Monterey Park is part ofa cluster of cities (Alhambra,Arcadia,Temple City, Rosemead,San Marino, andSan Gabriel in the west San Gabriel Valley) with a growingAsian American population. According to the2020 Census, the city had a total population of 61,096.[6] Monterey Park has consistently ranked as one of the country's best places to live due to its schools, growing economy, and central location.[9]
For at least seven thousand years[10] the land was populated by theTongva (Gabrielino) Native Americans. The Tongva lived in dome like structures with thatched exteriors, with an open smoke hole for ventilation and light at the top.[11] Both sexes wore long hair styles and tattooed their bodies. During warm weather the men wore few clothes, and the women wore minimal skirts made of animal hides. During the cold weather they would wear animal skin capes and occasionally wore sandals made from hide or yucca fiber.[12] With the arrival of the Spaniards,Old World diseases killed off many of the Tongva, and by 1870 very few Native-Americans had survived. In the early 19th century the area was part of theMission San Gabriel Arcángel mission system and later theRancho San Antonio.
Following theCivil War, an Italian, Alessandro Repetto, purchased 5,000 acres (20 km2) of the rancho and built his ranch house on the hill overlooking his land, about a half-mile north of whereGarfield Avenue crosses the Pomona Freeway,[13] not far from where theEdison substation is now located on Garfield Avenue.[14] In 1886, a northwestern portion of the rancho was bought byIsaias Wolf Hellman, a Bavarian-born banker and philanthropist who is the namesake of Hellman Avenue, a street that partly forms the northern boundary of Monterey Park.[15]
It was at this time, Richard Garvey, a mail rider for the U.S. Army whose route took him through Monterey Pass, a trail that is nowGarvey Avenue, settled down in the King's Hills. Garvey began developing the land by bringing in spring water from near the Hondo River and by constructing a 54-foot-high (16 m) dam to form Garvey Lake located where Garvey Ranch Park is now. To pay for his development and past debts, Garvey began selling portions of his property. In 1906, the first subdivision in the area, Ramona Acres (named after the developer's daughter, who would also later inspire the title of the novelRamona[16]), was developed north of Garvey and east of Garfield Avenues.[14]
In 1916, the new residents of the area initiated action to become a city when the cities ofPasadena,South Pasadena, andAlhambra proposed to put a large sewage treatment facility in the area. The community voted itself into cityhood on May 29, 1916, by a vote of 455 to 33. The city's new board of directors immediately outlawed sewage plants within city boundaries and named the new city Monterey Park. The name was taken from an old government map showing the oak-covered hills of the area as Monterey Hills. In 1920, a large area on the south edge of the city broke away and the separate city ofMontebello was established.[17]
By 1920, the white and Spanish-surname settlers were joined by Asian residents who began farming potatoes and flowers and developing nurseries in the Monterey Highlands area. They improved the Monterey Pass Trail with a road to aid in shipping their produce to Los Angeles. The nameless pass, which had been used as a location for western movies, was called Coyote Pass by Pioneer Masami Abe.[14]
In 1926, near the corner ofAtlantic Boulevard and Garvey Avenue,Laura Scudder invented the first sealed bag of potato chips. In an effort to maintain quality and freshness, Laura's team would iron sheets of wax paper together to form a bag. They would fill these bags with potato chips; iron the top closed, and then deliver them to various retailers.[18]
The front of the El Encanto building, also known as Jardin del Encanto.
