Arcadia is a city in

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...

, United States, located about northeast of downtown Los Angeles in the

San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley ( es, Valle de San Gabriel) is one of the principal valleys of Southern California, lying immediately to the east of the eastern city limits of the city of Los Angeles, and occupying the vast majority of the eastern part ...

and at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. It contains a series of adjacent parks consisting of the Santa Anita Park racetrack, the

Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden The Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, 127 acres (51.4 ha), is an arboretum, botanical garden, and historical site nestled into hills near the San Gabriel Mountains in Arcadia, California, United States. Open daily, it only closes ...

, and Arcadia County Park. The city had a population of 56,364 at the 2010 census, up from 53,248 at the 2000 census. The city is named after Arcadia, Greece.

History

Native American

For over 8,000 years, the site of Arcadia was part of the homeland of the Tongva people ("Gabrieliño" tribe), a Californian Native American tribe whose territory spanned the greater

Los Angeles Basin The Los Angeles Basin is a sedimentary basin located in Southern California, in a region known as the Peninsular Ranges. The basin is also connected to an anomalous group of east-west trending chains of mountains collectively known as the ...

, and the San Gabriel and San Fernando Valleys. Their fluid borders stretched between the

Santa Susana Mountains The Santa Susana Mountains are a transverse range of mountains in Southern California, north of the city of Los Angeles, in the United States. The range runs east-west, separating the San Fernando and Simi valleys on its south from the Santa C ...

San Bernardino Mountains The San Bernardino Mountains are a high and rugged mountain range in Southern California in the United States. Situated north and northeast of San Bernardino and spanning two California counties, the range tops out at at San Gorgonio Mountain ...

, and San Gabriel Mountains in the north; the Santa Monica Mountains and Simi Hills in the west; the San Jacinto Mountains and

Santa Ana Mountains The Santa Ana Mountains are a short peninsular mountain range along the coast of Southern California in the United States. They extend for approximately southeast of the Los Angeles Basin largely along the border between Orange and Riverside ...

in the east; and the coast and Catalina Island (''Pimu'') in the south. A Tongva settlement site within present-day Arcadia was known as Alyeupkigna (or Aluupkenga).

Rancho period

The town's site became part of the Spanish Mission San Gabriel Arcángel lands in 1771. After Indian Reductions to become

Mission Indians Mission Indians are the indigenous peoples of California who lived in Southern California and were forcibly relocated from their traditional dwellings, villages, and homelands to live and work at 15 Franciscan missions in Southern California an ...

, the Tongva were known as the ''Gabrieliños'' after the Mission's name. and under whose control these people worked during the mission period in California. Currently there are 1,700 people self-identifying as members of the Tongva or Gabrieliño tribe. The Mexican land grant for Rancho Santa Anita was issued to Perfecto Hugo Reid and his Tongva wife, Victoria Bartolomea Comicrabit, in 1845. It was named after a family relation, Anita Cota, on his wife's side. Reid documented the Gabrieliño Native Americans in a series of letters written in 1852, and served as a delegate to the 1849 California Constitutional Convention. In 1847, Reid sold Rancho Santa Anita to his Rancho Azusa neighbor, Henry Dalton.

Lucky Baldwin

The rancho changed owners several times before being acquired by Gold Rush immigrant, businessman, and major regional land owner Elias Jackson "Lucky" Baldwin in 1875. Baldwin purchased of Rancho Santa Anita for $200,000. Upon seeing the area, he gasped "By Gads! This is paradise!" Upon buying the land, Baldwin chose to make the area his home and immediately started erecting buildings and cultivating the land for farming, orchards, and ranches. Baldwin built the Queen Anne Cottage for his fourth wife and himself in 1885–1886, now preserved within the Arboretum. In 1885, the main line of the

Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad The Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad was a railroad founded on Sept. 5, 1883, by James F. Crank with the goal of bringing a rail line to Pasadena from downtown Los Angeles. Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad was sold and cons ...

, in which Baldwin was a stockholder, was opened through the ranch, making subdivision of part of the land into a town site practical. Later, this rail line became a

Santa Fe Railroad The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...

line. In 1889, on a site just north of the corner of First Avenue and St. Joseph Street, adjacent to the Santa Fe tracks, Baldwin opened the 35-room Hotel Oakwood to be the centerpiece of his new town. In 1890, the extant Rancho Santa Anita Depot was built.

