San Gabriel Valley
The
San Gabriel Valley is one of the principal valleys of southern
California. It lies to the east of the city of
Los Angeles, to the north of the
Puente Hills, to the south of the
San Gabriel Mountains, and to the west of the
Inland Empire. It derives its name from the
San Gabriel River that flows southward through the center of the valley. At one time predominantly agricultural, the San Gabriel Valley is today almost entirely developed (largely in suburban form, but with certain areas beginning to urbanize) and is an integral part of the
Greater Los Angeles metropolitan area.
San Gabriel Valley is in Los Angeles County. The incorporated cities and unincorporated neighborhoods of the San Gabriel Valley include:
Many people consider the communities of
Glendale and
La Crescenta-Montrose to be part of the San Gabriel Valley, although they are part of the
San Fernando Valley and the
Crescenta Valley, respectively.
San Dimas,
Claremont,
Pomona,
Diamond Bar, and
La Verne are adjacent to the San Gabriel Valley, but are properly considered part of the
Pomona Valley. The
57 Freeway (Orange Freeway) is generally considered the dividing line between the Pomona and San Gabriel Valley. However, for statistical and economic development purposes, the County of Los Angeles generally inclues these five cities as part of the San Gabriel Valley.
The community of
El Sereno, in the city of
Los Angeles, is at the westernmost edge of the Valley.
Unofficial estimates place the combined population of the San Gabriel Valley at around 2 million -- roughly a fifth of the population of
Los Angeles County.
* 1771 -
Mission San Gabriel Arcangel founded on present-day San Gabriel.
* 1801 -
Pío Pico, last Mexican governor of
Alta California, born at Mission San Gabriel Arcangel.
* 1847 -
Battle of Rio San Gabriel—in present-day
Montebello—of the
Mexican-American War; Mexican militia retreats. (Two days later, after several battle losses and defeats,
Mexico cedes Alta California to the
United States.)
* 1886 - Pasadena is the first independent incorporated city in
Los Angeles County.
* 1890 - The first
Tournament of Roses Parade is presented in Pasadena.
* 1920 - The
California Institute of Technology or Caltech opens in Pasadena.
Japanese immigrants arrive in Monterey Park to work as farmhands.
* 1941 - The first freeway in the United States,
Arroyo Seco Parkway (now the 110 Pasadena Freeway), opens.
* 1942 -
Japanese Americans interned at
Santa Anita Park during
World War II.
* 1940s-1950s - San Gabriel Valley changes from acres of farmland to suburban bedroom communities.
* 1957 -
San Bernardino Freeway (Interstate 10) opens.
* 1970s-1980s -
Taiwanese immigrants begin settling in Monterey Park. (In the 1990s, middle and upper class Taiwanese and other Chinese-speaking Americans begin forming new communities nearby and faraway from Monterey Park.)
* 1980s-1990s - Period of
White flight from the San Gabriel Valley.
The majority of people residing in the San Gabriel Valley are
Hispanics and
Asian Americans. The white population is smaller due to a mass exodus that occurred during much of the
1980s and
1990s. This phenomenon has been called "
white flight," but unlike the typical pattern of white movement from cities to suburbs, this movement has been from one suburb to another suburb. Also, not all the people "fleeing" are white. Many of these suburban migrants have resettled in southern
Orange County, such as the suburban regions of
Dana Point,
Mission Viejo, and
San Juan Capistrano),
San Diego County, and other parts of the
United States. The remaining white population in the San Gabriel Valley resides primarily in the communities of
Pasadena,
Glendora,
Monrovia,
Sierra Madre,
Charter Oak, and in the southern and eastern parts of
Covina (the northern and western parts are increasingly Hispanic).
The
African American population in the San Gabriel Valley is relatively low, particularly when compared to that of more central
Greater Los Angeles communities like
Inglewood. However, the sizable African American community in the western
Altadena area and in northwest
Pasadena has existed since the middle 1800s.
