Race will go down in history

Memorable events have taken place in La Cañada over the years. Longtime residents will recall the day in the early ’70s when the president of the United States, Richard Nixon, was delivered by helicopter to the La Cañada High School field, then driven to La Cañada Presbyterian Church to attend the wedding of Maureen Finch, daughter of Nixon’s cabinet member and former lieutenant governor of California, Robert Finch.

Of similar vintage, a wildly popular charitable fundraiser, The Freeway Frolic, was held on the lanes of the yet-to-be-opened 210. In the late ’70s, before he wed Diana Spencer, Great Britain’s Prince Charles and his entourage toured the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

These events, each for good reason, drew the attention of locals and will be remembered for some time to come. I’d suggest that La Cañada’s inclusion Sunday on the final stage of the eight-day Amgen California Tour bicycle race will also be recalled fondly 20 and 30 years hence when mothers and fathers will say to their children and grandchildren, “We watched them go right past our house!”

Despite a fairly steady drizzle that at times became intense rainfall, it was great fun to be an observer as first the lead cars, then the breakaway, then more motor vehicles, followed by the peloton and still more cars and SUVs swooshed past on their way to the Rose Bowl. I was a little surprised at the number of local motorists who seemed to be clueless about the event and tried to drive into the path of the tour, but overall things seemed to run smoothly, at least in our neighborhood. Cheers to whoever decided to route the tour through our town.

While I’m at it, I suppose it would be appropriate to applaud the athletes themselves, since they’re the ones who made the whole event so watchable and exciting.

Another longtime La Cañadan (I found out she attended LCHS with me back in the day), Yana Ungermann-Marshall, has her own little excitement going on right now: her most recent endeavor, compiling photos and writing detailed, informative captions and an in-depth introduction for “Flintridge,” one of the Images of America book series, has just been published.

You’ve probably seen (and may well already own) these 9- inch by 6 ½-inch paperbacks published by Arcadia Publishing; they’ve become ubiquitous in recent years as they contain historic photos celebrating various communities across the nation. There is already one titled “La Cañada,” also authored by Yana; “Flintridge” is a great companion piece to that. If you like local history, I think you’ll enjoy thumbing through its pages. I especially love the cover photo, which was provided by Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy. It features students, bundled up against a chill in the air, posing with a snowman they created after a surprise snowstorm hit the area in 1949.

I see by the notation on my desk calendar that tomorrow is Leap Year Day. Happy birthday, all you La Cañada leap babies. I hope you’ll party as if your big day is celebrated only once every four years!

CAROL CORMACI is editor of the Valley Sun. E-mail her at ccormaci@valleysun.net or call (818) 790-8774.