Lakewood, California

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Lakewood City Hall

Lakewood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 79,345 at the 2000 census. It is bordered by Long Beach on the west and south, Bellflower on the north, Cerritos on the northeast, Cypress on the east, and Hawaiian Gardens on the southeast. Major thoroughfares include Lakewood (CA/SR-19), Bellflower, and Del Amo Boulevards and Carson and South Streets. The San Gabriel River Freeway (I-605) runs through the city's eastern regions.

Sometimes called "an instant city" because of its origins—going from lima bean fields in 1950 to a well-developed city in California by 1960—Lakewood is, along with Levittown, New York, the archetypal post-World War II American suburb. The vast majority of its housing stock is small, mass-produced single-story houses on tree-lined streets, sold initially to World War II and Korean War veterans who worked in the factories of Long Beach and the South Bay. Today, while more ethnically diverse, Lakewood still has a considerable Caucasian population, compared to nearby cities such as Bellflower, Carson, and Cerritos.

City of Lakewood Seal

1 Notable Features
2 Notable Residents/Natives
3 Geography
4 Demographics
5 Emergency services
6 Education
7 External links

[edit] Notable Features

Lakewood's primary thoroughfares are mostly boulevards with landscaped medians, with frontage roads on either side in residential districts. Unlike in most similar configurations, however, access to the main road from the frontage road is only possible from infrequently spaced collector streets. This arrangement, hailed by urban planners of the day, is a compromise between the traditional urban grid and the arrangement of winding "drives" and culs-de-sac that dominates contemporary suburban and exurban design.

Lakewood is credited as a pioneer among California cities in services provision. Although it is an incorporated city, it contracts for most municipal services, with most of these provided by Los Angeles County and, to a lesser extent, by other public agencies and private industry. Lakewood was the first city in the nation to contract for all of its municipal services when Lakewood incorprated as a municipality in 1954, making it the nation's first "contract city." Many other Los Angeles suburbs, such as Cerritos and Diamond Bar, have adopted this model.

Lakewood is the home of the first Denny's Restaurant. In 1953 Harold Butler founded Danny’s Donuts, which was renamed to Denny's Restaurant in 1959.

Lakewood was named Sports Illustrated's "Sportstown USA" in 2005 for the State of California

[edit] Notable Residents/Natives

Kristen Mann, basketball player in the WNBA
Spur Posse
Jason Kapono, basketball player in the NBA, went to high school in Lakewood before going to UCLA on a scholarship.
Greg LeMond, three time Tour de France champion, was born in Lakewood.
Erick Aldalur
Charles O'Bannon, former UCLA and NBA basketball player
Ed O'Bannon, Wooden award winner at UCLA and former NBA player

Josh Childress went to Mayfair High in Lakewood.

[edit] Geography

Location of Lakewood, California

Lakewood is located at 33°50′51″N, 118°7′12″W (33.847365, -118.119889)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 24.6 km² (9.5 mi²). 24.4 km² (9.4 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (0.74%) is water.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 79,345 people, 26,853 households, and 20,542 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,248.7/km² (8,414.8/mi²). There were 27,310 housing units at an average density of 1,118.2/km² (2,896.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 62.67% White, 7.34% Black or African American, 0.60% Native American, 13.51% Asian, 0.62% Pacific Islander, 10.10% from other races, and 5.17% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 22.78% of the population.

There were 26,853 households out of which 38.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.8% were married couples living together, 13.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.5% were non-families. 18.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.95 and the average family size was 3.37.

In the city the population was spread out with 27.5% under the age of 18, 8.1% from 18 to 24, 31.1% from 25 to 44, 21.4% from 45 to 64, and 11.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 93.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.1 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $58,214, and the median income for a family was $63,342. Males had a median income of $45,447 versus $35,206 for females. The per capita income for the city was $22,095. About 5.6% of families and 7.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.3% of those under age 18 and 7.1% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] Emergency services

Fire protection in Lakewood is provided by the Los Angeles County Fire Department with ambulance transport by Care Ambulance Service and American Medical Response (AMR). The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department provides law enforcement.

[edit] Education

The city is served by four school districts:

Long Beach Unified School District
- Cleveland Elementary School
- Gompers Elementary School
- Holmes Elementary School
- MacArthur Elementary School
- Madison Elementary School
- Mark Twain Elementary School
- Monroe Elementary School
- Riley Elementary School
- Bancroft Middle School
- DeMille Middle School
- Hoover Middle School
- Jordan High School
- Lakewood High School
Paramount Unified School District
- Collins Elementary School
- Lakewood Elementary School
- Mokler Elementary School
- Paramount High School
- Paramount High School
Bellflower Unified School District
- Mayfair High School
- Stephen Foster Elementary School
- Intensive Learning Center
- Jefferson Elementary School
- Esther Lindstrom Elementary School
- Craig Williams Elementary School
- Somerset High School
ABC Unified School District
- Aloha Elementary School
- Melbourne Elementary School
- Pat Nixon Elementary School
- Palms Elementary School
- Willow Elementary School
- Haskell Junior High School
- Artesia High School
- Cerritos High School
- Richard Gahr High School