La Cañada History: Years after first local country club closed, some backyards still boasted its former holes, greens

Ten Years Ago

A La Cañada branch of Union Bank of California, N.A., opened in the former Blockbuster Video location next to the Trader Joe’s market. Prior to Blockbuster, the same building was occupied by a Super Crown Books store.

Twenty Years Ago

Today a highly visible member of the U.S. Congress, Rep. Adam Schiff, then serving as a state senator representing La Cañada Flintridge and other area communities in California’s capitol, in 1997 was named one of 40 emerging state leaders from across the nation to receive the Toll Fellowship from the Council of State Governments.

Thirty Years Ago

Rehearsals were underway for the Foothill Youth Summer Theater’s 1987 production, the musical “Oliver!” by Lionel Bart, adapted from Charles Dickens’ “Oliver Twist.” The cast featured 50 youngsters. La Cañadans holding key roles were Craig Woolson (Fagin), Debbie McMahon (Mrs. Bumble) and Tony Lipp (Mr. Brownlow).

Forty Years Ago

A small brush fire, blamed on juveniles playing with fireworks, broke out at 2:45 p.m. on the Fourth of July in 1977. County firefighters on ground and in the air halted the blaze, which climbed a steep slope and threatened homes behind the 1900 block of Parkdale Place.

Fifty Years Ago

Kids served by the La Cañada Youth House (community center) were being encouraged to sign up early for a July 1967 trip via bus to Pacific Ocean Park in Santa Monica due to the popularity of such excursions. Known by its nickname P.O.P., the amusement park was shut down in October of that year due to financial difficulties; its assets were sold off in 1968.

Sixty Years Ago

After Flintridge Country Club shuttered its operations in the mid-1940s, some post WWII homes built in the Flintridge area encompassed portions of its former 18-hole course. The Valley Sun in the summer of 1957 featured a photo of Berkshire Avenue resident Don Davis making a pitch shot to the hole in his backyard. The accompanying caption explained Davis had set up nine different tees, as far as 50 yards out, so he could approach the hole from different angles. The former clubhouse was incorporated into St. Francis High School when the school was established at that site.

Compiled from the Valley Sun archives by Carol Cormaci.