Pacoima, Los Angeles, California
Encyclopedia
Pacoima is a district in the San Fernando Valley
region of the city of Los Angeles, California
.
It is bordered by the Los Angeles districts of Mission Hills
on the west, Arleta
on the south, Sun Valley
on the southeast, Lake View Terrace
on the northeast, and by the city of San Fernando
on the north. Major thoroughfares include San Fernando Road
, Van Nuys Boulevard
, and Laurel Canyon Boulevard
. The Golden State and Ronald Reagan freeways run through the district.
Native American tribes lived in the area. Pacoima means "the entrance" in the Tataviam (or Fernandeño) language
.
In 1797, Spanish
colonists
built the nearby Mission San Fernando Rey
and worked to convert the Indians to Christianity.
In 1887 Charles Maclay
, a former Republican
California State Assembly
man and California State Senator
purchased 56,000 acre
s (227 km2) in the area with a loan of $
117,500 from a friend, the industrialist Leland Stanford
. MacLay subdivided the tract into agricultural parcels, most of which were used for the production of Southern California
staples such as citrus, nuts, beans, wheat, and vegetables. As was the case in most of the San Fernando Valley, the lure of plentiful, cheap water from the Los Angeles Aqueduct
proved irresistible to Pacoima's farmers. Los Angeles annexed the land, including Pacoima, as part of ordinance 32192 N.S. on May 22, 1915.
During World War II
, the rapid expansion of the workforce at Lockheed
's main plant in neighboring Burbank
and need for worker housing led to the construction of the San Fernando Gardens
housing project. By the 1950s, the rapid suburb
anization of the San Fernando Valley arrived in Pacoima, and the area changed almost overnight from a dusty farming area to a bedroom community for the fast-growing industries in Los Angeles and nearby Burbank and Glendale
, with transportation to and from Pacoima provided by the Golden State Freeway.
Throughout its history, Pacoima was a place where Southern California
ns escaping poverty in rural areas settled. In the post-World War II
era, many African American
s settled in Pacoima after arriving in the area during the second wave of the Great Migration
, as they had been excluded from other neighborhoods due to racially discriminatory covenants. By 1960 almost all of the 10,000 African Americans in the San Fernando Valley
lived in Pacoima and Arleta. Timothy Williams of the Los Angeles Times
wrote that Pacoima "became the center of African-American life in the Valley."
On January 31, 1957, a Douglas DC-7
operated by Douglas Aircraft Company
was involved in a mid-air collision
and crashed into the schoolyard
of Pacoima Junior High School. By February 1, 7 people had died and about 74 had been injured due to the incident. A 12-year old boy died from multiple injuries from the incident on February 2. On June 10, 1957, a light aircraft hit a house in Pacoima; the four passengers on board died and eight people in the house sustained injuries.
In 1966 Los Angeles city planners wrote a 48-page report criticizing Pacoima for failing to have a coherent structure to develop businesses in the central business district
, lacking civic pride, and having poor house maintenance.
By the late 1960s, immigrants from rural Mexico began to move to Pacoima due to the low housing costs and the city's proximity to manufacturing jobs. African Americans who were better established began to move out and, in an example of ethnic succession, within less than two decades, the African-American population was replaced by a poorer Latino immigrant population. 75% of Pacoima's residents were African Americans in the 1970s. According to the 1990 U.S. Census, 71% of Pacoima's population was of Hispanic/Latino descent while 10% was African American. Immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala and Salvador settled in Pacoima.
The closing of factories in the area around Pacoima in the early 1990s caused residents to lose jobs, reducing the economic base of the city; many residents left Pacoima as a result. By 1994 Pacoima was the poorest area in the San Fernando Valley. One in three Pacoima residents lived in public housing
. The poverty rate hovered between 25% and 40%. In 1994 Williams wrote of Pacoima, "one of the worst off" neighborhoods in Los Angeles, "nevertheless hides its poverty well." Williams cited the lack of homeless people on Pacoima's streets, the fact that no vacancies existed in Pacoima's major shopping center, and the presence of "neat" houses and "well-tended" yards. Williams added that in Pacoima "holding a job is no guarantee against being poor." In 1994 Howard Berman
, the U.S. Congress representative of an area including Pacoima, and Los Angeles City Council
member Richard Alarcon advocated including a 2 square mile area in the City of Los Angeles's bid for a federal empowerment zone. The proposed area, with 13,000 residents in 1994, included central Pacoima and a southern section of Lake View Terrace.
had cut over 8,000 jobs at its Burbank, California
plant. General Motors
closed its Van Nuys plant in 1992, causing the loss of 2,600 jobs. Timothy Williams of the Los Angeles Times
wrote in 1994, "For years, those relatively high-paying jobs had provided families with a springboard out of the San Fernando Gardens
and Van Nuys Pierce Park Apartments public housing complexes." After the jobs were lost, many longtime Pacoima residents left the area. In the 1990 U.S. Census the unemployment rate in Pacoima was almost 14%, while the City of Los Angeles had an overall 8.4% overall unemployment rate. Many Pacoima residents who worked made less than $14,000 annually: the U.S. government's poverty line for a family of four. Most residents owned their houses.
Natural Balance Pet Foods
has its headquarters in Pacoima. Juicy Couture
, an apparel company, was founded in Pacoima.
wrote in 1955 that the 110-block area on the north side of San Fernando Road in Pacoima consisted of what he described as a "smear of sagging, leaning shacks and backhouses framed by disintegrating fences and clutter of tin cans, old lumber, stripped automobiles, bottles, rusted water heaters and other bric-a-brac of the back alleys." In 1955 Pacoima lacked curbs, paved sidewalks, and paved streets. Pacoima had what Meagher described as "dusty footpaths and rutted dirt roads that in hard rains become beds for angry streams." Meagher added that the 450 houses in the area, with 2,000 inhabitants, "squatted" "within this clutch of residential blight." He described most of the houses as "substandard." Around 1955 the price of residential property increased in value, as lots that sold years prior for $100 sold for $800 in 1955. Between 1950 and 1955, property values on Van Nuys Boulevard
increased six times. In late 1952 the Los Angeles City Council
allowed the Building and Safety Department to begin a slum clearance project to try to force homeowners who had houses deemed substandard to repair, demolish, or vacate those said houses. In early 1955 the city began a $500,000 project to add 9 miles (14.5 km) of curbs, sidewalks, and streets. Meagher said that the "neatness and cleanness" of the new infrastructure were "a challenge to homeowners grown apathetic to thoroughfares ankle deep in mud or dust." Some area businessmen established the San Fernando Valley Commercial & Savings Bank in November 1953 to finance area rehabilitation projects after other banks persistently refused to give loans to those projects.
