Brookdale Alhambra

I looked at Brookdale Alhambra because one time, I was going to move my husband from California. The fee over there was so high that I could not afford it. I like the place. I like that the people took the time to talk to me. The nurse over there talked to me, and then the marketing person also talked to me. They showed me the room, the dining room, and everything. I like the staff. They sat down and talked to me and broke down the fee. They even showed me how they took care of their patients. The different staffs would say hi to me and spoke to me. The rooms seem nice. They have private rooms and shared rooms. The rooms were very clean, and they're very nice. The community is a little bit smaller than where my husband is. Also because it's in Alhambra, it's more costly. They treated me with free lunch too. I was surprised when the marketing person asked for food, and then they took me for a free lunch.

Brookdale Alhambra was great, but it was not very roomy and was a little dirty. The air conditioner were sticking out into the little area. The activities were pretty much what the residents wanted. They had a beauty salon, too.

I liked Brookdale Alhambra, but the price was too high and my mother would have to walk too far to go to the dining room. I really liked it, but it was too costly. I thought it was excellent, and everything was so nice. I visited several times and met with the staff and the people who clean and do little things, so everything was perfect. Except that my mom has claustrophobia by going up the elevator, and everything was on the second floor, so that was one of the issues. The food looked delicious to me. They were nice people and I can tell that they were concerned about the people there. They showed a lot of love and care.

Brookdale Alhambra, formerly Emeritus at Alhambra, seemed like an older building compared to the other place we visited. However, the resident rooms were much bigger; so that was a plus. The staff was very friendly, and able to answer all of my questions. There were a lot of Asian residents there. I got to see what the food looked like. They had two menus, an Asian menu, and a regular menu. It just seemed kind of average.

Brookdale Alhambra (formerly Emeritus at Alhambra) was very nice, and it seems like it will work out for my father. It was really a good experience. They had activities, classes onsite, group activities, and games. It's an older building, but the rooms were fine. It wasn't a bad place. The staff was very accommodating. Even the manager had volunteered to come to my father's home to talk to him and make him feel at ease. They were updating some of the rooms. They had musical stuff and different things going on. None of them were negative.

I thought that all the trees had been chopped down -- and they were lying dead in the courtyard area -- that when you looked out the window, it was very depressing. They had just sawed trees down, and it was very ugly. But very big-sized rooms -- nice sized rooms with balconies that looked out into rubbish. The inside of Brookdale Alhambra was nice. The rooms were large, and the kitchen, the food, and the menu looked nice, but it was horribly depressing looking outside. There were like big tree stubs with concrete, and it looked like some rubbish that could be picked up. Maybe plant a few plants if you are going to saw down a tree. It looked like a ghost town; very depressing. The food was good, the representative was nice, the rooms were large, and the facility inside was nice and clean. I just found whenever I looked out a window -- and they were very good about keeping all the curtains closed -- that it was ugly out there. So there was awareness to try to keep the windows closed, and when I tried to go on to this nice balcony from one of the rooms, she said, "Oh no, don't go out there." It's not being cared for; it was very ugly. If they could maybe take the big tree that was far off and get rid of the roots, pull the stump out and put something in it, and then get rid of the stump. Just a bunch of stumps looked really depressing. I thought that the person who runs the facility was lovely, and if I never have to look outside, it would be fine.

I have been told by the current director that family members can no longer rent a room at this facility. This is a change from previous years, and also a financial strain on family members from out of state who come to visit. During my visit in Sept. 2014, there was a need for various upgrades, including WiFi and the dining area and hours to dine. There is little to no diversity of residents; there is not much activity and the exercise component is limited, however the staff was gracious.

The lady that was supposed to meet us at Brookdale Alhambra was not there, and she assigned some maintenance guy to greet us and show us around. During the tour, I saw two residents needing help, but no one was around. She kept asking him, and he just ignored her. I will give it only a 1. It looked really bad.