Twenty years ago, JPL employees cheered launch of Poseidon satellite

Ten Years Ago

After sitting vacant for several years, the former bank building at the northwest corner of Foothill Boulevard and Oakwood Avenue reopened with a new look and four new tenants, including a frame store. It was rumored that the women’s clothing chain, Chico’s, would also move into the building.

Twenty Years Ago

Employees at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory were cheering after the successful Aug. 10, 1992, launch of the French-U.S. TOPEX-Poseidon satellite, which would study circulation in the world’s oceans and their effect on climatic conditions for more than three years.

Thirty Years Ago

The board of directors of the La Cañada Flintridge Tournament of Roses Assn. put out a plea in the summer of 1982 for community support. Although the group had raised $8,000, it was estimated that another $30,000 was needed to produce a float representing the community in the 1983 Rose Parade.

Forty Years Ago

County Supervisor Warren Dorn and County Fire Chief Richard H. Houts in August 1972 showed off the first ladder fire truck to be delivered to La Cañada and housed at Station 82 on Georgian Road. The new, $58,000 rig featured an 85-foot hydraulic ladder and a water snorkel.

Fifty Years Ago

In preparation for the completion of its La Cañada chapel, the Altar Guild of St. George’s Episcopal Church was making plans for new vestments. Members of the parish who liked to sew were meeting weekly during the summer of 1962 to prepare linens for the altar.

Sixty Years Ago

La Cañada resident Jim Huntington, who started his career here in 1914 as a blacksmith, became renowned some years later for having created portable outdoor barbecues. He sold approximately 5,000 of the units each year from his shop in Old Town La Cañada, along with other ornamental ironworks he designed, including andirons and gates. He also enjoyed being a grill master. In August 1952 he was featured in the Valley Sun for a charitable endeavor: One Sunday each month Huntington took his equipment and food supplies to Santa Teresita Hospital and Sanatorium in Duarte and staged a picnic for the girls with tuberculosis who were living there.