} El Monte (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

for "The Mountain") is a city in

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...

, United States. The city lies in the

San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley ( es, Valle de San Gabriel) is one of the principal valleys of Southern California, lying immediately to the east of the eastern city limits of the city of Los Angeles, and occupying the vast majority of the eastern part ...

, east of the city of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. El Monte's slogan is "Welcome to Friendly El Monte" and is historically known as "The End of the Santa Fe Trail". As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 109,450, down from 113,475 at the 2010 census. As of 2020, El Monte was the 64th-largest city in California.

Origin of name

El Monte is situated between the San Gabriel and Rio Hondo Rivers; a marshy area roughly where the

Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area The Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area is a county park located in Irwindale, California, USA, in the San Gabriel Valley, inside the Santa Fe Dam. The park and dam are nestled among gravel quarries in the area, many of which are currently inactive. The ...

is now located. Residents claimed that anything could be grown in the area. Between 1770 and 1830, Spanish soldiers and missionaries often stopped here for respite. They called the area 'El Monte,' which in Spanish means 'the mountain' or 'the mount'. Most people assume the name refers to a mountain, but there were no mountains in the valley. The word is an archaic Spanish translation of that era, meaning "the wood". The first explorers had found this a rich, low-altitude land blanketed with thick growths of wispy willows, alders, and cattails, located between the two rivers. Wild grapevines and watercress also abounded. El Monte is approximately 7 miles long and 4 miles wide. When the State Legislature organized California into more manageable designated townships in the 1850s, they called it the El Monte Township. In a short time the name returned to the original El Monte.

History

The area, beside the San Gabriel River, is part of the homeland of the

Tongva people The Tongva ( ) are an Indigenous people of California from the Los Angeles Basin and the Southern Channel Islands, an area covering approximately . Some descendants of the people prefer Kizh as an endonym that, they argue, is more historicall ...

as it has been for thousands of years. The Spanish

Portolá expedition thumbnail, 250px, Point of San Francisco Bay Discovery The Portolá expedition ( es, Expedición de Portolá) was a Spanish voyage of exploration in 1769–1770 that was the first recorded European land entry and exploration of the interior of ...

of missionaries and soldiers passed through the area in 1769–1770. Mission San Gabriel Arcángel was the center of colonial activities in the area. The site was within the

Mexican land grant The Spanish and Mexican governments made many concessions and land grants in Alta California (now known as California) and Baja California from 1775 to 1846. The Spanish Concessions of land were made to retired soldiers as an inducement for ...

Rancho La Puente Rancho La Puente was a ranch in the southern San Gabriel Valley that measured just under , and remained intact from its establishment in the late 1700s as an outpost of Mission San Gabriel until about 1870. By modern landmarks, the ranch extended ...

19th Century

The Old Spanish Trail trade route was first established by

Antonio Armijo Antonio Mariano Armijo (1804–1850) was a Spanish explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of ...

in 1829. It passed through El Monte to its terminus at the Mission San Gabriel via what is now Valley Boulevard. The trade was woolen and other products from New Mexico for California horses and mules. Using the Old Spanish Trail route at the end of 1841, a group of travelers and settlers, now referred to as the Workman-Rowland Party, arrived in the

Pueblo of Los Angeles In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spai ...

and this area in

Alta California Alta California ('Upper California'), also known as ('New California') among other names, was a province of New Spain, formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but ...

from Santa Fe de Nuevo México. Rowland and Workman became grantees of the Rancho La Puente in 1845. The Old Spanish Trail from Santa Fe was continued east via the

Santa Fe Trail The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century route through central North America that connected Franklin, Missouri, with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1821 by William Becknell, who departed from the Boonslick region along the Missouri River, th ...

trade route, established in 1821 as a trail and wagon road connecting Kansas City in

Missouri Territory The Territory of Missouri was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from June 4, 1812, until August 10, 1821. In 1819, the Territory of Arkansas was created from a portion of its southern area. In 1821, a southea ...

to Santa Fe, still within México. OldSpanishTrail

From 1847, the Santa Fe Trail was also connected westward through the

Southern Emigrant Trail :''The Southern Emigrant Trail should not be confused with the Applegate Trail, which is part of the Northern Emigrant Trails.'' Southern Emigrant Trail, also known as the Gila Trail, the Kearny Trail, Southern Trail and the Butterfield Stage ...

