Huntington Park

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City of Huntington Park
—  City  —
Seal
Location of Huntington Park in Los Angeles County, California
Coordinates: 33°58′57″N 118°13′3″W / 33.9825°N 118.2175°W / 33.9825; -118.2175
Country	United States
State	California
County	Los Angeles
Incorporated (city)	1906-09-01[1]
Government
- Mayor	Elba Guerrero[2]
Area
- Total	3.03 sq mi (7.85 km2)
- Land	3.03 sq mi (7.85 km2)
- Water	0.00 sq mi (0.00 km2)  0.00%
Elevation	171 ft (52 m)
Population (2000)[3]
- Total	61,348
- Density	20,252.4/sq mi (7,819.5/km2)
Time zone	PST (UTC-8)
- Summer (DST)	PDT (UTC-7)
ZIP Code	90255[4]
Area code(s)	323[5]
FIPS code	06-36056
GNIS feature ID	1660778
Website	huntingtonpark.org

Huntington Park is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 61,348.

History

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Named for prominent industrialist Henry Huntington, Huntington Park was incorporated in 1906 as a streetcar suburb for workers in the rapidly expanding industries to the southeast of downtown Los Angeles. (To this day, about 30% of its residents work at factories in nearby Vernon and Commerce.^[6]) The stretch of Pacific Boulevard in downtown Huntington Park was a major commercial district serving the city's largely working-class residents, as well as those of neighboring cities such as Bell, Cudahy, South Gate, and Downey. As with most of the other cities along the corridor stretching along the Los Angeles River to the south and southeast of downtown Los Angeles, Huntington Park was an almost exclusively white community during most of its history; Alameda Street and Slauson Avenue, which were fiercely defended segregation lines in the 1950s, separated it from black areas.

The changes that shaped Los Angeles from the late 1970s onward—the decline of American manufacturing that began in the 1970s; the rapid growth of newer suburbs in Orange County, the eastern San Gabriel, western San Fernando and Conejo valleys; the collapse of the aerospace and defense industry at the end of the Cold War; and the implosion of the Southern California real estate boom in the early 1990s—resulted in the wholesale departure of virtually all of the white population of Huntington Park by the mid-1990s. The vacuum was filled almost entirely by two groups of Latinos: upwardly mobile families eager to leave the barrios of East Los Angeles, and recent Mexican immigrants. Today, Pacific Boulevard is once again a thriving commercial strip, serving once again as a major retail center for working-class residents of southeastern Los Angeles County—but unlike its previous heyday of the 1930s, the signs along the avenue's storefronts are now primarily in Spanish.

Geography

Huntington Park is located at 33°58′57″N 118°13′3″W / 33.9825°N 118.2175°W / 33.9825; -118.2175 (33.982364, -118.217381).^[7]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 7.8 km² (3.0 mi²), all land.

Cities surrounding Huntington Park include Bell, Cudahy, Los Angeles, Maywood, South Gate, and Vernon. In addition unincorporated areas, including Walnut Park, are adjacent to Huntington Park.^[8]

Demographics

Pedestrians on the Pacific Boulevard shopping district

According to the census^[9] of 2000, there were 61,348 people, 14,860 households, and 12,660 families residing in the city. The population density was 7,817.4/km² (20,252.4/mi²). There were 15,335 housing units at an average density of 1,954.1/km² (5,062.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 41.4% White, 0.8% Black or African American, 1.0% Native American, 0.80% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 51.1% from other races, and 4.9% from two or more races. 95.6% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

As of 2000, speakers of Spanish as their first language accounted for 90.77% of residents, while English was spoken by 9.17%, Chinese by 0.05% of the population.^[10]

There were 14,860 households out of which 58.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.4% were married couples living together, 20.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 14.8% were non-families. 10.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 4.12 and the average family size was 4.34.

