10-20-30 Years Ago

Ten Years Ago: St. Francis High School announced that the star raffle item for its 2001 POSH fundraiser was a new Chrysler PT Cruiser. Raffle tickets were priced at $100 each.

Twenty Years Ago: The La Cañada Flintridge City Council approved the sale of the 1926 Wurlitzer organ it had inherited with the Lanterman estate to the city of Glendale for a purchase price of $50,000. It was estimated that it would take two years to restore the rare “Crawford Special,” one of only five built, but that it then would be worth $1 million when completed.

Thirty Years Ago: A 77-year-old employee showing a ring to two teenage boys in jewelry department at Ivers Department Store (where a T.J. Maxx store is today) successfully resisted the efforts of the boys to pull the $900 ring from her finger. When she screamed, the teens ran out the rear door of the building and escaped.

Forty Years Ago: A botanical reference library in the mahogany-paneled former library of the late Manchester Boddy, whose estate became Descanso Gardens, was opened to public use by the Descanso Gardens Guild. Hours of operation for the new library were set for 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Thursdays.

Fifty Years Ago: Nineteen candidates were on the ballot for five seats on the newly-formed La Cañada Unified School District. Four of those running were incumbents, having served on the La Cañada school board that oversaw the elementary schools during a period when the Pasadena Unified School District had jurisdiction over La Cañada’s junior-high and high-school students.

Sixty Years Ago: New homes were built in La Cañada at such a rapid pace in 1950 that in January 1951, Postmaster H. Edwin Cooper reported that his office was delivering mail to 609 more households than it had the previous year.