The town's site became part of the SpanishMission San Gabriel Arcángel lands in 1771. AfterIndian Reductions to becomeMission Indians, the Tongva were known as theGabrieleños, after the name of the Mission under whose control they worked during the mission period in California. Currently there are 1,700 people self-identifying as members of theTongva or Gabrieleño tribe.[9]
TheMexican land grant forRancho Santa Anita was issued toPerfecto Hugo Reid and his Tongva wife, Victoria Bartolomea Comicrabit, in 1845. It was named after a family relation, Anita Cota, on his wife's side. Reid documented the Gabrieleño Native Americans in a series of letters written in 1852,[10] and served as a delegate to the1849 California Constitutional Convention. In 1847, Reid sold Rancho Santa Anita to hisRancho Azusa neighbor, Henry Dalton.
The rancho changed owners several times before being acquired by Gold Rush immigrant, businessman, and major regional land ownerElias Jackson "Lucky" Baldwin in 1875. Baldwin purchased 8,000 acres (32 km2) of Rancho Santa Anita for $200,000. Upon seeing the area, he gasped "By Gads! This is paradise!" Upon buying the land, Baldwin chose to make the area his home and immediately started erecting buildings and cultivating the land for farming, orchards, and ranches.[8] Baldwin built theQueen Anne Cottage for his fourth wife and himself in 1885–1886, now preserved within the Arboretum. In 1885, the main line of theLos Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad, in which Baldwin was a stockholder, was opened through the ranch, making subdivision of part of the land into a town site practical. Later, this rail line became aSanta Fe Railroad line. In 1889, on a site just north of the corner of First Avenue and St. Joseph Street, adjacent to the Santa Fe tracks, Baldwin opened the 35-room Hotel Oakwood to be the centerpiece of his new town. In 1890, the extantRancho Santa Anita Depot was built.
By the turn of the 20th century, Arcadia had a population nearing 500 and an economy that was coming to be based on entertainment, sporting, hospitality, and gambling opportunities, the latter including an early version of the Santa Anita race track.[8] Baldwin oversaw the incorporation of Arcadia into a city in 1903, and was its first mayor.
Anita Baldwin's "Anoakia" mansion and gardens in 1915
In 1913, Anita Baldwin, Lucky's daughter, built a 50-room mansion on 19 acres (77,000 m2) of the Baldwin Ranch she inherited from him, and named it "Anoakia" (aportmanteau of Anita and oak).[11] The 17,000-square-foot (1,600 m2) residence was in the ItalianRenaissance Revival style, with murals byMaynard Dixon.[11][12][13] The estate had a significantGreek Revival-stylecolonnaded "Parthenon" bathhouse/gymnasium beside a large pool, an apiary and aviaries, kennels and stables, tennis courts and pergolas, and preserved the nativeoak woodlands.[11]
After her death in 1939, the estate became the Anoakia School for Girls, which became the coeducational Anoakia School in 1967, then moved to Duarte in 1990 as the Anita Oaks School.[13][14] The school owner's efforts to develop the property into a village of homes with the old mansion as its centerpiece were rejected by the city.[12] After an extended debate, with local citizens and regionalpreservationists efforts to preserve the historic main house, the city council voted to approve demolition for a real estate development by new owners in 1999.[12] The "Anoakia" mansion, all other significant estate structures and outbuildings, garden features, and numerousCalifornia sycamore andCoast live oak trees were demolished for 31 luxury home sites in 2000.[11] Some of the mansion's architectural elements were salvaged and removed. The gatehouse, on the estate's former southeast corner at Foothill and Baldwin, and the perimeter walls remain after the "Anoakia Estates" development was built.[11] The bas-relief fountain was moved to just inside the new gated entrance.
DuringWorld War I, Arcadia was home to the U.S. Army'sRoss Field Balloon School, at the present-day Santa Anita Park site. Army observers were trained here in techniques to observe enemy activity fromhot air balloons.
After World War I, Arcadia's population grew and local businesses included many chicken ranches and other agricultural activities. During the 1920s and 1930s, Arcadia began its transition to the residential city that it is today, as small farms and chicken ranches gave way to homes and numerous civic improvements, including a city library and a city hall. Scenes of many of Arcadia's interesting older sites can be viewed in a series of historic watercolors painted by local artists Edna Lenz and Justine Wishek.[15] The city was on historicU.S. Route 66, present-dayColorado Boulevard, with businesses serving travelers on it.