, and in 1848 by the

Mormon Road Mormon Road, also known to the 49ers as the Southern Route, of the California Trail in the Western United States, was a seasonal wagon road pioneered by a Mormon party from Salt Lake City, Utah led by Jefferson Hunt, that followed the route of ...

from Utah, passing by the El Monte area, to the Pueblo of Los Angeles. Immigrant settlement began in 1848, El Monte was a stopping place for the American immigrants going to the gold fields during the

California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...

. The first permanent residents arrived in El Monte around 1849-1850 mostly from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

and

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, during a time when thousands migrated to California in search of gold. The first settlers with families were Nicholas Schmidt, Ira W. Thompson, G. and F. Cuddeback, J. Corbin, and J. Sheldon. These migrants ventured upon the bounty of fruitful, rich land along the San Gabriel River and began to build homesteads there. The farmers were very pleased at the increasing success of El Monte's agricultural community, and it steadily grew over the years. In the 1850s the settlement was briefly named Lexington by American settlers, but soon returned to being called El Monte or Monte. It was at the crossroad of routes between Los Angeles,

San Bernardino San Bernardino (; Spanish for "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 cen ...

, and the natural harbor at San Pedro. In the early days, it had a reputation as a rough town where men often settled disputes with knives and guns in its gambling saloons. Defense against Indian raids and the crimes of bandit gangs, such as that of

Joaquin Murrieta Joaquin Murrieta Carrillo (sometimes spelled Murieta or Murietta) (1829 – July 25, 1853), also called the Robin Hood of the West or the Robin Hood of El Dorado, was a Mexican-American figure of disputed historicity. The novel '' The Life and A ...

, led to the formation of a local militia company called the Monte Rangers in February 1854. After the Monte Rangers disbanded, justice for

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...

, in the form of volunteer

posse Posse is a shortened form of posse comitatus, a group of people summoned to assist law enforcement. The term is also used colloquially to mean a group of friends or associates. Posse may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Posse'' (1975 ...

s, as in the 1857 hunt for the bandit gang of Juan Flores and Pancho Daniel, or a

lynching Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...

, was often provided by the local vigilantes called the "El Monte Boys". In 1858 the adobe Monte Station was established, a stagecoach stop on the Butterfield Overland Mail Section 2 route. By 1861 El Monte had become a sizeable settlement, and during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

was considered a Confederate stronghold sympathetic to the

secession Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics le ...

of Southern California from California to support the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...

. A. J. King an Undersheriff of Los Angeles County (and former member of the earlier "Monte Rangers" or "Monte Boys") with other influential men in El Monte, formed a secessionist militia company, like the

Los Angeles Mounted Rifles California's involvement in the American Civil War included sending gold east to support the war effort, recruiting volunteer combat units to replace regular U.S. Army units sent east, in the area west of the Rocky Mountains, maintaining and b ...

, called the Monte Mounted Rifles on March 23, 1861. However, the attempt failed when following the

battle of Fort Sumter The Battle of Fort Sumter (April 12–13, 1861) was the bombardment of Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina by the South Carolina militia. It ended with the surrender by the United States Army, beginning the American Civil War. Follo ...

, A. J. King marched through the streets with a portrait of the Confederate General P. G. T. Beauregard and was arrested by a

U.S. Marshal The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The USMS is a bureau within the U.S. Department of Justice, operating under the direction of the Attorney General, but serves as the enforce ...

. State arms sent from Governor John G. Downey for the unit were held up by Union officers at the port of San Pedro. Union troops established New Camp Carleton near the town in March 1862 to suppress any rebellion, it was shut down three years later at the end of the war. El Monte was listed as a township in the 1860 and 1870 Censuses, with a population of 1,004 in 1860 and 1,254 in 1870. The 1860 township comprised several of the old ranchos in the El Monte area, including Rancho Potrero Grande,

and

Rancho La Merced Rancho La Merced was a Mexican land grant in present day Los Angeles County, California given in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to Casilda Soto de Lobo. The name means "Mercy of God". The northwest section of Montebello and the southea ...

. (This area presently includes the cities of El Monte, Monterey Park and

La Puente La Puente (Spanish for "The Bridge") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city had a population of 39,816 at the 2010 census and is approximately east of downtown Los Angeles. History The original inhabitants of the ...

, among others). The 1870 census added in the former Azusa township.

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

built a railroad depot in town in 1873, stimulating the growth of local agriculture.

20th Century

El Monte was incorporated as a municipality in 1912. During the 1930s, the city became a vital site for the

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...