In late 1966 a 48 page city planning report criticized the central business district
of Pacoima along Van Nuys Boulevard
for being "a rambling, shallow strip pattern of commercial uses... varying from banks to hamburger stands, including an unusual number of small business and service shops." A Los Angeles Times
article stated that the physical image of the area was "somewhat depressing." The council recommended the establishment of smaller community shopping centers. The article stated that the Pacoima Chamber of Commerce was expected to oppose the recommendation, and that the chamber favored deepening of the existing commercial zones along Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Van Nuys Boulevard. The council criticized the lack of parking spaces and storefronts that appeared in disrepair or vacant. The report also recommended establishing shopping centers in areas outside of the Laurel Canyon-Van Nuys commercial axis. The article stated that some sections of Laurel Canyon were "in a poor state of repair" and that there were "conspicuously minimal" curbs and sidewalks. The report recommended continued efforts to to improve sidewalks and trees. The report also advocated the establishment of a community center to, in the words of the article, "give Pacoima a degree of unity." Most of the residences in Pacoima were, in the words of the article, "of an older vintage." The article said most of the houses and yards, especially in the R-2 duplex zoned, exhibited "sign of neglect." The report said that the range of types of houses was "unusually narrow for a community of this size." The report said that the fact had a negative effect on the community that was reflected by a lack of purchasing power. The report added "Substandard home maintenance is widespread and borders on total neglect in some sectors." The report recommended establishing additional apartments in central Pacoima; the Los Angeles Times report said that the recommendation was "clouded" by the presence of "enough apartment-zoned land to last 28 years" in the San Fernando Valley
.
In 1994, according to Timothy Williams of the Los Angeles Times, there were few boarded-up storefronts along Pacoima's main commercial strip along Van Nuys Boulevard, and no vacancies existed in Pacoima's main shopping center. Williams added that many of the retail outlets in Pacoima consisted of check cashing outlets, storefront churches, pawn shops, and automobile repair shops. Williams added that the nearest bank to the commercial strip was "several blocks away." In 1994 almost one third of Pacoima's residents lived in public housing
complexes. Williams said that the complexes had relatively little graffiti
. Many families who were on waiting lists to enter public housing complexes lived in garages and converted tool sheds, which often lacked electricity, heat, and/or running water. Williams said that they lived "out of sight."
at home.
In 2009, the Los Angeles Times
s "Mapping L.A." project supplied these Pacoima neighborhood statistics: population: 75,014; median household income: $49,066.
operates the Foothill Community Police Station in Pacoima, serving Pacoima. The Los Angeles Fire Department
operates Fire Station 98 in Pacoima, serving Pacoima.
operates the Pacoima Health Center along Van Nuys Boulevard
in Pacoima.
The United States Postal Service
Pacoima Post Office is located along Van Nuys Boulevard.
(LACMTA) operates bus services in Pacoima. Whiteman Airport
, a general aviation airport owned by the county, is located in Pacoima.
said that "unprecedented wave of activism" countered the crime surge. Residents led by social institutions such as churches, schools, and social service agencies held marches and rallies. Schools remained open on weekends and in evenings to offer recreational and tutoring programs. Residents circulated petitions to try to stop the establishment of liquor store
s. Residents began holding weekly meetings with a gang
that, according to Williams, "had long been a neighborhood scourge." Area police officers said, in Williams's words, "although crime in Pacoima remains a major problem," particularly in the area within the empowerment zone proposed by area politicians in the 1990s, "the situation is far improved from the 1980s." Officer Minor Jimenez, who was the senior lead police officer in the Pacoima area in 1994 and had been for a 3½ year period leading up to 1994, said that the community involvement was the main reason for the decrease in crime because the residents cooperated with the police and "the bad guys know it." After the activism in the area occurred, major crime was reduced by 6%. Residents reached an agreement with liquor store owners; the owners decided to erase graffiti on their properties within 24 hours of reaching the agreement. The owners also stopped the sale of individual cold containers of beer to discourage public consumption of alcohol. Williams said "The activism appears to have paid off." The resident meetings with Latino gang members resulted in a 143 day consecutive period of no drive by shooting
s.
said that the "hard-working" low income families of Pacoima were not "indignents or transients," but they "belong to the community and have a stake in it." In 1955 P.M. Gomez, the owner of a grocery store in Pacoima, said in a Los Angeles Times article that most of the homeowners in Pacoima were not interested in moving to the then-under-development San Fernando Gardens complex, since most of the residents wanted to remain homeowners. A 1966 city planning report criticized Pacoima for lacking civic pride, and that the community had no "vital community image, with no apparent nucleus or focal point." In 1994 Timothy Williams of Los Angeles Times said that the fact that Pacoima was "free of the overt blight found in other low-income neighborhoods is no accident." Cecila Costas, who was the principal of Maclay Middle School during that year, said that Pacoima was "a very poor community, but there's a tremendous amount of pride here. You can be poor, but that doesn't mean you have to grovel or look like you are poor." Williams said that the African-American and Hispanic populations of Pacoima did not always have cordial relations. He added that by 1994 "the mood has shifted from conflict to conciliation as the town has become increasingly Latino."
who died in the Battle of Luzon
. In April 1990 the Los Angeles Parks and Recreation Commission agreed to rename the park after Gonzales. The park was scheduled to be officially renamed in a ceremony on June 1, 1990, the 40 year anniversary date of the center's opening. In anticipation of the anniversary, a group of Pacoima residents, led by Gonzales's friends and relatives, campaigned to have the center's name changed, saying that locals had colloquially referred to the center as "Gonzales park." The center has an auditorium/indoor gymnasium with a capacity of 250 persons if the facility is used as an auditorium. In addition the center has a lighted baseball diamond, lighted indoor basketball courts, lighted outdoor basketball courts, a children's play area, a community room, lighted handball courts, an indoor gymnasium without weights, and outdoor gymnasium with weights, picnic tables, and a lighted soccer (football) field. Gonzales Recreation Center is used as a stop-in facility by the Los Angeles Police Department
.
