La Cañada History: Postmaster retired after 33 years of service

Ten Years Ago

It was announced that the Jet Propulsion Laboratory would create its first float entry for the Jan. 1, 2005 Rose Parade, in cooperation with Caltech. The float’s theme would be “A Family of Explorers,” in keeping with the parade’s overall theme that year.

Twenty Years Ago

The deadline was nearing for locals to purchase tickets for the July 29, 1994 La Cañada Night at the Hollywood Bowl, an annual fundraiser for the La Cañada Flintridge Tournament of Roses Assn. That year’s concert featured the music of Vienna and a fireworks display. The benefit was to help pay for the flowers needed to cover the city’s float “The Wright Stuff” in the 1995 Rose Parade.

Thirty Years Ago

The teams fielded by St. Bede the Venerable Catholic Church and La Crescenta First Baptist Church were tied for first place in the Crescenta-Cañada Church Summer Softball League in late June 1984. Both teams were undefeated in three games. They led by one game over both La Cañada Presbyterian and Church of the Lighted Window, the latter of which had just come off a big (17-6) win over St. George’s Episcopal Church.

Forty Years Ago

La Cañada’s postmaster, Dick Mason, raised the American flag over the post office for the last time, prior to his retirement after 331/2 years with the U.S. Postal Service. Mason’s final flag-raising ceremony coincided with the annual project of local scout troops to place flags along Foothill Boulevard in celebration of Independence Day, so members of Boy Scout Troop 505 posed with Mason on the cover of the June 27, 1974 Valley Sun.

Fifty Years Ago

A family that had recently moved into a home on Alminar Avenue was effectively drummed out of the area by neighbors who objected to the family’s size — there were eight children and two adults — and the fact that they kept a horse in their backyard. The head of the household received a letter from the president of Rancho-La Cañada Civic Assn., the homeowners group in the neighborhood, complaining that the three-bedroom home they had just purchased was unsuitable in size to house their large family and incorrectly stating that a county ordinance prohibited horses in that residential area. After the complaints surfaced in the community, causing an uproar, a neighborhood meeting was held and the family received an apology. But it was too late, as the newcomers had already placed their house on the market and were seeking a “friendlier” community in which to reside.

Sixty Years Ago

During the first four years of the 1950s, La Cañada’s population grew by 44%, jumping from 9,677 to 13,939. Neighboring Pasadena went from 104,577 residents to 115,300 during the same period, for a 10.3% increase.

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Compiled from the Valley Sun archives by Carol Cormaci, carol.cormaci@latimes.com

Follow on Twitter:@CarolCormaci.

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