Monterey Park

History

For at least seven thousand years the land was populated by the Tongva (Gabrielino) Native Americans. The Tongva lived in dome like structures with thatched exteriors, with an open smoke hole for ventilation and light at the top. Both sexes wore long hair styles and tattooed their bodies. During warm weather the men wore few clothes, and the women wore minimal skirts made of animal hides. During the cold weather they would wear animal skin capes and occasionally wore sandals made from hide or yucca fiber. With the arrival of the Spaniards, Old World diseases killed off many of the Tongva, and by 1870 very few Native-Americans had survived. In the early 19th century the area was part of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel mission system and later the Rancho San Antonio. Following the Civil War, an Italian, Alessandro Repetto, purchased of the rancho and built his ranch house on the hill overlooking his land, about a half-mile north of where Garfield Avenue crosses the Pomona Freeway, not far from where the Edison substation is now located on Garfield Avenue. In 1886, a northwestern portion of the rancho was bought by Isaias Wolf Hellman, a Bavarian-born banker and philanthropist who is the namesake of Hellman Avenue, a street that partly forms the northern boundary of Monterey Park. It was at this time, Richard Garvey, a mail rider for the U.S. Army whose route took him through Monterey Pass, a trail that is now Garvey Avenue, settled down in the King's Hills. Garvey began developing the land by bringing in spring water from near the Hondo River and by constructing a dam to form Garvey Lake located where Garvey Ranch Park is now. To pay for his development and past debts, Garvey began selling portions of his property. In 1906, the first subdivision in the area,…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, is land, and (0.77%) is water. The city boundaries include unincorporated East Los Angeles to the west and southwest, Alhambra to the north, Rosemead to the northeast, Montebello to the south, and unincorporated South San Gabriel to the southeast.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  61,667
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  53,819
• Black Phoebe

  Sayornis nigricans (Swainson, 1827) · Aves
  49,932
• California Towhee

  Melozone crissalis (Vigors, 1839) · Aves
  44,277
• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  43,826
• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  43,542
• Lesser Goldfinch

  Spinus psaltria (Say, 1822) · Aves
  42,753
• Yellow-rumped Warbler

  Setophaga coronata (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  40,470

Largest nearby schools

• Downey High
  High · Downey · 4,063 students · 23.4:1 ratio
• Warren (Earl) High
  High · Downey · 3,437 students · 23.7:1 ratio
• Arcadia High
  High · Arcadia · 3,022 students · 25:1 ratio
• California High
  High · Whittier · 2,504 students · 23.2:1 ratio
• Bell Senior High
  High · Bell · 2,351 students · 22:1 ratio
• James A. Garfield Senior High
  High · Los Angeles · 2,247 students · 17.6:1 ratio
• El Rancho High
  High · Pico Rivera · 2,244 students · 24.7:1 ratio
• Schurr High
  High · Montebello · 2,224 students · 20.2:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 3.16 — 2026-10-09
  2 km SW of Signal Hill, CA
• M 2.7 — 2026-10-08
  2 km WNW of Fontana, CA
• M 2.51 — 2026-10-05
  31 km SW of Dana Point, CA
• M 2.81 — 2026-10-05
  32 km SW of Dana Point, CA
• M 3.48 — 2026-10-05
  31 km SW of Dana Point, CA
• M 3.81008714964485 — 2026-09-30
  4 km SE of Piru, CA