On the evening of December 8, 1976, about 500 people filled the La Cañada Golf and Tennis Club, which later became the Country Club. They were there to watch County Supervisor Baxter Ward swear in the five members of a city council that had not existed that morning. Earlier that day, Councilman Edmund Krause had filed the certificate of completion with the County Recorder, and La Cañada Flintridge became a city.
Fifty years later the city is marking the anniversary, and the place it chose for the biggest day says a lot. When the cityhood campaign started, the plan already on the table gave Descanso Gardens to Glendale. Today, Thursday, October 22, Descanso is letting every La Cañada Flintridge resident in free to celebrate the city's birthday. The rest of the fall follows the same pattern. Most of the anniversary calendar takes place on ground that might belong to another city today if the 1976 vote had gone the other way.
The Garden That Was Going to Be Glendale's Prize
The city's own history page tells it plainly. Pasadena and Glendale had agreed on how to split unincorporated La Cañada and Flintridge under a state "sphere of influence" plan. Glendale's "prize" would have been Descanso Gardens, and Pasadena would have taken all of Flintridge.
From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Descanso Gardens is free for La Cañada Flintridge residents in honor of the 50th anniversary. Bring proof of residency to Guest Services. The city's October bulletin suggests spending the day at the garden and then heading to Olberz Park for the evening celebration.
The free day covers daytime hours only. Descanso's evening event this month is Carved, which runs nightly through November 1 from 6 to 10 p.m. and requires its own ticket. Adult tickets run $22 to $45 for members and $29 to $52 for nonmembers. Children ages 2 to 12 are $12 to $30 for members or $19 to $37 for nonmembers, and children under 2 get in free. This year Carved adds Alexander Reichstein sculptures in the labyrinth. On October 31 it also offers Halloween-night trick-or-treating for the first time, included with admission.
Five O'Clock at Olberz Park
The official celebration, themed "Together for 50 Years," runs today from 5 to 7 p.m. at Olberz Park, One Civic Center Drive. The city's anniversary page lists:
- Live music, including members of the La Cañada High School Chamber Singers
- An inflatable obstacle course
- A community scavenger hunt where people compete for a limited-edition LCF50 picnic blanket
It is a two-hour weeknight event, so plan around the clock. The Planning Commission also meets at City Hall at 6 p.m. tonight. If you have been meaning to weigh in on the Cornishon Corridor Joint Working Group, today is the city's application deadline too.
Three Tries, and a Town Meeting That Voted 658 to 2
The party is modest because the city was hard-won, and the history page explains the real stakes. The first try, in 1964, was led by the Chamber of Commerce and an incorporation committee. It failed after the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors redrew the proposed boundaries at the last minute and cut the city nearly in half. A second effort in 1969 lasted about six months and then fell apart, because Flintridge had long wanted to stay separate from La Cañada and pushed back too hard.
The third try began in 1974 at a town meeting hosted by the La Cañada Coordinating Council, with backing from the Chamber of Commerce. A show of hands came out 658 for cityhood and 2 against. George Parrish led the new La Cañada Cityhood Action Committee, and its hardest job was winning over Flintridge voters, who wanted to protect their low-density zoning. In May 1976, 986 residents went to a Local Agency Formation Commission meeting on cityhood at the county supervisors' chamber. Resident Warren Hillgren told the commission:
"The County had recently divided our community in two, with a freeway decision in which we had no participation – something we seek should never happen again."
That account comes from Don Mazen's "Story of LCF Cityhood," first published in the Outlook on December 6, 2001, and reprinted on the city's history page. The vote passed 7,355 to 2,849. Hillgren went on to win a seat on the first council, along with Mike Mount, Parrish, Krause and J.D. Smith.
The December date was planned. According to the same history, Krause timed the incorporation for late in the year so the new city would get a full year of state funding. That decision helped build a $10 million reserve fund in 1977, the city's first year. The name was protected just as carefully. When a clerk in Sacramento accidentally added a hyphen to some city paperwork, it took an ordinance to remove it.
The Season Between Today and the Birthday
Seen through that history, the rest of the fall calendar reads as a tour of the places cityhood kept local. In date order:
- Through November 1: Carved continues nightly at Descanso, with trick-or-treating on October 31.
- Now: The La Cañada Flintridge Farmers Market is back at its home location after a temporary move. The operator announced the return on October 6, 2026. Work is still going on in parts of the parking lot, so the market's footprint sits a little differently than before, and shoppers are asked to follow the signs. The move came after a Caltrans closure of the 1300 Foothill lot that began July 1.
- November 21 and 22: Descanso's Enchanted Forest of Light holds its Preview Party on November 21 and opens the next day for a run through January 9, 2027. New this year are a laser light show on the Main Lawn ending in a "snowfall" finale and a Giant Koi display in the Garden of Good Fortune for the Japanese Garden's 60th anniversary. Tom Fruin's lit house sculptures move to the Oak Grove. Adult general admission is $22 to $45 for members and $29 to $52 for nonmembers. Anytime tickets are $65 for members and $85 for nonmembers.
- November 26: The 33rd Annual Thanksgiving Day Run and Food Drive closes streets from 4 a.m. to about noon. Closures include Foothill Boulevard between Loma Vista Drive and Gould Avenue, Angeles Crest Highway south of Town Center Drive, Valley Sun Lane, Civic Center Drive, and parts of Town Center Drive and Cornishon Drive. Access to the Town Center parking lot near Panera and HomeGoods switches to one-way traffic.
- December 2 to 6: Enchanted's Holiday Market.
- December 6: At Lanterman House, archivist Julie Yamashita introduces her new book, "Becoming 91011: The Story of La Cañada Flintridge," with a talk on how the community came together over the past 50 years.
- December 8: Fifty years since Krause filed the certificate of completion.
What Stays Up After the Party
Some pieces of the anniversary will last longer than today's two hours. Through "50 Trees for 50 Years," the city is planting 50 trees in the public right-of-way around town, and residents can request one near their home. The program started at the city's Earth & Arbor Day Sustainability Celebration in April.
You may already have seen the anniversary logo. The city opened a public contest, and the winning design is used on anniversary communications, promotional materials and celebration items. The Outlook reported that the winners were Tyler Tasanont, Ray Liang, Andrew Eich and Julie Chow, and that Councilmember Stephanie Fossan said the committee enjoyed reviewing the community's entries. When the city announced the anniversary in May, Mayor Kim Bowman called collaboration and collective spirit central to the "Together for 50 Years" theme.
For the history itself, the anniversary page has an online gallery of archival photos. It includes images captioned as the 1976 cityhood election victory and the first City Council swearing-in.
Fifty years of local control shows up in property values too, and in how a home in La Cañada Flintridge should be presented when it's time to sell. If you'd like to know what yours is worth in the city's 50th year, Speranta Group can give you a clear, data-backed number. Request a Free Home Valuation.
