Duarte is a city in
Los Angeles CountyLos Angeles County is a county in California and is by far the most populous county in the United States. Figures from the U.S. Census Bureau give an estimated 2008 population of 9,862,049 residents, while the California State government's population bureau lists a January 1, 2009, estimate of...
,
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 21,486.
The name of the city is pronounced "dwohr'-dee" by most locals, or often the Spanish pronunciation "doo-ahr'-teh" is used. Newscasters and others unfamiliar with the area generally say "doo-wahr'-tay." It is bounded to the north by the
San Gabriel MountainsThe San Gabriel Mountains are located in northern Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California, United States. The mountain range forms a barrier between the Greater Los Angeles Area and the Mojave Desert. This Transverse Range lies in and is surrounded by the Angeles National...
, to the north and west by the cities of
BradburyBradbury is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains below Angeles National Forest. The city of Monrovia is to the west, and Duarte is to the south and east. The population was 855 at the 2000 census...
and
MonroviaMonrovia is a city located in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 36,929 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Monrovia is located at ....
, to the south by the city of
IrwindaleIrwindale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 1,446 at the 2000 census.With relatively few residents, Irwindale consists mostly of rock quarries, which are the major revenue source for the city. The Irwindale Speedway is also located in the city, as is...
, and to the east by the cities of Irwindale and
AzusaAzusa is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 44,712 at the 2000 census. Though sometimes assumed to be a compaction of the phrase "everything from A to Z in the USA" from an old Jack Benny joke, the place name "Azusa" traces back to at least the eighteenth...
.
Duarte is located on historic
U.S. Route 66U.S. Route 66 was a highway in the U.S. Highway System. One of the original U.S. highways, Route 66, US Highway 66, was established on November 11, 1926. However, road signs did not go up until the following year...
which today follows
Huntington DriveHuntington Drive is a major east-west street in Southern California, United States. It runs from the merge of Soto Street and Mission Road near the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Los Angeles east through the El Sereno section of Los Angeles, South Pasadena, San Marino, Alhambra, San Gabriel, Arcadia,...
through the middle of the city. For the past 14 years, Duarte has held an annual Salute to
Route 66 Paradeon the third weekend in September on the original Route 66. This year on September 19th
world recordA world record is usually the best international performance ever recorded in a specific skill or sport. The world famous book, the Guinness World Records, collates and publishes notable records of all types, from first and best to worst human achievements, to extremes in the natural world and...
sailing teen
Zac SunderlandZac Sunderland was, for some six weeks, the youngest person to sail solo around the world, and remains the first person ever to accomplish this feat before their 18th birthday. Zac completed his trip, after 13 months and 2 days at sea, on July 16, 2009 at age 17, when he sailed back in to his port...
will be
Grand MarshalGrand Marshal is a ceremonial, military, or political office of very high rank. The term has its origins with the word "Marshal" with the first usage of the term "Grand Marshal" as a ceremonial title for certain religious orders...
of the parade.
Geography
Duarte is located at .
According to the
United States Census BureauThe United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data. As part of the United States Department of Commerce, the Census Bureau serves as the leading source of quality data about...
, the city has a total area of 17.3 km² (6.7 mi²), all land.
Demographics
As of the
censusA "census" is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population.In other words every 10 years...next one would be in 2010 The term is used mostly in connection with...
of 2000, there are 21,486 people, 6,635 households, and 4,889 families residing in the city. The
population densityPopulation density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans. It is a key term used in geography....
is 1,241.9/km² (3,215.7/mi²). There are 6,805 housing units at an average density of 393.3/km² (1,018.5/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 52.02%
WhiteRace and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the United States Census Bureau and the Federal Office of Management and Budget , are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, 9.08%
BlackRace and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the United States Census Bureau and the Federal Office of Management and Budget , are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
or
African AmericanRace and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the United States Census Bureau and the Federal Office of Management and Budget , are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, 0.94%
Native AmericanRace and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the United States Census Bureau and the Federal Office of Management and Budget , are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, 12.62%
AsianRace and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the United States Census Bureau and the Federal Office of Management and Budget , are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, 0.11%
Pacific IslanderRace and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the United States Census Bureau and the Federal Office of Management and Budget , are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, 19.99% from
other racesRace and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the United States Census Bureau and the Federal Office of Management and Budget , are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 5.23% from two or more races, while 43.41% of the population are Hispanic or
LatinoRace and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the United States Census Bureau and the Federal Office of Management and Budget , are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
of any race.