20th century until World War II

By the turn of the 20th century, Arcadia had a population nearing 500 and an economy that was coming to be based on entertainment, sporting, hospitality, and gambling opportunities, the latter including an early version of the Santa Anita race track. Baldwin oversaw the incorporation of Arcadia into a city in 1903, and was its first mayor.

Anoakia

In 1913 Anita Baldwin, Lucky's daughter, built a 50-room mansion on of the Baldwin Ranch she inherited from him, and named it "Anoakia" (a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words The residence was in the Italian

Renaissance Revival style Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...

, with murals by Maynard Dixon.LA Times: "Arcadia Council to Decide Future of Founding Family's Historic Mansion" (December 21, 1999)
. accessed 7.11.2014LA Times: "Plans for Development Force School From Idyllic Campus" (June 28, 1990)
accessed 7.12.2014 The estate had a significant Greek Revival-style

colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or cur ...

d "Parthenon" bathhouse/gymnasium beside a large pool, an apiary and aviaries, kennels and stables, tennis courts and pergolas, and preserved the native oak woodlands. After her death in 1939 the estate became the Anoakia School for Girls, which became the coeducational Anoakia School in 1967, then moved to Duarte in 1990 as the Anita Oaks School. The school owner's efforts to develop the property into a village of homes with the old mansion as its centerpiece were rejected by the city. After an extended debate, with local citizens and regional

preservationist Preservationist is generally understood to mean ''historic preservationist'': one who advocates to preserve architecturally or historically significant buildings, structures, objects, or sites from demolition or degradation. Historic preservation us ...

s efforts to preserve the historic main house, the city council voted to approve demolition for a real estate development by new owners in 1999. The "Anoakia" mansion, all other significant estate structures and outbuildings, garden features, and numerous California sycamore and Coast live oak trees were demolished for 31 luxury home sites in 2000. Some of the mansion's architectural elements were salvaged and removed. The gatehouse, on the estate's former southeast corner at Foothill and Baldwin, and the perimeter walls remain after the "Anoakia Estates" development was built. The bas-relief fountain was moved to just inside the new gated entrance.

Inter-war decades

During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, Arcadia was home to the U.S. Army's Ross Field Balloon School, at the present-day Santa Anita Park site. Army observers were trained here in techniques to observe enemy activity from hot air balloons. After World War I, Arcadia's population grew and local businesses included many chicken ranches and other agricultural activities. During the 1920s and 1930s, Arcadia began its transition to the residential city that it is today, as small farms and chicken ranches gave way to homes and numerous civic improvements, including a city library and a city hall. Scenes of many of Arcadia's interesting older sites can be viewed in a series of historic watercolors painted by local artists Edna Lenz and Justine Wishek. The city was on historic U.S. Route 66, present-day Colorado Boulevard, with businesses serving travelers on it. Thoroughbred horse racing had flourished briefly under Lucky Baldwin, who founded a racetrack adjacent to the present site, until it was outlawed by the state of California in 1909. It returned to Arcadia when racing was legalized again, with the opening of Santa Anita Park in December 1934. Architect Gordon Kaufmann designed its various buildings in a combination of Colonial Revival and

Streamline Moderne Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In industrial desig ...

styles.

Santa Anita Assembly Center

The Santa Anita Assembly Center site is California Historical Landmark #934. In 1942 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the racetrack grounds were used as a processing and holding site for

Japanese Americans are Americans of Japanese people, Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian Americans, Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 United States census, 2000 census, they ...

who had been removed from their homes and communities for forced relocation and

internment Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simp ...

under President Franklin Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066. The Civilian Assembly Center at the racetrack became the largest and longest operating one of the eighteen, holding citizens until the Relocation Center camps were completed in interior areas of California and other states. More than 18,000 persons resided at the racetrack in primitive conditions. Four hundred temporary tarpaper barracks were constructed on the racetrack grounds to house many of the detainees, where they lived three families per unit. 8,500 detainees lived in converted horse stalls. Bachelors were housed in the grandstand building. They had group showers, non-private bathrooms, and 24-hour armed surveillance. Each resident was given an "Army manufacture bed, one blanket and one straw tick." The Assembly Center held people from late March through the end of October 1942, when the internees were relocated inland to permanent internment camps at Manzanar and Tule Lake in California, and eight others in Western states and Arkansas. At the time, Arcadia's civic leaders were very vocal in their support of the Japanese American relocation internment policies of the federal government. In November 1942 the center was turned over to the

United States Army Ordnance Corps The United States Army Ordnance Corps, formerly the United States Army Ordnance Department, is a sustainment branch of the United States Army, headquartered at Fort Lee, Virginia. The broad mission of the Ordnance Corps is to supply Army comb ...

for training purposes and was officially renamed Camp Santa Anita. Later in the war it served as a prisoner of war—POW camp, holding several thousand of Rommel's German Afrika Korps soldiers.

