Progress In Our Valley – 1925

Again, turning the pages of old newspapers, we find an article in July 1925, extoling the up-and-coming features of La Cañada, Flintridge, La Crescenta and Tujunga. (In parentheses, I’m noting what those features are today.)

La Cañada. Things were happening on the eastern borders of La Cañada. Devil’s Gate Dam was completed and a lake was forming, promising lakeside homes for La Cañada. (For a time, “Lake Pasadena” did form behind the dam, but seismic concerns and the basin filling with sediment quickly diminished the lake.) In the Arroyo Seco below the dam, the Tournament of Roses Stadium (Rose Bowl) was just completed, and a golf course was planned above it (Brookside Golf Course). On the western side of La Cañada, Chevy Chase Drive would open later in the year, significantly shortening the drive to Los Angeles.

Flintridge. Already considered California’s most beautiful residence park, it was further enhanced by an expansion of the Flintridge Country Club. (St. Francis Catholic High School is there today, its administration building is part of the original country club.) Flintridge was noted for its 25 miles of bridle trails. (Thanks to active grassroots efforts, today those trails have been preserved and expanded.) The article also states: “To keep the natural beauty of Flintridge a matter of permanency, the estates of this valley were all plotted according to the natural contour of the land.” (Mostly still true today.)

La Crescenta. The big news in La Crescenta was the phenomenal growth of the tiny town of Montrose. Just three years earlier (1922) it only boasted nine homes, but in 1925, 5,000 people lived in the one-mile between Verdugo Road and Los Angeles Avenue (La Crescenta Avenue). Nearby Verdugo City was recently formed with a good-sized shopping center in large brick buildings (knocked down in the ’71 Sylmar Quake). To the south, the Oakmont Country Club had a new clubhouse, boosting the development of hillside tracts in Montecito Park, Rossmoyne, Oakmont Estates and Sparr Heights. Concrete roads were being built throughout those developments. (Concrete roads last forever and most are still intact.) Development was moving up the hillsides north of Montrose into the La Crescenta Valley. Three new schools would be built, two already completed. (Montrose Elementary, Fremont, and Lincoln, to add to La Crescenta Elementary.) The La Crescenta Woman’s Club opened its new clubhouse that month. (It has been completely refurbished recently and is gorgeous. The club itself is over 100 years old and still going strong.) But the big draw for La Crescenta was the availability of cheap housing. The article states: “Nowhere about Los Angeles can small bungalows and attractive homesites be purchased as reasonably as in … La Crescenta.” (Definitely not true any longer!)

Tujunga. The big news in Tujunga was that it had incorporated to form a small city. (It continued to grow, gobbling up Sunland by annexation, until it in turn was gobbled up by the City of Los Angeles in 1932.) Street improvements were in the works, with Foothill Boulevard to be widened to 20 feet, all the way to Pasadena! Honolulu Avenue would be widened and paved from Verdugo City to Tujunga (today’s Tujunga Canyon Road). Wicks Road (Sunland Boulevard) was to be widened and paved all the way from Tujunga to Roscoe (Sun Valley). The article states: “One of the finest oak parks (Sunland Park) in California is to be found at Sunland (the eastern side of Tujunga), and this park attracts many automobile parties.”

Of greatest significance to the Tujunga Valley was the construction of the Big Tujunga Dam. The article predicted it would remove for all time the risk of flooding in Big Tujunga Canyon and the San Fernando Valley below (ha!).

It’s fun to read these old newspaper articles about our area. They are so full of optimism and projections of greatness. Some of those predictions obviously fall flat, but others are right on the mark. In some cases, the reality today is even better than those articles predict. It always amazes me that so much of our community has remained intact and vibrant after nearly 100 years.

  mike lawler