10,20,30,40 and 50 Years Ago from the pages of the Valley Sun

Ten Years Ago …

The La Cañada Flintridge Tournament of Roses Association received the donation of a new Ford 429 V8 engine to power the animation of the 1998 Rose Parade float called “High Flying Fun.” The gift, valued at $7,000-10,000, was made by Bob Wondries Ford in Alhambra.

Twenty Years Ago …

Some 13 months after the project began working its way through the system, city planners in July 1987 approved unanimously a small shopping center in the western section of La Cañada that would house an El Pollo Loco restaurant. The site in the 2200 block of Foothill had formerly been a used car facility operated by Hauter Ford.

Thirty Years Ago …

A Los Amigos Drive resident was injured during an early morning fire at her home that caused $30,000 in damages to the structure and $10,000 in loss of contents. Fire investigators traced the cause of the blaze to faulty wiring.

Forty Years Ago …

Ten large trash receptacles were presented to the community by the local Rotary Club. After an official ceremony the containers, which cost the club $900, were placed on Foothill Boulevard between the Crescenta-Cañada YMCA and Alexander’s Market, located where today there is a drive-through McDonald’s restaurant.

Fifty Years Ago …

The La Cañada Thursday Club held a “Salute Your Native State” costume party in the gardens of a local home on a July day in 1957. First prize, for the wearer of the costume most authentically representing the native state of the wearer, was shared by Mrs. Stuart Vaughan, dressed as a Pilgrim (Massachusetts) and Mrs. Albert Lester, who wore an early California wedding gown. The party’s chairman crowned the winners while they sat on an elaborate throne that had been erected poolside.