By This is a reprint of a 1998 "Pages of the Past" column the late Ellen Shaw. Aiko Hill is expected to resume her column next week.
As reported in the Aug. 22, 1973, edition of the Town Crier, the Los Altos Hills Town Council voted to keep its tax rate at 40 cents per $100 of assessed valuation for the third year in a row. The Los Altos City Council approved a tax rate of 83 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. That rate had not been changed for 12 years.
The city council also gave its initial OK to an estimated $17,000 expansion of Shoup Park. The plans called for the development of a half-acre of land east of Adobe Creek and south of the Shoup Park boundary. It was planned to use the additional property for group picnics, weddings, birthday parties and other recreational uses.
The Los Altos Hills Town Council gave its approval for expansion of the town hall in accord with plans of architect Warren Minckley, who donated both his time and labor to the project.
St. Francis High School in Mountain View played 22 league basketball games in the 1973 summer months and lost just one of them by one point. It was the Lancers’ best record. Composed of players who would be juniors and seniors in the fall, the squad promised to be a strong contender in the up-coming West Catholic Athletic League.
As reported in the Aug. 19, 1948, issue of the Los Altos News, application for a use permit for the establishment of a Shell Oil Company filling station at the juncture of San Antonio Road and Main Street was denied by the county planning commission. Objections had been presented by the Los Altos Citizens’ Association, the Los Altos Businessmen’s Association, the local school board and by individual citizens.
The property in question, owned by Grace Berry, had originally been classified as residential, but later reclassified as a business zone with architectural control and with the stipulation that no entrance be established from San Antonio Road.
The Los Altos Girl Scouts assembled and packed friendship kits that contained clothing for 56 needy European children, aged 1-16. They then sent them on their way in August 1948 to the American Friends Service Committee, the organization responsible for channeling the clothes to destitute children abroad.
Los Altos children staged their own Olympic Games on Friday afternoon, Aug. 12, 1948, on the school grounds. There were track and field events for boys and girls, with everything from regulation broad jumps to three-legged races. The events were sponsored by the summer recreation program.
- Ellen Shaw of the Los Altos History House Association
