Hall Canyon Drive in La Canada is named after one of the town's earliest residents. Filmmaker John Newcombe says, "his name was Colonel Thomas Hall."

Newcombe, who produced the documentary "Rancho La Canada: Then and Now," says Colonel Hall came to California during the gold rush. A decade later, he fought for the Union in the Civil War.

He revered General George McClelland and named his son Tom McClelland Hall. But the boy suffered from a lung disease. So in 1872, his father brought him to Southern California for his health.

"But he was disheartened by the marine layer. He must have come in the spring or something and found that just as bad or worse. And then somebody told him you've got to go to this place called La Canada because the marine layer stops right before it gets to La Canada. Which is really true."

Young Tom thrived. He grew up to become the area's first sheriff, one of its first firefighters, and justice of the peace in one of the most contentious battles in La Canada: a war over the waltz that split the town in two.

(Airdate: 4/11/2009)