Sanitariums in CV – Dr. Briggs, Utley’s, Kimball’s and Dunsmore As I said last week, there were many sanitariums in the early history of CV, mostly for the treatment of lung diseases. The valley’s pure air quality of the late 1880s and early 1900s brought them here and the foul air quality of the later […]
Vicki Draves – How Olympic Gold Came To Montrose Indian Springs Resort was a well-loved recreation area in Montrose from the mid-1920s through the 1960s. It featured picnic areas, snack bars, tennis courts and riding stables, but its main attraction was an Olympic sized swimming pool with a high dive. Before everyone had a pool […]
The Horned Toad House Crescenta Valley in its early days, the late 1800s and just after the turn of the century, was a get-away destination for businessmen and workers from the booming city of Los Angeles. Much in the same way as people today own weekend cabins in Big Bear, people had vacation residences in […]
The Bandit Vasquez and the Crescenta Valley Tiburcio Vasquez is one of the most colorful figures in California history. This bandit, both feared and admired, terrorized California from the 1850s until his capture in 1874. He was a romantic figure – handsome and literate. He fashioned himself as a Robin Hood figure, robbing only the […]
La Crescenta Motel as a Movie Location Last week I talked about the origins of the May-Lane Motel, now the La Crescenta Motel. Sadly its fate for the last decade has been tenuous. In 2002 it was purchased for development, and since then a variety of plans, from assisted living apartments to office/retail, have been […]
Treasures of the Valley » Mike lawler This is the story of a local man I admire very much, Anthony LaCasella. In many ways I consider him among the bravest people I know because he accomplished the unthinkable: he “came out” – publically acknowledged that he was gay – in the emotional killing fields of […]
La Cañada Video – The Oldest Video Store in America? It probably is! It’s hard to believe that here in ever-changing L.A., in our relatively young community we have the honor of having both the oldest children’s book store (Once Upon A Time Bookstore), and the oldest video rental store, but it appears so. This […]
The Development of Oakmont Woods Or perhaps I should title this “History and Painkillers Don’t Mix.” You see, I screwed up big time on an article I wrote last month on the history of Onandarka Ranch. I got several facts wrong on what happened after it was developed into housing, even the name of the […]
The Pink Castle When I was growing up, the Pink Castle was a common yet mysterious sight on the northern slopes of the La Cañada valley. It could be spotted occasionally as a bright glimpse of pink amongst the trees and houses of La Cañada above Foothill. But it really stood out when hiking up […]
The Woman in the Iron Lung One vivid memory of my time at La Crescenta Elementary School was waiting to cross the street to the school on the corner of La Crescenta and Prospect avenues. We kids would surreptitiously glance across Prospect to the bay window of the house on the corner. Quite often we […]