Monterey Park, California
From Freepedia
Monterey Park is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 60,051.
Image:Cascadeswaterfallmontereypa.jpg
With a relatively large Chinese American population, Monterey Park is considered as a "Chinatown" which would be, without signs leading or indicating it as "Chinatown", indistinguishable from "American" neighborhoods. Monterey Park has not been called Chinatown as such; instead, the Chinese-dominant business district, around Garfield Avenue and Garvey Avenue, is nrow called Downtown Monterey Park. Monterey Park was billed "Little Taipei" in the 1980s or thereabouts. Many businesses from Chinatown, Los Angeles began to open up stores in Monterey Park, such as the Sam Woo BBQ Restaurant. In 2005, the large ginseng store Wing Hop Fung (a favorite in Chinatown) opened up in Monterey Park, that replaced a defunct Rite-Aid store in an aging but popular strip mall anchored by the Taiwanese American supermarket chain 99 Ranch Market.
In the 1970s and 1980s, many '49er Taiwanese immigrants began moving into Monterey Park and Mandarin Chinese was dominant in the city during that time period. By the late 1980s, however, immigrants from Mainland China and Vietnam have moved into Monterey Park as well. In 1990 census this city had the first Asian descent majority population in the United States.
From the late 1970s, with a combined influx of Vietnamese refugees and Taiwanese and Hong Kong immigrant students at the time, Mark Keppel High School (constructed during the New Deal era and located in Alhambra, but also serving Monterey Park and Rosemead) felt the impact of this new immigration as the student population increased dramatically. This led to overcrowding. Today, many students are largely second- or third-generation English-speaking Asian Americans.
Since early 1990s, the Taiwanese have been no longer dominant in the city and Cantonese Chinese is now widely spoken and heard in most Chinese businesses of Monterey Park. The construction boom of shopping centers has declined. High property values and overcrowding in Monterey Park have contributed to a secondary movement. Furthermore, most established, wealthy Taiwanese immigrants have since relocated out of Monterey Park and northward on to wealthier suburbs of San Marino, Arcadia, Temple City, South Pasadena and eastward to Rowland Heights (called the "new Little Taipei" by a local Chinese-language newspaper), Diamond Bar, Hacienda Height, and Walnut with many Chinese-speaking businesses started in those suburbs to accommodate this particular movement. Nevertheless, there are still countless Chinese-oriented businesses in Monterey Park. Development of new buildings in Monterey Park have come to a standstill and several overgrown weedy lots still remain undeveloped.
Monterey Park has several choices of Hong Kong fusion cafes (in fact, the first Hong Kong-style cafe opened in San Gabriel Valley actually started in Monterey Park, but it has since closed due to intense competition) and Cantonese seafood restaurants as well as some choices of restaurants offering Mainland Chinese noodles and dumplings. Interestingly, as the activity of Taiwanese immigrant activity shifted to San Gabriel, Arcadia and Rowland Heights in the 1980s and 1990s, very few trendy Taiwanese restaurants have opened in Monterey Park.
While the multigenerational American-born Latino population was generally declining in Monterey Park, there has been some new incoming of first-generation poor Mexican immigrants.
The Sybil Brand Institute, the county jail for women, was located in the city, but closed in 1994 after the facility had been damaged in the Northridge earthquake.
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Description
Monterey Park is located on the western part of the San Gabriel Valley, near Downtown Los Angeles.
The city boundaries include Los Angeles to the west, unincorporated East Los Angeles to the south, Alhambra to the north, Rosemead to the northeast, and unincorporated South San Gabriel to the southeast.
The city is easily accessible to the Long Beach (710) and San Bernardino (10) Freeways.
Geography
Monterey Park is located at 34°2'57" North, 118°8'8" West (34.049199, -118.135561)1.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 19.9 km² (7.7 mi²). 19.8 km² (7.6 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.04 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 0.39% water.
Demographics
As of the census2 of 2000, there are 60,051 people, 19,564 households, and 15,240 families residing in the city. The population density is 3,038.8/km² (7,869.5/mi²). There are 20,209 housing units at an average density of 1,022.6/km² (2,648.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 21.29% White, 0.38% African American, 0.65% Native American, 61.82% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 12.45% from other races, and 3.35% from two or more races. 28.91% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 19,564 households out of which 31.3% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.4% are married couples living together, 15.8% have a female householder with no husband present, and 22.1% are non-families. 17.3% of all households are made up of individuals and 8.7% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 3.06 and the average family size is 3.43.
In the city the population is spread out with 21.3% under the age of 18, 8.4% from 18 to 24, 30.2% from 25 to 44, 22.2% from 45 to 64, and 17.9% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 38 years. For every 100 females there are 92.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 89.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $40,724, and the median income for a family is $43,507. Males have a median income of $32,463 versus $29,057 for females. The per capita income for the city is $17,661. 15.6% of the population and 12.4% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 22.6% of those under the age of 18 and 9.2% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
Education
Four school districts all serve different areas of Monterey Park. They include Alhambra Unified School District, Garvey School District, Los Angeles Unified School District, and Montebello Unified School District.
Mark Keppel High School serves the Alhambra USD portion of Monterey Park.
External links
- City of Monterey Park
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Local or Yahoo! Maps
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
- Satellite image from Google Local or Microsoft Virtual Earth