There are 6,635 households out of which 38.9% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.8% are
married couplesMarriage is a social union or legal contract between individuals that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged by a variety of ways, depending on the culture or demographic...
living together, 13.6% have a female householder with no husband present, and 26.3% are non-families. 21.5% of all households are made up of individuals and 9.4% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 3.16 and the average family size is 3.70.
In the city the population is spread out with 28.2% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 29.6% from 25 to 44, 21.8% from 45 to 64, and 11.9% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 34 years. For every 100 females there are 90.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 85.8 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $50,744, and the median income for a family is $56,556. Males have a median income of $39,812 versus $33,045 for females. The
per capita incomePer capita income means how much each individual receives, in monetary terms, of the yearly income generated in the country. This is what each citizen is to receive if the yearly national income is divided equally among everyone. Per capita income is usually reported in units of currency per year...
for the city is $19,648. 11.3% of the population and 8.4% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 13.3% of those under the age of 18 and 10.6% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
Politics
In the
state legislatureThe California State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of California. It is a bicameral body consisting of the lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members, and the upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members...
Duarte is in the 24th
SenateThe California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature. There are 40 State Senators. The state legislature meets in the state capital, Sacramento. The Lieutenant Governor is the ex officio President of the Senate and may break a tied vote...
District, represented by Democrat Gloria J. Romero, and in the 44th and 59th
AssemblyThe California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. There are 80 members in the Assembly, representing an approximately equal number of constituents, with each district having a population of at least 420,000...
Districts, represented by Democrat
Anthony J. PortantinoAnthony J. Portantino , has represented California's 44th assembly district since December 2006. He is a Democrat.- Entertainment career :...
and Republican
Anthony AdamsAnthony Adams is a player in the National Football League. He plays for the Chicago Bears, and previously played for the San Francisco 49ers. He graduated from Penn State University.- Early life :...
respectively. Federally, Duarte is in
California's 32nd congressional districtCalifornia's 32nd congressional district covers part of Los Angeles County, notably East Los Angeles, El Monte, Monterey Park and West Covina. It is one of 53 California Congressional Districts. The most recent Representative for this district, Democrat Hilda Solis, resigned upon her confirmation...
, which has a
Cook PVIThe Cook Partisan Voting Index , sometimes referred to as simply the Partisan Voting Index , is a measurement of how strongly an American congressional district or state leans toward one political party compared to the nation as a whole...
of D +17 and is represented by Democrat
Judy ChuJudy May Chu, Ph.D. is the United States Representative for California's 32nd congressional district, and the first Chinese American woman ever elected to the U.S. Congress...
.
Background/history
Around 500 B.C., a band of
ShoshoneThe Shoshone are a Native American tribe in the United States with three large divisions: the Northern, the Western and the Eastern. The Shoshone were sometimes called the Snake by early White trappers, travelers, and settlers....
an-speaking Indians established settlements in what is now the
San Gabriel ValleyThe 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 west of the Inland Empire. It derives its name from the San Gabriel River that flows...
. These
native AmericansNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
came to be called the Gabrieliño Indians (after San Gabriel, the local mission) by early
SpanishSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
explorers, but now prefer to be called the
TongvaThe Tongva are a Native American people who inhabited the area in and around Los Angeles, California, before the arrival of Europeans. Tongva means "people of the earth" in the Tongva language, a language in the Uto-Aztecan family. The Tongva are also sometimes referred to as the Gabrieleño/Tongva...
