Baldwin Park – Baldwin Park Homes – San Gabriel Valley Real Estate

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Baldwin Park is a city located in the central San Gabriel Valley region.  It began as part of cattle grazing land belonging to the San Gabriel Mission.  It eventually became part of the Rancho Azusa de Dalton and the Rancho La Puente properties. The community became known as Vineland in 1860.  By 1906 it changed to Baldwin Park. It was named after Elias J. “Lucky” Baldwin. In 1956 Baldwin Park became the 47th incorporated city in the State of California.

Baldwin Park is home to the first In-N-Out burger stand, opened on October 22, 1948.  It was the first drive-thru in California and was replaced in November 2004 with a new building. The new In-N-Out University and company store opened in 2006 on Francisquito Avenue.  Also, the company’s sole meatpacking plant is located down the street from the locations at the company headquarters on Hamburger Lane.

Currently the city is pushing to revitalize its economic base. There are six active Project Redevelopment Areas located in strategic areas of the city.  Projects within these redevelopment areas are as diverse, including high-quality senior housing, Home Depot, Starbucks, Harley Davidson, a transit oriented district (TOD) near the Metrolink Train Station and various other thriving businesses.

There are 23 schools within the Baldwin Park Unified School District. The budget is well over $100 million.  Currently the district is building new school structures to accommodate growth. The district is adopting data driven strategies to help students achieve better scores in the API tests.  There is an active push by the district to hire new teachers while providing retirement incentives for teachers who wish to retire.

For up-to-date information on what is going on in the city, you can access Baldwin Park Now Spring 2012 news magazine

and archives of earlier issues here.  The Winter/Spring Recreation and Community Services magazine 2012 includes information on recreational programs, city transit, city parks, city facilities, schools and other points of interest.

The Canyon City – Azusa Real Estate – Azusa Homes for Sale

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Azusa is a city located at the entrance to the San Gabriel Canyon (hence the city’s nickname, The Canyon City) and on the east side of the San Gabriel River.  An old Jack Benny joke suggested that it is a compaction of the phrase “everything from A to Z in the USA.”  But Azusa originally referred to the San Gabriel Valley and river, and the name likely came from the Tongva place name Asuksagna.

The rugged mountains and foothills of the San Gabriel Canyon serves as a diverse and spectacular back drop to the city, and provides a destination for recreation, mountain biking, hiking, and fishing.

You’ll find living in Azusa a friendly experience, meeting personalities through community churches, local schools and civic events.  Azusa is an excellent place to raise a family.  The ambiance is that of a small community with strong historical roots.

You can go here for information about demographics, schools and many other information.
Azusa’s official website offers information about the history of Azusa, community development, government resources, doing business in Azusa, different city services, recreation and opportunities.  If you like the outdoors, you will enjoy the link on hiking trails and fishing holes in the San Gabriel Canyon as well as the San Gabriels and beyond.

Where Ranch and City Meet – Arcadia Real Estate – Arcadia Homes for Sale

Wander, Wander Arcadia: Peakuh? (Photo credit: http://www.jeremylim.ca)

Arcadia is approximately 13 miles (21 km) northeast of downtown Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley and at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains.  Arcadia is part of a cluster of cities, along with Temple City, Rosemead, Monterey Park, San Marino, and San Gabriel, in the west San Gabriel Valley with a growing Asian population.  It is the site of the Santa Anita Park racetrack and home to the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden.  The city had a population of 56,364 at the 2010 census, up from 53,248 at the 2000 census.  In 2010, Bloomberg BusinessWeek named Arcadia as one of the “Best Places to Raise Your Kids: 2010” for the second year in a row.

Arcadia’s beginnings go back over 3,000 years to the Tongva/Gabrielino Native American settlement.  Arcadia: Where Ranch and City Meet is a comprehensive and  excellent history of Arcadia, written by Pat McAdam and Sandy Snider.  It has long been out of print but is now digitized and available here.

