Alhambra, California

Alhambra is a city (incorporated on 11 July 1903) located in the western San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California which is approximately eight miles from the downtown Los Angeles civic center. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 85,804. The city's ZIP Codes are 91801 and 91803.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Education
4 Famous natives and residents
5 Demographics
6 External links

[edit] Geography

At 34°4′55″N, 118°8′6″W (34.081859, -118.135052)^GR1. It is bordered by South Pasadena on the northwest, San Marino on the north, San Gabriel on the east, Rosemead on the southeast, Monterey Park on the south, and the Los Angeles districts of Monterey Hills and El Sereno on the west. Major thoroughfares include Atlantic and Valley Boulevards, Mission Road, Main Street, and Garfield Avenue. The San Bernardino Freeway (I-10) runs through the city's southern portions, and the Long Beach Freeway (I-710) has its northern terminus at Valley Boulevard in the far southwestern portions of the city.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 19.7 km² (7.6 mi²), all of which is land.

[edit] History

Downtown Alhambra, Garfield and Main, 1890

Alhambra is named after Washington Irving's book Tales from the Alhambra, not after the Alhambra palace itself. [1] Alhambra was founded as a suburb of Los Angeles in 1903. Its primarily white, Midwestern nature throughout the first 60 years of its history is reflected in the fact that even today, most Southern Californians pronounce the middle syllable of the city's name as a homophone with ham, the meat.

Alhambra existed as an unincorporated area during the mid-1800s. The city high school, Alhambra High School, was established in 1898, five years before the city's incorporation. The Alhambra Fire Department was established three years later, in 1906.

Alhambra, 1920

From World War II onward, Alhambra and other cities in the western San Gabriel Valley saw a considerable influx of persons of Mexican ancestry, primarily in the form of upwardly mobile families moving up from less affluent Latino areas such as Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles. In the 1950s, numerous Italian-American families also settled in largely Alhambra, having left the working-class Lincoln Heights district in inner-city Los Angeles.

Since the 1970s and 1980s, the city's proximity to Asian American–dominated Monterey Park has attracted many East Asian immigrants (initially from Taiwan and Vietnam, but now largely from Hong Kong and Mainland China). A very active Chinese business district has since developed on Valley Boulevard, after building restriction in adjacent Monterey Park forced developers to move into Alhambra. included are a stretch of Chinese supermarkets, restaurants, shops, banks, realtors, medical offices servicing the fairly diverse Chinese populations. The growing ethnic Chinese influence is also felt in the redevelopment of the city's Main Street area due north, although Main Street continues to cater to predominantly American tastes. The Asian immigrants settling in Alhambra are generally of a lower socioeconomic background, as most are of the immigrant class, though this is certainly not the rule: many immigrate to Alhambra to take advantage of the strong financial partnership that has been established between Alhambra and East Asia, this is particularly evidenced as various Chinese banks maintain branches on Valley Blvd. In 1992 the cities of Alhambra and Monterey Park jointly held the first Chinese new year parade on Valley Blvd but subsequent conflicts with both municipalities caused the city of Alhambra to hold the parade with the city of San Gabriel in following years.

The former Garfield Theatre (on Valley Blvd and Garfield) was purchased and was run the Chinese-language film. A few years later in 2001, the theater went out of business and developers remodeling the historic dilapidated building into a vibrant commercial center with many Chinese stores and eateries.

Since the 1960s, Alhambra has suffered from traffic congestion as a result of unfettered growth that has seen many single-family homes replaced with multi-family complexes. South Pasadena's success in blocking the completion of the Long Beach Freeway has led to significant friction between the two municipalities.

[edit] Education

Alhambra is home to the University of Southern California's Health Sciences Alhambra campus, site of the university's Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research (IPR) and USC's master's degree program in public health.

Alhambra is served by Alhambra Unified School District, which includes Alhambra High School, San Gabriel High School and Mark Keppel High School.

Alhambra is home to the Los Angeles campus of Alliant International University.

[edit] Famous natives and residents

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 85,804 people, 29,111 households, and 20,668 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,347.7/km² (11,257.3/mi²). There were 30,069 housing units at an average density of 1,523.6/km² (3,945.0/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 30.02% White, 1.67% Black or African American, 0.72% Native American, 47.22% Asian, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 16.25% from other races, and 4.01% from two or more races. 35.49% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 29,111 households out of which 33.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.3% were married couples living together, 16.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.0% were non-families. 22.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.88 and the average family size was 3.41.

In the city the population was spread out with 22.3% under the age of 18, 9.7% from 18 to 24, 34.0% from 25 to 44, 20.7% from 45 to 64, and 13.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 89.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.8 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $39,213, and the median income for a family was $43,245. Males had a median income of $33,847 versus $29,122 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,350. About 11.5% of families and 14.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.2% of those under age 18 and 10.6% of those age 65 or over.