Real estate became a thriving industry during the late 1920s with investors attracted to the many subdivisions under development and increasing commercial opportunities. The Midwick View Estates by Peter N. Snyder, a proposed garden community that was designed to rivalBel Air andBeverly Hills. Known as the "Father of the East Side", Mr. Snyder was a key player in the vast undertaking in the 1920s of developing the East Side as part of the industrial base of Los Angeles.[19] His efforts to build Atlantic Boulevard, his work with the East Side organization to bring industry to the East Side, and his residential and commercial development projects along Atlantic Boulevard (Gardens Square, Golden Gate Square, and the Midwick View Estates) were a major influence to the surrounding communities. The focal point of the Midwick View Estates was "Jardin del Encanto", otherwise known as "El Encanto," a Spanish style building that was to serve as the administration building and community center for Midwick View Estates. The development also included an observation terrace above Jardin del Encanto and the fountain with cascading water going down the hillside in stepped pools to De La Fuente.[20] Now known as Heritage Falls Park or "the Cascades." TheGreat Depression brought an abrupt end to the real estate boom, as well as the Midwick proposal. From the late 1920s, the city had little development for nearly two decades.[14]
The end ofWorld War II resulted in a revived growth trend with explosive population gains during the late 1940s and 1950s. Until this time, the population was concentrated in the northern and southern portions of the city, with the Garvey and Monterey Hills forming a natural barrier. With the renewed growth, many new subdivisions were developed, utilizing even the previously undeveloped central area to allow for maximum growth potential. A series of annexations of surrounding land also occurred.[14] Many veterans settled in Monterey Park and continued through the 1950s. Around this time, Japanese Americans from theWest Side, Chinese Americans fromChinatown, and Latinos fromEast Los Angeles also began settling in the area and largely assimilated into the small-town suburban culture.[21]
Beginning in the 1970s, middle-class ethnicAsian Americans and Asian immigrants began settling in the westSan Gabriel Valley, primarily to Monterey Park.[22][23] The City Council of Monterey Park subsequently tried and failed to pass English-only ordinances.[24] In 1985 the Council approved drafting of a proposal that would require all businesses in Monterey Park to displayEnglish language identification on business signs.[25][26]
In the 1980s, Monterey Park was referred to as "LittleTaipei" or "The Chinese Beverly Hills".[27][28] Frederic Hsieh, a local realtor who bought land in Monterey Park and sold it to newly arrived immigrants, is credited with engendering Monterey Park's Chinese American community.[29][30] Many businesses fromthe Chinatown in downtown LA began to open up stores in Monterey Park. In the 1970s and 1980s, many affluentwaisheng renTaiwanese immigrants moved abroad fromTaiwan and began settling into Monterey Park.[31]Mandarin Chinese became the most widely spoken language in many Chinese businesses of the city during that time, displacingCantonese that had been common previously.[32] Cantonese has dominated theChinatowns of North America for decades, but Mandarin is the most common language of Chinese immigrants in the past few decades.[33] In 1983,Lily Lee Chen became the first Chinese American woman to be elected mayor of a U.S. city.[34][35] By the late 1980s, immigrants frommainland China andVietnam began moving into Monterey Park. By the 1990 census, Monterey Park became the first city with an Asian descent majority population in the continental United States. Timothy P. Fong, a professor and director of Asian American studies atCalifornia State University, Sacramento, describes Monterey Park as the "First SuburbanChinatown".[31][30]
In the 1980s, the second generation Chinese Americans generally moved out of the old Chinatown and into the San Gabriel Valley suburbs, joining the new immigrants from Taiwan and mainland China.[36] From that time, with a combined influx of Vietnamese, Taiwanese andHong Kong immigrant students at the time,Mark Keppel High School, constructed during theNew Deal era and located inAlhambra, but also serving most of Monterey Park and portions ofRosemead, felt the impact of this new immigration as the student population increased dramatically, leading to overcrowding.[37] Today, many students are second or third-generation Asian Americans.[38]
In 1988, the City of Monterey Park passed an ordinance declaring a moratorium on new building, in an attempt to regulate the rapid growth the city experienced as a result of the influx of Asian immigrants.[27][39] This moratorium was challenged and defeated in 1989.[40] This controversial move caused many Asian residents and businesses to shift focus, establishing themselves in the neighboring city ofAlhambra. When the potential loss of business revenue was recognized,[41] "Monterey Park went through a lot of upheaval that a lot of people regret," and relocation back to Monterey Park was highly encouraged in theAsian American community.[42]
Since the early 1990s, Taiwanese people are no longer the majority in the city. The construction boom of shopping centers had declined, but plans for redevelopment sought to change that. High property values and overcrowding in Monterey Park[43] have contributed to a secondary migration away from Monterey Park.
