries serving.

Advance purchase tickets are available for $20 and will be $25 the day of the Tour at any one of the four homes on the Tour.

For more information go to HooverTOH@yahoo.com to request tickets.

There is some seriously good hiking in the hills behind Brand Park. Regular hikers know that there are two trail heads in Brand Park: the fire road that starts at the Doctor's House and the "Ridge" that starts at the Miss American Green Cross. Today I want to talk about the "Ridge". The statue at the trail head is one of the most unusual I've seen. Here is what the Glendale City Website has to say about this statue:

The statue of Miss American Green Cross was created in 1928 as a tribute to an early 20th Century tree society and a symbol of the deforestation that was taking place across the country at that time. After a car crashed into the statue, it was dumped behind Brand's Castle, and laid abandoned for 30 years. Hikers discovered it in an overgrown canyon in the mid-50's reporting that the arm of Miss American Green Cross was missing. It was assumed that vandals had carried it off. In 1981 the monument was taken to the city maintenance yard where she remained for 10 more years ~ until Glendale Parks, Recreation and Community Services, along with the organization Glendale Beautiful, raised money to have her restored.

The statue was created to commemorate preservation of our forests and to remind everyone that trees are a renewable resource - if you manage them properly. Even in 1928 there were forward thinking environmentalists... Anyway, the "Ridge" is always my favorite route. It is steeper, more rugged and challenging and, frankly, shorter, than the fire road. In a couple of places you need to scramble up a short stretch with hands and feet. The Ridge dumps you out close to the abandoned reservoir and, from there, you can continue up to the towers. Take the road less traveled. Visit Miss American Green Cross and contemplate our forests. You'll be glad you did.