Postwar period

Arcadia largely grew up as the well-to-do suburb of neighboring Pasadena, with many early residents being the sons and daughters of long-established Southern California families. A large tract of estate homes was developed by Harry Chandler, the scion of the ''Los Angeles Times'', who lived in adjacent

Sierra Madre, California Sierra Madre ( Spanish for "mother range") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, whose population was 10,917 at the 2010 U.S. Census, up from 10,580 at the time of the 2000 U.S. Census. The city is in the foothills of the San Gabriel V ...

. The city became the residence of choice for many corporate chief executives, including those in the aerospace, horse-racing, and finance industries. The postwar boom saw Arcadia grow rapidly into a suburban residential community, with many of the chicken ranches being subdivided into home lots. Between 1940 and 1950, the population grew by more than two and a half times. The housing boom continued through the 1950s and 1960s and along with that growth came the necessary infrastructure of schools, commercial buildings, and expanded city services. During the postwar boom, a modern commercial district developed along Baldwin Avenue south of Huntington Drive in west Arcadia. In 1951 this strip, called the West Arcadia Hub, was anchored by a new, locally owned Hinshaw's department store. This was the first large department store to be built in Arcadia, and the largest in the western

outside the city of Pasadena. This development marked the beginning of Arcadia's gradual transformation into one of the leading shopping districts of the San Gabriel Valley. In 1947, that comprised the heart of the Baldwin Ranch were deeded to the State of California and the County of Los Angeles, and developed into

. Until a Supreme Court ruling in 1965, every property sale contract within the borders of Arcadia had to include a provision that the new owner could only sell the property to a white Protestant. However, these clauses had been ruled unenforceable by the Supreme Court's ruling in 1948's '' Shelley v. Kraemer'', and many non-Protestant families did, in fact, own homes and live in Arcadia well before 1965. In October 1975, the Santa Anita Fashion Park was opened to the public on the corner of Baldwin Avenue and Huntington Drive, on part of the former Santa Anita Assembly Center site. The center court featured a very large "Blue head" by artist Roy Lichtenstein, which was later removed. The mall expanded in 2004, and renamed Westfield Santa Anita. It was affected by the late 2000s

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...

, but continues to attract business. James Dobson, a former Arcadia resident, founded the nonprofit Christian ministry

Focus on the Family Focus on the Family (FOTF or FotF) is a fundamentalist Protestant organization founded in 1977 in Southern California by James Dobson, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The group is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations ...

in the city in 1977. Its original office still stands on the south side of Foothill Boulevard. Focus grew to larger quarters in the city, and in intervening years expanded to

Monrovia Monrovia () is the capital city of the West African country of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic coast and as of the 2008 census had 1,010,970 residents, home to 29% of Liberia’s total population. As t ...

for warehouse space before moving out of Arcadia completely in 1990. Focus on the Family is now based in

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

, but still has thousands of members in Arcadia. In the 1980s, the Asian population in Arcadia began to grow. The city had remained 99% white until the late 1970s, but in 1985, the ''Los Angeles Times'' reported that the Asian population had grown from 4% in 1980 to an estimated 9%, overtaking Latinos, who accounted for roughly 7% of the population. By the 2010 census, Asians consisted of 59.2% of the population. Arcadia High School (8310811059)

In the late 1990s, Native American activists threatened to sue Arcadia High School over its use of the " Apache" mascot. The high school's use of Native American symbols, including an "Apache Joe" mascot, the ''Pow Wow'' school newspaper, the ''Apache News'' television program, the "Smoke Signals" news bulletin boards, the school's auxiliary team's marching "Apache Princesses" and opposing football team fans' "Scalp the Apaches" signs were viewed by these Native American activists and many Arcadia community members as offensive. Other residents, and some school alumni with Native American ancestry, did not object to their use. The school consulted with some Native American groups and made some concessions, but did not change the mascot. Arcadia High School has a yearly charity drive for the Apache community.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...

, the city has a total area of . of it is land and of it (1.87%) is water.

Demographics

In 2016, Arcadia was ranked the fifth most expensive housing market in the United States by ''

Business Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...

