Baldwin Park, California
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Baldwin Park is a city located in the central San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 75,837.
Like many aging working-class suburbs throughout the Los Angeles area, Baldwin Park has crime problems such as vandalism, violent street gangs, prostitution, and drug dealing. A rundown motel once filled with vice has since been redeveloped as a large shopping center anchored by Wal-Mart with other retailers and fast food restaurants. The city has attracted a Harley-Davidson retailer as a major sales tax revenue generator as well.
Baldwin Park is home to the first In-N-Out burger stand, the first drive-thru in California, which closed in 2004 and will soon be converted into a museum. The previous In-N-Out has been replaced with a new one, in which the museum is still being constructed on Francisquito Avenue.
As of September 1882, the first school house was built on the southeast corner of North Maine and Los Angeles Avenues in 1884. It contained two rows of double seats, a central aisle leading to the teacher's desk, and a heating stove at the north end. Mr. Frazier was the first teacher. In April 1888, The Vineland School District was established according to county records. The first Board of Trustees took office on July 1, 1888, and elected Miss Jessie Washburn to teach the district school that fall. The building was sold in 1890 and moved to another site for a private residence. The district built the second school in 1890 and hired two teachers, Miss Ellen Lang and Miss Venna O. Finney. The second school house was relegated to the past in 1912. It later became a private Japanese school and stood as a landmark until it caught fire on September 5, 1936, and burned to the ground.
In summer 2005, Save Our State, an anti-illegal immigration group based in Ventura, launched a series of protests against the installation at the Baldwin Park Metrolink station of an artwork that allegedly contained anti-Anglo overtones. At issue was an inscription--It was better before they came--that Save Our State claimed was discriminatory toward Caucasians. In fact, the inscription is a quote uttered by a white Baldwin Park resident in the 1950s, lamenting the influx of persons of Mexican ancestry into the San Gabriel Valley following World War II. Save Our State's founder Joseph Turner has publicly vowed to continue the protests, which have drawn enormous numbers of counter-protesters and required considerable expenditures on crowd control and riot police, until Baldwin Park's city treasury is sufficiently depleted as to force it to remove the art installation.
Geography
Baldwin Park is located at 34°4'58" North, 117°58'18" West (34.082809, -117.971677)GR1.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 17.6 km² (6.8 mi²). 17.2 km² (6.7 mi²) of it is land and 0.3 km² (0.1 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 1.91% water.
Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there are 75,837 people, 16,961 households, and 15,061 families residing in the city. The population density is 4,396.5/km² (11,379.2/mi²). There are 17,430 housing units at an average density of 1,010.5/km² (2,615.3/mi². The racial makeup of the city is 40.18% White, 1.61% Black or African American, 1.45% Native American, 11.64% Asian, 0.15% Pacific Islander, 40.51% from other races, and 4.48% from two or more races. 78.67% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 16,961 households out of which 55.9% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.8% are married couples living together, 17.5% have a female householder with no husband present, and 11.2% are non-families. 8.1% of all households are made up of individuals and 3.9% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 4.44 and the average family size is 4.53.
In the city the population is spread out with 34.9% under the age of 18, 11.9% from 18 to 24, 30.6% from 25 to 44, 16.4% from 45 to 64, and 6.2% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 27 years. For every 100 females there are 100.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 97.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $41,629, and the median income for a family is $41,256. Males have a median income of $26,873 versus $22,186 for females. The per capita income for the city is $11,562. 18.2% of the population and 15.4% of families are below the poverty line. 21.8% of those under the age of 18 and 12.8% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
External links
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Local or Yahoo! Maps
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
- Satellite image from Google Local or Microsoft Virtual Earth
