Welcome to Glendale: A Starting Map for the Farm Town Turned City

Glendale is a city of close to a quarter of a million people in the northwest Salt River Valley, and it began as a farm colony of about seventy families. You can still feel both. A small, walkable downtown grew up around a park in the 1890s; a stadium district rose on former farmland in the 2000s; and in between are neighborhoods built in nearly every decade since. Whether you just unpacked or have lived here for years, here is a starting map.

Where Glendale sits

Glendale lies northwest of Phoenix, on land the Arizona Canal opened to farming in the 1880s. The canal still crosses the city, and Grand Avenue, the diagonal road that founder William J. Murphy built in 1888 to link Phoenix with the northwest Valley, still cuts across the street grid near downtown.

The ground is mostly flat desert valley, broken in the north by the Hedgpeth Hills. Thunderbird Conservation Park protects about 1,185 acres of them, with roughly 15 miles of trails. The city counts seven regional parks covering more than 1,600 acres, including the Grand Canal and Skunk Creek linear parks, which follow water through the city.

How the city fits together

Glendale's older heart is Historic Downtown, around Murphy Park and Glendale Avenue, with the Catlin Court bungalow district just north. Central Glendale gathers along 59th Avenue, from Glendale Community College at Olive Avenue north to Sahuaro Ranch Historic Park near Peoria Avenue. Arrowhead, along Bell Road and 75th Avenue, grew up in the 1990s, and the Foothills area runs north toward the hills. West of Loop 101 is the sports and entertainment district around State Farm Stadium, Desert Diamond Arena and Westgate.

For everyday trips, the main roads are Glendale Avenue, 59th Avenue, Northern Avenue, Bell Road and Loop 101. Valley Metro buses cross the city, with park-and-ride lots at 99th and Glendale avenues, at the Foothills Recreation and Aquatic Center and at 59th and Myrtle avenues, and a transit center at Arrowhead. The city adds its own services: GUS, the free Glendale Urban Shuttle, runs three weekday circulator routes through central and south Glendale, and Glendale OnBoard offers shared microtransit every day of the year.

Living by the seasons

Life here runs on a reverse calendar. As a regional guide, NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals for Phoenix Sky Harbor put the average January high at about 68 degrees and July's at about 106, with around 111 days a year reaching 100 degrees and a little over seven inches of rain. Fall and winter are the outdoor seasons, and summer is for early mornings, pools and indoor plans. On the trails, the city asks hikers to go early or late, wear a hat and carry more water than they think they'll need.

The city's calendar follows the weather. Movies by Moonlight moves through city parks from November into March. Glendale Glitters lights up downtown from the weekend after Thanksgiving through New Year's Day, the Chocolate Affaire fills the Civic Center each February, and the Folk & Heritage Festival comes to Sahuaro Ranch in March.

Places that make Glendale feel like home

Downtown changed this year. In June the city finished a three-year, nearly $100 million renewal of City Hall, the E. Lowell Rogers Amphitheatre and Murphy Park, and the free LiVE! @ Murphy Park concert series brings music back to the park. Nearby, Sahuaro Ranch keeps 1880s ranch buildings, a rose garden from 1890 and wandering peacocks, free to visit. Luke Air Force Base, part of Glendale since 1995, is another neighbor you'll hear overhead.

A few independent places make good first stops. Blue Corn Cafe & Bakery, in Historic Downtown on North 58th Avenue, bakes sourdough and pastries and serves paninis and quiche; it opened four years ago this October. Haus Murphy's, on West Glendale Avenue, has served German food downtown for more than two decades, with long tables inside and a biergarten outside. Up near Arrowhead, family-owned Ajo Al's has cooked Sonoran-style Mexican food since 1986 and serves weekend brunch on Bell Road. And on North 51st Avenue, Jimbo's Sports Bar & Grill is a neighborhood hangout with pool tables, darts leagues, bingo and karaoke nights.

Getting connected

City services start at the new City Hall downtown, where the entire first floor is now a one-stop shop for residents and businesses. Water, sewer and trash accounts, service requests and park reservations are all on the city's website, and the GlendaleOne portal takes requests online.

The Glendale Public Library has four locations. The Main Library on West Brown Street sits beside a four-acre xeriscape garden, the Foothills Library on North 57th Avenue has the only drive-up window in the system, and the Heroes Regional Park Library looks onto a four-acre lake. The downtown Velma Teague Library is closed for repairs, and its events have moved to the Civic Center Annex on West Glenn Drive, which the library plans to turn into a temporary full-service location. All four share one phone line and the same hours, and the digital library is open around the clock.

For news, the city posts announcements in its online newsroom, and The Glendale Star has covered the city as a community weekly since the late 1970s. Add the historical society's Glendale timeline for background, then pick a park, a library and a coffee counter to call your own.