'', with an average listing price of $1,748,680 for a four-bedroom home. In 2012, Arcadia was ranked seventh in the nation on ''

CNN Money CNN Business (formerly CNN Money) is a financial news and information website, operated by CNN. The website was originally formed as a joint venture between CNN.com and Time Warner's ''Fortune'' and ''Money'' magazines. Since the spin-off of Tim ...

'' magazine's list of towns with highest median home costs. Arcadia's Upper Rancho neighborhood was ranked the 23rd richest neighborhood in Southern California by ''Business Insider'' in 2014, with a mean household income of $310,779.

2010

The

2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators serving ...

reported that Arcadia had a population of 56,364. The population density was . The racial makeup of Arcadia was 33,353 (59.2%) Asian, 18,191 (32.3%)

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

, (25.7% Non-Hispanic White), 681 (1.2%)

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 186 (0.3%) Native American, 16 (0.03%)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...

, 2,352 (4.2%) from other races, and 1,585 (2.8%) from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

or Latino of any race were 6,799 persons (12.1%). The census reported that 55,502 people (98.5% of the population) lived in households, 639 (1.1%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 223 (0.4%) were institutionalized. There were 19,592 households, out of which 7,336 (37.4%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 11,703 (59.7%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 2,437 (12.4%) had a female householder with no husband present, 865 (4.4%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 469 (2.4%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 92 (0.5%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 3,855 households (19.7%) were made up of individuals, and 1,926 (9.8%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.83. There were 15,005 families (76.6% of all households); the average family size was 3.26. The population was spread out, with 12,290 people (21.8%) under the age of 18, 4,102 people (7.3%) aged 18 to 24, 13,409 people (23.8%) aged 25 to 44, 17,349 people (30.8%) aged 45 to 64, and 9,214 people (16.3%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43.1 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.7 males according to the census. There were 20,686 housing units at an average density of , of which 12,371 (63.1%) were owner-occupied, and 7,221 (36.9%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.1%; the rental vacancy rate was 6.7%. 37,000 people (65.6% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 18,502 people (32.8%) lived in rental housing units.

Economy

Arcadia's economy is driven by wholesale trade, retail trade, manufacturing, health care and social assistance, arts, entertainment, and recreation. Revenue from the

Santa Anita Racetrack Santa Anita Park is a Thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent horse racing events in the United States during early fall, winter and in spring. The track is home to numerous prestigious races ...

has long supported capital improvements for the City of Arcadia, resulting in the city having very little bonded indebtedness. The Westfield Santa Anita mall (formerly the Santa Anita Fashion Park) is a major shopping center in the city. In 2005, the Westfield Santa Anita completed its first phase of expansion, featuring a new food court,

Sport Chalet Sport Chalet was a sporting goods chain with 47 stores in Southern & Northern California, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. Most stores were over in size, with many including dive pools and offering SCUBA classes. Sport Chalet stores usually featured l ...

(now closed),

Dave & Busters Dave & Buster's is an American restaurant and entertainment business headquartered in Dallas. Each Dave & Buster's has a full-service restaurant and a video arcade. As of October 2022, the company has 151 locations in the United States and tw ...

, numerous smaller retailers, various full-service eateries in an area known as Restaurant Square, and a 16-screen AMC Theatres megaplex. In 2008, expansion of the mall continued as the Promenade outdoor structure was completed, with new high-end retailers such as

Coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

and Talbots. In 2004, citing success from regional shopping malls such as The Grove and The Americana, Caruso Affiliated and Magna Entertainment (the owners of the Santa Anita Park racetrack) proposed to build a second large shopping mall adjacent to Westfield Santa Anita on the grounds of the Santa Anita Park south parking lot, which would have made Arcadia the largest retail shopping district in Los Angeles County. The controversial project, known as "The Shops at Santa Anita", originally included signature retail, restaurants, condominium projects, a decorative water display, and a horse-drawn trolley. Arcadia City Council unanimously approved the project in 2007 after much heated debate between some residents in the community and corporate interests, which included ballot initiatives such as free parking for Arcadia residents, prevention of retail signage installations, and downsizing the project by the removal of condominiums from the project. Magna Entertainment filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...

during the

in 2009 and dissolved the partnership with Caruso Affiliated, with Caruso Affiliated a filing a $21 million bankruptcy claim in 2010 to cover damages Caruso Affiliated incurred as a result of the inability to complete the project. The plan to build "The Shops at Santa Anita" was ultimately terminated on May 20, 2011.

