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Published on 04/13/1998 All articles from this issue

Pages of the Past

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25 years ago in the Town Crier

As reported in the April 25, 1973, edition of the Town Crier, the Los Altos High School chess team set a marathon chess-playing record of 51 hours three minutes, passing the previous world record held by two English high school students of 50 hours two minutes. The champion students planned to participate in the national chess tournament in Chicago, May 4-6, 1973.

Because of a computer glitch at the registrar of voters office, some of the ballots in the April 17, 1973, school board elections were counted twice, resulting in inflated early election returns.

By the next day the ballot-counting machine had rectified its error. The results did not change the relative placement of candidates but did show that they had been credited with as many as 176 votes per candidate too many.

Tie-dyed garments - T-shirts, jeans, headbands and even shoe laces - were very much in evidence in the spring 1973 wardrobes of eighth grade students at Blach Junior High.

Impetus to the tie-dye craze was given by a coeducational program that brought boys into the traditionally feminine home arts class and girls into the masculine domain of shop classes. Creativity of the girls was largely confined to ceramics.

50 years ago in the Los Altos News

According to the April 22, 1948, issue of the Los Altos News, burglars entered Gordon's Food Market on Main Street and attempted to make off with a small safe. Though not large, the safe was very heavy and apparently gave the burglars a lot of trouble.

A former Gordon's employee, returning from a dance sometime early in the a.m., stopped to investigate. Two men suddenly jumped into a Ford sedan, sped off, leaving the safe behind on the sidewalk.

All evidence indicated the robbery had been the work of amateurs, according to the sheriff's office.

The Fiesta, sponsored by the Los Altos Firefighters, originally scheduled for April 4, 1948, but postponed because of rain, was held April 18. The all-day celebration drew a large crowd on a sunny day without a cloud in the sky.

The next day found many local citizens sporting sore muscles from swimming and ball games as well as competitive events. Children were still wearing the shiny, red fire helmets that were passed out at the gate to all youngsters.

Farmers were advised it was time to thin their apricot crops. Due to the lack of rain during the winter of 1948, it was imperative that it be done immediately.

- Ellen Shaw of the Los Altos History House Association