Redevelopment produced several projects included the massive Atlantic Times Square development that opened in 2010 with ground-floor shops and restaurants.[44] The Atlantic Times Square,[45] which has 215,000 square feet (20,000 m2), is anchored by a multi-plex theater and a fitness center, in addition to eating establishments and other stores. The development includes 210 condos on the third through sixth floors.[46]
Monterey Park Village is a 40,000 sq. ft. shopping center on SouthAtlantic Boulevard commercial corridor. Tenants include: Staples, Walgreens and Togo's eatery.[46] The CVS Center on South Garfield Avenue is a redevelopment of infill site into a 17,000 square feet (1,600 m2) neighborhood convenience center. Anchor tenant CVS Pharmacy brings a full-service drug store back to the downtown project,[46] and the center includes a Subway sandwich shop.[46] The 507,000-square-foot (47,100 m2) Monterey Park Marketplace is the largest shopping center in the city. Located along thePomona (60) Freeway west of Paramount Boulevard, this center is a 45-acre regional shopping center for the San Gabriel Valley.[47]
In 2017, Monterey Park was recognized as "America's Best Places to Live 2017" ranked at #3 by Money magazine and three local news TV stations. It also ranked at #2 in Money Magazine's "The 10 Best Places in America to Raise a Family".[48]
On January 21, 2023,a mass shooting occurred at a dance studio in the city, after aChinese New Year celebration where twenty people were shot, killing eleven of them, and injuring nine others. The gunman, identified as 72-year-old Huu Can Tran, fled and was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound inTorrance the next day.[49]
According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 7.7 square miles (20.0 km2), of which, 7.7 square miles (19.9 km2) is land, and 0.062 square miles (0.16 km2) (0.77%) is water.[4]
Monterey Park city, California – Racial and ethnic composition Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
The census reported that 99.6% of the population lived in households, 0.1% lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0.3% were institutionalized.[70]
There were 20,652 households, out of which 30.5% included children under the age of 18, 48.5% were married-couple households, 4.8% werecohabiting couple households, 29.0% had a female householder with no partner present, and 17.8% had a male householder with no partner present. 18.8% of households were one person, and 10.5% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.95.[70] There were 15,447families (74.8% of all households).[71]
The age distribution was 17.1% under the age of 18, 7.9% aged 18 to 24, 26.2% aged 25 to 44, 27.5% aged 45 to 64, and 21.3% who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 44.0years. For every 100 females, there were 92.3 males.[70]
There were 21,549 housing units at an average density of 2,808.8 units per square mile (1,084.5 units/km2), of which 20,652 (95.8%) were occupied. Of these, 51.9% were owner-occupied, and 48.1% were occupied by renters.[70]
In 2023, the US Census Bureau estimated that the median household income was $77,605, and theper capita income was $37,702. About 10.7% of families and 13.2% of the population were below the poverty line.[72]
The2010 United States census[73] reported that Monterey Park had a population of 60,269. The population density was 7,793.7 inhabitants per square mile (3,009.2/km2). The racial makeup of Monterey Park was 40,301 (66.9%)Asian (47.7% Chinese, 5.8% Japanese, 4.4% Vietnamese, 1.9% Filipino, 1.3% Korean, 0.9% Thai, 0.8% Cambodian, 0.4% Burmese, 0.4% Indonesian, 0.3% Indian), 28 (0.05%)Pacific Islander, 11,680 (19.4%)White (5.0% Non-Hispanic White),[74] 252 (0.4%)African American, 242 (0.4%)Native American, 6,022 (10.0%) fromother races, and 1,744 (2.9%) from two or more races.Hispanic orLatino of any race were 16,218 persons (26.9%).
The Census reported that 60,039 people (99.6% of the population) lived in households, 41 (0.1%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 189 (0.3%) were institutionalized.
There were 19,963 households, out of which 6,315 (31.6%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 10,538 (52.8%) wereopposite-sex married couples living together, 3,243 (16.2%) had a female householder with no husband present, 1,460 (7.3%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 651 (3.3%)unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 85 (0.4%)same-sex married couples or partnerships. 3,641 households (18.2%) were made up of individuals, and 2,025 (10.1%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.01. There were 15,241families (76.3% of all households); the average family size was 3.37.
The population was spread out, with 10,932 people (18.1%) under the age of 18, 5,180 people (8.6%) aged 18 to 24, 15,597 people (25.9%) aged 25 to 44, 16,904 people (28.0%) aged 45 to 64, and 11,656 people (19.3%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43.1 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.4 males.
There were 20,850 housing units at an average density of 2,696.2 units per square mile (1,041.0 units/km2), of which 11,058 (55.4%) were owner-occupied, and 8,905 (44.6%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.5%; the rental vacancy rate was 4.1%. 33,073 people (54.9% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 26,966 people (44.7%) lived in rental housing units.