Ritchie Valens Park, Ritchie Valens Recreation Center, and Ritchie Valens Pool are located on a site in Pacoima. Valens Park has an indoor auditorium and gymnasium, which has a capacity of 442 persons if it is used as an auditorium. In addition Valens Park has a lighted baseball diamond, an unlighted baseball diamond, lighted indoor basketball courts, lighted outdoor basketball courts, a children's play area, a community room, unlighted handball courts, an indoor gymnasium without weights, a kitchen, a jogging path, picnic tables, an unlighted soccer field, a stage, and lighted tennis courts. The pool is a seasonal outdoor unheated pool. Valens Park was originally named Paxton Park. In the 1990s Richard Alarcon, a Los Angeles City Council
member who represented Pacoima, proposed changing the name of Paxton Park to honor Richie Valens. Hugo Martin of the Los Angeles Times said in 1994 that Alarcon proposed the rename so Pacoima residents will "remember Valens' humble background and emulate his accomplishments." During that year the Los Angeles City Council voted to rename the park, with the commission's approval still pending. The annual Ritchie Valens Fest, a festival, was created in 1994 to honor the renaming of the park.
The Hubert H. Humphrey Memorial Park, the Hubert H. Humphrey Pool, and the Hubert H. Humphrey Recreation Center are located on a site in Pacoima. The park has barbecue pits, a lighted baseball diamond, lighted outdoor basketball courts, a children's play area, a lighted American football field, lighted handball courts, an indoor gymnasium that does not have weights and has a capacity of 480 persons, a kitchen, picnic tables, a lighted soccer field, a stage, a center for teenagers, and lighted volleyball courts. The Hubert H. Humphrey Pool is a year-round outdoor heated pool.
The Hansen Dam Municipal Golf Course, a part of a group of recreational facilities in the Hansen Dam
area, is located in Pacoima. The golf course has a lighted driving range, practice chipping greens, practice putting greens, club rental, electric cart rental, hand cart rental, a restaurant and snack bar, a banquet room, a bar, and Black Nine Play. The City of Los Angeles awarded the contract to construct the nine hole golf course in 1962. The Los Angeles Recreation and Park Commission approved the sale of beer at the golf course in a 4-1 vote on Thursday July 3, 1969. A clubhouse opened at the course in 1974. In 1994 the members of the Hansen Dam Men's Golf Association voted to oppose the conversion of the golf course into a private golf course at a meeting on privatization because the association did not want fee increases and increased difficulty in making reservations.
The Roger Jessup Recreation Center is an unstaffed pocket park in Pacoima. The park includes barbecue pits, a children's play area, a community room, and picnic tables. The Hansen Dam Recreation Area, located in Lake View Terrace, is in proximity to Pacoima.
.
The following LAUSD schools serve sections of Pacoima.
Elementary schools:
Middle schools:
High schools:
In addition, Vaughn International Studies Academy,Discovery Charter Preparatory School and Bert Corona Charter School are independent charter schools in the area.
In 1994 over one half of Pacoima Elementary School's students consumed federally-funded school lunches for low income students. During that year, about 75% of the students spoke limited English.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles
operates the Guardian Angel Catholic School (K-8) and the Mary Immaculate Catholic School (PreK, 1-8) in Pacoima.
In the 1930s the Los Angeles City School District
operated the Pacoima School.
operates the Pacoima Branch Library in Pacoima.
By 1958 the City of Los Angeles started negotiations to purchase a site to use as the location of a library in Pacoima. The city was scheduled to ask for bids for the construction of the library in May 1960. The library, scheduled to open on August 23, 1961, was a part of a larger $6.4 million library expansion program covering the opening of a total of six libraries in the San Fernando Valley
and three other libraries. The previous Pacoima Library, with 5511 square foot of space, had around 50,300 books in 2000. In 1978 Pacoima residents protested after the City of Los Angeles decreased library services in Pacoima in the aftermath of the passing of Proposition 13. The Homework Center opened in the library in 1994.
In 1998 Angelica Hurtado-Garcia, then the branch librarian of the Pacoima Branch, said that the community had outgrown the branch and needed a new one. During that year a committee of the Los Angeles City Council
recommended spending $600,000 in federal grant funds to develop plans to build two library branches in the San Fernando Valley, including one in Pacoima. The groundbreaking for the 10500 square foot current Pacoima Branch Library, scheduled to have a collection of 58,000 books and videos, was held in 2000. The new library opened in 2002. Hurtado, who was still the senior librarian in 2006, said that the new library, in the words of Alejandro Guzman of the Los Angeles Daily News
, was "more attractive and inviting to the community" than the previous one.
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
region of the city of Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
.
It is bordered by the Los Angeles districts of Mission Hills
Mission Hills, Los Angeles, California
Mission Hills is a suburban community in the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California.It is located near the northern junction of the Golden State Freeway and the San Diego Freeway . The Ronald Reagan Freeway bisects the neighborhood. Mission Hills is the northern...
on the west, Arleta
Arleta, Los Angeles, California
Arleta is a district in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles, California. It was considered part of Pacoima until the late 1960s, when the areas of Pacoima west of the Golden State Freeway "seceded" and formed a new community area....
on the south, Sun Valley
Sun Valley, Los Angeles, California
Sun Valley is a district in the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California, about 15 miles away from Downtown Los Angeles....
on the southeast, Lake View Terrace
Lake View Terrace, Los Angeles, California
Lake View Terrace is a suburb district in the north east quadrant of the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles, California.Surrounding areas include the Angeles National Forest, Little Tujunga Canyon, Big Tujunga Canyon, Hansen Dam, Kagel Canyon, and a portion of the Verdugo Mountains...
on the northeast, and by the city of San Fernando
San Fernando, California
San Fernando is a city located in the San Fernando Valley, in northwestern region of Los Angeles, California, United States. The population was 23,645 at the 2010 census, up from 23,564 at the 2000 census.-History:...
on the north. Major thoroughfares include San Fernando Road
San Fernando Road
San Fernando Road is a major street in the city and county of Los Angeles. It starts off in Castaic as The Old Road, passing through Santa Clarita and the Newhall Pass, whereupon its intersection with Sierra Highway near the junction of the Golden State and the Antelope Valley Freeways, it...