Hispanics, mainly
Mexican Americans, are especially dominant in
Azusa,
Baldwin Park,
City of Industry,
El Monte,
La Puente,
Montebello,
Rosemead,
South El Monte, and
West Covina. Mexican Americans have been present in the area since the 1840s, when the territory transferred from Mexico. In the predominantly Asian American city of
Monterey Park, Hispanics are concentrated in the southwestern part of the city near
East Los Angeles and the Belvedere district of Los Angeles. The southwestern portion was formerly
East Los Angeles before annexation by Monterey Park years ago.
The original Native American group in the area are the
Tongva tribe, who are also known as the Gabrielino, due to their association with the mission in San Gabriel.
The San Gabriel Valley has the largest concentration of
Chinese American communities in
Southern California.
Taiwanese Americans are the most dominant subgroup. Communities with a high percentage of
Asian Americans include
Alhambra,
Arcadia,
Diamond Bar,
Hacienda Heights,
Monterey Park,
Rosemead,
Rowland Heights,
San Gabriel,
San Marino,
Temple City, and
Walnut. According to a 2004 report by the Asian-Pacific American Legal Center, the cities of Walnut, San Gabriel, San Marino, Rosemead and Monterey Park contain an Asian American majority.
Other Asian American groups include smaller pockets of
Filipino Americans, many of whom reside in West Covina and Walnut, and
Vietnamese Americans in San Gabriel, Rosemead, and El Monte. Many Vietnamese Americans have blended in with the general Chinese American population. Smaller pockets of
Korean Americans live in Hacienda Heights, Rowland Heights, and Diamond Bar. The
Indian American population is small compared to the other groups, but there are sizable concentrations in Arcadia, Rowland Heights, Walnut, and Diamond Bar. A longstanding
Japanese American population exists in the southwestern area near northern
Montebello.
Many parts of the San Gabriel Valley are
working-class areas although, like many other regions, some cities in the valley have middle-class and wealthy neighborhoods as well. Predominantly working-class communities include
Azusa,
El Monte and
La Puente. Middle-class communities include
Alhambra,
Pasadena, and
West Covina. Wealthier communities include
Bradbury,
Diamond Bar,
San Marino, and
Walnut.
The San Gabriel Valley is home to the annual
Tournament of Roses Parade, which is broadcast live on television on
New Year's Day from Pasadena. After the parade, the
Rose Bowl game between two competing rival college football teams is also live from Pasadena.
As the oldest incorporated city in the valley, the city of Pasadena serves somewhat of a cultural center for the San Gabriel Valley. Several
art-house film and play theatres are located in Pasadena, including the renowned
Pasadena Playhouse. In addition, the local news/talk
National Public Radio station
KPCC 89.3 FM broadcasts from
Pasadena City College, although it is operated by
Minnesota Public Radio.
Old Town Pasadena, which has been restored and rejuvenated, remains highly popular. Old Town has an active nightlife, a
shopping mall, chic boutiques, outdoor cafés,
nightclubs,
comedy clubs, and fancy restaurants. It is also pedestrian friendly. The area is envied by many other communities which hope to emulate its successes through commercial redevelopment and reviving their own downtown areas or "
Main Streets". For example, the city of
Azusa has attempted to encourage redevelopment of its once-dilapidated downtown section by using a
Route 66 theme.
Covina has had moderate success with its nostalgic Downtown Covina, with emphasis placed on a small-town America atmosphere and mom-and-pop merchants rather than big-box retail chains;
Monrovia has also embraced this theme for their "Old Town."
Alhambra has also worked to renovate its downtown along Main St.
The
California Institute of Technology is located in Pasadena. Caltech is famed for its
Richter scale, which measures the magnitude of
earthquakes of California. Caltech
seismologists also conduct research on earthquakes in the field. The university is also responsible for the well-known
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which designs and engineers many of
NASA's spacecraft.
The city of
Baldwin Park is the birthplace of the popular hamburger fast food chain
In-N-Out Burger. Its first location opened in the city in 1948.
