La Cañada History: Students line up to hug departing principal

Ten Years Ago

Popular La Cañada Elementary School Principal Ivette Ellis began bidding farewell to the Encinas Drive campus and its students as she and her husband prepared to move to White Plains, N.Y. Ellis had served at the local school for five years, where she was instrumental in helping the school incorporate a new technology program. Her last scheduled day with the district was set for Feb. 8, 2008.

Twenty Years Ago

Dick Ratliff, then a 32-year member of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses, made Tournament history by being the first La Cañada Flintridge resident to be named president of the organization. Ratliff announced the theme of the 1999 Rose Parade would be “Echoes of the Century.”

Thirty Years Ago

“Be Part of our Family” was the theme when the Crescenta-Cañada YMCA began its 37th annual support campaign in January 1988, with nearly 200 campaign volunteers in attendance at the kickoff event. The fundraising goal that year was $203,000.

Forty Years Ago

In a unanimous vote, the La Cañada Flintridge Planning Commission recommended the City Council proceed with a study to further the goal of implementing the undergrounding of utility lines along Foothill Boulevard between Georgian Road and Verdugo Boulevard.

Fifty Years Ago

Local developer Matt Flynn announced plans to build a Ralphs market shopping complex on an empty lot he owned on Foothill Boulevard between Gould Avenue and Indianola Way. It was estimated the project would carry a $1.5-million price tag.

Sixty Years Ago

“Peanut Day” arrived in La Cañada on Saturday, Jan. 18, 1958, as 185 local Blue Birds and Camp Fire Girls, dressed in their red, white and blue uniforms, went door to door on the first day of their annual canned peanut sale.

Compiled from the Valley Sun archives by Carol Cormaci.