Pomona, California

Pomona is a city in Los Angeles County, California, at the western edge of the Pomona Valley branch of the Inland Empire region since nearly the entire city is physically located east of the San Jose/Puente Hills. It may also be considered part of the San Gabriel Valley since it is at the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, whenever the Los Angeles/San Bernardino County border is used as the dividing line between the San Gabriel Valley and the Inland Empire. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 149,473. In 2005, its population was estimated as 160,815 [1]. Pomona is the 5th largest city in Los Angeles County (after Los Angeles, Long Beach, Glendale, and Santa Clarita).

Pomona is well known as the location of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona). This university was established on the site of breakfast cereal magnate W.K. Kellogg's massive ranch located on the city's west side. It is also the home of the Los Angeles County fairgrounds. While a fair in the nation's most populous county might seem quaint, Cal Poly is one of several major agricultural research facilities in the state, and the fair's livestock exhibits are a noted attraction. (Other major California agriculture schools include California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, Fresno State, UC Davis, and Chico State.)

Western University of Health Sciences is located in downtown Pomona, with programs ranging from veterinary medicine to nursing to osteopathic medicine.

Pomona is not the site of Pomona College. Although this elite liberal arts institution was founded in the city in 1887, its campus has been in neighboring Claremont since 1889.

Since the 1980s, Pomona's newest neighborhood Phillips Ranch, experienced rapid growth with demands of new housing units increased. Homes are still being built in the hilly area between Downtown and Diamond Bar. Today, Phillips Ranch is nearly all residential. Northern Pomona has seen some gentrification with additional housing units added and revamped streetscapes.

Aside from Pomona's educational assets, Pomona is also known for its hosting of the NHRA Powerade Winternationals Drag Racing venue.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Demographics
4 Transportation
5 Education
6 Trivia
7 Famous people born in Pomona
8 See also
9 References
10 External links

[edit] Geography

Pomona is located at 34°3′39″N, 117°45′21″W (34.060760, -117.755886)^GR1. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 59.2 km² (22.8 mi²), all land.

Pomona is bordered by the cities of San Dimas on the northwest, La Verne and Claremont on the north, Montclair and Chino on the east, Chino Hills and Diamond Bar on the south, and Walnut, South San Jose Hills, and Industry on the southwest. The Los Angeles/San Bernardino county line forms most of the city's southern and eastern boundaries . The Pomona; SR-60, Chino Valley; SR-71, San Bernardino; I-10, and Orange; SR-57 freeways run through the city. The Riverside and San Bernardino lines of the Metrolink commuter rail service also have stops in Pomona.

[edit] History

The city is named for Pomona, the ancient Roman goddess of fruit. In typical Southern California fashion of the 1870s, boosters gave the town this name before a single orange tree had been planted within its boundaries. By the 1880s, however, the arrival of railroads and Coachella Valley water had made it the western anchor of the citrus-growing region that encompassed most of what is now known unofficially as the Inland Empire. Pomona was officially incorporated on January 1, 1888. Pomona is generally not identified as part of the Inland Empire (sometimes referred to as "the 909," although much of it has since received a new area code, "951") because it is in Los Angeles County, as opposed to being in Riverside or San Bernardino) Counties. However, because Pomona is part of the 909 telephone area code which includes many of the communities in the Inland Empire, and because of the San Jose Hills on Pomona's western city limit that creates a physical/psychological 'barrier' between Pomona and the rest of Los Angeles County, it would not be unusual to include Pomona within the definition of the Inland Empire. In 2005, Pomona citizens elected Norma Torres, the first woman of Guatemalan heritage to be elected to a mayoral post outside of Guatemala.

Pomona Fox Theater

Historic Sites in Pomona
- Abraham Lincoln Elementary School, List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles County, California
- Barbara Greenwood Kindergarten, List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles County, California
- Edison Historic District, List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles County, California
- Lincoln Park Historic District, List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles County, California
- Wilton Heights Historic District, List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles County, California
- La Casa Alvarado, List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles County, California
- La Casa Primera de Rancho San Jose, List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles County, California
- Phillips Mansion, List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles County, California
- Pomona City Stable, List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles County, California
- Pomona Fox Theater, List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles County, California
- Pomona YMCA Building, List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles County, California
- Ygnacio Palomares Adobe, List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles County, California
- La Casa Primera de Rancho San Jose, List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles County, California

[edit] Demographics

Pomona Population by year [2]
2005 160,815 2000 149,473 1990 131,723 1980 92,742 1970 87,384 1960 67,157 1950 35,405 1940 23,539 1930 20,804 1920 13,505 1910 10,207 1900 5,526 1890 3,634

Pomona is a very diverse city, with pockets of high-end housing near the Fairplex in the Ganesha Park neighborhood, well kept historic homes in the Lincoln Park, Wilton Heights, and Hacienda Park neighborhoods in the center of the city, and master planned development in the Phillips Ranch section. However, much of the southeastern part of Pomona is densely populated tracts of apartments and single family homes. These neighborhoods are fairly poor and often have high levels of gang activity, graffiti, and crime. The Downtown was moribund for decades, but has since experienced a resurgence with concert halls, nightclubs, and art galleries improving the area's nightlife. High priced lofts have been developed in the Downtown and are selling well. Downtown Pomona and other areas have trouble enticing commercial development because of the city's reputation for crime.