“Not an old-fashioned dates-and-names sort of history but a ‘people’ story with all the color and ‘magic’ of the human spirit as it moved into and through this fast moving corner of the world.  It is the story of a vast 19th century California ranch, dependent almost entirely for its existence on the food it could grow so abundantly there, and also of the vicissitudes, pushes and pulls, gives and takes, dreams and realities that go into the making of a modern, high quality suburban city.  Here one can live again the story of Victoria, the
Indian from San Gabriel Mission, and her husband, the Scottish Hugo Reid, who made the first modern impact on the land, on up to E. J. (Lucky) Baldwin whose money, drive and dream made Santa Anita the show place of the San Gabriel Valley.  In these pages the story of Arcadia comes alive.  You can witness again the bitter battles over saloons and bawdy houses, over the race track and gambling, its emergence from a scattered area of
small ranches and chicken coops into a modern city of subdivisions comparable to the finest in the world,”  F. Harold Roach wrote in his Introduction to the book.

For information about living in Arcadia, click here.

For a copy of the 2012 City Calendar, click here.

For Arcadia’s Spring 2012 Newsletter, click here.

Alhambra – The Gateway to San Gabriel Valley – San Gabriel Valley Real Estate

The City of Alhambra has a wonderful combination of housing, business, employment and recreational opportunities.  This enabled Alhambra to achieve its vision of serving as the premiere family-oriented and economically prosperous community in the San Gabriel Valley.

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Alhambra has many historic homes with charming good looks, fine design and excellence in workmanship.  You will find classic styles such as Craftsman, Bungalow, Spanish Mediterranean, Spanish Colonial, Italian Beaux-Arts, and Arts & Crafts.  Alhambra is today, as it was in early advertising, an elegant “City of Homes” in the heart of the famous San Gabriel Valley between Los Angeles and Pasadena.”

Today, the City of Alhambra has over 30,000 housing units including:

• Quaint homes often on quiet, tree-lined streets, some with historical significance
• New and near-new condominiums
• Rental apartments in all styles and sizes
• Mixed use residential/commercial buildings, especially in the Downtown area
• Four public senior housing facilities

Fun, family-oriented activities are always taking place in and around Alhambra.  Check out the calendar of events here.  Don’t miss these March events:

Sat., March 3-Sat., March 24 – “Look at This, Look at That: A Tribute to Dr. Seuss” at the Nucleus Gallery. Sun-Thurs: 12 p.m.-8 p.m., Fri-Sat: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Over 35 artists will pay homage to Dr. Seuss, one of the most renowned children’s book writers and illustrators. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, March 3 from 7 p.m.-11 p.m. Location: 210 E. Main St., Alhambra 91801. For more information, call 626-458-7477, or visit www.gallerynucleus.com.

Sunday, March 11 – Alhambra Certified Farmer’s Market: Free Children’s Craft: “Lucky Shamrock Lapel Pin” – 9 a.m.-11 a.m. The Alhambra Certified Farmer’s Market becomes the perfect family outing as children ages 12 years and younger have an opportunity to create a craft “masterpiece” while you shop for fresh California-grown fruits and vegetables. There is a limit of one craft per child, and all crafts are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. All crafts and supplies are provided free of charge. The Alhambra Certified Farmer’s Market takes place each Sunday, on Monterey Street, 1 block east of Garfield, ½ block south of Main Street. For more information, call 626-570-5081 during weekday business hours.

Saturday, March 17 – Family Excursion: “Taste of Solvang”– 8 a.m.-7 p.m. The Alhambra Community Services Department offers a unique family outing to Solvang with a full day of shopping, dining and exploring. The “Walking Smorgasbord” features 40+ taste stops around the quaint European village. Fee: $40 (all ages welcome). Register by phone (626-570-3242), fax (626-284-0310) or in person at the Alhambra Park Office, 500 N. Palm Ave., Alhambra, CA 91801.

The City of Alhambra Community Services Department offers a wide variety of leisure service programs and activities to suit a variety of interests, ages, cultures and abilities.  The Alhambra After-School Playground program enables participants to take part in team & individual sports (baseball, basketball, badminton, bowling, cheerleading, flag football, dance, drill team), and alternative activities (arts & crafts, table game tournaments, four square, kickball, and other games).  Participants can come and go without restriction.  (Sites may be closed in case of rain.)

Free play activities at the Almansor Park Gym include Adult Volleyball Leagues, Adult Basketball Leagues, Table Tennis, Open Play Badminton, Open Play Volleyball and Open Play Teen Basketball.  Activities at the Granada Park Gym include Table Tennis.  The schedule at the gym may change due to facility rentals and special events.  For specific scheduling of activities, view the City of Alhambra Leisure Activities Guide. 

Alhambra is truly a great place to live and raise a family.