Top employers

According to the city's 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top private employers in the city are:

Tourism

The

is located in Arcadia across from the Santa Anita mall and racetrack. The peafowl that roam free on the grounds and in the neighborhoods near the arboretum are a remainder of the former Baldwin ranch. When the peafowl were brought from India, they helped control snakes and snails on his farm. They are considered an attraction to some residents and a nuisance to others due to their loud cries and the droppings they leave on residents' properties.

Government

Local government

Arcadia is a

charter city In the United States, a charter city is a city in which the governing system is defined by the city's own charter document rather than solely by general law. In states where city charters are allowed by law, a city can adopt or modify its orga ...

governed by a five-member City Council (which also serves as the city's Redevelopment Agency), with each member serving a four-year term. The Council elects from its membership a Mayor to serve as its presiding officer for a one-year term. Effective with the 2018 elections, Arcadia voters elect a City Council member by geographical district instead of at-large. The current city council members are: *Mayor: Paul P. Cheng *Mayor Pro Tem: April Verlato *City Council: Michael Cao, Sharon Kwan, and Eileen Wang

List of mayors

This is a list of Arcadia mayors by year. *1927-1930 A. N. Multer *1952-1954 John A. Schmocker ~ "politicalgraveyard_mayor"/ *1969-1970 C. Robert Arth *1973-1974 C. Robert Arth *1974-1975 Alton E. Scott *1975-1976 Charles E. Gilb *1976-1977 Floretta K. Lauber - First woman mayor of Arcadia. *1977-1978 Jack Saelid *1978-1979 David E. Parry *1979-1980 Robert G. Margett *1980-1981 Donald D. Pellegrino *1981-1982 Charles E. Gilb *1982-1983 Donald D. Pellegrino *1983-1984 Dennis A. Lojeski *1984-1985 David S. Hannah *1985-1986 Donald D. Pellegrino *1986-1987 Mary B. Young *1987-1988 Charles E. Gilb *1988-1989 Robert C. Harbricht *1989-1990 Roger Chandler *1990-1991 Mary B. Young *1991-1992 Charles E. Gilb *1992-1993 George Faching *1993-1994 Joseph Ciraulo *1994-1995 Mary B. Young *1995-1996 Dennis A. Lojeski *1996-1997 Barbara D. Kuhn *1997-1998 Robert C. Harbricht *1998-1999 Gary A. Kovacic *1999-2000 Roger Chandler *2000-2001 Gary A. Kovacic *2001-2002 Mickey Segal *2002-2003 Gail A. Marshall *2003 Sheng Chang *2003 Gary A. Kovacic *2003-2004 John Wuo *2004 Mickey Segal *2004-2005 Gary A. Kovacic *2005-2006 John Wuo *2006-2007 Roger Chandler *2007-2008 Mickey Segal *2008-2009 Robert C. Harbricht *2010 Peter Amundson * 2011-2012 Gary A. Kovacic * 2015-2016 Gary A. Kovacic *2016-2017 Tom Beck *2017-2018 Peter Amudson *2018-2019 Sho Tay *2019-2020 April Verlato *2020-2021 Rodger Chandler *2021-2022 Sho Tay *2022 Paul P. Cheng

County government

In the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Arcadia is in the Fifth District, represented by Kathryn Barger. The

Los Angeles County Department of Health Services Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (abbreviated DHS and LADHS) operates the public hospitals and clinics in Los Angeles County, and is the United States' second largest municipal health system, after NYC Health + Hospitals. DHS ope ...

operates the Monrovia Health Center in

, serving Arcadia.

State and federal representation

In the California State Legislature, Arcadia is in , and in . In the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

, Arcadia is in California's 27th congressional district, which has a

Cook PVI The Cook Partisan Voting Index, abbreviated Cook PVI, CPVI, or PVI, is a measurement of how strongly a United States congressional district or U.S. state leans toward the Democratic or Republican Party, compared to the nation as a whole, based ...

of D +11 and is represented by .

Education

For primary and secondary education the city is served by the

Arcadia Unified School District The Arcadia Unified School District (AUSD) is a school district located in Arcadia, California. The district consists of six elementary schools: Holly Avenue, Longley Way, Baldwin Stocker, Camino Grove, Highland Oaks, and Hugo Reid; three middle ...