, Van Nuys Boulevard
Van Nuys Boulevard
Van Nuys Boulevard is a major north-south arterial road that runs through the central San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles County, California. The boulevard was notable for its cruising lifestyle that was prevalent in the 1960s and '70s, which was depicted in the 1979 film Van Nuys Blvd..-The...
, and Laurel Canyon Boulevard
Laurel Canyon Boulevard
Laurel Canyon Boulevard is a major street in the city of Los Angeles, California. It starts off at Polk Street in Sylmar in the northern San Fernando Valley near the junction of the San Diego and the Golden State ) freeways. Laurel Canyon Boulevard bypasses the city of San Fernando to the west,...
. The Golden State and Ronald Reagan freeways run through the district.
History
Pacoima's first inhabitants were varying cultures of indigenous peoples for thousands of years. For many centuries, the semi-nomadic Tongva and TataviamTataviam
The Tataviam , were called the Alliklik by their neighbors the Chumash , are a Native American group in southern California...
Native American tribes lived in the area. Pacoima means "the entrance" in the Tataviam (or Fernandeño) language
Tataviam language
The Tataviam language was spoken by the Tataviam people of the upper Santa Clara River basin, Santa Susana Mountains, and Sierra Pelona Mountains in southern California. It had become extinct by 1916 and is known only from a few early records, notably a word list collected by the linguist John P...
.
In 1797, Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
colonists
Colony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
built the nearby Mission San Fernando Rey
Mission San Fernando Rey de España
Mission San Fernando Rey de España was founded on "The Feast of the Birth of Mary" , 1797. The settlement is located on the former Encino Rancho in the Mission Hills community of northern Los Angeles, near the site of the first gold discovery in Alta California.-History:Mission San Fernando Rey de...
and worked to convert the Indians to Christianity.
In 1887 Charles Maclay
Charles Maclay
Charles Maclay was a California State Senator and the funder of the city of San Fernando, California in the San Fernando Valley.-History:Charles Maclay's heritage was from Ireland and Scotland...
, a former Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
California State Assembly
California State Assembly
The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. There are 80 members in the Assembly, representing an approximately equal number of constituents, with each district having a population of at least 420,000...
man and California State Senator
California State Senate
The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature. There are 40 state senators. The state legislature meets in the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The Lieutenant Governor is the ex officio President of the Senate and may break a tied vote...
purchased 56,000 acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
s (227 km2) in the area with a loan of $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
117,500 from a friend, the industrialist Leland Stanford
Leland Stanford
Amasa Leland Stanford was an American tycoon, industrialist, robber baron, politician and founder of Stanford University.-Early years:...
. MacLay subdivided the tract into agricultural parcels, most of which were used for the production of Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
staples such as citrus, nuts, beans, wheat, and vegetables. As was the case in most of the San Fernando Valley, the lure of plentiful, cheap water from the Los Angeles Aqueduct
Los Angeles Aqueduct
The Los Angeles Aqueduct system comprising the Los Angeles Aqueduct and the Second Los Angeles Aqueduct, is a water conveyance system operated by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power...
proved irresistible to Pacoima's farmers. Los Angeles annexed the land, including Pacoima, as part of ordinance 32192 N.S. on May 22, 1915.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the rapid expansion of the workforce at Lockheed
Lockheed Corporation
The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace company. Lockheed was founded in 1912 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995.-Origins:...
's main plant in neighboring Burbank
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
and need for worker housing led to the construction of the San Fernando Gardens
San Fernando Gardens, Los Angeles, California
San Fernando Gardens is a housing project located in the Pacoima district of the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California.San Fernando Gardens was built during World War II to house workers at the nearby Lockheed aerospace manufacturing facilities in Burbank...
housing project. By the 1950s, the rapid suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
anization of the San Fernando Valley arrived in Pacoima, and the area changed almost overnight from a dusty farming area to a bedroom community for the fast-growing industries in Los Angeles and nearby Burbank and Glendale
Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city population is 191,719, down from 194,973 at the 2000 census. making it the third largest city in Los Angeles County and the 22nd largest city in the state of California...
, with transportation to and from Pacoima provided by the Golden State Freeway.
Throughout its history, Pacoima was a place where Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
ns escaping poverty in rural areas settled. In the post-World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
era, many African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s settled in Pacoima after arriving in the area during the second wave of the Great Migration
Second Great Migration (African American)
The Second Great Migration was the migration of more than 5 million African Americans from the South to the North, Midwest and West. It took place from 1941, through World War II, and lasted until 1970. It was much larger and of a different character than the first Great Migration...
, as they had been excluded from other neighborhoods due to racially discriminatory covenants. By 1960 almost all of the 10,000 African Americans in the San Fernando Valley
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
lived in Pacoima and Arleta. Timothy Williams of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
wrote that Pacoima "became the center of African-American life in the Valley."
On January 31, 1957, a Douglas DC-7
Douglas DC-7
The Douglas DC-7 is an American transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1953 to 1958. It was the last major piston engine powered transport made by Douglas, coming just a few years before the advent of jet aircraft such as the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8.-Design and...
operated by Douglas Aircraft Company
Douglas Aircraft Company
The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer, based in Long Beach, California. It was founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas, Sr. and later merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas...
was involved in a mid-air collision
Mid-air collision
A mid-air collision is an aviation accident in which two or more aircraft come into contact during flight. Owing to the relatively high velocities involved and any subsequent impact on the ground or sea, very severe damage or the total destruction of at least one of the aircraft involved usually...
and crashed into the schoolyard
Pacoima aircraft accident
On January 31, 1957, a Douglas DC-7 operated by Douglas Aircraft Company was involved in a mid-air collision with a United States Air Force Northrop F-89 Scorpion and crashed into the schoolyard of Pacoima Junior High School in Pacoima in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. By...
of Pacoima Junior High School. By February 1, 7 people had died and about 74 had been injured due to the incident. A 12-year old boy died from multiple injuries from the incident on February 2. On June 10, 1957, a light aircraft hit a house in Pacoima; the four passengers on board died and eight people in the house sustained injuries.