. The Tongva did not practice agriculture, but instead relied upon the wild seeds, berries, and plants that grew near the rivers and marshlands. Since the San Gabriel Valley area was home to large numbers of oak trees such as
coast live oakThe Coast Live Oak is an evergreen oak, highly variable and often shrubby, native to the California Floristic Province. It grows west of the Sierra Nevada from Mendocino County, California south to northern Baja California in Mexico. It is classified in the red oak section...
and
interior live oakThe Interior Live Oak is an evergeen oak, highly variable and often shrubby, found in areas of California in the United States. It also occurs south into northern Baja California in Mexico...
, a staple of the Tongva diet was an
acornThe acorn, or oak nut, is the nut of the oak tree . It usually contains a single seed , enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne in a cup-shaped cupule. Acorns vary from 1–6 cm long and 0.8–4 cm broad...
mush made by boiling acorn flour.
Duarte's history with
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
ans dates back to 1769, when all land in
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
was claimed by the
king of SpainThe Monarchy of Spain, constitutionally referred to as de la Corona de España, and commonly referred to as the Spanish Monarchy , is the constitutional institution and office comprising of a king or of a queen regnant of Spain , their legal spouse and family , and the Royal...
. The first Europeans visited the San Gabriel Valley, including Duarte, during a 1769 expedition from
San DiegoSan Diego , named after Saint Didacus , is the second-largest city in California and the ninth largest city in the United States, located along the Pacific Ocean on the west coast of the United States. The US Census Bureau estimates the city's population at 1,279,329 as of 2008...
to
Monterey BayMonterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean, along the central coast of California. The bay is south of San Francisco, between the cities of Santa Cruz and Monterey....
commanded by
Don Gaspar de PortolàGaspar de Portolà i Rovira was a soldier, governor of Baja and Alta California , explorer and founder of San Diego and Monterey. He was born in Os de Balaguer, province of Lleida, in Catalonia, Spain, of Spanish nobility. Don Portolà served as a soldier in the Spanish army in Italy and Portugal...
. Accompanying Portolà was a
FranciscanThe term Franciscan is commonly used to refer to members of Catholic religious orders, also known as the Orders of Friars Minor, that follow a body of regulations known as "The rule of St. Francis", or a member of one of these orders. As well as Roman Catholic there are also small Old Catholic and...
priest from
Father Junipero Serra'sFray Junípero Serra was a Spanish Franciscan friar who founded the mission chain in Alta California. Fr. Serra was beatified by John Paul II on September 25, 1988.-History:Junípero Serra was born Miquel Josep Serra i Ferrer in Petra, Majorca, Spain...
order in
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
,
Juan CrespiFather Juan Crespí was a Spanish missionary and explorer of Las Californias. He entered the Franciscan order at the age of seventeen. He came to America in 1749, and accompanied explorers Francisco Palóu and Junípero Serra. In 1767 he went to the Baja Peninsula and was placed in charge of the...
, who served as the diarist of the expedition. Much of what is known of early California is known only from the detailed descriptions recorded by Crespi.
On September 8, 1771, the Franciscans established the
Mission San Gabriel ArcangelThe Mission San Gabriel Arcángel is a fully functioning Roman Catholic mission and a historic landmark in San Gabriel, California. Site of the first hospital in Alta California, the settlement was founded by Spaniards of the Franciscan order on "The Feast of the Birth of Mary" September 8, 1771 as...
in the San Gabriel Valley. The mission was a resting point for early California travelers and gathered most of the native Tongva into an agricultural lifestyle. Following
Mexican independenceThe Mexican War of Independence was an armed conflict between the people of Mexico and the Spanish colonial authorities which started on 16 September 1810. The Mexican War of Independence movement was led by Mexican-born Spaniards, Mestizos and Amerindians who sought independence from Spain...
in 1821, the mission lands were nationalized.
On May 10, 1841, the governor of
Alta CaliforniaAlta California was formed when Spain separated the Dominican Missions from the Franciscan Missions in approximately 1769 with the founding of the first Alta California mission in San Diego...
,
Juan Bautista AlvaradoJuan Bautista Valentín Alvarado y Vallejo was a Californio and two-time Governor of Alta California from 1836–37, and 1838–42.-Early life:...
