Glendale, One Neighborhood at a Time

Glendale stretches from 1920s bungalows near Murphy Park to desert hills in the north and a stadium district in the west. Each part of the city grew in a different decade, and each still shows it. Here is a tour of Glendale, one neighborhood at a time.

How Glendale maps itself

The city doesn't use official village names. Its six City Council districts are named after desert plants: Barrel, Cactus, Cholla, Ocotillo, Sahuaro and Yucca. The city's online Find Your District map shows which one you live in. Long-range planning follows Envision Glendale 2040, the general plan voters ratified in 2016, which folds in separate plans for the North Valley, Arrowhead Ranch and the Western Area.

The older center has its own map. The City Council adopted a historic preservation plan and ordinance in 1992, and the city's National Register list now includes eight historic neighborhoods, several of them clustered within walking distance of downtown. The Historic Preservation office publishes a districts map and a preservation guide, and the city's free HOA Academy classes help residents and board members of homeowner and condo associations.

Historic Downtown and Catlin Court

This is where Glendale began. The 1892 townsite was replatted around a central park in 1895, and Murphy Park still anchors downtown. In 2026 the city finished a three-year renewal of City Hall, the E. Lowell Rogers Amphitheatre and the park, and the park now hosts free LiVE! @ Murphy Park concerts, with the Glendale Glitters lighting ceremony at the amphitheatre this November.

Just north, Catlin Court was platted in 1915 and filled with bungalows; it reached the National Register in 1992, and an expansion followed in 2007. Many of the old houses now hold shops and eateries. Coyote Oaties bakes oatmeal cookies on North 58th Avenue, and La Piazza Al Forno fires Neapolitan pizza in a brick oven on West Glendale Avenue.

The historic home districts

Around downtown, Glendale's residential history comes in layers. Floralcroft, platted in 1928 between 59th and 61st avenues near Myrtle Avenue, and the eight homes of the 59th Avenue Residential district carry the prewar look. Sands Estates, built from 1947 to 1966 along Belmont, Morten, Orangewood and Vista avenues, records the postwar boom.

To the southeast, the Glendale Tract, at Northern and 51st avenues, began in 1933 as a New Deal subdivision where the federal government built small adobe homes for displaced farm families. Nearby, Glendale Gardens and Sage Acres were platted in the 1950s, and Manistee Ranch, the historical society's 1897 Queen Anne farmhouse on West Northern Avenue, opens for tours on the first and third Saturdays from October through April. These are private homes, so enjoy them from the sidewalk.

Sahuaro Ranch and central Glendale

Around 59th Avenue and Peoria Avenue, central Glendale gathers around Sahuaro Ranch Historic Park, a fruit ranch homesteaded in 1886, with free-roaming peacocks and a rose garden that dates to 1890. The ranch's land also became the home of Glendale Community College, which opened in 1965, and the Main Library, whose four-acre Xeriscape Demonstration Garden shows more than 400 plant species that suit the desert.

A few miles northeast, North 51st Avenue has its own neighborhood rhythm. Kula Yoga keeps a studio with loaner mats, a prop room and a tea station, a calm counterpoint to the busy street outside.

Arrowhead and the north

Arrowhead grew up later; the Arrowhead Ranch Specific Area Plan dates to 1995, and Arrowhead Towne Center opened in 1993. Today the area mixes neighborhoods with shopping along Bell Road and 75th Avenue and a Valley Metro transit center. On Saturdays from October through April, the Arrowhead Farmers Market sets up at Dream City Church Glendale, near 75th Avenue and Loop 101. Pita Kitchen on North 67th Avenue serves gyros, shawarma, falafel and hummus from one of its four West Valley kitchens.

Farther north, the Foothills area meets the Hedgpeth Hills. Thunderbird Conservation Park protects about 1,185 acres and roughly 15 miles of trails, and its trailhead parking lots are being rebuilt in stages through 2027 while the trails stay open. The Foothills Library, opened in 1999, was the first in Arizona with a drive-up window. Graziano's Pizzeria, family owned and operated, sits on North 59th Avenue between the two.

West Glendale and Westgate

West of Loop 101 is the Glendale most visitors see first. Westgate Entertainment District, celebrating 20 years this year, sits beside State Farm Stadium, which opened in 2006 and has hosted the Fiesta Bowl and three Super Bowls, and Desert Diamond Arena, which opened in 2003. Camelback Ranch, a spring training home since 2009, is nearby.

There are everyday places out west too. Glendale Heroes Regional Park has an 81-acre park with a four-acre lake and a branch library that opened in 2019, and a StoryWalk that starts at the lakeside.

Finding your own

To learn more about where you live, start with the council district map, the Historic Preservation office's districts map and your homeowner association. Then do it the easy way: walk to the nearest park, library or corner bakery, and let the neighborhood introduce itself.