In 1966 Los Angeles city planners wrote a 48-page report criticizing Pacoima for failing to have a coherent structure to develop businesses in the central business district
Central business district
A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...
, lacking civic pride, and having poor house maintenance.
By the late 1960s, immigrants from rural Mexico began to move to Pacoima due to the low housing costs and the city's proximity to manufacturing jobs. African Americans who were better established began to move out and, in an example of ethnic succession, within less than two decades, the African-American population was replaced by a poorer Latino immigrant population. 75% of Pacoima's residents were African Americans in the 1970s. According to the 1990 U.S. Census, 71% of Pacoima's population was of Hispanic/Latino descent while 10% was African American. Immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala and Salvador settled in Pacoima.
The closing of factories in the area around Pacoima in the early 1990s caused residents to lose jobs, reducing the economic base of the city; many residents left Pacoima as a result. By 1994 Pacoima was the poorest area in the San Fernando Valley. One in three Pacoima residents lived in public housing
Public housing in the United States
Public housing in the United States has been administered by federal, state and local agencies to provide subsidized assistance for low-income and people living in poverty. Now increasingly provided in a variety of settings and formats, originally public housing in the U.S...
. The poverty rate hovered between 25% and 40%. In 1994 Williams wrote of Pacoima, "one of the worst off" neighborhoods in Los Angeles, "nevertheless hides its poverty well." Williams cited the lack of homeless people on Pacoima's streets, the fact that no vacancies existed in Pacoima's major shopping center, and the presence of "neat" houses and "well-tended" yards. Williams added that in Pacoima "holding a job is no guarantee against being poor." In 1994 Howard Berman
Howard Berman
Howard Lawrence Berman is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2003. He is a member of the Democratic Party. He earlier served in the California State Assembly from 1974 to 1982, and as the U.S...
, the U.S. Congress representative of an area including Pacoima, and Los Angeles City Council
Los Angeles City Council
The Los Angeles City Council is the governing body of the City of Los Angeles.The Council is composed of fifteen members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The president of the council and the president pro tempore are chosen by the Council at the first regular meeting after...
member Richard Alarcon advocated including a 2 square mile area in the City of Los Angeles's bid for a federal empowerment zone. The proposed area, with 13,000 residents in 1994, included central Pacoima and a southern section of Lake View Terrace.
Economy
Around 1955 Pacoima residents worked in construction, factories, fields, and railroad gangs. Around 1994 many Pacoima residents were employed at area factories. Since 1990 and by 1994, LockheedLockheed Corporation
The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace company. Lockheed was founded in 1912 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995.-Origins:...
had cut over 8,000 jobs at its Burbank, California
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
plant. General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
closed its Van Nuys plant in 1992, causing the loss of 2,600 jobs. Timothy Williams of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
wrote in 1994, "For years, those relatively high-paying jobs had provided families with a springboard out of the San Fernando Gardens
San Fernando Gardens, Los Angeles, California
San Fernando Gardens is a housing project located in the Pacoima district of the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California.San Fernando Gardens was built during World War II to house workers at the nearby Lockheed aerospace manufacturing facilities in Burbank...
and Van Nuys Pierce Park Apartments public housing complexes." After the jobs were lost, many longtime Pacoima residents left the area. In the 1990 U.S. Census the unemployment rate in Pacoima was almost 14%, while the City of Los Angeles had an overall 8.4% overall unemployment rate. Many Pacoima residents who worked made less than $14,000 annually: the U.S. government's poverty line for a family of four. Most residents owned their houses.
Natural Balance Pet Foods
Natural Balance Pet Foods
Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Pet Foods is an American commercial pet food manufacturer with its headquarters located in Pacoima, Los Angeles, California...
has its headquarters in Pacoima. Juicy Couture
Juicy Couture
Juicy Couture is a contemporary line of both casual and dressy apparel based in Arleta, Los Angeles, California founded by Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor in 1996...
, an apparel company, was founded in Pacoima.
Cityscape
Ed Meagher of the Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
wrote in 1955 that the 110-block area on the north side of San Fernando Road in Pacoima consisted of what he described as a "smear of sagging, leaning shacks and backhouses framed by disintegrating fences and clutter of tin cans, old lumber, stripped automobiles, bottles, rusted water heaters and other bric-a-brac of the back alleys." In 1955 Pacoima lacked curbs, paved sidewalks, and paved streets. Pacoima had what Meagher described as "dusty footpaths and rutted dirt roads that in hard rains become beds for angry streams." Meagher added that the 450 houses in the area, with 2,000 inhabitants, "squatted" "within this clutch of residential blight." He described most of the houses as "substandard." Around 1955 the price of residential property increased in value, as lots that sold years prior for $100 sold for $800 in 1955. Between 1950 and 1955, property values on Van Nuys Boulevard
Van Nuys Boulevard
Van Nuys Boulevard is a major north-south arterial road that runs through the central San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles County, California. The boulevard was notable for its cruising lifestyle that was prevalent in the 1960s and '70s, which was depicted in the 1979 film Van Nuys Blvd..-The...
increased six times. In late 1952 the Los Angeles City Council
Los Angeles City Council
The Los Angeles City Council is the governing body of the City of Los Angeles.The Council is composed of fifteen members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The president of the council and the president pro tempore are chosen by the Council at the first regular meeting after...
allowed the Building and Safety Department to begin a slum clearance project to try to force homeowners who had houses deemed substandard to repair, demolish, or vacate those said houses. In early 1955 the city began a $500,000 project to add 9 miles (14.5 km) of curbs, sidewalks, and streets. Meagher said that the "neatness and cleanness" of the new infrastructure were "a challenge to homeowners grown apathetic to thoroughfares ankle deep in mud or dust." Some area businessmen established the San Fernando Valley Commercial & Savings Bank in November 1953 to finance area rehabilitation projects after other banks persistently refused to give loans to those projects.