. Reading scores for the AUSD are 76.6% higher than the state average and math scores are 67.9% higher than the state average. It is estimated that 88% of Arcadia students are at public schools and 12% in private and/or parochial institutions. Arcadia Unified School District has one highly ranked and prestigious high school, Arcadia High School. It is among the few public high schools in California to receive a distinguished GreatSchools Rating of 10 out of 10. There are three middle schools, and six elementary schools, two which are winners in the United States Department of Education's

Blue Ribbon Schools The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States Department of Education award program that recognizes exemplary public and non-public schools on a yearly basis. Using standards of excellence evidenced by student achievement measures, ...

program. Approximately five percent of California schools are awarded this honor each year following a rigorous selection process. Eligibility is based on federal and state criteria including the No Child Left Behind program, Academic Performance Index (API), and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). The requirements are many and strict, and are based on such areas as a strong curriculum, solid library media services, professional teachers, and counseling programs at all grade levels. In 2010, '' BusinessWeek'' ranked Arcadia as the best place to raise children in the state of California for the second year in a row, citing the city's excellent school system as one of the factors in addition to the low crime rate.

Elementary schools

*Baldwin Stocker Elementary 422 West Lemon Ave., grades K–5, 673 students *Camino Grove Elementary 700 Camino Grove Ave., K–5, 635 students *Highland Oaks Elementary 10 Virginia Dr., K–5, 698 students *Holly Avenue Elementary 360 West Duarte Rd., K–5, 692 students *Longley Way Elementary 2601 Longley Way, K–5, 485 students *Reid (Hugo) Elementary 1000 Hugo Reid Dr., K–5, 634 students

Middle schools

*Dana (Richard Henry) Middle, 1401 South First Ave., grades 6–8, 731 students *First Avenue Middle, 301 South First Ave., grades 6–8, 809 students *Foothills Middle, 171 East Sycamore Ave., grades 6–8, 734 students

High school

* Arcadia High School The Academic Performance Index measures the academic performance and growth of schools on a variety of points. Arcadia High School scored 890, making it the highest-performing large high school in California. In 2010, Arcadia High had 29 National Merit Award finalists. Arcadia is also home to the two-time National Championship boys cross-country team (2010 and 2012).

Infrastructure

Police and fire

The Arcadia Police Department and Arcadia Fire Department serves the city of Arcadia.

Transportation

Arcadia has several arterial roads that traverse the city. The major east–west streets include Foothill Boulevard, Huntington Drive, Duarte Road, Las Tunas Drive, and Live Oak Avenue. The major north–south streets include Baldwin Avenue and Santa Anita Avenue. It is also served by the Foothill Freeway (I-210).

Arcadia Transit

The city of Arcadia operates three fixed route services, as well as a

Dial-A-Ride Demand-responsive transport (DRT), also known as demand-responsive transit, demand-responsive service,
US National Trans ...

that provides curb-to-curb service throughout city limits.

Metro L Line

In 2016, Metro opened a new at-grade light rail station in Arcadia. Arcadia Station is located northwest of the intersection of 1st Avenue and Santa Clara Street, and is served by the Metro L Line.

Healthcare

Located at 300 W. Huntington Drive, Methodist Hospital sits on of land. The 460-bed hospital opened in Arcadia in 1957, after moving from downtown Los Angeles. Methodist was the state's first community hospital to have a psychiatric unit. Its nursery school was one of the first corporate daycare facilities in the U.S. It was an ''Official Hospital of the 1984 Olympic Games''. To keep up with the changing needs of the community, several upgrades have been made to the original facility. In 1998, the Berger Tower was completed, adding 169 beds. Methodist underwent a major renovation and expansion in 2006, and in the fall of 2011, a new five-story patient tower and new emergency department were opened.

The Methodist Hospital School of Nursing

A School of Nursing opened at the hospital in 1915, with a class of 30 students. Ten years later, a residence was built to accommodate 150 graduate and student nurses. This four-story brick building, known as Philomena Hall, was connected to the hospital by an underground corridor and provided accommodations, classrooms and a gymnasium for the nurses. Beginning in 1944 (after a nine-year school closure), additional housing for nurses was provided in a refurbished residential house adjacent to Philomena Hall. After more than 40 years of operation and the graduation of hundreds of talented young nurses, the School of Nursing closed. Times had changed, and the practice of nursing education had moved into the domain of the formal education system. The school was phased out in 1958 with the graduation of the last nursing class.

Water & Sewer

The City of Arcadia provides services for water and sewer to its residents. The city operates its own water distribution system via the Public Works Services Department. Arcadia's water supply comes from groundwater from municipal owned water pumps from the Main San Gabriel Basin and the Raymond Basin, both which are replenished with local rainwater and imported water.