The majority of Pomona's population consist of Latinos, a great number from Mexico and Central America, and the main industry that attracts immigrants is manufacturing and other low-paying service jobs. There is a historically significant concentration of blacks in the northern part of town, although many of them have continued to move east to places like Rialto and Riverside. Also there is a fairly large Vietnamese American community located in south Pomona, including a Buddhist temple, and many Chinese Americans live in the city, includes young college students in the area's universities.

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 149,473 people, 37,855 households, and 29,791 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,526.8/km² (6,544.3/mi²). There were 39,598 housing units at an average density of 669.4/km² (1,733.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 41.76% White, 9.63% African American, 1.26% Native American, 7.20% Asian, 0.21% Pacific Islander, 34.93% from other races, and 5.01% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 64.47% of the population.

There were 37,855 households out of which 49.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.7% were married couples living together, 16.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.3% were non-families. 15.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.82 and the average family size was 4.22.

In the city the population was spread out with 34.6% under the age of 18, 13.0% from 18 to 24, 30.5% from 25 to 44, 15.5% from 45 to 64, and 6.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 26 years. For every 100 females there were 102.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.1 males.

The total employment for Pomona as of 2005 is 57,870. The top employers include Pomona Unified School District, California State Polytechnic University, Hamilton Sundstrund, Pomona Valley Medical Center, Lanterman Developmental Center, and Casa Colina, a large residential facility for mentally challenged persons.

The median income for a household in the city was $40,021, and the median income for a family was $40,852. Males had a median income of $30,195 versus $26,135 for females. The per capita income for the city was $13,336. About 17.1% of families and 21.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 27.4% of those under age 18 and 11.7% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] Transportation

Pomona is served by 3 mass transit systems including Metrolink, Foothill Transit, and Pomona Valley Transportation Authority.

[edit] Education

Pomona and some of the surrounding area are served by the Pomona Unified School District. Pomona has been criticized for its construction of Diamond Ranch High School in the city's more affluent area of Phillips Ranch while ignoring its other underperfoming high schools such as Garey, Ganesha and Pomona High Schools. Pomona contains a mix of both public and private schools. There are two private schools that are located on Holt Blvd, being St. Joseph Elementary School and Pomona Catholic High School. California State Polytechnic University, Pomona is located southwest of the junction of the 10 and 57 freeways.

[edit] Trivia

An I Love Lucy episode featured the main characters of the show "go out to the country" on a day trip to Pomona. This is now seen as odd due to Pomona since becoming quite urban. In 1940, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz spent their honeymoon in downtown Pomona.

In the 1940 classic "Mr. Mouse Takes A Trip" Mickey is taking a train vacation from Burbank to Pomona. The conductor, Pete, won't let him bring Pluto, so he hides Pluto in his suitcase, and tries to hide him all throughout the trip without much luck. Pete thinks he's won when Pluto is hooked by a mail hook, and Mickey follows, but the twist is they actually got off the train in Pomona, as Mickey said "Look Pluto, Pomona, we're here".

It's a myth that Walt Disney originally planned on having Disneyland built in Pomona, but the city council declined his offer, fearing that the park would not succeed and would cause the city to go into debt. According Matthew Tresaugue, former reporter for the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, it was one of 71 considered cities, but was ruled out due to temperature extremes, i.e. too hot in summer and too cold at night.

The Los Angeles County Fair, America's largest county fair in size and attendees, was established in 1922. The fair has been held continuously on the same site ever since, except during World War II when the grounds were used as Japanese American internment assembly camp, US Army ordnance and desert-training base, and POW camp.

Pomona was in line to be the capital city of the once proposed state of Southern California in the 1920s. Perhaps the city was considered "the middle of Southern California" between Los Angeles and San Bernardino.

In 1999 Pomona ranked third for the highest murder rate in California behind Compton, California and Richmond, California. Nationally, the murder rate ranked 25th in the nation. By 2006, however, Pomona has reduced its crime rate from this high. ^[1]

USA Today wrote a news article about Pomona in 2002. The article stated that "Older suburbs" have become associated with intruding urban blight. The Pomona City Council defended the City. The City Council stated that the article was "offensive." The references on crime, drugs, gangs, racial issues, and poverty rates in the article are "untrue," as defended by residents, and based more on stereotypes than the actual 2000 census data on Pomona, which shows otherwise. Pomona is described by residents as a generally safe and diverse middle-class city.

In the 2006 comedy Grandma's Boy, an American stoner film produced by Adam Sandler's production company Happy Madison, Peter Dante's permanently-stoned character decides to buy a lion in order to protect his stash of marijuana. In one scene, Dante can be seen smoking weed with an African tribesman, Dr. Shakalu, in his basement. When the main character, played by Allen Covert, asks Dante about the nature of his relationship with Dr. Shakalu, Dante indicates that he met the doctor at a cockfight in Pomona.

In the Ben Lee song Catch my disease, he refers to Pomona, "I was backstage in Pomona".

In Simpons Treehouse of Horror XVI, during the introductory scene, during the Springfield Isoptopes's game Pomona was used in a parody of 'The OC'. A poster background dipicting the word Pomona in a 'The OC' template. The announcer prompts Fox's newest endeavor 'Pomona' "it's even hotter away from the beach."

The film INLAND EMPIRE contains a monologue in which two homeless women discuss people they know in Pomona and whether or not you can get there from Los Angeles by bus.