La Cañada Flintridge Turns 50 at the Garden Glendale Was Supposed to Get

In May of 1976, a resident stood in the Los Angeles County Supervisors' chamber at a Local Agency Formation Commission hearing. The resident told the commission that the County "had recently divided our community in two, with a freeway decision in which we had no participation." The City of La Cañada Flintridge's own history records that 986 La Cañadans came to that meeting. The freeway he meant was the 210, built in 1972. It took out La Cañada Elementary School, the post office and 550 houses.

Fifty years later the city is marking its birthday, and the places on this fall's calendar line up closely with what that cityhood fight set out to keep.

The Map Drawn Before the Vote

The 1976 campaign was the third attempt. A 1964 effort fell apart after county supervisors cut the proposed city's boundaries nearly in half at the last minute. A 1969 restudy ended because Flintridge would not join. In 1974, a town meeting hosted by the La Cañada Coordinating Council voted 658 to 2 by show of hands to try again. George Parrish led the new La Cañada Cityhood Action Committee.

The pressure came from next door. According to the city's history, Pasadena and Glendale had already agreed how they would split the unincorporated valley under a state "sphere of influence" plan. Glendale's prize would have been Descanso Gardens. Pasadena would have taken all of Flintridge.

That plan changed the vote. Parrish's committee brought several Flintridge leaders on board, and Flintridge voters, who wanted to keep their low-density zoning, came around. The November 2, 1976 election passed 7,355 to 2,849. On December 8, Councilman Edmund Krause filed the incorporation certificate with the County Recorder. The new city covered 8 1/2 square miles and had 21,000 residents. That evening, 500 people watched the first five council members sworn in at the La Cañada Golf and Tennis Club.

So the garden Glendale expected to absorb became one of the things a new city formed in part to keep.

October 22, Spent in Two Places

The city's anniversary theme is "Together for 50 Years," and the City's 50th-anniversary page sets the main celebration for Thursday, October 22. The two events that day fit together:

1. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Descanso Gardens, 1418 Descanso Drive. La Cañada Flintridge residents get in free. Show proof of residency at Guest Services.
2. 5 to 7 p.m., Olberz Park. The city's party includes music, an inflatable obstacle course, members of the LCHS Chamber Singers, and a scavenger hunt. Finishing the hunt earns a limited-edition LCF50 picnic blanket.

The free garden hours end just as the park party begins, so one Thursday covers both.

The garden's place in the town's history goes back further than 1976. Manchester Boddy of the Los Angeles Examiner bought one of the old ranches at a Depression-era price and planted the garden. When he retired, he sold it to Los Angeles County at a low price so it would not become a shopping center. Boddy's sale kept the garden from becoming a shopping center, and the 1976 vote kept it from going to Glendale. On October 22 it opens free to the city that formed partly around it.

The anniversary year has also included a public logo contest. The La Cañada Outlook reported that the winners were announced at the May 5 City Council meeting, with a winning design that refers to the joining of La Cañada and Flintridge. The year also includes "50 Trees for 50 Years," which plants 50 trees around the city. Residents can request one for the public right-of-way in front of their home.

A Garden Built the Same Way the City Was

Descanso has its own milestone this year. The Japanese Garden opened in 1966. It was built with volunteer labor and funding from the Japanese American community, and landscape architect Eijiro Nunokawa designed it. Whitney R. Smith designed the teahouse. The garden combines stroll, stream-and-pond, tea and raked-gravel styles, and the minka on site, designed by Kenneth Masao Nishimoto, dates to 1969.

The garden turned 60 at a September 18 celebration with Japanese cultural performances, calligraphy, origami and art exhibitions. The anniversary carries into winter, too. A Giant Koi installation will appear in the Garden of Good Fortune during Enchanted.

Volunteers and community funding finished the Japanese Garden ten years before residents organized to vote the city into existence.

Carved Stays Open on Halloween for the First Time

Before the city party, Descanso is in the middle of Carved, which runs October 2 through November 1. The garden fills with glowing jack-o'-lanterns, giant hand-carved pumpkins, illuminated railroad displays and wood spirits.

The biggest change this year is the date. Descanso says that "for the first time ever," Carved will be open on Halloween night, with trick-or-treating included in admission on October 31. The art has changed as well. Bobolito's "Rhizome" has moved to the Oak Grove. The labyrinth now holds new sculptures by Helsinki-based artist Alexander Reichstein, his first exhibition in the United States.

Tickets are timed, and prices vary by date and time:

Parking in the Descanso lots is free and first-come, first-served. Valet costs $10 per vehicle and is free for members. For a sit-down dinner, Farmhouse is the garden's restaurant. Chef Richard Mead cooks seasonal dishes with ingredients from nearby farmers, with seating indoors and out.

The Water That Made the Rest Possible

Four days before the city party, the Lanterman House at 4420 Encinas Drive holds a special open house on Sunday, October 18. It is part of Pasadena Heritage's Craftsman Week, which runs October 18 to 25. It isn't an official anniversary event, but the house belongs in this season's story.

Frank Lanterman, from the house's founding family, was elected to the State Assembly in 1950 and secured Colorado River water for La Cañada in 1955. In the city's own words, that change let hundreds of houses be built and turned the valley "from a ranching community to a residential community." Before that, water had always been the valley's biggest problem. More than 50 wells had failed, and Pickens Canyon was almost the only reliable source. The 21,000 people who became a city in 1976 lived in a valley Lanterman's water had made possible about twenty years earlier.

Into the Holidays

Enchanted returns to Descanso from November 22 through January 9. The garden is billing this season as a celebration of ten years, with returning favorites like Flower Power and the Ancient Forest, a new laser show with a "snowfall" finale, and the Giant Koi. Timed tickets cost the same as Carved. An anytime ticket is $65 for members and $85 for non-members. A preview party is set for November 21, and a holiday market runs December 2 through 6 on the Luminous Lawn.

Here is the anniversary season on one calendar:

The city says its 50th-anniversary page will keep adding details through the year, and questions go to Assistant Director of Administrative Services Angela Cho at (818) 790-8880. No city event for December 8 itself has been announced yet.

For owners of a La Cañada Flintridge home with its own past, whether it's a Flintridge property on one of Senator Frank Flint's original large lots or a house from the building boom that followed the 1955 water, Chelby Crawford can help you research and tell its story. Request a private market consultation.