In popular culture

U.S. Route 66, immortalized in song and literature, passes through Arcadia, on Huntington Drive in Downtown Arcadia, before turning off onto Colorado Place and then Colorado Street. After intersecting the 210 freeway, Route 66 runs parallel to and south of the freeway, cutting across the middle section of Arcadia. The city is mentioned by Jack Kerouac in his novel '' On the Road'': Sal, the protagonist, is put off by " preppy" teens when he stops for food at a local drive-in restaurant with a young Mexican woman. The vignette demonstrates the culture clash between the " Beatnik" way of life and that of 1950s conservative America. In a motel located in Arcadia across the street northeast from Santa Anita Racetrack, author Hunter S. Thompson wrote much of his novel '' Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'' in the 1970s. In Michael Cunningham's novel '' The Hours'', Laura Brown mentions that she heard of a man who died in nearby Arcadia. The McDonald brothers, who later began the

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

hamburger restaurant chain, opened their first restaurant, The Airdrome, near Monrovia Airport, on the Arcadia–Monrovia border in 1937. The restaurant was located on historic Route 66, now Huntington Drive, but later moved to San Bernardino, California, in 1940. The main setting of the DreamWorks' franchise ''

Tales of Arcadia ''Tales of Arcadia'' is a trilogy of computer-animated science fantasy television series created for Netflix by Guillermo del Toro and produced by DreamWorks Animation and Double Dare You. The series comprising the trilogy follows the inhabitants ...

'' took place in Arcadia Oaks, a fictionalized version of Arcadia, California.

Filming locations

Many films on location (including Tarzan and the Bing Crosby On the Road movies), television series, most notably ''

Fantasy Island ''Fantasy Island'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by Gene Levitt. It aired on ABC from 1977 to 1984. The series starred Ricardo Montalbán as the mysterious Mr. Roarke and Hervé Villechaize as his assistant, Tatto ...

'' were filmed in Arcadia. A popular visiting site is the house with the bell tower, where Tattoo rang the bell, is the Queen Anne Cottage, located in the

in Arcadia. The plane, "arriving" with the guests, was filmed in the lagoon behind the Queen Anne Cottage. Occasionally, outdoor scenes and commercials are filmed at the Arboretum have been filmed on the grounds of the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden. The Santa Anita Park Racetrack is another popular filming locations. The true story film '' Seabiscuit'' (2003) was filmed and takes place at the Santa Anita race track. A commercial for

Claritin Loratadine, sold under the brand name Claritin among others, is a medication used to treat allergies. This includes allergic rhinitis (hay fever) and hives. It is also available in combination with pseudoephedrine, a decongestant, known as lo ...

allergy medicine, a Lexus commercial, and three episodes of '' Grey's Anatomy'' have used it as a location ("Walk on Water", "Drowning on Dry Land" and "Some Kind of Miracle"). This city was one of the filming locations for

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

' comedy film ''

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

'' (1994). The fantasy-comedy film ''

Matilda Matilda or Mathilda may refer to: Animals * Matilda (chicken) (1990–2006), World's Oldest Living Chicken record holder * Matilda (horse) (1824–1846), British Thoroughbred racehorse * Matilda, a dog of the professional wrestling tag-team The ...

'' was shot here in 1996. A scene from '' Step Brothers'' (2008) was shot at the nearby Derby restaurant. Scenes from '' Mission: Impossible III'' (2006) were shot at Methodist Hospital. In the movie '' Cloverfield'', the scene in which the survivors walk inside

Bloomingdale's Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain; it was founded in New York City by Joseph B. and Lyman G. Bloomingdale in 1861. A third brother, Emanuel Watson Bloomingdale, was also involved in the business. It became a di ...

was actually filmed inside a Robinsons-May store under reconstruction inside the Westfield Santa Anita in Arcadia. The film '' Eagle Eye'' (2008) was also filmed in this location. Scenes from '' Kicking & Screaming'' (2005) were shot at Foothill Middle School and in Arcadia homes. The movie ''The Lone Ranger'' (2013) filmed their train scenes here within the Santa Anita Race Track parking lot by building an elevated 'roller coaster' like track. The comedy film '' Deal of a Lifetime'' (1999) was filmed entirely at Arcadia High School. The movie '' Moxie'' (2021) was filmed at Arcadia High School's North Gym and Salter Stadium.

Notable people

* Michael Anthony, bassist of the band

Van Halen Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. Credited with "restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene", Van Halen was known for its energetic live shows and for the virtuosity of its lead gu ...