's federal Subsistence Homestead project, a

Resettlement Administration The Resettlement Administration (RA) was a New Deal U.S. federal agency created May 1, 1935. It relocated struggling urban and rural families to communities planned by the federal government. On September 1, 1937, it was succeeded by the Farm Se ...

program that helped grant single-family ranch houses to qualifying applicants. It became home to many 1930s white Americans from the

Dust Bowl The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The phenomenon was caused by a combination of both natural factors (severe drought) an ...

Migration. Photographer

Dorothea Lange Dorothea Lange (born Dorothea Margaretta Nutzhorn; May 26, 1895 – October 11, 1965) was an American documentary photographer and photojournalist, best known for her Depression-era work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). Lange' ...

took over a dozen photographs of the newly built Homestead homes for her work for the

Farm Security Administration The Farm Security Administration (FSA) was a New Deal agency created in 1937 to combat rural poverty during the Great Depression in the United States. It succeeded the Resettlement Administration (1935–1937). The FSA is famous for its small but ...

in Feb. 1936. Lange stopped in El Monte a month before she took her most well-known photograph from the period, the

Migrant Mother ''Migrant Mother'' is a photograph taken in 1936 in Nipomo, California by American photographer Dorothea Lange during her spell at the Resettlement Administration (later the Farm Security Administration). Since then, the photograph has become an ...

. "In contrast to the apparently positive scene in El Monte... in San Luis Obispo County, Lange captured a far gloomier scene of a Native-American mother with her children." San Gabriel Valley in Time observed. The area also experienced social and labor conflict during this period, as the El Monte Berry Strike of 1933 shed light upon

institutional racism Institutional racism, also known as systemic racism, is a form of racism that is embedded in the laws and regulations of a society or an organization. It manifests as discrimination in areas such as criminal justice, employment, housing, health ...

experienced by Japanese tenant farmers and Latino farm laborers. The city has evolved into a majority

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

community.Shyong, Frank (December 13, 2014
"San Gabriel Valley's El Monte getting a boost from Chinese investors"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' Representing the historical significance of the

, El Monte built the Santa Fe Trail Historical Park in 1989, at Valley Blvd and Santa Anita Ave. The trail remained America's greatest route for several decades thereafter. The El Monte Historical Museum at 3150 Tyler Avenue is considered to be one of the best community museums in the state of California.

21st Century

By 2008 there had been an influx of Asians into El Monte. Bang Tran, a resident of

Monrovia Monrovia () is the capital city of the West African country of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic coast and as of the 2008 census had 1,010,970 residents, home to 29% of Liberia’s total population. As the ...

and a former El Monte resident quoted in the ''

'', stated that year that there was overpopulation in

Alhambra The Alhambra (, ; ar, الْحَمْرَاء, Al-Ḥamrāʾ, , ) is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. It is one of the most famous monuments of Islamic architecture and one of the best-preserved palaces of the ...

, Monterey Park, and other nearby heavily Asian municipalities; this is why Asians began moving to El Monte.

Geography

El Monte is located at (34.073276, -118.027491). According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the city has a total area of , of which of it is land and of it (0.89%) is water.

Climate

El Monte has a

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Csa'').

Demographics

The population has increased by more than 40% since the 1970s, with homes replacing the walnut groves for which the city was known. There is historically a large Mexican and Latino community in El Monte.

2010

The

2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...

reported that El Monte had a population of 113,475. The population density was . The racial makeup of El Monte was 44,058 (38.8%)

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

(4.9% Non-Hispanic White), 870 (0.8%)

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 1,083 (1.0%) Native American, 28,503 (25.1%)

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

(13.5% Chinese, 7.4% Vietnamese, 1.2% Filipino, 0.4% Cambodian, 0.2% Burmese, 0.2% Japanese, 0.2% Korean, 0.2% Indian, 0.2% Thai), 131 (0.1%)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe the original p ...

, 35,205 (31.0%) from

other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...

, and 3,625 (3.2%) from two or more races. 78,317 (69.0%) of the population is

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

of any race (60.9% Mexican, 2.3% Salvadoran, 1.2% Guatemalan, 0.4% Nicaraguan, 0.3% Honduran, 0.3% Cuban, 0.2% Puerto Rican, and 0.2% Peruvian). The Census reported that 112,395 people (99.0% of the population) lived in households, 317 (0.3%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 763 (0.7%) were institutionalized. There were 27,814 households, out of which 14,557 (52.3%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 15,087 (54.2%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 5,298 (19.0%) had a female householder with no husband present, 2,962 (10.6%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 2,061 (7.4%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 161 (0.6%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 3,130 households (11.3%) were made up of individuals, and 1,539 (5.5%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 4.04. There were 23,347

families Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideall ...