, granted to former Mexican corporal Andrés Duarte and his wife nearly of prime land in the central-northern San Gabriel Valley. Duarte named his new holdings "
Rancho Azusa de DuarteRancho Azusa de Duarte was a Mexican land grant in present day Los Angeles County, California given in 1841 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Andres Duarte, a former Mexican corporal...
". The name
Azusa was derived from
Asuksa-gna, the name of the Tongva settlement on the
Foothills of CaliforniaThe foothills of California are groups of foothills that are located along and around San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles County, California. They roughly follow the path of Interstate 210, giving it the name "Foothill Freeway"....
, on the western side of the alluvial fan where the
San Gabriel RiverThe San Gabriel River flows through southern Los Angeles County, California. It rises in the San Gabriel Mountains, flowing southwest into and through the western San Gabriel Valley before turning southward at the Whittier Narrows to enter the Los Angeles Basin...
exits the San Gabriel Mountains; a portion of this area forms the northeastern-most corner of Duarte. That land grant now comprises portions of
ArcadiaArcadia is a U.S. city in Los Angeles County, California that is located about northeast of downtown Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley, at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. It is the site of the Santa Anita Park racetrack and home to the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden. ...
, portions of
MonroviaMonrovia is a city located in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 36,929 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Monrovia is located at ....
, all of
BradburyBradbury is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains below Angeles National Forest. The city of Monrovia is to the west, and Duarte is to the south and east. The population was 855 at the 2000 census...
, all of Duarte, portions of
IrwindaleIrwindale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 1,446 at the 2000 census.With relatively few residents, Irwindale consists mostly of rock quarries, which are the major revenue source for the city. The Irwindale Speedway is also located in the city, as is...
, portions of
AzusaAzusa is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 44,712 at the 2000 census. Though sometimes assumed to be a compaction of the phrase "everything from A to Z in the USA" from an old Jack Benny joke, the place name "Azusa" traces back to at least the eighteenth...
and a portion of
Baldwin ParkBaldwin Park is a city located in the central San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 75,837.- History :...
. Corporal Duarte had the local Indians build a small hut for his family and help him plant a kitchen garden and orchards near "the Indian Springs of the Asuksas" in Fish Canyon.
In the mid-1800’s, most of the Rancho was sold to help defray Andres Duarte’s debts. One of those who purchased land was Dr. Nehemiah Beardslee, who started the first school in Duarte and laid out the first section of Duarte’s water lines. Much of the remaining land was divided into 40-acre plots and sold individually.
Mexico ceded Alta California to the United States in 1848. In 1851, the American Congress passed a bill that established a
Board of Land CommissionersThe Public Land Commission, a former agency of the United States government, was created following the discovery of gold in California in 1848 to determine the validity of Spanish and Mexican land grants in California....
whose duty was to determine the validity of all grants of Alta California land by Spanish and Mexican authorities. Corporal Duarte didn't address the investigation of his land grant until the following year, which began a court battle. Corporal Duarte began incurring legal expenses and other debts at that time, which he defrayed by selling portions of his Rancho. His first sale was a parcel at the southern end of the Rancho to Michael Whistler and two unidentified colleagues. Whistler later bought out his colleagues and sold the entire parcel to Dr. Nehemiah Beardslee, who started the first school in Duarte (which now bears his surname) and laid out the first section of Duarte’s water lines. Corporal Duarte divided much of the Rancho's remainder into plots and sold them individually. Corporal Duarte finally won a favorable ruling from the
Supreme CourtThe Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States, and leads the federal judiciary. It consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed with the "advice and consent" of the Senate...
for his land grant case in 1878, but by then he had sold the entire Rancho.
Many of Duarte’s earliest pioneer families came to Duarte in the mid-1800s for their health, the pleasant climate, and the fertile soil. English settlers, Americans from the Midwest and
Deep SouthThe Deep South is a descriptive category of the cultural and geographic subregions in the American South. Historically, it is differentiated from the "Upper South" as being the states which were most dependent on plantation type agriculture during the antebellum period...