Hacienda Heights is home to
Hsi Lai Temple, the largest
Buddhist monastery and temple in the
Western Hemisphere.
Government
Most cities have their own local mayor, city council, police and fire departments. Unincorporated areas such as Rowland Heights are governed by the distant
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and thus, the
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department have police jurisdiction in these areas. However, in many unincorporated areas, advisory town councils guide the decisions made by a supervisor. Often these groups began as collaborations of local homeowners' associations. The Hacienda Heights Improvement Association, Rowland Heights Coordinating Council, and Altadena Town Council are examples of advisory bodies that are officially sanctioned by the county supervisor representing that community.
In 2003, voters in the unincorporated community of
Hacienda Heights defeated a proposal to incorporate as a city. It remains an unincorporated district governed by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors rather than by a locally-elected
mayor and
city council.
Climate
Like much of the Los Angeles region, the San Gabriel Valley enjoys a warm, sunny, and desert-like climate year-round. Rain is sporadic but when it occurs, it usually ends within a day or two. Snow very rarely occurs in the Valley but can often be viewed on the nearby
San Gabriel Mountains, and the
San Bernardino Mountains to the northeast.
The view of the San Gabriel Mountains is sometimes obscured by
smog. However, the smog tends to be cleared after heavy rains or winds thus improving the view.
Urban Development
The cities of Covina and Pasadena were formerly the sites of the citrus industry. In addition, the dairy and cattle industries used to flourish in Montebello. Nowadays, the San Gabriel Valley has lost much of its rustic flavor with
automobile traffic and housing developments occurring at a rapid pace. Many
equestrian trails in the San Gabriel Valley — specifically, in Covina and Walnut — have largely disappeared or fallen into disuse. The only remaining rural countryside-like areas include the area between eastern West Covina and Cal Poly Pomona and in Walnut and Diamond Bar, although they are encroached upon by heavy urban expansion.
Asian-American communities
The
Japanese-Americans were the first Asians to settle in the San Gabriel Valley, such as in East LA, Montebello and Monterey Park. Many primarily English-speaking Japanese-Americans, mostly
Sansei, did not have much of an affinity for the newly-arrived Chinese-speaking Taiwanese immigrants. Nowadays, many Japanese-Americans have assimilated with the general population and their population numbers have greatly declined in the San Gabriel Valley. Many of these
Japanese-Americans have since moved on to
Orange County and
Little Tokyo.
Given the San Gabriel Valley's burgeoning population of Asian-Americans (specifically Chinese-Americans), several business districts were developed to serve their needs. Hence, there are four major de facto "
Chinatowns" in the Valley. This trend began in the city of Monterey Park during the late 1970s when many affluent Chinese professionals, mostly from
Taiwan (formally the
Republic of China), began settling in the area. At the time, Monterey Park was marketed by realtors in Taiwan as the "Chinese
Beverly Hills" — because of its many green rolling hills — to encourage and entice future investors. (It should be noted that the
Downtown L.A. Chinatown, with predominantly blue-collar
Cantonese Chinese-speaking residents, was considered unattractive to investors then and now.) Other
Mandarin Chinese-speaking immigrants of the middle and working classes from Taiwan and
Mainland China later followed. Settlement in the city picked up the pace in the 1980s and in turn replaced white-owned businesses whose owners either resettled elsewhere or died. Soon, Chinese shopping centers—with supermarkets serving as anchors—were developed.
The city was also the site of
xenophobia, as Chinese businesses were replacing others and Chinese-language materials began filling the local public library. Initially, many Chinese restauranteurs and business owners at the time used primarily Chinese script and not English or
Romanized names on their business signs. This changed in 1986, however, as the predominantly white members of the city council of Monterey Park enacted an ordinance forcibly requiring the Chinese businesses to translate their business signs and describe the nature of their businesses in English as well. Nowadays, as a reflection of changing demographics, several elected Chinese Americans and Hispanics now sit on the city council.