(83.9% of all households); the average family size was 4.23. The population was spread out, with 32,234 people (28.4%) under the age of 18, 12,814 people (11.3%) aged 18 to 24, 33,263 people (29.3%) aged 25 to 44, 24,567 people (21.6%) aged 45 to 64, and 10,597 people (9.3%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31.6 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.4 males. There were 29,069 housing units at an average density of , of which 11,740 (42.2%) were owner-occupied, and 16,074 (57.8%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.4%; the rental vacancy rate was 4.6%. 46,802 people (41.2% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 65,593 people (57.8%) lived in rental housing units. According to the 2010 United States Census, El Monte had a median household income of $39,535, with 24.3% of the population living below the federal poverty line.

2000

As of the census of 2000, there were 115,965 people, 27,034 households, and 23,005 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 27,758 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 72.39% of the population were

of any race, 35.67%

, 4.9% White Persons not Hispanic, 0.77%

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

, 1.38% Native American, 18.51%

, 0.12%

, 39.27% from

, and 4.29% from two or more races.

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

and

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

were the most common ancestries. There were 27,034 households, out of which 53.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.0% were married couples living together, 18.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 14.9% were non-families. 10.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 4.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 4.24 and the average family size was 4.43. In the city, the population were 34.1% under the age of 18, 12.1% from 18 to 24, 31.5% from 25 to 44, 15.4% from 45 to 64, and 6.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 27 years. For every 100 females, there were 102.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.0 males. The median

income Income is the consumption and saving opportunity gained by an entity within a specified timeframe, which is generally expressed in monetary terms. Income is difficult to define conceptually and the definition may be different across fields. For ...

for a household in the city was $32,439, and the median income for a family was $32,402. Males had a median income of $21,789 versus $19,818 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the city was $10,316. About 22.5% of families and 26.1% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 33.9% of those under age 18 and 13.3% of those age 65 or over.

Government

Municipal government

The El Monte City Council has seven members—an elected Mayor and six council members elected by districts. The Mayor and City Council are elected by the voters of El Monte and are responsible for overseeing the delivery of local government services to the residents of the city. The City Manager is Alma Martinez.

State and federal representation

In the

California State Senate The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature, the lower house being the California State Assembly. The State Senate convenes, along with the State Assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, Cal ...

, El Monte is in . In the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The A ...

, it is split between , and . In the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

, El Monte is in .

Public safety

The City of El Monte has its own police department and contracts with the Los Angeles County Fire Department for fire services and emergency medical response. The El Monte Police Department consists of 117 sworn police officers who provide emergency services to the citizens of El Monte. The current Chief of Police is Jake Fisher The City of El Monte Neighborhood Services Division provides enforcement of health and safety, municipal codes, zoning and building codes. Five Neighborhood Services Officers respond to complaints and pro-actively address violations. The Animal Control Division is also part of the Neighborhood Services Division. Animal Control Officers respond to all calls related to animals.

Economy

According to the city's 2018 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:

Cathay Bank Cathay Bank () is an American bank founded in 1962. Cathay is headquartered in Chinatown, Los Angeles, with a corporate center in nearby El Monte, California. It has branches in California, Massachusetts, New York, Texas, Washington, I ...

has a corporate center in El Monte. https://www.ci.el-monte.ca.us/DocumentCenter/View/3679/City-of-El-Monte-CAFR-2019-FINAL-PDF

Education

The

El Monte Union High School District The El Monte Union High School District (EMUHSD) is a public high school district headquartered in El Monte, California. The district employs 623 certificated employees and 625 classified employees. The professional staff provides educational pr ...

consists of the following schools: * Arroyo High School *

El Monte High School El Monte High School in El Monte, California, is a public high school of the El Monte Union High School District. It is one of the oldest high schools in the San Gabriel Valley. Founded in 1901, it began operation in a single, upstairs classroom i ...

* Mountain View High School *

South El Monte High School South El Monte High School is a high school in South El Monte, California in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It is a part of the El Monte Union High School District. Asahi Gakuen Asahi Gakuen (あさひ学園 "School of the Rising Sun"), or ...

Fernando R. Ledesma High School Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa, the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka. It is equivalent to the G ...

, Formerly known as Valle Lindo Continuation School * Rosemead High School *

El Monte-Rosemead Adult School EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...

