History, points of interest and recreation

History, points of interest and recreation in the 32nd Congressional District.

Here you may learn more about the history of the San Gabriel Valley and find some new ways to spend your free time.

Angeles National Forest and the San Gabriel River
Whittier Narrows Recreation Area
Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area

Points of interest by city (parks, museums, etc)

Azusa
Baldwin Park
City Terrace
Covina
Duarte
East Los Angeles
El Monte
El Sereno (Los Angeles)
Irwindale
Monterey Park
Rosemead
South El Monte
West Covina

History

The history of the San Gabriel Valley is long and varied, with the area inhabited in pre-colonial times by the Tongva, part of the Uto-Aztecan family of Native Americans. The language of the Tongva people living in the area was different from that of their neighboring tribes, and was called Gabrielino by the Spanish, who first arrived off the shores of Southern California in 1542.

The San Gabriel Valley and the native Gabrielino tribe take their name from the San Gabriel River, which divides the Valley roughly at midpoint from north to south, and which was itself named after Mission San Gabriel Archangel, founded by Spanish missionaries in 1771.

The Battle of Rio San Gabriel, a decisive conflict during the Mexican-American War, was fought on the banks of the Rio Hondo in the San Gabriel Valley on January 8, 1847. It is considered the last armed conflict between Mexico and the United States for possession of California, and essentially gave the U.S. control of Los Angeles and all of Alta California.
The region’s diverse culture was already blooming by the mid-19th century, as Chinese, Japanese, Filipino and South Asian immigrants added to the influx of American pioneers and already established Mexican “Californios.” Many of these immigrants came to the region to work its fertile soil, picking grapes and citrus fruit and begin to build the San Gabriel Valley’s infrastructure. By the early 20th Century, the Valley was a major center for citrus production and export, with brand names associated with the San Gabriel Valley making their way across the nation and beyond.

By the 1940s and 50s, with the postwar period and the birth of the Baby Boomer generation, the San Gabriel Valley began the transition from a mainly agricultural, rural region to suburban bedroom communities. At the same time, the boom in the aerospace industry resulting from the Cold War, combined with the discovery of oil in the Montebello Hills, led to economic expansion and a boom in industry and manufacturing in the Valley, with Standard Oil and key major aerospace contractors such as Aerojet, Raytheon, Northrop-Grumman and many others opening plants and facilities in the area. An unfortunate side-effect of this industrial growth was the pollution of local groundwater with perchlorate and other chemicals associated with rocket and aircraft manufacture, leading to the declaration of a federal Superfund site and ongoing water cleanup operations in Baldwin Park, Irwindale and surrounding areas.

1957 saw the opening of the San Bernardino Freeway, connecting the San Gabriel Valley to Los Angeles’ pioneering freeway system and the nation’s Interstate system, and hastening the transition from rural to suburban, commuter communities. The 1960s and ‘70s were marked by an increase in influence by the region’s sizable ethnic minorities, with Chicano Movement protests by local Mexican Americans in El Monte in the 1960s and an influx of Taiwanese, Chinese and Hong Kong immigrants into the areas of Monterey Park, Rosemead, Alhambra, San Gabriel and beyond.

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