In late 1966 a 48 page city planning report criticized the central business district
Central business district
A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...
of Pacoima along Van Nuys Boulevard
Van Nuys Boulevard
Van Nuys Boulevard is a major north-south arterial road that runs through the central San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles County, California. The boulevard was notable for its cruising lifestyle that was prevalent in the 1960s and '70s, which was depicted in the 1979 film Van Nuys Blvd..-The...
for being "a rambling, shallow strip pattern of commercial uses... varying from banks to hamburger stands, including an unusual number of small business and service shops." A Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
article stated that the physical image of the area was "somewhat depressing." The council recommended the establishment of smaller community shopping centers. The article stated that the Pacoima Chamber of Commerce was expected to oppose the recommendation, and that the chamber favored deepening of the existing commercial zones along Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Van Nuys Boulevard. The council criticized the lack of parking spaces and storefronts that appeared in disrepair or vacant. The report also recommended establishing shopping centers in areas outside of the Laurel Canyon-Van Nuys commercial axis. The article stated that some sections of Laurel Canyon were "in a poor state of repair" and that there were "conspicuously minimal" curbs and sidewalks. The report recommended continued efforts to to improve sidewalks and trees. The report also advocated the establishment of a community center to, in the words of the article, "give Pacoima a degree of unity." Most of the residences in Pacoima were, in the words of the article, "of an older vintage." The article said most of the houses and yards, especially in the R-2 duplex zoned, exhibited "sign of neglect." The report said that the range of types of houses was "unusually narrow for a community of this size." The report said that the fact had a negative effect on the community that was reflected by a lack of purchasing power. The report added "Substandard home maintenance is widespread and borders on total neglect in some sectors." The report recommended establishing additional apartments in central Pacoima; the Los Angeles Times report said that the recommendation was "clouded" by the presence of "enough apartment-zoned land to last 28 years" in the San Fernando Valley
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
.
In 1994, according to Timothy Williams of the Los Angeles Times, there were few boarded-up storefronts along Pacoima's main commercial strip along Van Nuys Boulevard, and no vacancies existed in Pacoima's main shopping center. Williams added that many of the retail outlets in Pacoima consisted of check cashing outlets, storefront churches, pawn shops, and automobile repair shops. Williams added that the nearest bank to the commercial strip was "several blocks away." In 1994 almost one third of Pacoima's residents lived in public housing
Public housing in the United States
Public housing in the United States has been administered by federal, state and local agencies to provide subsidized assistance for low-income and people living in poverty. Now increasingly provided in a variety of settings and formats, originally public housing in the U.S...
complexes. Williams said that the complexes had relatively little graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
. Many families who were on waiting lists to enter public housing complexes lived in garages and converted tool sheds, which often lacked electricity, heat, and/or running water. Williams said that they lived "out of sight."
Demographics
The poverty rate in a potential empowerment zone proposed by area politicians in the 1990s covering sections of Pacoima had, in 1994, a poverty rate that was twice the poverty rate of the rest of Los Angeles. Timothy Williams of The Los Angeles Times said "even though indications of entrenched poverty are not obvious, hints are everywhere." According to the 1990 U.S. Census, most of the residents living in the two tracts of land making up the proposed empowerment zone lived in crowded housing, and almost 40% of Pacoima's residents were under 18 years of age. According to the census data, more than 40% of Pacoima's residents were born outside of the United States and almost two of three people spoke the Spanish languageSpanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
at home.
In 2009, the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
s "Mapping L.A." project supplied these Pacoima neighborhood statistics: population: 75,014; median household income: $49,066.
Local government
The Los Angeles Police DepartmentLos Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
operates the Foothill Community Police Station in Pacoima, serving Pacoima. The Los Angeles Fire Department
Los Angeles Fire Department
The Los Angeles Fire Department is the agency that provides fire protection and emergency medical services for the city of Los Angeles....
operates Fire Station 98 in Pacoima, serving Pacoima.
County and federal representation
The Los Angeles County Department of Health ServicesLos Angeles County Department of Health Services
Health services to over 10 million residents in the Los Angeles County are provided by the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Mental health services are provided by the County Department of Mental Health...
operates the Pacoima Health Center along Van Nuys Boulevard
Van Nuys Boulevard
Van Nuys Boulevard is a major north-south arterial road that runs through the central San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles County, California. The boulevard was notable for its cruising lifestyle that was prevalent in the 1960s and '70s, which was depicted in the 1979 film Van Nuys Blvd..-The...
in Pacoima.
The United States Postal Service
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
Pacoima Post Office is located along Van Nuys Boulevard.
Transportation
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation AuthorityLos Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is the California state-chartered regional transportation planning agency and public transportation operating agency for the County of Los Angeles formed in 1993 out of a merger of the Southern California Rapid Transit District and the...
(LACMTA) operates bus services in Pacoima. Whiteman Airport
Whiteman Airport
Whiteman Airport is a general aviation airport located in the Pacoima district of Los Angeles, California, United States.Located in the San Fernando Valley, Hollywood celebrities sometimes use this airport; however, Van Nuys Airport is used more often....
, a general aviation airport owned by the county, is located in Pacoima.
Crime
Crime increased in Pacoima in the 1980s. Timothy Williams of the Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
said that "unprecedented wave of activism" countered the crime surge. Residents led by social institutions such as churches, schools, and social service agencies held marches and rallies. Schools remained open on weekends and in evenings to offer recreational and tutoring programs. Residents circulated petitions to try to stop the establishment of liquor store
Liquor store
In the United States, Australia and Canada, a liquor store is a type of store that specializes in the sale of alcoholic beverages. In South Africa and Namibia these stores are generally called bottle stores....
s. Residents began holding weekly meetings with a gang
Gangs in the United States
Street gangs in the United States date to the early 19th century. The most publicized street gangs in the U.S. are African-American; black gangs were not recognized as a social problem until after the great migration of the 1910s...
that, according to Williams, "had long been a neighborhood scourge." Area police officers said, in Williams's words, "although crime in Pacoima remains a major problem," particularly in the area within the empowerment zone proposed by area politicians in the 1990s, "the situation is far improved from the 1980s." Officer Minor Jimenez, who was the senior lead police officer in the Pacoima area in 1994 and had been for a 3½ year period leading up to 1994, said that the community involvement was the main reason for the decrease in crime because the residents cooperated with the police and "the bad guys know it." After the activism in the area occurred, major crime was reduced by 6%. Residents reached an agreement with liquor store owners; the owners decided to erase graffiti on their properties within 24 hours of reaching the agreement. The owners also stopped the sale of individual cold containers of beer to discourage public consumption of alcohol. Williams said "The activism appears to have paid off." The resident meetings with Latino gang members resulted in a 143 day consecutive period of no drive by shooting
Drive by Shooting
Drive by Shooting is a hardcore punk solo E.P. by Henry Rollins, credited to "Henrietta Collins & The Wife-Beating Child-Haters", which served as a pre-cursor to the Rollins Band. This recording features a Wire cover, a re-vision of a Queen song and a parody of a Beach Boys style song...
s.
