La Cañada History: Paradise Canyon PTA chooses Mardi Gras theme for 1959 school carnival
Ten Years Ago
Facing teams from Germany, Canada and all over the United States, the Rose Bowl boys’ U18 water polo team won the seventh annual South Florida International Water Polo Tournament in Coral Springs, Fla. La Cañada players on the team were Cameron Chaves and Paul Miernicki; Crescenta Valley was represented by Rane Colvin, Westen Lawton, Matthew Peters, Chris Veselich and Tristan Winterhalter. Their coach was Daniel Leyson.
Twenty Years Ago
The La Cañada Flintridge City Council reached an agreement with a development company to purchase the final 10 acres of Cherry Canyon in the San Rafael Hills for $1.6 million, with the provision the partnership drop a discrimination lawsuit it had filed against the city. The land was to be added to the city’s inventory of open space.
Thirty Years Ago
The La Cañada Flintridge Educational Foundation was conducting an intensive volunteer effort to phone all local households that had not yet contributed to its 1988-89 fund drive. Parents of children who attended La Cañada public schools were being urged to give $175 or more to support the local school district’s offerings.
Forty Years Ago
Agreeing with objections posed by La Cañada Presbyterian Church, First Church of Christ, Scientist and the La Cañada Thursday Club, city officials turned down a proposal to convert the ARCO service station on Foothill Boulevard at Woodleigh Lane to a combined gas station/mini-market that would have a license to sell beer and wine.
Fifty Years Ago
Torrential rains coming on the heels of several unusually heavy January storms brought the precipitation totals to a record-breaking 40.39 inches in La Cañada. Properties along Hampstead Road particularly suffered, with one homeowner reporting that his patio had slid downhill into his neighbors’ yard, filling their swimming pool with mud and debris. Also filled to the brim with mud was the duck pond at Descanso Gardens, which had been cleaned of the same kind of mess just a week earlier.
Sixty Years Ago
The PTA at Paradise Canyon Elementary School in February 1959 chose a Mardi Gras theme for their annual carnival, which featured booths of handcrafted and white elephant items, confetti eggs, a cakewalk, a sponge throw and a plate smash. Kids looking for more exciting fare could take advantage of four carnival rides as well as turns in quarter midget race cars.
Compiled from the Valley Sun archives by Carol Cormaci.
