La Cañada History: 4 young ballet dancers make their debut with S.F. Ballet Co.

Ten Years Ago

According to figures released by the California Secretary of State office, La Cañada Flintridge had shown a voter registration increase of about 500 people in the four years leading up to the beginning of 2008. The report stated there were 392 additional local Democrats over the 2004 figures, but the Republican Party had lost 425 voters from its La Cañada base in the same period.

Twenty Years Ago

Eight employees of the La Cañada Taco Bell found themselves being herded into a walk-in cooler at gunpoint during a takeover robbery on the evening of Dec. 30, 1997. The three suspects, all of whom escaped, got away with about $400 in cash. No one was injured during the crime, which was brought to the attention of the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station by a Taco Bell customer who was in his car at its drive-through window while the robbery was unfolding.

Thirty Years Ago

A large van carrying movie equipment lost its brakes as it was being driven downhill on Angeles Crest Highway. It careened onto Foothill Boulevard and struck three vehicles. The van was ultimately brought to a halt by a tree planted between Lloyd’s Restaurant (where Hill Street Cafe is today) and the Flower Pavilion on the corner of Foothill and Chevy Chase Drive (today the site of Flintridge Bookstore). No injuries were reported.

Forty Years Ago

In connection with Safety Month in the La Cañada public elementary schools, the La Cañada Junior Women’s Club sponsored a bicycle-licensing event at Foothill Intermediate School. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s personnel licensed the bikes as protection against theft for a 75-cent donation.

Fifty Years Ago

The Valley Sun reported that four young dancers studying at the Ballet Petit studio in La Cañada had made their professional debuts in the San Francisco Ballet Co. presentation of “The Nutcracker” during the 1967 holiday season. They were Heidi Johnson, Janet Joanou, Roxanne Buck and Linda Piroumian.

Sixty Years Ago

Under the headline “Sanitary Thief Makes Off with a Bathtub,” the paper reported “a thief who apparently values cleanliness made off with a bathtub last Thursday night outside a house under construction at 746 St. Katherine Drive.” The report included the fact the tub was still in its delivery crate, awaiting installation the following morning.

Compiled from the Valley Sun archives by Carol Cormaci.