, graduated from Arcadia High School in 1972 * Marty Barrett, baseball player *

Ryan Bergara ''BuzzFeed Unsolved'' (also known as simply ''Unsolved'') was a documentary entertainment web series created by Ryan Bergara for BuzzFeed that ran from February 4, 2016, to November 19, 2021. It first appeared on the YouTube channel ''BuzzFeed ...

, cohost on Buzzfeed Unsolved and cofounder of Watcher Entertainment * Tracy Caldwell Dyson, astronaut. Born in Arcadia. * Jason Chen, singer *

Jimmy Conrad James Paul Conrad (born February 12, 1977) is an American retired association football player who played as a defender. During his 13-year MLS career, he was four-time MLS Best XI and the 2005 MLS Defender of the Year. He also earned 27 caps w ...

, former soccer defender. Born in Arcadia. * Sven Davidson, tennis player who won the French Open and Wimbledon * John Grabow, major league baseball pitcher * Phil Hendrie, radio personality, grew up in Arcadia and graduated from Arcadia High School in 1970 * Colleen Kay Hutchins, Miss America 1952, was raised in Arcadia * Maren Jensen, actress, was born in Arcadia *

Brittany Klein Brittany Michelle Klein (born October 29, 1986) is an American soccer midfielder. Klein is a former member of the United States women's national under-23 soccer team and a WPS All-Star in 2009. Playing career Youth Club Klein played for Lag ...

, soccer player *

Rudy Kurniawan Rudy Kurniawan (born 10 October 1976, in Jakarta, Indonesia) is an Indonesian convicted criminal and perpetrator of wine fraud. He was found to be offering more magnums of the limited edition 1947 Château Lafleur than had been produced, and hi ...

, wine swindler * Ted Leonard of band Enchant was born in Arcadia *

Jet Li Li Lianjie (courtesy name Yangzhong; born 26 April 1963), better known by his stage name Jet Li, is a Chinese film actor, film producer, martial artist, and retired Wushu champion. He is a naturalized Singaporean citizen. After three years ...

, international film star and martial artist, resided in Arcadia with his wife, a former Miss China *

Johnny Lindell John Harlan Lindell (August 30, 1916 – August 27, 1985) was an American professional baseball player who was an outfielder and pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1941 to 1950 and from 1953 to 1954 for the New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardin ...

, Major League Baseball player * Bruce McNall, owned NHL's Los Angeles Kings, was born in Arcadia * Mirai Nagasu, Olympic figure skater, 6-time medalist in U.S. championships * Lindsay Price, actress and wife of Curtis Stone *

John Speraw John Speraw (born October 18, 1971) is an American volleyball coach. He is the head coach of the men's volleyball team at United States national team and UCLA. He was the former coach of UC Irvine volleyball program where he led the team to th ...

, Head Coach US Men's Olympic Volleyball Team * Mark Tuan, member of South Korean boy-band GOT7 * Rena Wang, badminton player * Steve Westly, politician and venture capitalist *

Wil Wheaton Richard William Wheaton III (born July 29, 1972) is an American actor. He portrayed Wesley Crusher on the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', Gordie Lachance in the film '' Stand by Me'', Joey Trotta in '' Toy Soldiers'', ...

, actor, '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' * George Woolf, horse jockey, owner of The Derby restaurant in Arcadia and rider of Seabiscuit * Tim Worrell, professional baseball pitcher * Todd Worrell, professional baseball relief pitcher *

Erica Wu Erica Shen-Ning Wu (born May 15, 1996) is an American table tennis player who competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. She was the 2011 and 2012 US national champion in women's doubles (with Gao Jun) and reached the semifinals in wome ...

, table tennis Olympian * Genie, a feral child * Jeff Grosso, professional skateboarder * Jason Robertson, professional hockey player. *

Jimmy Lambert James Michael Lambert (born November 18, 1994) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Chicago White Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB). Amateur career Lambert attended San Dimas High School in San Dimas, California. As a senior, he ...

Baseball Player

Sister cities

Arcadia has one

sister city A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...

( Newcastle, Australia), as designated by

Sister Cities International Sister Cities International (SCI) is a nonprofit citizen diplomacy network that creates and strengthens partnerships between communities in the United States and those in other countries, particularly through the establishment of " sister citie ...

. Consequently, Newcastle Park can be found on Colorado Boulevard. There is also an Arcadia Park in Newcastle.

References

External links

*
Arcadia Historical Society
{{authority control 1903 establishments in California Populated places established in 1903 Cities in Los Angeles County, California Communities in the San Gabriel Valley Incorporated cities and towns in California Chinese-American culture in California