La Cañada History: Local resident, Disney animator visits White House; speed bump request hits road block

Ten Years Ago

Longtime La Cañada Flintridge resident and noted Disney animator Ollie Johnston, then 93, traveled to the White House where he was presented the National Medal of Arts award by President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush. Known famously as one of “Disney’s Nine Old Men,” the earliest films Johnston worked on for the studio were “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and “Pinocchio.” He said he had always enjoyed his career. “I love it,” he said. “I love doing that kind of work. I loved doing things where you drew stuff you wanted,” he said. He retired from Disney in 1978 and passed away in April 2008.

Twenty Years Ago

The La Cañada Flintridge City Council turned down a request from residents of lower Commonwealth Avenue to install speed bumps along the street, opting to first assess how well the stop sign that had been installed at the intersection of Georgian Road and Commonwealth performed as a traffic-calming measure.

Thirty Years Ago

The first major cold front of the season arrived in the Southland on the weekend of Nov. 10-11, 1985, bringing icy winds and cold rain to La Cañada Flintridge and capping the local mountains with snow.

Forty Years Ago

Princess Anne Road, lined by mature liquidambar trees, was named “Street of the Month” for November 1975 by the local Keep America Beautiful committee. The street received the nod for its “spectacle of autumn colors.”

Fifty Years Ago

On Veterans Day 1965, a color guard from La Cañada American Legion Post #606 patriated in the Sacred Torch Ceremony at Forest Lawn cemetery in Glendale. The day honored not only the surviving American veterans, but also those who had fallen on the field of battle.

Sixty Years Ago

A committee was formed to look into the possibility of having sewers installed in the Rancho area of La Cañada. Chairman of the effort was Dr. Edward B. Tuohy of Daleridge Road. It was pointed out that 14 years earlier, 1941, the La Cañada Chamber of Commerce board had considered a proposal to join with San Gabriel Valley communities in a sanitation district for the purpose of constructing sewers, but ultimately turned it down as being too expensive.

Compiled from the Valley Sun archives by Carol Cormaci