In the city the population was spread out with 35.8% under the age of 18, 13.0% from 18 to 24, 32.3% from 25 to 44, 13.8% from 45 to 64, and 5.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 26 years. For every 100 females there were 100.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.3 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $28,941, and the median income for a family was $29,844. Males had a median income of $21,039 versus $16,733 for females. The per capita income for the city was $9,340. About 23.3% of families and 25.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 31.5% of those under age 18 and 18.7% of those age 65 or over.

Government and infrastructure

Fire protection in Huntington Park is provided by the Los Angeles County Fire Department. The LACFD operates Station #164, the battalion headquarters, at 6301 South Santa Fe Avenue and Station #165 at 3255 Saturn Avenue, both in Huntington Park, as a part of Battalion 13.^[11] The Huntington Park Police Department provides law enforcement.

In the state legislature Huntington Park is located in the 30th Senate District, represented by Democrat Ronald S. Calderon, and in the 46th Assembly District, represented by Democrat John Pérez. Federally, Huntington Park is located in California's 34th congressional district, which has a Cook PVI of D +23^[12] and is represented by Democrat Lucille Roybal-Allard.

The United States Postal Service operates the Huntington Park Post Office at 6606 Seville Avenue,^[13] the Soto Post Office at 5625 Soto Street,^[14] and the State Street Post Office at 7800 State Street.^[15]

Education

Huntington Park is zoned to schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Public elementary schools that serve the city include:

• Hope Street Elementary School (Huntington Park) (Opened 2005^[16])
• Huntington Park New Elementary School 7 (Opened 2006^[17])
• Middleton Elementary School (Huntington Park) and Middleton New Primary Center (K)
• Miles Elementary School (Huntington Park)
• Pacific Boulevard School (Huntington Park, Opened 2005^[18])
• San Antonio Elementary School (Huntington Park)
• Walnut Park Elementary School (Huntington Park)
• Huntington Park New Elementary #3 (Huntington Park, opening soon)
• Aspire: Huntington Park
• Aspire: AMLA
• Aspire: Titan
• Aspire: Clarendon

Aspire Public Schools

Public middle schools include:

• Gage Middle School (Huntington Park)
• Nimitz Middle School (Huntington Park)
• Centennial College Preparatory Academy

Huntington Park High School (Huntington Park) is the main high school for the city. San Antonio Continuation School and Huntington Park College Ready Academy^[19] (a public charter school) also serve the high school population. Some parts of Huntington Park are zoned to both Huntington Park and Bell High School.

South Region High School 7 will open in Huntington Park in 2011.^[20]

In addition Pacific Boulevard Special Education Center (ungraded) is in the city.

Private schools include:

• Church of the Nazarene School (K-6)
• St. Matthias Elementary School (K-8)
• California Interamerican High School (Ungraded)

Public libraries

County of Los Angeles Public Library operates the Huntington Park Library at 6518 Miles Avenue.^[21]

Notable residents

Although not a person, the American thrash metal band Slayer originated in Huntington Park.

• Lois Andrews- actress, famous for her big-screen portrayal of the comics character Dixie Dugan.
• Leon Leyson- youngest person on Schindler's List, taught for many years at Huntington Park High School.^[22]
• Rosario Marin- 41st Treasurer of the United States and a former mayor of Huntington Park.
• Lorenzo Mata- professional basketball player.
• Terry Wilson- stuntman and actor, famous for his role on the television series Wagon Train.
• Tex Winter- famous college basketball coach, former Houston Rockets head coach, and assistant head coach for the Los Angeles Lakers
• Tim Wallach

See also

• South Central Los Angeles

References

External links

• Huntington Park official website
• www.WatchOurCity.com: an independent watchdog website

• Huntington Park, California is at coordinates 33°58′57″N 118°13′03″W / 33.982364°N 118.217381°W / 33.982364; -118.217381 (Huntington Park, California)Coordinates: 33°58′57″N 118°13′03″W / 33.982364°N 118.217381°W / 33.982364; -118.217381 (Huntington Park, California)

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