,
LatinoThe demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American or Spanish-speaking descent."* "A Latin American."...
s who remained from the Rancho and Japanese immigrants enabled Duarte to grow into a thriving agricultural community specializing in citrus production.
Two medical institutions were started in Duarte in the early part of the 20th century. In 1928, the Jewish Consumptive Relief Association started a tuberculosis sanitarium in the form of a small
tent cityThe term tent city is used to describe a variety of temporary housing facilities made using tents. Informal tent cities may be set up without authorization by homeless people or protesters. As well, state governments or military organizations set up tent cities to house refugees, evacuees, or...
on of land south of Duarte Road. This later evolved into the world-renowned City of Hope Medical Center, a recognized leader in fighting cancer and other catastrophic diseases. In 1930, a group of Carmelite nuns known as the
Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles established the Santa Teresita Rest Home, known until recently as Santa Teresita Medical Center. After decades as a full-service hospital, Santa Teresita was downgraded to "medical center" in the early 2000s, after financial problems, caused both by administrative missteps as well as the costs of providing medical coverage to the uninsured, forced the hospital to close its emergency room. Santa Teresita now operates as an "outpatient services only" facility.
In 1957, a dedicated group of community members, fearing annexation by neighboring cities, led a fight for incorporation. Indeed, parts of the original Rancho had already been annexed by neighboring Monrovia, Azusa, Irwindale, and Baldwin Park. At the same time, a rival group representing an affluent enclave in the foothills started a competing drive for incorporation, and broke off to form the separate City of Bradbury. A 2001
Los Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California since 1881. It is distributed throughout the Western United States. It is the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States and the fourth-most widely distributed newspaper in the United States...
article stated that their petition for incorporation arrived in
SacramentoSacramento is the capital of the U.S. state of California, and the county seat of Sacramento County. Located along the Sacramento River and just south of the American River's confluence in California's expansive Central Valley. With a 2007 estimated population of 460,242, it is the seventh-largest...
on August 22, 1957, "mere moments" before the petition that would have included them in the City of Duarte. Still, ties between the two communities remain in that they both form the Duarte Unified School District, share the same post office and ZIP code, and have combined public services such as
Los Angeles County Sheriff (which for both cities is labeled "Duarte") and garbage pickup;however, the U.S. Postal Service has announced that effective next year, Duarte will have the "91010" ZIP code all to itself, when neighboring Bradbury finally gets its own ZIP code, 91008.
The original city logo was created by Bill Botts Sr. in 1957.It consisted of a double-circular seal, with the inner circle containing an adobe arch featuring the Rancho Azusa de Duarte "d" brand (inside the arch is the original date of the Rancho's establishment, 1841) while the outer circle features the year of Duarte's incorporation (1957). The current city logo was created in early 1982 to mark Duarte's 25th anniversary of cityhood.
Like many of its neighbors, modern Duarte is a bedroom community. The City of Duarte is geographically isolated from population centers to the east and south due to the
San Gabriel RiverThe San Gabriel River flows through southern Los Angeles County, California. It rises in the San Gabriel Mountains, flowing southwest into and through the western San Gabriel Valley before turning southward at the Whittier Narrows to enter the Los Angeles Basin...
and rock quarry operations in Irwindale and
AzusaAzusa may refer to:*Azusa, California, a city in the United States*Azusa Street Revival, a Christian movement that began in Los Angeles*AZUSA - Radar interferometer*Azusa Yamamoto, a Japanese model and actress...
. These factors have proven to be an ongoing economic challenge for local businesses as the city attracts little outside spending, and most residents spend their money elsewhere. Due to air quality and noise concerns, the City of Duarte has sought repeatedly to halt expansion of neighboring quarry operations, but has had no success against the monied interests behind the quarries and the neighboring city governments beholden to them. Still, over the past few decades, the city leadership has succeeded in bringing retail development to the western portion of Duarte beginning, notably, with the redevelopment of the Big Sky Drive-in Theater as a shopping plaza with a
GemcoGemco was an American, particularly California chain of discount membership department stores that was owned by San Leandro-based Lucky Stores, a California supermarket company which has since been acquired in the 1980s by American Stores Company, which was later acquired by Albertsons in 1999. It...
superstore (which is now a
TargetTarget Corporation, usually known simply as Target, is an American retailing company that was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1902 as the Dayton Dry Goods Company. In 1962, the company opened its first Target store in nearby Roseville...
