La Cañada History: Pre-school students supervised by school’s mascot

Ten Years Ago

Community members reacted with sadness to the news that Second Lt. Todd Bryant, a 1998 graduate of La Cañada High School, had died while serving with the U.S. Army forces in western Iraq. Bryant was 23 and had graduated from West Point in 2002.

Twenty Years Ago

La Cañada voters seated Jeanne Broberg, Will Moffitt and Warren Jacob on the school board. All newcomers to the board, they replaced members Irene Mendon, Anne Galloway and Joel Smith, none of whom sought reelection.

Thirty Years Ago

Children attending the Tiny Tots pre-school program at the La Cañada Youth House found themselves under the watchful eye of the school’s mascot, a rooster named Gregory Peck. Gregory was said to know his name and would respond by running toward whoever called him.

Forty Years Ago

In 1973 La Cañada (three years prior to cityhood) ranked 47 among the 100 cities and communities in Los Angeles County in property tax rates. The total tax rate for the local community was $12.081 million and the average property tax bill was $723.

Fifty Years Ago

Less than a month after a new concrete center divider on Foothill Boulevard was landscaped, it sustained its first accident. A motorist on his way home at 3 a.m. behind the wheel of his 1953 Cadillac lost control of the car when it blew a tire. The driver wasn’t hurt but the center divider was almost completely leveled.

Sixty Years Ago

The Pasadena superintendent of schools, Stuart F. McComb, was quoted in a story about a 1953 push to unify La Cañada schools, a move that would pull La Cañada junior high and high school students out of the Pasadena public school district. “To put it bluntly and succinctly,” McComb said, “the remainder of Pasadena High School District would be better off financially if Temple City and/or La Cañada were not part of the district.” Local residents were lukewarm to the idea at the time, so unification of La Cañada’s schools did not gain voter approval until several years later.

Compiled from the Valley Sun archives by Carol Cormaci.