La Cañada History: La Cañada Town Center plans unveiled; arson suspected in fires

Ten Years Ago

Plans were unveiled in City Hall on Aug. 16, 2005 for what was to become the La Cañada Town Center, a shopping complex on acreage owned by La Cañada Properties, held by Sport Chalet founder Norbert Olberz and his family. Mattix Development Partners, LLC, a La Cañada firm headed by Darren Mattix, was chosen to develop the project, a last-ditch effort after previous proposals had failed. The public uproar caused by a 1998 proposal for the land at Foothill Boulevard and Angeles Crest Highway had led to the city’s creation of the Downtown Village Specific Plan, to which Mattix was required to adhere.

Twenty Years Ago

It was announced that a long-awaited traffic signal would be installed at the intersection of Foothill Boulevard at Beulah Drive after Sport Chalet owner Norbert Olberz agreed to pay $100,000 for its cost. Olberz, who was operating his store on the southwest corner there (where Sprouts operates today), had been petitioning for a signal for 20 years.

Thirty Years Ago

In what was believed to be a series of arson strikes, five small grass/brush fires broke out one Thursday in August 1985. In sequence, the blazes were ignited at 4808 Gould Ave. (11:13 a.m.), 555 Paulette Place (11:30 a.m.), 827 Foothill Blvd. (11:33 a.m.), Foothill Boulevard at Hillard Avenue (11:39 a.m.) and in the 4400 block of Rockland Place (12:12 p.m.).

Forty Years Ago

A Berkshire Avenue mansion that was among the earliest built during the 1920s development of Flintridge was used as a setting for the movie “W.C. Fields and Me,” starring Rod Steiger and filmed in 1975.

Fifty Years Ago

A 23-year-old Los Angeles man being pursued by California Highway Patrol officers for a traffic violation committed suicide with a shotgun while his car was moving slowly on Angeles Crest Highway near Vista Del Valle. It was believed the young man had intended to take his life before leaving home.

Sixty Years Ago

The 10th year of an agreement under which the Pasadena High School District educated La Cañada’s seventh- and eighth-grade students was marked by trustees of the La Cañada Elementary School District who voted to renew the contract for the 1955-56 school year.

Compiled from the Valley Sun archives by Carol Cormaci.