Glendale Galleria

'Gold Rush 2004' theme of Scouts gala A $1,000 gift certificate to the Glendale Galleria is one of many prizes offered during the 30th annual Big Strike Auction beginning at 6 tonight at the Hilton Glendale. This event benefits the Verdugo Hills Council Boy Scouts of America serving the Glendale, Burbank, La Crescenta and La Canada Flintridge areas. The gift certificate is offered as an opportunity drawing, but other prizes are up for bid in the live and silent auctions, said event chairman Sam Engel Jr. The more than 500 items range from vacations and a catered epicurean dinner to box seats at major sporting events.

Would you believe there once was an empty lot where, only a few decades ago, a traveling circus would arrive, set up a genuine “big top” and proceed to joyfully entertain Burbank residents young and old for a couple of weeks each year? Welcome to Beautiful Downtown Burbank, 1975. The ultra-modern Golden Mall, one of our town’s great commercial failures, began where Macy’s now meets Cypress Avenue. Mall organizers took six blocks of San Fernando Boulevard, blocked off automobile traffic and tried to make the old shopping district a user-friendly shopping experience with trees, fountains, grassy areas, benches and, of course, a wide variety of stores.

Joyce Rudolph, Weekend Top horse riders from the western states will compete in the $35,000 Memorial Day Classic Grand Prix Monday at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank. Among those vying in the Olympic-style jumping event is Richard Spooner of Burbank. He is the leading rider for the Pacific Coast Horse Show Assn., said Regina Antonioli, director of marketing for the grand prix. "He is a bold and aggressive rider who always seems to be in tune with the horse," she said of Spooner.

Burbank police are looking for a man who allegedly groped a 14-year-old girl Tuesday as she and her older sister walked home from school. The girl and her 17-year-old sister were walking about 3:20 p.m. in the 200 block of North San Fernando Road toward a bus stop on Olive Avenue when they passed the man, police said. The man - who was standing on the corner of San Fernando Road and Palm Avenue -- suddenly ran up to the girl, squeezed her buttocks and fled through a pathway on San Fernando Road.

Thirty children from across the globe visited the Glendale Galleria Disney Store on Wednesday for a shopping spree as part of World Wish Day. The children, all with life-threatening medical conditions, also received breakfast, a gift card and a meeting with Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Marking the 30th anniversary of the wish that inspired the foundation, the Disney Store in Glendale joined stores from Canada to Italy in what organizers said was the largest ever wish-granting day as part of a collaboration between the Disney Store and Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Portrait wins drawing contest BURBANK -- A Burbank girl's portrait of her mother won a shoe company's contest. Louisa Melcher, 5, drew a crayon portrait of her mother, Amanda Biers-Melcher, wearing a reddish-orange dress standing in a field of flowers with mountains in the background. The picture was entered in the "Moms with Spirit" contest sponsored by the Easy Spirit Shoe Company. A reproduction was displayed in the Easy Spirit store in the Glendale Galleria on Mother's Day. As the first-place winner in the contest, Louisa also received a $50 Easy Spirit gift certificate.

Irma Lemus DOWNTOWN -- The Glendale Galleria's Warner Bros. retail store may soon be closing as a result of the Jan. 11 America Online and Time Warner merger, officials said. About 3,800 people will be unemployed if all 130 Warner Bros. retail stores throughout the country close down. "We don't need to keep the stores to capture the value," said Barbara Brogliatti, Warner Bros. director for corporate communications. Brogliatti said Warner Bros.

Good morning, readers. Today is Thursday, August 16 and here are some of the top local stories from around the Web. A new school has opened up in Porter Ranch that serves around 700 students from kindergarten to eighth grade . Daily News Where do artists go after retirement? At the Burbank Senior Artists Colony, residents have access to a video editing room, art supplies and a theater. "The building looks like an upscale hotel but is built for the arts," writes Tina Rosenberg at the N.Y. Times . And over in Woodland Hills, a senior care center got the green light from the City Council Wednesday . Daily News A 44-year-old Hollywood man allegedly made crude gestures to a group of teenage girls at the Glendale Galleria and is not banned from the mall . His outfit of choice for strolling through the Galleria?

Joyce Rudolph, Enjoy! GLENDALE -- Professional entertainers join community performers for the second annual Holiday Show at 3 and 7 p.m. Sunday at The Alex Theatre. The family show combines drama with music and dance and is produced by Glendale resident Zoe Bright and Burbank resident Kay Cole. Highlights are the Glendale High School Chamber Orchestra and the Armenian National Dance Co. Originally from England, Bright's London West End appearances include the original cast of "Les Miserables," playing Lucy in "Snoopy the Musical," "Godspell," "The Good Companions," "Happy as a Sandbag," "Wild Wild Women," and others.

GLENDALE — Mervyns, whose three-story retail outlet has been a fixture at the Glendale Galleria for a quarter century, announced Friday that it will close its remaining 149 stores throughout California and the Southwest. The move will not only affect the 101 S. Brand Blvd. location in Glendale but will also result in the closure of the Burbank store at 245 E. Magnolia Blvd., company officials said. In a release, Mervyns Chief Executive John Goodman said the massive closure, expected to take place after the holiday season, comes amid increasing challenges to its operations after repeated attempts to keep its branches open.