). Later, the city's obsolete municipal pool, known as Aqualand, and a well known Route-66 diner (known as the "Boulevard Cafe") were replaced with a Ralphs shopping center. In the early 2000s,
Wal-MartWal-Mart Stores, Inc. is an American public corporation that runs a chain of large, discount department stores. It is the world's largest public corporation by revenue, according to the 2008 Fortune Global 500. The company was founded by Sam Walton in 1962, incorporated on October 31, 1969, and...
opened on the western edge of the city, as did a
CarMaxCarMax is the United States' largest used-car retailer and a Fortune 500 company. The first CarMax used car auto superstore was opened in September 1993. In the fiscal year ending February 28, 2009, more than 350,000 cars were sold; as of March 2009 the company has 100 locations.- Concept :The...
used-car superstore. The city expects to welcome a new mini-shopping center (to include a
Best BuyBest Buy Co., Inc. is a specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States accounting for 19% of the market. It also operates in Canada, Mexico, and China. The company's subsidiaries include Geek Squad, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada operates under both the Best...
store, now open as of May 2009) around the site of its Staples store (which is supposed to be revamped), as well as a Tesco
Fresh & EasyFresh & Easy, or, in full, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, is a chain of small supermarkets on the West Coast of the United States. It is a subsidiary of the UK-based retailer Tesco, the world's third largest retailer, and is Tesco's attempt to expand into the United States...
Neighborhood Market at the east end of town, now open as of February 2009.
Throughout the 2000s, city council regular and Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority board member
John FasanaJohn Fasana is the current mayor of Duarte, California.Fasana was first elected to the Duarte City Council in 1987, and was re-elected in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007. He has also served as mayor in 1990, 1997, and 2003...
has used his unique position to pave the way for the extension of the Gold Line through the eastern San Gabriel Valley. Fasana and fellow councilmembers
Margaret FinlayMargaret Finlay is a former three term mayor of Duarte, California.Finlay, currently serving on the Duarte City Council, graduated from St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana, earning a Bachelor's degree in marketing, and received her Masters degree in Public Administration from Cal State Long...
,
Tzeitel Paras-CaracciTzeitel Paras-Caracci is a former mayor of Duarte, California.Tzeitel, born in 1972, was elected to the Duarte City Council on November 6, 2001, and became the first ever Duarte High School alumni, the youngest woman, and first Filipino American ever to be elected to the council. She served as...
and
Lois GastonLois Gaston is a current member of the Duarte City Council.Gaston has been a member of the Duarte City Council since 2003 and was elected as the mayor on November 28, 2006. She is the first African American to hold the mayoral position in the city's 50 year history. In March 2009 she was named the...
created a point of contention with a portion of the city's residents when they indicated their support in June 2009 for the construction of a rail maintenance yard on a lot immediately adjacent to one of Duarte's primary schools that currently bears a public storage facility. A number of disgruntled citizens formed a community watchdog group called Citizens of Duarte for Fair Representation to immediately oppose construction of the rail maintenance yard, among other community interests.
Public safety
Duarte contracts with the L.A. County Sheriff's and Fire Departments for their respective services, but also has its own in-house "Department of Public Safety", which consists mainly of four officers and a DPS director;their roles are to enforce the Duarte Municipal Code sections regarding illegal solicitation by out-of-town ice-cream vendors, licensing of dogs, and issuance of special bicycle permits for the town's younger residents.
Notable residents and births
Notable residents have included:
- Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa, popular Asian-American actor, graduated from Duarte High School in 1972.