Culture
In 1955 Ed Meagher of the Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
said that the "hard-working" low income families of Pacoima were not "indignents or transients," but they "belong to the community and have a stake in it." In 1955 P.M. Gomez, the owner of a grocery store in Pacoima, said in a Los Angeles Times article that most of the homeowners in Pacoima were not interested in moving to the then-under-development San Fernando Gardens complex, since most of the residents wanted to remain homeowners. A 1966 city planning report criticized Pacoima for lacking civic pride, and that the community had no "vital community image, with no apparent nucleus or focal point." In 1994 Timothy Williams of Los Angeles Times said that the fact that Pacoima was "free of the overt blight found in other low-income neighborhoods is no accident." Cecila Costas, who was the principal of Maclay Middle School during that year, said that Pacoima was "a very poor community, but there's a tremendous amount of pride here. You can be poor, but that doesn't mean you have to grovel or look like you are poor." Williams said that the African-American and Hispanic populations of Pacoima did not always have cordial relations. He added that by 1994 "the mood has shifted from conflict to conciliation as the town has become increasingly Latino."
Parks and recreation
The David M. Gonzales Recreation Center is in Pacoima. The center opened as the Pacoima Recreation Center on June 1, 1950. On that date Los Angeles city officials dedicated a plaque to David M. Gonzales, a soldier in World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
who died in the Battle of Luzon
Battle of Luzon
The Battle of Luzon was a land battle fought as part of the Pacific Theater of Operations of World War II by the Allied forces of the U.S., its colony The Philippines, and Mexico against forces of the Empire of Japan. The battle resulted in a U.S. and Filipino victory...
. In April 1990 the Los Angeles Parks and Recreation Commission agreed to rename the park after Gonzales. The park was scheduled to be officially renamed in a ceremony on June 1, 1990, the 40 year anniversary date of the center's opening. In anticipation of the anniversary, a group of Pacoima residents, led by Gonzales's friends and relatives, campaigned to have the center's name changed, saying that locals had colloquially referred to the center as "Gonzales park." The center has an auditorium/indoor gymnasium with a capacity of 250 persons if the facility is used as an auditorium. In addition the center has a lighted baseball diamond, lighted indoor basketball courts, lighted outdoor basketball courts, a children's play area, a community room, lighted handball courts, an indoor gymnasium without weights, and outdoor gymnasium with weights, picnic tables, and a lighted soccer (football) field. Gonzales Recreation Center is used as a stop-in facility by the Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
.
Ritchie Valens Park, Ritchie Valens Recreation Center, and Ritchie Valens Pool are located on a site in Pacoima. Valens Park has an indoor auditorium and gymnasium, which has a capacity of 442 persons if it is used as an auditorium. In addition Valens Park has a lighted baseball diamond, an unlighted baseball diamond, lighted indoor basketball courts, lighted outdoor basketball courts, a children's play area, a community room, unlighted handball courts, an indoor gymnasium without weights, a kitchen, a jogging path, picnic tables, an unlighted soccer field, a stage, and lighted tennis courts. The pool is a seasonal outdoor unheated pool. Valens Park was originally named Paxton Park. In the 1990s Richard Alarcon, a Los Angeles City Council
Los Angeles City Council
The Los Angeles City Council is the governing body of the City of Los Angeles.The Council is composed of fifteen members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The president of the council and the president pro tempore are chosen by the Council at the first regular meeting after...
member who represented Pacoima, proposed changing the name of Paxton Park to honor Richie Valens. Hugo Martin of the Los Angeles Times said in 1994 that Alarcon proposed the rename so Pacoima residents will "remember Valens' humble background and emulate his accomplishments." During that year the Los Angeles City Council voted to rename the park, with the commission's approval still pending. The annual Ritchie Valens Fest, a festival, was created in 1994 to honor the renaming of the park.
The Hubert H. Humphrey Memorial Park, the Hubert H. Humphrey Pool, and the Hubert H. Humphrey Recreation Center are located on a site in Pacoima. The park has barbecue pits, a lighted baseball diamond, lighted outdoor basketball courts, a children's play area, a lighted American football field, lighted handball courts, an indoor gymnasium that does not have weights and has a capacity of 480 persons, a kitchen, picnic tables, a lighted soccer field, a stage, a center for teenagers, and lighted volleyball courts. The Hubert H. Humphrey Pool is a year-round outdoor heated pool.
The Hansen Dam Municipal Golf Course, a part of a group of recreational facilities in the Hansen Dam
Hansen Dam
Hansen Dam is a dam in Lake View Terrace, Los Angeles, California. It was built in 1940 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles District...
area, is located in Pacoima. The golf course has a lighted driving range, practice chipping greens, practice putting greens, club rental, electric cart rental, hand cart rental, a restaurant and snack bar, a banquet room, a bar, and Black Nine Play. The City of Los Angeles awarded the contract to construct the nine hole golf course in 1962. The Los Angeles Recreation and Park Commission approved the sale of beer at the golf course in a 4-1 vote on Thursday July 3, 1969. A clubhouse opened at the course in 1974. In 1994 the members of the Hansen Dam Men's Golf Association voted to oppose the conversion of the golf course into a private golf course at a meeting on privatization because the association did not want fee increases and increased difficulty in making reservations.
The Roger Jessup Recreation Center is an unstaffed pocket park in Pacoima. The park includes barbecue pits, a children's play area, a community room, and picnic tables. The Hansen Dam Recreation Area, located in Lake View Terrace, is in proximity to Pacoima.
Primary and secondary schools
Pacoima residents are zoned to the following Los Angeles Unified School DistrictLos Angeles Unified School District
Los Angeles Unified School District is the largest public school system in California. It is the 2nd largest public school district in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population...
.
The following LAUSD schools serve sections of Pacoima.