The

El Monte City School District The El Monte City School District is in El Monte, California } El Monte ( Spanish for "The Mountain") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city lies in the San Gabriel Valley, east of the city of Los Angeles. El Mo ...

contains 17 elementary schools: one serving grades K-4, one serving grades K-5, ten serving grades K-6, and six serving grades K-8. The district also administers four Head Start (preschool) sites, which are located at the elementary schools. * Cherrylee Elementary School * Columbia Elementary School * Cortada Elementary School * Durfee Elementary School * Gidley Elementary School * Legore Elementary School * Mulhall Elementary School * New Lexington Elementary School * Norwood Elementary School * Potrero Elementary School * Rio Vista Elementary School * Shirpser Elementary School * Thompson, (Byron E.) Elementary School * Wilkerson Elementary School * Wright Elementary School * Cleminson Elementary School * Rio Hondo Elementary School The Mountain View School District is a K-8 school district comprising ten elementary schools, one intermediate school, one middle school, an alternative education program for students in grades 5–8, and a Children's Center and Head Start/ State Preschool program. The district has an enrollment of 8,600 students. * Baker Elementary School * Cogswell Elementary School * Kranz Intermediate School * La Primaria Elementary School * Madrid Middle School * Maxson Elementary School * Miramonte Elementary School * Monte Vista Elementary School * Parkview Elementary School * Payne Elementary School * Twin Lakes Elementary School * Voorhis Elementary School * Magnolia Learning Center * Children's Center/Head Start/State Preschool

Transportation

El Monte is served by

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

Foothill Transit Foothill Transit is a public transit agency that is government funded by 22 member cities in the San Gabriel and Pomona valleys. It operates a fixed-route bus public transit service in the San Gabriel Valley region of eastern Los Angeles Cou ...

, and the city-operated El Monte Transit. Metro's Silver Line ends at

El Monte Station El Monte Station is a large regional bus station in the city of El Monte, California, United States, adjacent to Interstate 10, serving the Metro J Line, Foothill Transit, Greyhound Lines, and El Monte Transit. It is the Metro J Line's easter ...

. Train service to El Monte is provided by Metrolink's

San Bernardino Line The San Bernardino Line is a Metrolink (Southern California), Metrolink line running between Downtown Los Angeles east through the San Gabriel Valley and the Inland Empire (California), Inland Empire to San Bernardino, California, San Bernardino, ...

, which stops at the

El Monte station El Monte Station is a large regional bus station in the city of El Monte, California, United States, adjacent to Interstate 10, serving the Metro J Line, Foothill Transit, Greyhound Lines, and El Monte Transit. It is the Metro J Line's easter ...

Interstate 10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost cross-country highway in the American Interstate Highway System. I-10 is the fourth-longest Interstate in the United States at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. This freeway is part of the originally pl ...

traverses El Monte.

San Gabriel Valley Airport San Gabriel Valley Airport (formerly El Monte Airport) is a public airport north of El Monte, in Los Angeles County, California, United States. In November 2014, its name was changed from El Monte Airport to San Gabriel Valley Airport. The F ...

, a general aviation airport, is located in El Monte.

Health services

The

Los Angeles County Department of Health Services Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (abbreviated DHS and LADHS) operates the public hospitals and clinics in Los Angeles County, and is the United States' second largest municipal health system, after NYC Health + Hospitals. DHS op ...

operates the Monrovia Health Center in

, serving El Monte. The El Monte Comprehensive Health and Mammography Center is located on Ramona Blvd. in El Monte. It offers medical and dental services for low-income individuals, but is not an emergency center.

Media

El Monte community news is provided by the ''

San Gabriel Valley Tribune The ''San Gabriel Valley Tribune'' is a paid daily newspaper located in Monrovia, California, that serves the central and eastern San Gabriel Valley. It operated at the West Covina location from 1955 to 2015. The ''Tribune'' is a member of Souther ...

'' which is published daily. Other local newspapers include ''Mid-Valley News'' and ''El Monte Examiner'' which are both published weekly.

In popular culture

El Monte is credited with being the birthplace of TV variety shows. ''Hometown Jamboree'', a KTLA-TV Los Angeles-based show, was produced at the American Legion Stadium in El Monte, California in the 1950s. The Saturday night stage show was hosted and produced by

Cliffie Stone Clifford Gilpin Snyder (March 1, 1917 – January 17, 1998), professionally Cliffie Stone, was an American country music, country singer, musician, record producer, Music publisher (popular music), music publisher, and radio and TV personality ...