Also, many of the public, private, and parochial schools in Monterey Park and adjacent cities like
Alhambra now contain a majority of Chinese-American — namely
American-born Chinese — students. In order to immerse - or at least acquaint - the American-born Chinese in the Chinese language, culture, and arts, Chinese language classes are often held on the weekends at these schools and other facilities. A number of such academies have cropped up in the San Gabriel Valley and also in
northern California.
Monterey Park, dubbed "New Chinatown" and "Little Taipei" (after the capital city of
Taiwan or the ROC) by some people in the community, is widely regarded as the premier suburban
Chinese-American community by the Chinese-speaking community and some
social scientists alike. Ironically, just as Monterey Park became first suburban community to attain an Asian-American majority in the early
1990s, many well-to-do Chinese-Americans have moved out of Monterey Park and vicinity and into upscale San Gabriel Valley neighborhoods such as
Hacienda Heights,
Diamond Bar,
Rowland Heights and further south and east to the distant suburbs of
Irvine,
Chino Hills and
Corona. Thus, this led to a formation of newer Chinese American communities in the Valley and beyond. Like its Los Angeles Chinatown counterpart, Monterey Park now contains a Cantonese Chinese-speaking majority. Interestingly, Diamond Bar is a sister city of
Sanhsai, Taiwan.
In the late
1980s and
1990s, other Chinese-American communities followed suit of Monterey Park and many businesses and modern, impressive shopping centers were then developed throughout the San Gabriel Valley (although the business districts are not as well-concentrated as Monterey Park). For instance, in
Alhambra, an old 1950s-era
carhop diner was purchased and converted into a Chinese seafood restaurant in the late 1980s (it has changed hands several times). In San Gabriel, a Chinese
hypermarket and
strip mall replaced a shuttered
Target store. In the 1990s, a Rowland Heights bowling alley was demolished and was replaced by an indoor shopping center containing several
Chinese restaurants and chic boutiques.
The large Chinese-American supermarket chain
99 Ranch Market — based in
Buena Park, California — operates several locations in these Chinese-American communities. Battling for market share are its chief competitors of the smaller, albeit growing, chains of San Gabriel Valley-based
Hong Kong Supermarket and
Shun Fat Supermarket (the flagship stores of both chains are located in Monterey Park). These three supermarket chains often operate within the vicinity of each other.
Numerous Chinese — mainly Taiwanese and some Cantonese — and Vietnamese-American businesses line the streets of:
*
Monterey Park - Atlantic Boulevard, Garfield Avenue, Garvey Avenue
*
San Gabriel - Valley Boulevard, San Gabriel Boulevard, Las Tunas Drive
*
Alhambra - Valley Boulevard (usually closed off for the annual
Chinese New Year street festival)
*
Rowland Heights - Colima Road, Nogales Avenue
Rosemead's smaller assortment of Vietnamese and Chinese business districts extends slightly from Monterey Park eastward on Garvey Avenue and San Gabriel eastward on Valley Boulevard. There are also smaller pockets of Chinese-American businesses that are scattered in many San Gabriel Valley cities. Although Chinese-Americans also live in other cities of the San Gabriel Valley (sometimes with a significantly lower population of Chinese Americans), these aforementioned suburban Chinatown-like areas tend to serve as a central hub.
In Rowland Heights, a handful of Korean-American strip malls co-exist with Chinese-American businesses (mainly on Nogales Avenue).
Another ethnic enclave is the Filipino-American business district of
Little Manila, which consists of a few strip malls and two supermarkets (including the Filipino chain
Seafood City). It is located on Azusa Avenue and Amar Road in West Covina.
