Lakewood

 

City of Lakewood
Seal
Motto: Times Change. Values Don't.
Location of Lakewood in Los Angeles County, California
Coordinates: 33°50′51″N 118°7′12″W / 33.8475, -118.12
Country	United States
State	California
County	Los Angeles
Incorporated (city)	1954-04-16 [2]
Government
- Mayor	Larry Van Nostran [1]
Area
- City	sq mi (km²)
- Land	sq mi ( km²)
- Water	sq mi ( km²)
Elevation	ft ( m)
Population (2005)[3]
- City
- Density	/sq mi (/km²)
Time zone	PST (UTC-8)
- Summer (DST)	PDT (UTC-7)
Zip Code	90711, 90712, 90713, 90714, 90715, 90716, 90805 [4]
Area code(s)	562 [5]
FIPS code	06-398922
GNIS feature ID	16608833
Website: http://www.lakewoodcity.org/

Lakewood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 79,345 at the 2000 census. It is bordered by Long Beach on the west and south, Bellflower on the north, Cerritos on the northeast, Cypress on the east, and Hawaiian Gardens on the southeast. Major thoroughfares include Lakewood (CA/SR-19), Bellflower, and Del Amo Boulevards and Carson and South Streets. The San Gabriel River Freeway (I-605) runs through the city's eastern regions.

Sometimes called "an instant city" because of its origins—going from lima bean fields in 1950 to a well-developed city in California by 1960—Lakewood is, along with Levittown, New York, the archetypal post-World War II American suburb. The vast majority of its housing stock is small, mass-produced single-story houses on tree-lined streets, sold initially to World War II and Korean War veterans who worked in the factories of Long Beach and the South Bay.

Notable Features

Lakewood's primary thoroughfares are mostly boulevards with landscaped medians, with frontage roads on either side in residential districts. Unlike in most similar configurations, however, access to the main road from the frontage road is only possible from infrequently spaced collector streets. This arrangement, hailed by urban planners of the day, is a compromise between the traditional urban grid and the arrangement of winding "drives" and culs-de-sac that dominates contemporary suburban and exurban design.

Lakewood is credited as a pioneer among California cities in services provision. Although it is an incorporated city, it contracts for most municipal services, with most of these provided by Los Angeles County and, to a lesser extent, by other public agencies and private industry. Lakewood was the first city in the nation to contract for all of its municipal services when Lakewood incorporated as a municipality in 1954, making it the nation's first "contract city." Many other Los Angeles suburbs, such as Cerritos and Diamond Bar have adopted the "Lakewood Plan."

Lakewood is the home of the first Denny's Restaurant. In 1953 Harold Butler founded Danny’s Donuts, which was renamed to Denny's Restaurant in 1959.

Lakewood was named Sports Illustrated's "Sportstown USA" in 2005 for the State of California.

Notable Residents/Natives

• Kristen Mann, basketball player in the WNBA
• Spur Posse
• Jason Kapono, basketball player in the NBA, went to high school in Lakewood before going to UCLA on a scholarship.
• Greg LeMond, three time Tour de France champion, was born in Lakewood.
• Charles O'Bannon, former UCLA and NBA basketball player
• Ed O'Bannon, Wooden award winner at UCLA and former NBA player
• Josh Childress NBA player who went to and played for Mayfair High School in Lakewood.
• Stephanie Duda, University of California, Irvine basketball player and Lakewood native. Went to Los Alamitos High.
• Kyle Korver, NBA basketball player for the 76ers
• Bryton McClure, actor and singer. Appeared as "Richie" in the sitcom Family Matters (TV series)
• Kirsten Storms, actress. Known for appearing as "Zenon Kar" in the Zenon movie series on the Disney Channel. Storms currently stars on the ABC soap opera General Hospital as Maxie Jones.

Geography

Lakewood is located at 33°50′51″N, 118°7′12″W (33.847365, -118.119889)¹.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 24.6 km² (9.5 mi²). 24.4 km² (9.4 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (0.74%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census² of 2000, there were 79,345 people, 26,853 households, and 20,542 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,248.7/km² (8,414.8/mi²). There were 27,310 housing units at an average density of 1,118.2/km² (2,896.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 62.67% White, 7.34% Black or African American, 0.60% Native American, 13.51% Asian, 0.62% Pacific Islander, 10.10% from other races, and 5.17% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 22.78% of the population.

There were 26,853 households out of which 38.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.8% were married couples living together, 13.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.5% were non-families. 18.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.95 and the average family size was 3.37.

In the city the population was spread out with 27.5% under the age of 18, 8.1% from 18 to 24, 31.1% from 25 to 44, 21.4% from 45 to 64, and 11.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 93.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.1 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $58,214, and the median income for a family was $63,342. Males had a median income of $45,447 versus $35,206 for females. The per capita income for the city was $22,095. About 5.6% of families and 7.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.3% of those under age 18 and 7.1% of those age 65 or over.

Emergency services

Fire protection in Lakewood is provided by the Los Angeles County Fire Department with ambulance transport by Care Ambulance Service and American Medical Response (AMR). The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department provides law enforcement.

Education

Primary and secondary schools

Public schools

The city is served by four school districts.

Several citizens created a group called "The Lakewood Unified School District Organizing Committee ," which aims to establish a "Lakewood Unified School District" [1].

Long Beach Unified School District

Elementary schools serving Lakewood:

• Cleveland Elementary School (Lakewood)
• Gompers Elementary School (Lakewood)
• Holmes Elementary School (Lakewood)
• MacArthur Elementary School (Lakewood)
• Madison Elementary School (Lakewood)
• Riley Elementary School (Lakewood)
• Mark Twain Elementary School (Long Beach)

Middle schools serving Lakewood:

• Bancroft Middle School (Long Beach)
• DeMille Middle School (Long Beach)
• Hoover Middle School (Lakewood)

K-8 schools serving Lakewood:

• Monroe School (Lakewood)

High schools serving Lakewood:

• Jordan High School (Long Beach)
• Lakewood High School (Lakewood)

Paramount Unified School District

K-8 schools serving Lakewood:

• Collins Elementary School (Long Beach)
• Lakewood Elementary School (Lakewood)
• Mokler Elementary School (Paramount)

High schools serving Lakewood:

• Paramount High School (Paramount)

Bellflower Unified School District

Elementary schools serving Lakewood include:

• Stephen Foster Elementary School (Lakewood)
• Intensive Learning Center (Lakewood)
• Jefferson Elementary School (Bellflower)
• Esther Lindstrom Elementary School (Lakewood)
• Craig Williams Elementary School (Lakewood)

High schools serving Lakewood include:

• Mayfair High School (Lakewood)
• Somerset High School (Bellflower)

ABC Unified School District

Elementary schools serving Lakewood:

• Aloha Elementary School (Lakewood)
• Melbourne Elementary School (Lakewood)
• Pat Nixon Elementary School (Cerritos)
• Palms Elementary School (Lakewood)
• Willow Elementary School (Lakewood)

Middle schools serving Lakewood:

• Haskell Junior High School (Cerritos)
• Tetzlaff Junior High School (Cerritos)

High schools serving Lakewood:

• Artesia High School (Lakewood)
• Cerritos High School (Cerritos)
• Richard Gahr High School (Cerritos)
• Whitney High School (Cerritos)

References

External links

• Lakewood official website
• LA County Disaster Communications Service ( DCS ) Lakewood Sheriff Station

Coordinates: 33.847365° N 118.119889° W

• Lakewood Accountability Action Group official website

• Lakewood Beautiful website directed at blight and lax code enforcement in Lakewood CA

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County seat: Los Angeles
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