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Published on 07/27/1998 All articles from this issue

Pages of the Past

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25 years ago in the Town Crier

As reported in the Aug. 8, 1973, edition of the Town Crier, 32 Japanese students, whose ages ranged from 15 to 30, were studying English and meeting American students at Awalt High School during the summer of 1973. They were here through the auspices of a non-profit group called Interstudy, whose purpose was to allow students of different countries to learn English and become acquainted with the American way of life. For the Japanese students, it was a chance to meet Americans for the first time in their lives.

The group took many field trips including tours to El Camino Hospital, Stanford and other points of interest in the area. They traveled to Lake Tahoe and many of them were curious about gambling, a pastime not common in their lives in Japan.

Most of the students agreed with one young man's view that in the United States, "Everything is bigger, including the people."

The Los Altos Children's Theater's second production for the summer of 1973, held Aug. 9 and 10, was an original vaudeville show titled, "Tonight at 8." It was a play within a play, written by Richard Allen, author of a number of children's productions. The cast ranged in age from 7 to 14. Admission was 75 cents.

50 years ago in the Los Altos News

The Aug. 5, 1948, edition of the Los Altos News reported that a battle to the death had ensued between a ring-tailed raccoon and a ranch dog in a wooded lot behind a home on Elizabeth Avenue.

The dog had been heard barking, off and on, for over an hour when a ranch hand decided to investigate. He found the dog, "El Tigre," caught under a small watertank, fighting for his life with an enraged raccoon. The raccoon had a broken leg and the dog was slightly injured. The battle continued until the coon was shot and the dog rescued.

America's biggest power-building program was going full speed ahead during the summer of 1948, with nearly 2 million in new electrical horsepower on the way for northern and central California. The dam's powerhouses and substations, needed to turn it out, were being built on a 'round the clock, 'round the calendar work schedule. It was the biggest building program of any electric utility in America at that time.

The new Los Altos firehouse was equipped with bookshelves but no books in July 1948, so the fire department asked for donations of books of any type, old or new. They also asked for donations of old, but clean rags to be used in keeping their big engines shiny and clean.

- Ellen Shaw of the Los Altos History House Association