Ten, Twenty, Thirty, Forty and Fifty Years Ago

Ten Years Ago

The La Cañada Educational Foundation, formerly known as “SOS” (Save Our Schools), presented the La Cañada Unified School District Governing Board with a check for $550,000, the largest amount ever to have been donated to the district as of 1997. At the time of the presentation, it was announced that the group’s fundraising goal for the ’97-’98 school year was $600,000.

Twenty Years Ago 

An empty gravel truck and trailer, traveling along the Foothill (210) Freeway at an estimated 55 miles per hour, left the road and careened over an embankment, crashing into unoccupied cars parked at the rear of the McDonald’s restaurant in La Cañada. The truck’s driver did not survive his injuries. Four days after the incident, the California Department of Transportation announced that a safety barrier would be constructed in the area of the accident.

Thirty Years Ago

Met by opposition from immediate residents, a conditional use permit for expansion of the Crescenta-Cañada YMCA was approved by the city’s planning commission.

Forty Years Ago

Local voters went to the polls in October 1967 and voted approval of a detailed sewer trunk line cost study in preparation for a bond election to bring a sewer system to La Cañada. The vote was 2424 yes; 1746 no.

Fifty Years Ago

A flu epidemic swept through the community, reducing attendance at La Cañada’s public schools. La Cañada Junior High experienced a 24% absentee rate with 226 students ill 50 years ago this week. The hardest hit elementary campus was La Cañada Elementary School; the single classroom with the highest absentee rate was a third grade class at Paradise Canyon Elementary School.