Business & Tech

Former Montrose Community Lead Officer Jerry Uebel Opens Wing Stop on Verdugo Blvd.

The business, which is located in La Cañada near the border with Montrose, is now serving customers.

After 25 years with the Glendale Police Department, Officer Jerry Uebel retired in 2007 having spent the last 10 years of his career as the community lead officer for Montrose. 

In a glowing profile in the Glendale News-Press, where he was referred to as the Andy Griffith of the town, the last few lines discussed what Uebel might do after retirement. 

“I may start a little business in Montrose, maybe a restaurant,” Uebel told the paper. “You know what they say — when one door closes another one opens.” 

Six years later, his prediction about his future has come true with the soft opening two weeks ago of Wing Stop at 1975 Verdugo Blvd. in La Cañada Flintridge, just a few feet over the border from Montrose. Uebel also got his golfing buddy, Jay Hoehn, to come in as a partner on the business. 

"We're outside of Montrose by about a foot. We're the front porch of La Cañada," Uebel told Patch. 

Uebel is as local as they come. He was born and raised in Montrose and lived most of his life here, as well as helped keep it safe as a police officer. 

"This community really needed a place to go where families can go and relax. It’s not McDonald’s or Carl’s Jr. but it’s not a bar either, although we do sell beer and wine," Uebel said. "People just come in and move the tables around, it’s like a big party."

Wing Stop is a national chain with hundreds of locations nationwide. It specializes in chicken wings and also has an aviation WWII "wing" theme.  

"People up here happen to sometimes kind of not like franchises because they think this is an outsider coming in trying to make a buck off the community. How many people actually know the true owner of McDonald’s or Carl’s Jr. or the Starbucks? But they’re going to know us because we’re local," Uebel said. "We’re going to join the chamber, get involved in the community and sponsor sports teams." 

As a lifelong Montrose resident, Uebel said he's seen it grow from a sleepy little town to one that can successfully be home to many lively restaurants and businesses.

"I've watched Montrose grow," Uegel said. "I was telling friends, when I was a young patrol officer, Montrose would close at like 6 or 7 o'clock. There was no one in town. And then I started seeing these different businesses crop up, and I said, you know, this is going to end up being a mini-Old Town Pasadena, and that’s what it’s turning out to be."

The building, which has space for several businesses, is brand new and Wing Stop is the first tenant. Uebel said the location, which is just off the 2 freeway, used to be a gas station. Although a sign is out on Verugo, the actual location is near the back of the building and not visible from the street. But both Uebel and Hoehn said plenty of customers are finding them.

"We used to golf four or five days a week, now we haven’t golfed in a month and a half getting this thing going," said Hoehn, who lives in Glendale and attends La Crescenta Presbyterian Church. "But we've had steady sales and customers, a lot of support from people we know in the community. It’s going really well."

Uebel said between he and Hoehn already knowing so many people in town, and the business being right on heavily-travelled Verdugo, a grand opening ceremony might not be necessary.

"The whole point of a ribbon cutting is to generate publicity and let people know you are there, but I think most people already know us and know we're here," Uebel said. "We may have a grand opening, I'm not sure yet."


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