Thoroughbred horse racing had flourished briefly under Lucky Baldwin, who founded a racetrack adjacent to the present site, until it was outlawed by the state of California in 1909. It returned to Arcadia when racing was legalized again, with the opening ofSanta Anita Park in December 1934. ArchitectGordon Kaufmann designed its various buildings in a combination ofColonial Revival andStreamline Moderne styles.
Japanese American citizens arrive in Arcadia, relocated to the Santa Anita Assembly Center.Santa Anita Assembly Center tarpaper barracks, at theSanta Anita Park racetrack
The Santa Anita Assembly Center site isCalifornia Historical Landmark #934. In 1942 duringWorld War II, the racetrack grounds were used as a processing and holding site forJapanese Americans who had been removed from their homes and communities for forced relocation andinternment under President Franklin Roosevelt'sExecutive Order 9066. The Civilian Assembly Center at the racetrack became the largest and longest operating one of the eighteen, holding citizens until theRelocation Center camps were completed in interior areas of California and other states.[16] More than 18,000 persons resided at the racetrack in primitive conditions.[16][17] Four hundred temporary tarpaper barracks were constructed on the racetrack grounds to house many of the detainees, where they lived three families per unit. 8,500 detainees lived in converted horse stalls.[16] Bachelors were housed in the grandstand building.[16] They had group showers, non-private bathrooms, and 24-hour armed surveillance. Each resident was given an "Army manufacture bed, one blanket and one straw tick."[18] The Assembly Center held people from late March through the end of October 1942, when the internees were relocated inland topermanent internment camps atManzanar andTule Lake in California, and eight others in Western states and Arkansas.
Arcadia largely grew up as the well-to-do suburb of neighboringPasadena, with many early residents being the sons and daughters of long-established Southern California families. A large tract of estate homes was developed by Harry Chandler, the scion of theLos Angeles Times, who lived in adjacentSierra Madre, California. The city became the residence of choice for many corporate chief executives, including those in the aerospace, horse-racing, and finance industries.
The postwar boom saw Arcadia grow rapidly into a suburban residential community, with many of the chicken ranches being subdivided into home lots. Between 1940 and 1950, the population grew by more than two and a half times. The housing boom continued through the 1950s and 1960s and along with that growth came the necessary infrastructure of schools, commercial buildings, and expanded city services.
During the postwar boom, a modern commercial district developed along Baldwin Avenue south of Huntington Drive in west Arcadia. In 1951 this strip, called the West Arcadia Hub, was anchored by a new, locally ownedHinshaw's department store. This was the first large department store to be built in Arcadia, and the largest in the westernSan Gabriel Valley outside the city ofPasadena. This development marked the beginning of Arcadia's gradual transformation into one of the leading shopping districts of the San Gabriel Valley.
In 1947, 111 acres (0.45 km2) that comprised the heart of the Baldwin Ranch were deeded to the State of California and the County of Los Angeles, and developed intoLos Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden.
In October 1975, the Santa Anita Fashion Park was opened to the public on the corner of Baldwin Avenue and Huntington Drive, on part of the former Santa Anita Assembly Center site. The center court featured a very large "Blue head" by artistRoy Lichtenstein, which was later removed. The mall expanded in 2004 and was renamedWestfield Santa Anita. It was affected by theGreat Recession of the late 2000s.
James Dobson, a former Arcadia resident, founded the nonprofit Christian ministryFocus on the Family in the city in 1977. Focus on the Family is now based inColorado Springs, Colorado, but still has thousands of members in Arcadia.
In the 1980s, the Asian population in Arcadia began to grow. The city had remained 99% white until the late 1970s, but in 1985, theLos Angeles Times reported that the Asian population had grown from 4% in 1980 to an estimated 9%, overtaking Latinos, who accounted for roughly 7% of the population.[19] By the 2020 census, Asians consisted of 64.56% of the population.[20]
According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 11.1 square miles (29 km2). 10.9 square miles (28 km2) of it is land and 0.2 square miles (0.52 km2) of it (1.87%) is water.
Arcadia 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.
