Happy Americana at Brand Day

(Flickr pic by Fezmonger.)

It's finally arrived -- the opening of Glendale's Americana at Brand. After years of promise, Glendalians finally get their first taste of Life. Style. Caruso. today. (Most egocentric tag line out there?)

Well, some residents got their first view of it last night, during the gala opening celebration -- while others of us, ahem were not invited.

At around 11 p.m., we heard all the commotion outside -- and realized that it was the Americana fireworks, as promised. Guess that letter from the Caruso folks paid off after all.

BUT, as the Atwater Village Newbie notes, that's FAR later than the "between 7 and 9:30 p.m." time frame promised in the letter. Plus, the fireworks freaked out non-Glendale residents who live closeby but didn't get a letter. Several angry posters at the AVN site note that the fireworks spooked dogs, woke babies and caused some to dial 911. Given the recent spate of shootings in Northeast Los Angeles, setting off fireworks at 11:15 at night was pretty cruel.

The event itself featured perfs by Tony Bennett, the Four Tops, the Temptations and Natalie Cole. The Glendale News-Press covers the event in todays paper:

For many in attendance, the star-studded event represented the start of a new era in Glendale defined by a high-class destination that some still insist is out of place on Brand Boulevard.

"Some may say that this project is too elegant, that it's too sophisticated for Glendale," said Rick Caruso, president and chief executive officer of Americana developer Caruso Affiliated. "Well that's just dead wrong."

Uh, thanks, uh, for sticking up for us?

In an address to the audience — his face portrayed on giant video monitors on both sides of a raised stage — Caruso had the jurors stand to rousing applause and then took verbal jabs at General Growth, singling out the mall owner for its staunch opposition to the Americana.

"The reason we're not celebrating our second anniversary is because we had a neighbor..." Caruso said. "Everybody's got somebody in their life. Hillary's got Bill. I've got General Growth."

Gotcha.