This Month's Meeting:

The Road to Rocky Pass

Monday, October 17th 7:00pm
La Crescenta Center for Spiritual Living
At the intersection of Dunsmore and Santa Carlotta

Some years ago Fred Hoeptner copied Holmes-Walton's 1913 publicity brochure for its Montrose tract in the Glendale Public Library. A photograph of an idyllic scene captioned "Looking Northeast from East Line of Montrose" particularly intrigued him. It seemed to depict a primitive road leading to a gap in the hills, which he later found locals had once called "Rocky Pass." Could it be Verdugo Road? If so, where was it taken?

His search for the answer led to detailed study of the historical maps and secondary literature on the early Crescenta Valley as well as discovery of a new primary source. Some of his findings seemed to dispute conventional wisdom. For instance, did construction of the fabled Soledad Road that once angled across the La Cañada Valley involve rerouting the road to rocky pass? Did Holmes-Walton plan for the main business street in Montrose to extend along Montrose Avenue toward Ocean View Boulevard instead of along Honolulu? Another mystery: what was the significance of the disconnected stretch of road marked "La Cañada-Verdugo Road" in the southeast corner of Holmes-Walton's Montrose tract map? Fred's presentation, illustrated with maps and photos, will explore these and other issues of interest to aficionados of local history.

Web Hosting sponsored by Caspian Services, Inc.