Including all responses for people of two or more races, 38,078 (67.2% of population) were Asian alone or in combination with one or more other races, 15,068 (26.6%) were White alone or in combination with one or more other races, 1,386 (2.4%) were Black or African American alone or in combination, 578 (1.0%) were American Indian and Alaska Native alone or in combination, 173 (0.3%) were Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone or in combination, and 5,852 (10.3%) were some other race alone or in combination with one or more other races.[39]
7,401 (13.1%) wereHispanic orLatino of any race. Of those, 1,410 (2.5% of total population) were white alone, 91 (0.2%) were Black or African American alone, 180 (0.3%) were American Indian and Alaska Native alone, 164 (0.3%) were Asian alone, 6 (0.0%) were Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, 2,919 (5.1%) were some other race alone, and 2,631 (4.6%) were two or more races.[39]
Arcadia was reported to have 20,511 housing units. 19,377 (94.5%) were occupied. Of the occupied units, 11,372 (58.7% of occupied units) were owner-occupied and 8,005 (41.3%) were renter-occupied. Of the vacant units, 347 (1.7% of total) were for rent, 51 (0.2%) were rented but not occupied, 169 (0.8%) were for sale only, 94 (0.5%) were sold but not occupied, 146 (0.7%) were for seasonal, recreational, or occasional use, and 327 (1.6%) were otherwise vacant.[39]
The median household income between 2017 and 2021 was $99,588 (2021 dollars), with 8.9% of people living in poverty. 96.7% of households had a computer between 2017 and 2021, and 94.0% had a broadband internet subscription.[40]
The2010 United States census[41] reported that Arcadia had a population of 56,364. The population density was 5,062.5 inhabitants per square mile (1,954.6/km2). The racial makeup of Arcadia was 33,353 (59.2%)Asian, 18,191 (32.3%)White, (25.7% Non-Hispanic White),[42] 681 (1.2%)African American, 186 (0.3%)Native American, 16 (0.03%)Pacific Islander, 2,352 (4.2%) fromother races, and 1,585 (2.8%) from two or more races.Hispanic orLatino of any race were 6,799 persons (12.1%).
The census reported that 55,502 people (98.5% of the population) lived in households, 639 (1.1%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 223 (0.4%) were institutionalized. There were 19,592 households, out of which 7,336 (37.4%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 11,703 (59.7%) wereopposite-sex married couples living together, 2,437 (12.4%) had a female householder with no husband present, 865 (4.4%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 469 (2.4%)unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 92 (0.5%)same-sex married couples or partnerships. 3,855 households (19.7%) were made up of individuals, and 1,926 (9.8%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.83. There were 15,005families (76.6% of all households); the average family size was 3.26.
The population was spread out, with 12,290 people (21.8%) under the age of 18, 4,102 people (7.3%) aged 18 to 24, 13,409 people (23.8%) aged 25 to 44, 17,349 people (30.8%) aged 45 to 64, and 9,214 people (16.3%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43.1 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.7 males according to the census.
There were 20,686 housing units at an average density of 1,858.0 per square mile (717.4/km2), of which 12,371 (63.1%) were owner-occupied, and 7,221 (36.9%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.1%; the rental vacancy rate was 6.7%. 37,000 people (65.6% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 18,502 people (32.8%) lived in rental housingunits.
Arcadia's economy is driven by wholesale trade, retail trade, manufacturing, health care and social assistance, arts, entertainment, and recreation. Revenue from theSanta Anita Racetrack has long supported capital improvements for the City of Arcadia, resulting in the city having very little bonded indebtedness.
The Shops at Santa Anita mall (formerly Westfield Santa Anita, formerly the Santa Anita Fashion Park) is a major shopping center in the city. In 2005, the Westfield Santa Anita completed its first phase of expansion, featuring a new food court, numerous smaller retailers, various full-service eateries in an area known as Restaurant Square, and a 16-screenAMC Theatres megaplex. In 2008, expansion of the mall continued as the Promenade outdoor structure was completed, with new high-end retailers.
