Arcadia

Arcadia is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located about 13 miles (21 km) northeast of downtown Los Angeles. The city had a population of 56,364 at the 2010 census, up from 53,248 at the 2000 census. 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, and the San Gabriel and San Fernando Valleys. A Tongva settlement site within present-dayArcadia was known as Alyeupkigna (or Aluupkenga). The town's site became part of Spanish Mission San Gabriel Arcángel lands in 1771. After Indian Reductions to become Mission Indians, 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. In 1875, Gold Rush immigrant, businessman, and major regional land owner Elias Jackson "Lucky" Baldwin in 1875. Baldwin purchased 8,00 acres (32 km²) of Rancho Santa Anita for $200,000. 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. By the turn of the 20th century, Arcadia had aPopulation nearing 500 and an economy that was coming to be based on entertainment, sporting, hospitality, and gambling opportunities.

History

For over 8,000 years, the site of Arcadia was part of the homeland of the Tongva people. The Mexican land grant for Rancho Santa Anita was issued to Perfecto Hugo Reid and his Tongva wife, Victoria Bartolomea Comicrabit, in 1845. Lucky Baldwin bought the land in 1875 and built the Queen Anne Cottage for his fourth wife and himself in 1885-1886, now preserved within the Arboretum. In 1913 Anita Baldwin, Lucky's daughter, built a 50-room mansion on 19 acres (77,000 m2) of the Baldwin Ranch she inherited from him, and named it "Anoakia" (a portmanteau of Anita and oak) The estate had a significant Greek Revival-style colonnaded "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 Anita Oaks School in 1967. The school's efforts to develop the property into a village with the old mansion as its centerpiece were rejected by the city council in 1990. Some of the mansion's architectural elements were salvaged and removed in 2000. The city council voted to approve demolition for a real estate development by new owners in 1999, all other significant structures and outbuildings, including the mansion, were demolished in 1999.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 11.1 square miles (29 km²) of which 10.9 square miles is land and 0.52 km² is water. The city is home to the University of New Mexico's football team, which is based in Albuquerque. The university's football program is known as the New Mexico Bulldogs. The team's mascot is the Bulldogs, and the team's colors are blue and white. The football team won the National Championship in 2007 and 2008. It also won the World Series in 2008 and 2010. The U.N. World Cup in 2008 was held in New Mexico, and was won by the United States. It was the first time the World Cup has been held in the state, and it was also the only time it has ever been held on the West Coast. It is also the first World War II-era city to be named after a U. S. president. It has a population of 2,000, and its population has grown to 3,000 in the last 50 years. The town's population has declined by 1,000 since the 1950s, when it peaked at 4,000. The population has fallen to 2,100 in the past decade, and is expected to fall to 1,500 by the end of the century. The current population is 2,200. It had a peak of 3,200 in the early 1970s. It now stands at 3,100.

Demographics

The 2010 United States Census reported that Arcadia had a population of 56,364. The racial makeup of Arcadia was 33,353 (59.2%) Asian, 18,191 (32.3%) White, (25.7% Non-Hispanic White), 681 (1.2) African American, 186 (0.3) Native American, 2,352 (4.2!) from other races, and 1,585 (2.8%) from two or more races. There were 19,592 households, out of which 7,336 (37.4%) had children under the age of 18 living in them. The average household size was 2.83, and the average family size was 3.26. 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.Arcadia was ranked seventh in the nation on CNN Money magazine's list of towns with highest median home costs in 2012, with an average listing price of $1,748,680 for a four-bedroom home. In 2016, Arcadia is ranked the fifth most expensive housing market in the United States, with the average price of a home being $1.7 million. In 2010, there were 20,686 housing units at an average density of 1,858.0 per square mile (717.4/km²), of which 12,371 (63.1%) were owner-occupied, and 7,221 (36.9%) were occupied by renters.

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 has long supported capital improvements for the City of Arcadia, resulting in the city having very little bonded indebtedness. The Westfield Santa Anita mall is a major shopping center in Arcadia. The plan to build "The Shops at Santa Anita" was ultimately terminated on May 20, 2011. According to the city's 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top private employers in the City are: The Arcadia Chamber of Commerce, Arcadia Bank, and Arcadia National Bank. The city is home to the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, which is located in the Arcadia neighborhood of Los Angeles. It is also the home of the California Shakespeare Festival, which runs through the end of October each year. The Santa Anita Park racetrack is located near the center of the city. It has a thoroughbred horse racing track, which opened in the 1930s. It was the first horse track in the U.S. to open in the United States. The track is now owned and operated by the California Horse Racing Association, which has a track and exhibition center at the site of the track. It also has a horse-drawn trolley, which was inaugurated in the 1950s. The racetracks is the second largest horse racing venue in the world, after the track in Kentucky.

