La Cañada History: 2 years before the moon landing, replica of Apollo nose cone built by local middle school students
Ten Years Ago
Four households on the 300 block of Starlight Crest Drive were evacuated on Aug. 4, 2007, as a precautionary measure after a private company working on a project there jack-hammered into a Southern California Gas Co. line, causing a gas leak. Repairs were made, and the residents were allowed to return home within a few hours.
Twenty Years Ago
A heat wave that crept into the Crescenta-Cañada valley raised the mercury to 115 degrees Fahrenheit at Descanso Gardens at about 4 p.m. on Aug. 5, 1997, up from 107 degrees at 11 a.m. that same day.
Thirty Years Ago
On Aug. 3, 1987, La Cañada Flintridge experienced its first major fire threat of that season, but 30 Los Angeles County Fire Department and U.S. Forest Service personnel kept a blaze in the Angeles National Forest to 25 acres and extinguished it after 22 hours. The fire started about 1.5 miles above La Cañada when a car careened off the side of Angeles Crest Highway and burst into flames.
Forty Years Ago
La Cañada all-star baseball team of 13-year-olds won the Southern California State Babe Ruth Tournament held in Culver City. Next, they were headed to the Pacific Southwest Regional Tournament in Hollister.
Fifty Years Ago
Students taking a space science class offered at Foothill Intermediate School during summer school created a replica of the Apollo nose cone. Flights were simulated to give the students a feel for what an astronaut landing on the moon might experience. Foothill Intermediate, on Cornishon Avenue, was La Cañada Unified’s middle school at the time and was commonly known as “F.I.S.” It was closed some years later when the seventh and eighth grades were moved to the La Cañada High campus.
Sixty Years Ago
Three youths were given a court date on charges of disturbing the peace after a fistfight broke out at a La Cañada service station one Sunday afternoon. The resulting melee caught the eyes of those driving by and tied up traffic on Foothill Boulevard at Angeles Crest Highway.
Compiled from the Valley Sun archives by Carol Cormaci.