In 2004, citing success from regional shopping malls such asThe Grove andThe Americana,Caruso Affiliated andMagna Entertainment (the owners of the Santa Anita Park racetrack) proposed to build a second large shopping mall adjacent to Westfield Santa Anita on the grounds of the Santa Anita Park south parking lot, which would have made Arcadia the largest retail shopping district in Los Angeles County. The controversial project, known as "The Shops at Santa Anita", originally included signature retail, restaurants, condominium projects, a decorative water display, and a horse-drawn trolley.[44] Arcadia City Council unanimously approved the project in 2007 after much heated debate between some residents in the community and corporate interests, which included ballot initiatives such as free parking for Arcadia residents, prevention of retail signage installations, and downsizing the project by the removal of condominiums from the project.[45][46] Magna Entertainment filed forChapter 11 bankruptcy during theGreat Recession in 2009 and dissolved the partnership with Caruso Affiliated, with Caruso Affiliated a filing a $21 million bankruptcy claim in 2010 to cover damages Caruso Affiliated incurred as a result of the inability to complete the project. The plan to build "The Shops at Santa Anita" was ultimately terminated on May 20, 2011.[47]
TheLos Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden is located in Arcadia across from the Santa Anita mall and racetrack. Thepeafowl that roam free on the grounds and in the neighborhoods near the arboretum are a remainder of the former Baldwin ranch. When the peafowl were brought from India, they helped control snakes and snails on his farm. They are considered an attraction to some residents and a nuisance to others due to their loud cries and the droppings they leave on residents' properties.[49][50][51][52]
Arcadia is acharter city governed by a five-member City Council, with each member serving a four-year term. The Council elects from its membership a Mayor to serve as its presiding officer for a one-year term.[53]
Effective with the 2018 elections, Arcadia voters elect a City Council member by geographical district instead of at-large.
Many films on location (including Tarzan and the Bing Crosby On the Road movies), television series, most notablyFantasy Island[67] were filmed in Arcadia. A popular visiting site is the house with the bell tower, where Tattoo rang the bell, is theQueen Anne Cottage, located in theLos Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden in Arcadia.[68] The plane, "arriving" with the guests, was filmed in the lagoon behind the Queen Anne Cottage.[67] Occasionally, outdoor scenes and commercials are filmed at the Arboretum have been filmed on the grounds[69] of the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden.
TheSanta Anita Park Racetrack is another popular filming locations. The true story filmSeabiscuit (2003) was filmed and takes place at the Santa Anita race track. A commercial forClaritin allergy medicine, aLexus commercial, and three episodes ofGrey's Anatomy have used it as a location ("Walk on Water", "Drowning on Dry Land" and "Some Kind of Miracle").[70]
The movieThe Lone Ranger (2013) filmed their train scenes here within the Santa Anita Race Track parking lot by building an elevated 'roller coaster' like track.[citation needed]
The comedy filmDeal of a Lifetime (1999) was filmed entirely at Arcadia High School.[73]
The movieMoxie (2021) was filmed at Arcadia High School's North Gym and Salter Stadium.[74]
USC Arcadia Hospital[77] sits on 22 acres (89,000 m2) of land. The 460-bed hospital opened in Arcadia in 1957, after moving from downtown Los Angeles. USC Arcadia Hospital was the state's first community hospital to have a psychiatric unit. Its nursery school was one of the first corporate daycare facilities in the U.S. It was an official hospital of the1984 Olympic Games.[citation needed] A School of Nursing opened at the hospital in 1915, and closed in 1958.[78]
The City of Arcadia provides services for water and sewer to its residents. The city operates its own water distribution system via the Public Works Services Department.[79] Arcadia's water supply comes from groundwater from municipal owned water pumps from the Main San Gabriel Basin and the Raymond Basin, both which are replenished with local rainwater and imported water.[80]
The McDonald brothers, who later began theMcDonald's hamburger restaurant chain, opened their first restaurant, The Airdrome, near Monrovia Airport, on the Arcadia–Monrovia border in 1937.[81][82]
The main setting of theDreamWorks' franchiseTales of Arcadia took place in Arcadia Oaks, a fictionalized version of Arcadia, California.
Arcadia has onesister city (Newcastle, Australia), as designated bySister Cities International. Consequently, Newcastle Park can be found on Colorado Boulevard. There is also an Arcadia Park in Newcastle.
^Reid, Hugo.The Indians of Los Angeles County: Hugo Reid's Letters of 1853. Southwest Museum, 1968
^abcdeRochlin, Michael Jacob; "Arcadian L.A.";ISBN0-9648304-8-5; published by Unreinforced Masonry Studio; 2003. pp.38–111; photographs, house and estate plans, history.
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