Huntington Park, California

Huntington Park, California is situated on the Los Angeles coastal plain about five miles southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The City of Huntington Park is part of the Gateway Cities district. The cities of Vernon and Maywood are Huntington Park’s neighbors to the north. Huntington Park’s other neighbors include the communities of Florence-Graham and Walnut Park, as well as the cities of South Gate, Bell, and Cudahy.

Huntington Park has a land area of just over 3 square miles and a population of over 53,000. Huntington Park has extensive residential areas, including single family dwelling (in the southeast), medium density, and high density (in the northeast and bordering the Downtown area) neighborhoods. The Alameda Corridor, a freight rail expressway that connects the ocean ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to Downtown Los Angeles, passes through the City of Huntington Park. The portion of the Alameda Corridor in Huntington Park is in a 33-foot deep trench. Consequently, rail traffic along the Alameda Corridor is entirely separate from street traffic, thereby lessening traffic congestion and noise pollution.

Though commercial development is found in many areas of Huntington Park, the City’s downtown area along Pacific Boulevard is the City’s main business district. The City’s main industrial areas are in the western and northern portions of the municipality.

The Pacific Boulevard commercial district has undergone a revival in recent decades and reasserted its status as one of the busier shopping districts in the area. Significant manufacturing, transportation, and warehousing business is conducted in Huntington Park.

Community Hospital of Huntington Park is an 81-bed facility with more than 300 employees, and 170 physicians. The Hospital receives over 46,000 emergency room visits annually. Community Hospital of Huntington Park has served Huntington Park and surrounding communities for over 60 years.

Huntington Park is accessible from the Long Beach Freeway (Interstate 710) and by major throughfares. The City’s major north-south trending throughfares are Alameda Street, Pacific Boulevard, and Santa Fe Avenue. The City’s major east-west trending thoroughfares are Florence Avenue, Gage Avenue, and Slauson Avenue. Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority provides bus service along the major streets in Huntington Park. Metro A Line (Blue) rail service has stations adjacent to Huntington Park. Huntington Park is about 13 miles from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and about 11 miles from Long Beach Municipal Airport.

Huntington Park is a General Law City with a Council/Manager form of government. The City Council, which has five members, serves as the City’s legislative body. Huntington Park voters at large elect council members.

The Los Angeles Unified School District provides education services for the City of Huntington Park.

The Huntington Park Police Department provides law enforcement services for the City of Huntington Park. The Huntington Park Police Department was founded at the time of the City’s incorporation in 1906. The Department now has over 100 fulltime and about 25 parttime employees. Prior to the mid-1940s, Huntington Park police vehicles did not have two-way radios. Instead, Police Call Boxes were installed around the City. When someone called the police station for assistance, an operator would activate the red lights atop several tall towers positioned throughout the City. Officers in the field would observe the red lights and use the call boxes to contact the station. Huntington Park also operates a jail for unsentenced prisoners prior to transfer to Los Angeles County facilities.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department operates two stations within the City of Huntington Park.

Several water companies serve the City of Huntington Park, including the Maywood Mutual Water Company, a non-profit corporation.

Southern California Gas Company provides natural gas services. Southern California Edison Company provides electricity services.

The Huntington Park Library was established in 1913 and is part of the County of Los Angeles Library system.

At the turn of the 20th century, a 100-acre tract of land called Sunrise Tract was subdivided and renamed La Park. Lots sold for $75 to $350. Henry Edward Huntington’s interurban “Red Car” Pacific Electric Railway extended to the tract a short while later, at which point the area was renamed Huntington Park. Within a few years, a small town had developed as a streetcar suburb and in 1906 Huntington Park incorporated. Huntington Park’s subsequent population growth and economic development were tied to the region’s industrial boom. In the years following World War I, many large manufacturing plants were established in nearby Florence-Graham, South Gate, Vernon, and Commerce. The sector continued to grow during World War II and the first decade of the Cold War due to a demand for military equipment. Huntington Park was fully developed prior to World War II. In the 1950s, Huntington Park was at the center of a tremendously industrial area.

From the 1930s through the 1950s, a mile long, seven block strip of shops, department stores, first-run cinemas, auto dealerships, and small office buildings along Pacific Boulevard constituted the busiest shopping district in the suburban region southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The district attracted shoppers from nearby communities such as Cudahy, Lynwood, Bell, and South Gate. Pacific Boulevard, decorated for the holiday season, was the site of an annual Christmas parade. The Lane-Wells Company Building and the W. W. Henry Company Building (both of which were built on Pacific Boulevard in the late 1930s) are notable examples of Streamline Moderne architecture. The Warner Huntington Park theatre was a grand venue that opened in 1930 and had a seating capacity of over 1,400. While the Warner Huntington Park has been repurposed, its façade has been restored. Just down the street, the California Theatre opened in 1925.

The approximately 23-acre Salt Lake Park is the largest park in Huntington Park. The park offers a wide range of facilities, including a recreation center, a gymnasium, baseball diamonds, a skate park, and tennis courts. The City of Huntington Park Farmers’ Market takes place at Salt Lake Park on Wednesdays.

Raul R. Perez Memorial Park features a walking trail and outdoor exercise equipment.

The Garlow House was constructed in 1903 for Professor George A. Garlow, a “Hair and Scalp Specialist” who treated “Bald Heads and all Diseases of the Hair and Scalp Scientifically.”

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