Institutions of higher learning
*
Art Center College of Design, liberal arts - Pasadena
*
Azusa Pacific University (APU), private - Azusa
*
California Institute of Technology (Caltech), private - Pasadena
*
Citrus College, community college - Glendora
*
East Los Angeles College (ELAC), community college - Monterey Park
*
ITT Technical Institute (ITT Tech) - West Covina
*
Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. SAC), community college - Walnut
*
Pasadena City College (PCC), community college - Pasadena
*
Rio Hondo College, community college - Whittier
*
University of Phoenix, adult education - Diamond Bar and Pasadena
Local sites of interest
*
Descanso Gardens - La Canada Flintridge
*
Devil's Gate Reservoir - Pasadena
*
Downtown Covina - Covina (
web site)
*
Frank G. Bonelli Regional County Park, man-made park - San Dimas
*
Homestead Museum, site of Pío Pico's burial - City of Industry
*
Hsi Lai Temple - Hacienda Heights
*
Huntington Library, botanical gardens - San Marino
*
Irwindale Speedway - Irwindale
*
Los Angeles County Arboretum, botanical gardens - Arcadia (
web site)
*
Mission San Gabriel Arcangel - San Gabriel
*
Norton Simon Museum - Pasadena
*
Old Town Pasadena - Pasadena
*
Rose Bowl - Pasadena
*
Santa Anita Park, horse racing - Arcadia
*
Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area - Irwindale
*
Vroman's Bookstore, oldest independent bookstore - Pasadena (
web site)
Foothill Transit and the
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority provide bus transit services throughout the valley. The main Metro bus terminal is located in El Monte. In addition, the Metrolink commuter train runs westward to
Downtown Los Angeles and eastward to
San Bernardino through the valley. The
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority also operates the
Metro Gold Line light rail from
Downtown Los Angeles to
Pasadena, and a plan to extend it east through several additional foothill communities to the county line is under consideration.
Several cities provide their own in-city transportation shuttles. Cities known to provide such service are:
*
La Puente*
Montebello*
Monterey Park*
West CovinaThe San Gabriel Valley is served by several major freeways:
* the Foothill Freeway (
Interstate 210 (California) and
California State Route 210)
* the Ventura Freeway (
California State Route 134)
* the San Bernardino Freeway (
Interstate 10)
* the Pomona Freeway (
California State Route 60)
* the Pasadena Freeway (
California State Route 110)
* the Long Beach Freeway (
Interstate 710)
* the San Gabriel River Freeway (
Interstate 605)
* the Orange Freeway (
California State Route 57)
I-710 ends abruptly (or begins, depending on one's perspective) at the western border of Alhambra, near
California State University, Los Angeles. A very small noncontiguous and mostly unsigned spur of I-710 starts at California Boulevard in Pasadena and ends at the junction of I-210 and CA-134. Since the late 1950s, the plan to connect the two portions of I-710 (formerly CA-7) has generated a long, controversial, and contentious debate (as well as prolonged litigation). Many residents in South Pasadena fear losing their homes and businesses to clear the way for construction. The MTA and
Caltrans, an ardent proponent of the extension, has recently proposed the idea of constructing an underground tunnel to complete the so-called "710 gap." Because the entire valley suffers from severe
traffic congestion, the I-710 completion plan is a major issue in the politics of all valley cities, and political candidates at all levels of government routinely assert positions on the issue.
At the end of the San Gabriel Valley, the eastern freeway segment of CA-210 (formerly designated CA-30 and still signed as such in some places in San Bernardino County) between CA-57 and I-15 had been a source of similar contention in the bordering community of
La Verne, but was finally constructed and added to the Foothill Freeway in 2002.
California State Route 39 leads north into the San Gabriel Mountains to the Crystal Lake Recreation Area [
1]. The portion connecting the recreation area to the Angeles Crest Highway (
California State Route 2) has been closed to the public since the early 1970s due to massive damage and rockslides.
General aviation is served by
El Monte Airport (EMT) in El Monte, and
Brackett Field (POC) in Pomona.
Most of the San Gabriel Valley lies within the 626 area code. Montebello and portions of its valley neighbors are in the 323 area code. Some of northwestern Pasadena is also serviced by the 818 area code. Diamond Bar, Walnut and portions of some of their valley neighbors are in the 909 area code.
