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San Gabriel Valley
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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 San Bernardino Valley. 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.
Cities and communities 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.
Whittier is considered both a San Gabriel Valley city and part of the Gateway Cities region. Some of Whittier sits below the Whittier Narrows. Although these hills are considered extremely small compared to the San Gabriel Mountains, the fact that most of the city sits around them is said to make Whittier a San Gabriel Valley city, despite its area codes—most of Whittier is served by the 562 area code, though a large portion is served by the 626 area code, with which the valley is primarily associated. This is similar to Montebello, which is situated in the 323 area code and is a member of the Gateway Cities Council of Governments, despite geographically being part of the San Gabriel Valley.
San Dimas, Claremont, Pomona, Diamond Bar, and La Verne are adjacent to the San Gabriel Valley, and although are properly considered part of the Pomona Valley, they are also commonly considered as part of the San Gabriel Valley. They share the 909 area code with other cities in the San Bernardino Valley portion of the Inland Empire. The 57 Freeway (Orange Freeway) is generally considered the dividing line between the Pomona and San Gabriel Valleys. However, for statistical and economic development purposes, the County of Los Angeles generally includes 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.
Brief San Gabriel Valley timeline- 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 is forced to cede 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.
People 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. 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, there are sizable, long-established African American communities in the western Altadena area and in northwest Pasadena, as well as in Monrovia.
Hispanics, mainly Mexican Americans, are especially dominant in Azusa, Baldwin Park, City of Industry, El Monte, La Puente, Montebello, Rosemead, South El Monte, West Covina, and Whittier. Mexican Americans have been present in the area since the 1840s, when the U.S. government obliged Mexico to sell this territory after the Mexican-American War. 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 (or Gabrieleño in Spanish), 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. 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, Monterey Park, Pasadena, West Covina, and Whittier. Wealthier communities include Arcadia, Bradbury, Diamond Bar, San Marino, and Walnut. The richer areas of the San Gabriel Valley such as San Marino, Walnut, and Arcadia contains the highest concentration of Taiwanese Americans in the area. Otherwise, Cantonese people and Vietnamese are predominantly the main subgroup in cities of Monterey Park, Alhambra, Rosemead, San Gabriel, and El Monte. This can be seen by the variety of Cantonese speaking and Vietnamese speaking commercial businesses that respond to the surrounding communities' needs such as Hong Kong Market, 99 Ranch Market in Monterey Park, Shun Fat Market, NBC Restaurant and other businesses in these cities.
Local area The San Gabriel Valley is home to The San Gabriel Valley Conservation Corps (SGVCC), a community-based program established to help disadvantaged youth develop the motivation, self-confidence, work skills, and education necessary to take advantage of a second chance to succeed in life. Participants however, receive little real-world training. Funding for the program, historically, has been limited to grants from L.A. County probation, Department of Labor, and various community-based grants which don't seem to meet the needs of the Administrative payroll. This in turn, limits the moneys available for any real - concrete, training efforts on behalf of participants. It is estimated that at least 80% of funding received pays for a top-heavy Administrative core group, made up of family members of the Executive Director. SGVCC participants, are generally engaged in rote-recycling activities, picking up cans and bottles from established accounts in the San Gabriel Valley. The San Gabriel Valley Conservation Corps has an ongoing agreement with the City of El Monte to pay rent for a city facility, housing the training program. Rental reimbursement is built into each grant request, however SGVCC was not able to meet the rental cost for a period of eight months. The City passed a resolution on August 15, 2006 to ensure that they would somehow be reimbursed for rental of the city owned property.
The San Gabriel Valley is also 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 Mediterranean-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 which blows west into the valley from Los Angeles. 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, 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 restaurateurs 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 Arcadia, 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 along with an Asian indoor and outdoor shopping center that replaced a Ralph Supermarket couple miles away from Little Manila located on Glendora Avenue caters to Chinese Indonesian with minority groups of Taiwanese, Thai, Burman, and Vietnamese.
