Los Alamitos

History

The Tongva inhabited the area before the city was established, and Rancho Los Alamitos was known as the village of Puvunga. The area is still sacred to the Tongva people. The town of Los Alamitos was established in 1896 by Lewellyn Bixby to support a new sugar-beet factory built by the Clark brothers. William Andrews Clark, a future Senator from Montana, had built his fortune in mining, banking and logging in that state. His younger brother, J. Ross Clark, managed their operations in California after he moved there for health reasons. Lewellyn Bixby, whose family owned the surrounding land on Rancho Los Cerritos and Rancho Los Alamitos, had been trying to build a sugar beet factory in that area for several years. Due to financial losses during the 1880s, he no longer had the money to build the factory complex on his own. Bixby had made a fortune in the 1850s when he and cousins Benjamin and Thomas Flint formed Flint, Bixby & Co. to deal in mutton and wool on Rancho San Justo, south of San Jose. After selling wool to the government during the Civil War, the Flints and Bixby bought land in southern California; this included the future Irvine Ranch and Rancho Los Cerritos, which is much of the western half of Long Beach. Flint, Bixby hired Lewellyn's younger brother, Jotham, to manage the Cerritos. When the company broke up, Lewellyn assumed their southern California properties, moved to Los Angeles and became the senior partner with Jotham. Around 1881, cousin John W. Bixby wanted to purchase Rancho Los Alamitos with a consortium which included Lewellyn and Jotham and banker Isaias W. Hellman. When John died on May 7, 1887, the ranch was divided among the three families. The northern third, adjacent to the Rancho Los Cerritos (roughly north of present-day Orangewood…

Geography

Los Alamitos is bordered by Cypress on the north and east, West Garden Grove on the east, and Seal Beach on the south. The census-designated place of Rossmoor is bordered by Los Alamitos on the north, east, and west. The city shares a northwestern border with Long Beach's El Dorado Park neighborhood. Coyote Creek separates Los Alamitos from Long Beach. The most common native plant species are hairy sand verbena, red sand verbena, and pink sand verbena. Los Alamitos' USDA hardiness zone is 9, and its Sunset climate zone is 22.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Fountain Valley High
  High · Fountain Valley · 3,180 students · 26.3:1 ratio
• Los Alamitos High
  High · Los Alamitos · 3,055 students · 25.5:1 ratio
• Cypress High
  High · Cypress · 2,820 students · 24.5:1 ratio
• Huntington Beach High
  High · Huntington Beach · 2,807 students · 26.2:1 ratio
• Anaheim High
  High · Anaheim · 2,750 students · 21:1 ratio
• Westminster High
  High · Westminster · 2,637 students · 24.2:1 ratio
• Sunny Hills High
  High · Fullerton · 2,429 students · 27:1 ratio
• Garden Grove High
  High · Garden Grove · 2,247 students · 24.2:1 ratio