Newspapers
The local daily English-language newspapers are the
San Gabriel Valley Tribune and
Pasadena Star-News, printed in West Covina and Pasadena, respectively.
Indeed, several large newspaper publishing companies serve the large Chinese-speaking readership in the Los Angeles area and the San Gabriel Valley is the media powerhouse for local Chinese-Americans. The national daily Chinese-language newspapers
Chinese Daily News (Los Angeles edition of the
World Journal newspaper) and
International Daily News are both printed in Monterey Park. The Los Angeles edition of the Hong Kong-based
Sing Tao is printed in Alhambra and the newspaper is specifically tailored to the Cantonese-speaking readership. The youngest international Chinese-language newspaper company
The Epoch Times (大纪元) is based in
New York City and has its Los Angeles office in San Gabriel. These newspapers are circulated and distributed throughout Chinese-American communities in the San Gabriel Valley,
Chinatown,
San Diego, and in
Las Vegas, Nevada (where the latter two cities generally receive the Los Angeles editions due to a relatively lower population density of Chinese-speaking Americans).
Radio stations
The local NPR member station is
KPCC, which originates from
Pasadena City College. It offers news and talk covering Southern California.
90.1 KSAK-FM is aired from
Mount San Antonio College and has limited reception since it can only be heard in some parts of Walnut. Several ethnic radio stations in
Spanish,
Chinese,
Korean, and
Vietnamese are broadcasted from Pasadena.
Filming locations
Several blockbuster Hollywood films have been filmed on location in the San Gabriel Valley. Pasadena served as the gloomy background of a fictional
Illinois town of
Haddonfield in
John Carpenter's 1978 horror flick
Halloween; perhaps not surprisingly for a city founded by displaced Midwesterners, some areas of Pasadena have a distinctly Midwestern look. Pasadena's distinctive domed City Hall has doubled as a courthouse or capitol building in countless television commercials and movies, and its South Lake shopping district filled in for Rodeo Drive in
Beverly Hills Ninja. In
Robert Zemeckis'
Back to the Future trilogy of time travel adventure movies (1985, 1989, 1990),
Michael J. Fox's character traveled back in time on the huge parking lot of the Puente Hills Mall in the City of Industry that served as the location of the fictitious Twin Pines Mall, the
Gamble House in Pasadena provided the exterior of
Christopher Lloyd's character's 1950s mansion, and El Monte served as a dilapidated future neighborhood.
Forrest Gump (1994), starring
Tom Hanks, was partially filmed at
East Los Angeles College in Monterey Park. The downtown portion of Myrtle Avenue in
Monrovia has been used in many movies and television commercials. Multiple locations throughout Monrovia also played the role of the fictitious Rome, WI in the TV series
Picket Fences.
This private residence on Royal Oaks Drive in Bradbury has also been used in several movies and at least one television commercial. Most recently, the former location of a now closed
Ikea in the
City of Industry was used to film scenes in the movie
Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005), starring
Angelina Jolie and
Brad Pitt.
*
Avery Dennison Corporation (packaging products) - Pasadena
*
EarthLink (Internet service provider) - Pasadena
*
East West Bank (large Chinese American bank) - San Marino
*
Miller Brewing Company (beer) - Irwindale
*
Viewsonic (computer monitors) - Walnut
"Wal-Martization" of the San Gabriel Valley
In total, there are five
Wal-Mart stores in Baldwin Park, Covina, Duarte, Glendora, and City of Industry. The location in Glendora was the first to open in the San Gabriel Valley. On
January 22,
2004, the West Covina city council rejected (by a vote of 3-2) a proposal for the development of a Wal-Mart store in the city. In May 2004, a new Wal-Mart opened in Baldwin Park, not far from its border with West Covina. In 2002, Wal-Mart attempted to begin a store project in Rosemead, to widespread popular opposition.
*
Los Angeles, California*
Pomona Valley*
Chinese American*
Monterey Park, California*
San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership*
San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments*
San Gabriel Valley Online Community