, who helped popularize country music in California. In the 1950s, as the unstable racial climate and the hostility toward rock & roll started to merge, rock & roll shows were forced from the City of Los Angeles by police pressure. The El Monte Legion Stadium, outside the city limits, became the site of a series for rock and roll concerts by

Johnny Otis Johnny Otis (born Ioannis Alexandres Veliotes; December 28, 1921 – January 17, 2012) was an American singer, musician, composer, bandleader, record producer, and talent scout. He was a seminal influence on American R&B and rock and roll. He ...

and other performers. (Johnny Otis along with

Alan Freed Albert James "Alan" Freed (December 15, 1921 – January 20, 1965) was an American disc jockey. He also produced and promoted large traveling concerts with various acts, helping to spread the importance of rock and roll music throughout Nor ...

and

Dick Clark Richard Wagstaff Clark (November 30, 1929April 18, 2012) was an American radio and television personality, television producer and film actor, as well as a cultural icon who remains best known for hosting ''American Bandstand'' from 1956 to 198 ...

were the major powers in the growing rock and roll industry.) During the fifties, teenagers from all over Southern California flocked to El Monte Legion Stadium every Friday and Saturday night to see their favorite performers. Famous singers who performed there include:

Ritchie Valens Richard Steven Valenzuela (May 13, 1941 – February 3, 1959), known professionally as Ritchie Valens, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens was killed i ...

, Rosie & the Originals,

Brenton Wood Alfred Jesse Smith (born July 26, 1941), better known as Brenton Wood, is an American singer and songwriter known for his two 1967 hit song, hit single (music), singles, "The Oogum Boogum Song" (peaking at No. 34 on the US ''Billboard (magazin ...

Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million re ...

The Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

Dick Dale Richard Anthony Monsour (May 4, 1937 – March 16, 2019), known professionally as Dick Dale, was an American rock guitarist. He was a pioneer of surf music, drawing on Middle Eastern music scale (music), scales and experimenting with reverb eff ...

and his Del-Tones and Johnny "Guitar" Watson. Disc jockeys Art Laboe and

Huggy Boy James "Dick" Hugg (also known as "Huggy Boy") (June 9, 1928 – August 30, 2006) was a radio disc jockey in Los Angeles, California. Rock and Roll Hugg was the first white disc jockey to broadcast (on station KRKD) from the front window of ...

enhanced the stadium's popularity with their highly publicized Friday Night Dances with many popular record artists of the late 1950s and 1960s. "El Monte Legion Stadium", as it was often called, was the "Happening" place to be for the teenagers of that era. In a closed-circuit telecast, a recorded performance of

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

, the

Beach Boys A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...

, and Lesly Gore aired in the El Monte Legion Stadium from Mar. 14 - 15, 1964. El Monte is known for the long-time rock & roll hit "

Memories of El Monte "Memories of El Monte" is a doo-wop metasong released in 1963 by the Penguins featuring Cleve Duncan. It was written by Frank Zappa and Ray Collins before they were in the Mothers of Invention. The song was first released as Original Sound 27. ...

", written by

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

and originally recorded by

The Penguins ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

, one of the local

Doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...

groups from the 1950s that became famous nationwide. The song is in remembrance of The El Monte Legion Stadium and can be heard on many albums including ''Art Laboe's Memories of El Monte''. Although the stadium closed their doors nearly 50 years ago, the music continues to live on. El Monte was the birthplace of singer–guitarist

Mary Ford Mary Ford (born Iris Colleen Summers; July 7, 1924 – September 30, 1977) was an American vocalist and guitarist, comprising half of the husband-and-wife musical team Les Paul and Mary Ford. Between 1950 and 1954, the couple had 16 top-ten hi ...

, of

Les Paul and Mary Ford Les Paul and Mary Ford were a popular 1950s husband-and-wife musical duo who performed and recorded during 1945–1963. They both sang and played guitars. Ford and Paul were music superstars during the first half of the 1950s, putting out 28 hit ...

fame. John Larkin, known as (

Scatman John John Paul Larkin (March 13, 1942 – December 3, 1999), known professionally as Scatman John, was an American musician. A prolific jazz pianist and vocalist for several decades, he rose to prominence during the 1990s through his fusion of scat s ...