Tourism

The Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden is located in Arcadia across from the Santa Anita mall and racetrack. The peafowl that roam free on the grounds and in the neighborhoods are a remainder of the former Baldwin ranch. 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. They were brought from India to help control snakes and snails on his farm and are considered a part of the history of the area. The arboretm is open to the public and offers a variety of educational programs for children and adults. It is located on a former ranch that was once owned by the Baldwin family and is now owned by L.A. County.

Government

Arcadia is a charter city governed by a five-member City Council. The City Council also serves as the city's Redevelopment Agency. 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: Paul P. Cheng, April Verlato, Michael Cao, Sharon Kwan, and Eileen Wang. Arcadia is in California's 27th congressional district, which has a Cook PVI of D +11 and is represented by Democrat Judy Chu. The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services operates the Monrovia Health Center in Monravia, serving Arcadia. In the California State Legislature, Arcadian is in the 22nd Senate District, represented by Democrats Susan Rubio and Mike Fong, and in the 49th Assembly District,represented by Democrats Mike P. Fong and Susan Rubio. The city's mayor is Gary A. Kovacic, who was elected in 2000. The mayor has been re-elected in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. The council has been elected in 2010, 2012, and 2014, and the current members are Peter Amudson, Roger Chandler, and Sho Tay.Arcadia has a population of 4,000. It is located in the San Fernando Valley, in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, and is near the Santa Monica Mountains.

Education

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 of which are winners in the U.S. Department of Education's Blue Ribbon Schools program. In 2010, BusinessWeek ranked Arcadia as the best place to raise children in the state of California for the second year in a row. Arcadia is also home to the two-time National Championship boys cross-country team (2010 and 2012). The city is located in the Central Coast region of Los Angeles County, California. The city has a population of 2.2 million people, making it one of the fastest growing cities in the United States. In 2009, the city was ranked as the No. 1 city in California for high school graduation rates. In 2011, the City was ranked No. 2 in California in the Academic Performance Index, with a score of 890. In 2012, the AUSD had a graduation rate of 80.9%. The city's high school had 29 National Merit Award finalists in 2010, and 29 in 2011. In 2013, the High School had 29 finalists in the Merit Awards Program, with 29 in the 2010-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20-21-22-24-24. In 2014, the high school scored 890, making the school the highest performing large school in California.

Infrastructure

The city of Arcadia has several arterial roads that traverse the city. The major eastwest streets include Foothill Boulevard, Huntington Drive, Las Tunas Drive, and Live Oak Avenue. It is also served by the I-210 Freeway (I-210) and Baldwin Avenue. The city operates its own water distribution system via the Public Works Services Department. It was an Official Hospital of the 1984 Olympic Games. The Methodist Hospital School of Nursing opened at the hospital in 1915, with a class of 30 students. After more than 40 years of operation and the graduation of hundreds of talented young nurses, the School of nursing closed. The school was phased out in 1958 with the graduated of the last nursing class. Arcadia Transit operates three fixed route services, as well as a Dial-A-Ride that provides curb-to-curb service throughout city limits. The Metro L Line opened a new at-grade light rail station in Arcadia in 2016, and is located northwest of the intersection of 1st Avenue and Santa Clara Street. The Arcadia Police Department and Arcadia Fire Department serves the city ofArcadia. The City of Arcida provides services for water and sewer to its residents through the Public works Services Department and the Arcadia Water & Sewer Department. The 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 and importedWater and Sewer.

In popular culture

U.S. Route 66, immortalized in song and literature, passes through Arcadia. The McDonald brothers opened their first restaurant, The Airdrome, near Monrovia Airport, on the ArcadiaMonrovia border in 1937. 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. Hunter S. Thompson wrote much of his novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in Arcadia in the 1970s. The main setting of the DreamWorks' franchise Tales of Arcadia took place inArcadia Oaks, a fictionalized version ofArcadia, California. A popular visiting site is the house with the bell tower, where Tattoo rang the bell, is the Queen Anne Cottage, located in the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden. The true story film Seabiscuit (2003) was filmed and takes place at the Santa Anita race track. A commercial for Claritin 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' comedy film North (1994) The fantasy-comedy film Matilda 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.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Arcadia, Los Angeles County, California = 1. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 52. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 10. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Arcadia = 6.2 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 56,681 individuals with a median age of 43.4 age the population grows by 9.61% in Arcadia, Los Angeles County, California population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 5,187.24 residents per square mile of area (2,002.81/km²). There are average 2.81 people per household in the 20,495 households with an average household income of $70,670 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 7.30% of the available work force and has dropped -6.23% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 20.24%. The number of physicians in Arcadia per 100,000 population = 213.2.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Arcadia = 17.4 inches and the annual snowfall = 0 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 34. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 287. 89 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 41.6 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 47, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Arcadia, Los Angeles County, California which are owned by the occupant = 59.58%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 46 years with median home cost = $679,930 and home appreciation of 0.56%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $7.73 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $4,587 per student. There are 23.7 students for each teacher in the school, 10083 students for each Librarian and 1018 students for each Counselor. 9.16% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 26.87% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 17.19% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).