The Los Alamitos school board election of 1956 was certainly one of the most significant votes in the history of the community. Just days before the election, developer Ross Cortese had officially filed tract maps for his new Rossmoor subdivision of 2,400 new homes. (Rumors and confirmation of the new subdivision had been circulating for … Read more
11 JUN 1954 – Enterprise, p8 — The graduation of the Los Alamitos School Eighth Grade will be held Friday of next week at 7:15p.m. on the terrace lawn of the new Los Alamitos School. There will be about 40 graduates. The program will consists of a processional by Leo C. Donas, with the invocation … Read more
This can be kind of misleading, because newspapers at the time considered Los Alamitos to extend east to Miller(Valley View) and South to at least Garden Grove Boulevard. remember this was all part of the Rancho Los Alamitos. Airport Cafe, 11142 Los Alamitos Blvd. Lil and Jay Westlake, proprietors. Cafe reopened in May 1956 after … Read more
LOS ALAMITOS — Elmer Layton, resident of Los Alamitos for 36 years, died Sunday in Orange County hospital after a long illness. He owned and operated Layton’s Blacksmith Shop until 1954 when it was taken over by his son, Leo. Mr. Layton lived at 10841 Los Alamitos Blvd. He was active in the Masonic Lodge. … Read more
From the March 9, 1956 Enterprise, p. 4, col. 4 Mr. and Mrs. J.R. Watts, 10931 Chestnut, will quietly observe their sixtieth wedding anniversary here Sunday. They are among the oldest residents of Los Alamitos, having moved here in 1911[ref] It’s possible they followed a relative to the town. One Joseph R. Watts was listed … Read more
Beginning in 1953 incorporation and annexation fever were sweeping west Orange County. Anaheim was moving west down Lincoln and Katella Avenues. Buena Park formed in 1953 and it was trying to grab industrial area to its west to use as a tax base. Garden Grove was also snaking its way west along Lampson and Garden … Read more
From the Thursday January 13, 1956 issue of the Los Alamitos-Cypress Enterprise. Page 1, col 1. (bottom left corner) Los Alamitos Civic Leader passes Away after Long Siege of Cancer LOS ALAMITOS— One of Los Alamitos’ most active civic leaders, Paul (Bob) Robinson, passed away Sunday in Seaside Hospital, following several months of suffering from … Read more
The Enterprise, Thursday, February 12, 1954, page 7 Mrs. Oscar Watte was elected president for the coming term of the Altar Society of St. Isadore’s Catholic Church of Los Alamitos. She will be assisted by Mrs. Camille Pattyn, who was chosen vice-president; and Mrs. Bruce Baker will be secretary and publicity chairman. Mrs. Ray … Read more
I have heard many stories abut the Youth Center’s beginnings in the Los Alamitos area, but never a definitive, documentable explanation. And I suspect, as often happens with institutional histories, many innocent errors have morphed into “truths.” So the point of this article is to try to begin a process to document the real origins … Read more
While not officially incorporated as a city until 1960, Los Alamitos has had a very definite presence since it was first laid out as a sugar factory town in 1896. An early 1897 LA Times article listed the new community as one of the top three towns in Orange County — along with Anaheim and … Read more