), is also a native. El Monte was home to musicians Gregg Myers and Joe McDonald, who performed in the 1960s with Country Joe and the Fish. Leo the MGM lion 1928

A popular attraction from 1925 to 1942 was Gay's Lion Farm. Two European retired circus stars, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Gay, operated this tourist attraction, which has been called "the Disneyland of the 1920s and 1930s" by historian Jack Barton, and many others of that era. The Gays raised wild animals for use in the motion picture industry and housed over 200 African lions. Many of the lions starred in films during the 1920s and 1930s, including the

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

films starring

Elmo Lincoln Elmo Lincoln (born Otto Elmo Linkenhelt; February 6, 1889June 27, 1952) was an American stage and film actor whose career in motion pictures spanned the silent and sound eras. He performed in over 100 screen productions between 1913 and 1952 and ...

and

Johnny Weissmuller Johnny Weissmuller (born Johann Peter Weißmüller; June 2, 1904 – January 20, 1984) was an American Olympic swimmer, water polo player and actor. He was known for having one of the best competitive swimming records of the 20th century. H ...

. The

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

lion logo was made with two lions from the farm, "Slats" (1924–1927), and his lookalike successor "Jackie" (1928-1956). Another one of the farm's famous lions was Numa, who appeared in several films throughout the 1920s, including Charlie Chaplin's "The Circus." In 1925, El Monte Union High School adopted "The Lions" name for its teams, and the Gays provided a lion mascot for big games. The famous live lion farm was closed temporarily due to wartime meat shortages. It never reopened, but a life-sized memorial statue can be seen next to I-10 on the SE corner of Valley Boulevard and Peck Road. The original lion statue, commissioned for the Farm, stands in front of nearby

. Horse racing's most famous jockey,

Willie Shoemaker William Lee Shoemaker (August 19, 1931 – October 12, 2003) was an American jockey. For 29 years he held the world record for total professional jockey victories. Early life Referred to as "Bill", "Willie," and "The Shoe", William Lee Sh ...

, was a resident and attended El Monte High School, until he dropped out to work in the nearby stables. El Monte was also briefly the home to author

James Ellroy Lee Earle "James" Ellroy (born March 4, 1948) is an American crime fiction writer and essayist. Ellroy has become known for a telegrammatic prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, sta ...

until his mother Geneva was murdered there in 1958. Former baseball player

Fred Lynn Fredric Michael Lynn (born February 3, 1952) is an American former professional baseball player who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1974 through 1990 as a center fielder with the Boston Red Sox, California Angels, Baltimore Orioles, Det ...

was a resident of El Monte. Actor-filmmaker

Timothy Carey Timothy Agoglia Carey (March 11, 1929 – May 11, 1994) was an American film and television character actor. Carey was best known for portraying manic or violent characters who are driven to extremes. Career He made his screen debut with a ...

filmed much of his underground feature ''The World's Greatest Sinner'' (1962) in El Monte. Modern authors Salvador Plascencia, 33, and Michael Jaime-Becerra, 36, both grew up in El Monte and each references El Monte in his novels.

Mister Ed ''Mister Ed'' is an American television sitcom produced by Filmways that aired in syndication from January 5 to July 2, 1961, and then on CBS from October 1, 1961, to February 6, 1966. The show's title character is a talking horse which orig ...

, the palomino of the classic 1960s television show, was foaled in 1949 in El Monte and named "Bamboo Harvester".

Notable people

Cris Abrego Cris Abrego is an American television producer, writer, and former CEO oEndemol Shine North America Abrego is now the Chairman of Banijay America Group and president and CEO of Endemol Shine Holdings. Early life Abrego grew up in El Monte, Calif ...

, television producer *

Art Acevedo Hubert Arturo Acevedo (born July 31, 1964) is an American police officer who is the interim chief of police of the Aurora Police Department as of December 2022. Previously, he was the chief of police of the Houston Police Department, Austin Pol ...

, police officer *

A.L.T. Alvin Lowell Trivette (born May 17, 1970), known as A.L.T., is an American rapper. known for the 1991 hit "Lowrider (On the Boulevard)" (as a member of Latin Alliance) and the 1992 hit "Tequila" (No. 48 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100). Biography ...

, Chicano rapper *

, film and television actor *

Glenn Corbett Glenn Corbett (born Glenn Edwin Rothenburg; August 17, 1933 – January 16, 1993)"CORBETT Obituary — Corbett, 59, starred in 'Route 66,' Wayne films." ''San Antonio Express-News'' January 18, 1993. Web. May 29, 2012. Document #0F22314D ...