According to the 2010 United States census, Monterey Park had a median household income of $56,014, with 15.2% of the population living below the federal poverty line.[74]
According to the 2009American Community Survey, Monterey Park is 43.7%Chinese American, and is the city in the United States with the largest concentration of people of Chinese descent.[75] The Chinese American population in Monterey Park and San Gabriel Valley is relatively diverse in socio-economics and region of origin. The city has attracted immigrants fromTaiwan, as well asmainland Chinese and theoverseas Chinese fromSoutheast Asia. There are also significantJapanese,Vietnamese andFilipino communities living within Monterey Park.
While the multi-generational American-born Latino population was generally declining in Monterey Park, there has been a small new influx of Mexican immigrants (about one percent increase in the population).[76][77]
These were the ten neighborhoods in Los Angeles County with the largest percentage ofAsian residents, according to the 2000 census:[78]
The Chinese-dominated business district, near the intersection of Garfield Avenue and Garvey Avenue, is called "Downtown Monterey Park".[79] In the mid-1980s, Lincoln Plaza Hotel was built to predominantly service tourists from Taiwan and Hong Kong. Monterey Park has many choices of Hong Kong fusion cafes, there are several Cantonese seafood restaurants, as well as restaurants offering mainland Chinese fare. A variety of cuisine can be found throughout the city.
Monterey Park is home to the Garvey Ranch Observatory, located in Garvey Ranch Park, which is operated by the Los Angeles Astronomical Society (LAAS). It adjoins a historical museum, a classroom, and a workshop. The observatory houses an 8-inch (200 mm)refractor, a telescope making workshop, and a library containing over 1000 books. The grounds are open to the public for free astronomical observation on Wednesday evenings from 7:30PM – 10:00PM, hosted by LAAS members.[81]
Built in 1929, Jardin El Encanto, otherwise known as "El Encanto", is a Spanish-style building located at 700 El Mercado.[82] The building, originally the sales office for Midwick Estates, was once a USO center and speakeasy.[83]
The city of Monterey Park has its own police and fire departments serving the city.
Monterey Park City Municipal Elections were held every two years in odd numbered years, on the first Tuesday in March until the 2017 election. Effective with the 2020 California Primary election, City Council elections will be held on even-numbered years on a Tuesday after the first Monday in March. Five Council Members serve four year terms with overlapping terms in bi-annual elections: the three seats elected in one election and two seats in the next election, at which time the City Clerk and City Treasurer are also elected.[84]
Two elementary schools, Hillcrest and Monterey Vista (both in Monterey Park), serve this part of the city.[127] Monterey Vista is a Blue Ribbon School.
Garvey Intermediate School (Rosemead) also serves this portion.[127]
Robert Hill Lane Elementary School (Monterey Park),[127] Griffith Middle School (Unincorporated Los Angeles County), andGarfield High School (Unincorporated Los Angeles County) serve the LAUSD part of the city.
Bella Vista Elementary School, Monterey Park;[131] Macy Intermediate School, Monterey Park, andSchurr High School, Montebello, serve the MUSD portion.[127]
Saint Stephen Martyr School: opened in 1926 to provide the families of Monterey Park with an opportunity for their children to receive a Catholic School education. K–Grade 8[132] The school closed in 2023.[133]
Meher Montessori School: preschool, lower and upper elementary classes[134]
St Thomas Aquinas School: A Catholic parish school, serving economically and ethnically diverse students in grades Kindergarten through eighth. Founded in 1963, the Church is in the center of the school both physically and spiritually. The school is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and the Western Catholic Educational Association.[135]
New Avenue SchoolPreKindergarten—Kindergarten through 8th grade. New Avenue school was founded in 1961.[136]
Monterey Park community news is covered by the city's official news publication, the Cascades Newspaper, as well as theSan Gabriel Valley Tribune.[140]
Esther Salas, the first Hispanic woman to serve as a United States magistrate judge in the District of New Jersey, and the first Hispanic woman to be appointed a U.S. District Court judge in New Jersey.[143]
^Sonksen, Mike (2024). "The Historical Arc of Monterey Park: How a Few Streets Got Their Names".Cascades. Vol. XXIII, No. VI. City of Monterey Park. p. 15.Hellman is named after Isaias Wolf Hellman, a Bavarian-born banker and philanthropist, who bought the northwestern part of the Repetto Rancho in 1886.
^Horton, John.The Politics of Diversity: Immigration, Resistance, and Change in Monterey Park, California. Temple University Press, 195. p. 80.Chapter 4
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