La Cañada History: Two St. Bernards cooled off

Ten Years Ago

Only two people filed for seats on the La Cañada school board in the summer of 2003. They were incumbent Jinny Dalbeck and board newcomer Cindy Wilcox. As there were only two seats open, the election was canceled and the two were sworn in as board members.

Twenty Years Ago

Descanso Gardens announced a hike in admission fees. Beginning Sept. 1, 1992, adults would pay $5 (up from $3) and children would be admitted for $1.50 (up from 75 cents).

Thirty Years Ago

The Ribet Christian Academy and the La Cañada Unified School District reached an agreement for the lease of the Palm Crest Elementary School campus, which had been closed for public school use due to declining enrollment. Ribet agreed to a first year rent of $142,500. At the end of the fifth year of the contract, the campus could be purchased by Ribet for $3 million or the district could cancel the contract if it needed use of the property again.

Forty Years Ago

Two St. Bernards, Big Mac (200 pounds) and Gretchen (150 pounds), both members of the Ted Gray household, posed for a Valley Sun photograph with ice bags on their heads to help illustrate one idea for cooling off on a hot August day in La Cañada.

Fifty Years Ago

While the president of the 275-member of the Flintridge Property Owners Assn. announced he would lend his name to the La Cañada Committee for Incorporation, another member of the association stood during a public hearing in the summer of 1962 to declare that many of its members were opposed to their area being yoked to La Cañada. The primary problem, the objector related, was the fear that such a move would cause a nose dive in Flintridge property values. The city of La Cañada Flintridge was incorporated 14 years later.

Sixty Years Ago

As the town continued its post-World War II boom, officials at the elementary schools in the La Cañada district were expecting a total of 2,090 children to attend classes in the 1953-54 school year, 10% more than in the previous year. This figure did not include the local students who attended junior high and high school, as they were educated under the umbrella of the Pasadena school system.

Compiled from the Valley Sun archives by Carol Cormaci.