, actor *

Mack Ray Edwards Mack Ray Edwards (October 17, 1918 – October 30, 1971) was an American child sex abuser and serial killer who molested and murdered at least six children in Los Angeles County, California, between 1953 and 1970. Sentenced to death, he died by ...

(1918–1971), Heavy equipment operator, and child sex abuser and serial killer *

, author *

, vocalist and guitar player *

Virginia Gilmore Virginia Gilmore (born Sherman Virginia Poole, July 26, 1919 – March 28, 1986) was an American film, stage, and television actress. Early years Virginia Gilmore was born on July 26, 1919, in El Monte, California. Her father was a retired o ...

, actress *

Alexandra Hay Alexandra Hay (July 24, 1947 – October 11, 1993) was an American actress of the 1960s and 1970s best known for her roles in ''Guess Who's Coming to Dinner'', '' Skidoo'', and '' Model Shop''. Early life and modeling Born Alexandra Lynn ...

, actress * Roger Hernández, politician *

Cathy LeFrançois ''Cathy'' is an American gag-a-day comic strip, drawn by Cathy Guisewite from 1976 until 2010. The comic follows Cathy, a woman who struggles through the "four basic guilt groups" of life—food, love, family, and work. The strip gently pokes ...

, IFBB professional bodybuilder *

Country Joe McDonald Joseph Allen "Country Joe" McDonald (born January 1, 1942) is an American musician who was the lead singer of the 1960s psychedelic rock group Country Joe and the Fish.Richard Brenneman"Country Joe McDonald Revives Anti-War Anthem", ''Berkeley ...

, lead singer for the band Country Joe & the Fish *

Andre Quintero Andre Quintero is the former mayor of El Monte, California. He is a registered Democrat. Quintero was elected mayor in November 2009, defeating Ernest Gutierrez, and was reelected in November 2011. In 2020 he was defeated by Jessica Ancona. ...

, mayor * Tom Morgan, Major League Baseball pitcher *Lorenzo Oatman and sister

Olive Oatman Olive Ann Oatman (September 7, 1837March 21, 1903) was an American woman celebrated in her time for her captivity and later release by Native Americans in the Mojave Desert region when she was a teenager. She later lectured about her experienc ...

, survivors of the Oatman Massacre of 1851 in Arizona * Steven Parent, aka "Stereo Steve", victim of the

Charles Manson Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934November 19, 2017) was an American criminal and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California, in the late 1960s. Some of the members committed a series of nine murders at four loca ...

murders *

Bill Piercy William Benton Piercy (May 2, 1896 – August 28, 1951), born in El Monte, California, was a pitcher for the New York Yankees (1917 and 1921), Boston Red Sox (1922–24) and Chicago Cubs (1926). Piercy helped the Yankees win the 1921 American L ...

, Major League Baseball pitcher *

Salvador Plascencia Salvador, meaning "salvation" (or "saviour") in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese may refer to: * Salvador (name) Arts, entertainment, and media Music *Salvador (band), a Christian band that plays both English and Spanish music ** ''Salvador'' ( ...

, author *

Kim Rhode Kimberly Susan Rhode (born July 16, 1979) is an American double trap and skeet shooter. A California native, she is a six-time Olympic medal winner, including three gold medals, and six-time national champion in double trap. She is the most succ ...

, Olympic shooter *

Emily Rios Emily Clara Rios (born April 27, 1989) is an American actress and model. She is best known for her role as Andrea Cantillo on the AMC series ''Breaking Bad''. In 2013 she began portraying newspaper reporter Adriana Mendez on the FX series ''The ...

, actress (''

Breaking Bad ''Breaking Bad'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. Set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the series follows Walter White (Bryan Cranston), an underpaid, overqualified, and dispirited hig ...

'') *

, musician *

, jockey * Robert P. Shuler, reformer and minister of Trinity Methodist Church, Los Angeles *

Hilda Solis Hilda Lucia Solis (; born October 20, 1957) is an American politician and a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for the 1st district. Solis previously served as the 25th United States Secretary of Labor from 2009 to 2013, as par ...

, politician * Patricia A. Wallach, former mayor

Sister cities

* Zamora, MexicoMexican sister city gifts El Monte with centennial mural
/ref>

References

External links

* {{authority control 1912 establishments in California Butterfield Overland Mail in California Cities in Los Angeles County, California Communities in the San Gabriel Valley Incorporated cities and towns in California Populated places established in 1849 Populated places established in 1912 Chicano and Mexican neighborhoods in California