Elementary schools:
- Hillary T. Broadous Elementary School
- Coughlin Elementary School
- Haddon Elementary School
- Pacoima Elementary School
- Telfair Elementary School
- Sharp Elementary School (in neighboring ArletaArleta, Los Angeles, CaliforniaArleta is a district in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles, California. It was considered part of Pacoima until the late 1960s, when the areas of Pacoima west of the Golden State Freeway "seceded" and formed a new community area....
)
Middle schools:
High schools:
- Arleta High SchoolArleta High SchoolArleta High School is a secondary school located on Van Nuys Boulevard in the Arleta section of Los Angeles, California in the San Fernando Valley....
(in ArletaArleta, Los Angeles, CaliforniaArleta is a district in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles, California. It was considered part of Pacoima until the late 1960s, when the areas of Pacoima west of the Golden State Freeway "seceded" and formed a new community area....
) - San Fernando High SchoolSan Fernando High SchoolSan Fernando High School, located in San Fernando, California, is a secondary school that is a part of the Los Angeles Unified School District....
(in the City of San FernandoSan Fernando, CaliforniaSan Fernando is a city located in the San Fernando Valley, in northwestern region of Los Angeles, California, United States. The population was 23,645 at the 2010 census, up from 23,564 at the 2000 census.-History:...
) - Sun Valley High School (in Sun ValleySun Valley, Los Angeles, CaliforniaSun Valley is a district in the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California, about 15 miles away from Downtown Los Angeles....
) - The section served by Sun Valley was served by John H. Francis Polytechnic High SchoolJohn H. Francis Polytechnic High SchoolJohn H. Francis Polytechnic High School is a secondary school located in the Sun Valley area of Los Angeles, California. It serves grades 9 through 12 and is a part of the Los Angeles Unified School District...
until 2009
In addition, Vaughn International Studies Academy,Discovery Charter Preparatory School and Bert Corona Charter School are independent charter schools in the area.
In 1994 over one half of Pacoima Elementary School's students consumed federally-funded school lunches for low income students. During that year, about 75% of the students spoke limited English.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is an archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the archdiocese comprises the California counties of Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Ventura. The diocesan cathedral is the Cathedral of Our Lady of the...
operates the Guardian Angel Catholic School (K-8) and the Mary Immaculate Catholic School (PreK, 1-8) in Pacoima.
In the 1930s the Los Angeles City School District
Los Angeles City School District
The Los Angeles City School District was a school district that served Los Angeles, California, and some adjoining areas between 1870 and 1961.-History:...
operated the Pacoima School.
Public libraries
Los Angeles Public LibraryLos Angeles Public Library
The Los Angeles Public Library system serves the residents of Los Angeles, California, United States. With over 6 million volumes, LAPL is one of the largest publicly funded library systems in the world. The system is overseen by a Board of Library Commissioners with five members appointed by the...
operates the Pacoima Branch Library in Pacoima.
By 1958 the City of Los Angeles started negotiations to purchase a site to use as the location of a library in Pacoima. The city was scheduled to ask for bids for the construction of the library in May 1960. The library, scheduled to open on August 23, 1961, was a part of a larger $6.4 million library expansion program covering the opening of a total of six libraries in the San Fernando Valley
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
and three other libraries. The previous Pacoima Library, with 5511 square foot of space, had around 50,300 books in 2000. In 1978 Pacoima residents protested after the City of Los Angeles decreased library services in Pacoima in the aftermath of the passing of Proposition 13. The Homework Center opened in the library in 1994.
In 1998 Angelica Hurtado-Garcia, then the branch librarian of the Pacoima Branch, said that the community had outgrown the branch and needed a new one. During that year a committee of the Los Angeles City Council
Los Angeles City Council
The Los Angeles City Council is the governing body of the City of Los Angeles.The Council is composed of fifteen members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The president of the council and the president pro tempore are chosen by the Council at the first regular meeting after...
recommended spending $600,000 in federal grant funds to develop plans to build two library branches in the San Fernando Valley, including one in Pacoima. The groundbreaking for the 10500 square foot current Pacoima Branch Library, scheduled to have a collection of 58,000 books and videos, was held in 2000. The new library opened in 2002. Hurtado, who was still the senior librarian in 2006, said that the new library, in the words of Alejandro Guzman of the Los Angeles Daily News
Los Angeles Daily News
The Los Angeles Daily News is the second-largest circulating daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California. It is the flagship of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, a branch of Colorado-based MediaNews Group....
, was "more attractive and inviting to the community" than the previous one.
Notable natives and residents
Pacoima natives include:- Judy BacaJudy BacaJudith Francisca Baca is an American artist, activist, and University of California, Los Angeles professor of fine arts...
, painter and social activist - John R. EllisJohn R. EllisJohn Raymond Ellis is an American artist, filmmaker, animator, director, producer, and writer in Los Angeles, California, known particularly for his special effects.-Background:Ellis was born in Wilmington, Ohio south of Dayton...
, filmmaker and special effects artist has lived ini Pacoima since 2006. - Danny TrejoDanny TrejoDan "Danny" Trejo is an American actor who has appeared in numerous Hollywood films, most notably in roles as an antagonist, or anti-hero.-Early life:...
, ActorActorAn actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity... - Ritchie ValensRitchie ValensRitchie Valens was a Mexican-American singer, songwriter and guitarist....
, rock and rollRock and rollRock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
singer
See also
- San Fernando Gardens
- Van Nuys BoulevardVan Nuys BoulevardVan Nuys Boulevard is a major north-south arterial road that runs through the central San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles County, California. The boulevard was notable for its cruising lifestyle that was prevalent in the 1960s and '70s, which was depicted in the 1979 film Van Nuys Blvd..-The...
External links
- Pacoima/Panorama City - CRA/LA
- Tongva ("Gabrielino") History
- Tataviam website
- A virtual walking tour with activists from Pacoima Beautiful, by Mary WiltenburgMary WiltenburgMary Wiltenburg is an award-winning print and multimedia reporter based in Atlanta, Georgia. She is the author and producer of The Christian Science Monitor project "Little Bill Clinton: A School Year in the life of a New American," which industry watchers say "could change storytelling for...
, Grist - Newspaper clippings about the 1957 mid-air collision above Pacoima Junior High School