Institutions of higher learning - Alliant International University, private - Alhambra
- Art Center College of Design, liberal arts - Pasadena
- Azusa Pacific University (APU), private - Azusa
- California Institute of Technology (Caltech), private - Pasadena
- California State University, Los Angeles, public - Los Angeles
- Claremont Graduate University, Private University - Claremont
- Claremont McKenna College, Private - Claremont
- Citrus College, community college - Glendora
- Digital Business & Design College (DBD), private - El Monte
- East Los Angeles College (ELAC), community college - Monterey Park
- Fuller Theological Seminary - Pasadena
- Harvey Mudd College, Private - Claremont
- ITT Technical Institute (ITT Tech) - San Dimas
- Keck Graduate Institute, Graduate University, Claremont
- Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. SAC), community college - Walnut
- Pasadena City College (PCC), community college - Pasadena
- Pitzer College, private college - Claremont
- Pomona College, private college - Claremont
- Rio Hondo College, community college - Whittier
- Scripps College, private college - Claremont
- University of Phoenix, adult education - Diamond Bar and Pasadena
- Whittier College (WC), private college - Whittier
Local sites of interest
Transportation 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:
The San Gabriel Valley is served by several major freeways:
- the Foothill Freeway]] and State Route 210)
- the Ventura Freeway
- the San Bernardino Freeway|Interstate 10]])
- the Pomona Freeway
- the Pasadena Freeway
- the Long Beach Freeway|Interstate 710]])
- the San Gabriel River Freeway|Interstate 605]])
- the Orange Freeway
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 SR 134. Since the late 1950s, the plan to connect the two portions of I-710 (formerly SR 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 SR 210 (formerly designated SR 30 and still signed as such in some places in San Bernardino County) between SR 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.
State Route 39 leads north into the San Gabriel Mountains to the Crystal Lake Recreation Area . The portion connecting the recreation area to the Angeles Crest Highway 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.
Area codes Most of the San Gabriel Valley lies within the 626 area code. Montebello, Whittier, and portions of its valley neighbors are in the 323 and 562 area codes. Some of northwestern Pasadena is also serviced by the 818 area code. Walnut and portions of some of its valley neighbors are in the 909 area code.
Local media originating in the Valley Newspapers and online media The local daily English-language newspapers are The Los Angeles Times-San Gabriel Valley, San Gabriel Valley Tribune and Pasadena Star-News, both printed at the same office in West Covina. The Pasadena Star-News covers the west end of the valley and the Tribune covers the east end.
Other San Gabriel Valley-wide publications include the weekly Mountain Views News magazine, The Mid Valley News, and the Core Media weekly newspaper chain, whose weekly newspapers cover several San Gabriel Valley cities.
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 (???) 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 Popular Los Angeles-area radio station, 106.7 KROQ-FM, had its start in 1973 in Pasadena taking over KPPC-FM which was from 1968-1969 one of the country's leading "underground" freeform progressive rock stations, broadcasting from the basement of Pasadena Presbyterian Church. 106.7 FM has for the past 40 years been mostly broadcasting rock music, with progressive rock in the late 60s and early 70s, new wave and punk rock in the early 80s, and modern rock from mid-80s to present. Many KROQ personalities over the years are now widely famous, such as Jimmy Kimmel, Adam Carolla, and Carson Daly.
The local NPR member station is KPCC, which originates from Pasadena City College. It offers news and talk covering Southern California.
is aired from Mount San Antonio College but 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 broadcast from Pasadena. is an online station streaming from Digital Business & Design College in El Monte.
Filming locations Several blockbuster Hollywood films have been filmed on location in the San Gabriel Valley. South Pasadena and Alhambra served as the gloomy backgrounds of a fictional Illinois town of Haddonfield in John Carpenter's 1978 horror flick Halloween. Perhaps not surprisingly for cities founded by displaced Midwesterners, some areas of Pasadena and South 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.
The cities of Temple City and Rosemead served as the backdrop for the Emmy Award winning television dramady "The Wonder Years" (1988 to 1993). While Temple City's Las Tunas Drive served as the downtown for the Arnold Family's fictitious hometown, Rosemead High School stood in for the town's high school.
The city of Whittier is constantly hosting film crews for various motion picture, television and feature films. In Robert Zemeckis' Back to the Future trilogy of time travel adventure movies (1985, 1989, 1990), Whittier High School was used as Hill Valley High School with Michael J. Fox's character travels 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 | |
