La Cañada History: Teenager arrested in death of 69-year-old widow

Ten Years Ago

Although some conditions remained to be hammered out, the Town Center project won the unanimous approval from the City Council. It was the fifth time over a period of a few decades that a developer working on behalf of Sport Chalet founder Norbert Olberz’ La Cañada Properties had attempted to create a shopping center on Foothill Boulevard at Angeles Crest Highway that would meet with civic approval while also being economically viable.

Twenty Years Ago

It was announced that a Men’s Wearhouse would open in a storefront on the 2100 block of Foothill Boulevard in La Cañada. It would be the clothing retailer’s 30th store in Southern California.

Thirty Years Ago

The City Council heard a first reading of an ordinance that would charge home or business owners for false alarms from their burglar and fire alarm systems. A $50 fee was proposed as a service charge for more than two false alarms occurring at the same address in the same year.

Forty Years Ago

The death of a 69-year-old widow in her Lamour Drive home led to the arrest of an 18-year-old La Cañada youth who was suspected in her murder. Investigators believed the victim was strangled after she encountered the teen burglarizing her home in the early morning hours and that the suspect had then set the house on fire to eliminate evidence of the crime.

Fifty Years Ago

A ridge line on the mountain behind Paradise Canyon Elementary School was the site of a new 51-condominium development, “Villa Cañada,” where an open house was held in July 1966 so people could tour three model homes there. The condos, many of which afforded commanding views of the Los Angeles basin while others faced the La Cañada Country Club golf course, were priced from $40,000 to $54,000.

Sixty Years Ago

Five school campuses in the Crescenta-Cañada area were designated as assembly areas for a mock evacuation drill held in conjunction with the nationwide Operation Alert Civilian Defense Day. Area public safety teams had to prepare for various scenarios that could arise from a nuclear bomb attack. In the exercise, they demonstrated they could evacuate 12,000 local residents from a “baby atom bomb” dropped in Glendale.

Compiled from the Valley Sun archives by Carol Cormaci.