- T.K. Carter, actor/comedian (born in nearby Monrovia; lived and grew up in Bradbury; attended Duarte High School; mom is City Councilmember Lois Gaston)
- Andrew and Peggy Cherng, founders of Panda Express
Panda Express is a fast casual restaurant chain serving Americanized Chinese cuisine. It operates mainly inside the United States, in shopping malls, supermarkets, airports, train stations, strip plazas, theme parks, stadiums, college campuses and The Pentagon...
- Raffi Ohanian, attorney
- Francisco Martinez Flores, one of the first Marines killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom (Duarte's post office is now named after him)
- Garrett K. Gomez
Garrett Keith Gomez is an American thoroughbred jockey.-Early career:Gomez learned to ride by watching his father, Louie, who was a jockey at many tracks in the Southwest United States...
, thoroughbred jockey (3000+ wins, top money winner 2006 & 2007, winner of numerous awards)
- Bill Melton
William Edwin Melton , nicknamed "Beltin' Melton", is a former third baseman in Major League Baseball who played primarily for the Chicago White Sox...
, professional baseball player (1971 American League home run leader with 33 runs)
- Carlos Fisher
Carlos Fisher is a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds.-Minor leagues:Fisher spent time with the Chattanooga Lookouts during the 2007 and 2008 season....
, pitcher for the Cincinnati RedsThe Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. They are members of the Central Division of the National League....
- Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller , was an American jazz musician, arranger, composer, and band leader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1942, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...
, famous jazz musician/bandleader
- He had a orange grove which others have named "Tuxedo Junction"; his redwood home on the grove property stood at the northern end of the 200 block of Bettyhill Avenue until November 1980, when it burned to the ground by a brushfire that swept across the western San Gabriel Mountains
The San Gabriel Mountains are located in northern Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California, United States. The mountain range forms a barrier between the Greater Los Angeles Area and the Mojave Desert. This Transverse Range lies in and is surrounded by the Angeles National...
. Miller, on active duty in the military during World War II, was killed in an airplane crash in 1944. He arranged to have the house built and saw it, but his death shortly afterward prevented him from occupying it. His widow and two children did occupy the house, which they considered the "ranch house" (intending to have a permanent residence built later) for several years until moving to San Marino. There is a historical plaque commemorating Glenn Miller in Glenn Miller Park directly east of the home's site in the 200 block of Mel Canyon Road.
- Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard is an American playwright, actor, and television and film director. He is author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play, Buried Child...
, playwright/writer/actor
- Though he lived in the affluent, adjoining city of Bradbury, Sam's childhood in Duarte informed themes that mark much of his later playwriting. He described Duarte as a "weird accumulation of things, a strange kind of melting pot – Spanish, Okie, Black, Midwestern elements all jumbled together. People on the move who couldn't move anymore, who wound up in trailer parks."
- William A. Spinks
William Alexander Spinks, Jr. , known professionally as William A. Spinks or W. A. Spinks, and occasionally also referred to as Billy Spinks), was an American professional player of carom billiards in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries...
(1865–1933), champion carom billiards pro, co-inventor of modern billiards cue chalk, oil investor, and flower and avocadoThe avocado , also known as palta or aguacate , butter pear or alligator pear, is a tree native to the Caribbean, Mexico, South America and Central America, classified in the flowering plant family Lauraceae along with cinnamon, camphor and bay laurel...
farmer (developer of the Spinks avocado cultivarA cultivar is a cultivated plant that has been selected and given a unique name because of desired characteristics; it is usually distinct from similar plants and when propagated it retains those characteristics....
); Duarte's Spinks Canyon Road and the small mesa to which it refers are named for him; also maintained a home in Monrovia
Notable births have included:
- Donna Adamek, professional bowler
A bowler is someone participating in the sport of bowling, either as an amateur or professional. In American ten-pin bowling, a bowler is most commonly a member of a team of three to six people...
; BWAA Woman of the Year four years in a row, 1978–1981
- Hardiman Cureton, professional football
American football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, and often as Gridiron or Tackle football outside North America, is a competitive team sport known for combining strategy with physical play. The objective of the game is to score points by advancing the ball into the...
player Hamilton TigerCats; inductee UCLA Hall of Fame, 2005
External links