West Covina, California

West Covina, California is a city in the eastern portion of the San Gabriel Valley about 20 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. The City of West Covina encompasses about 12 square miles and has a population of about 107,000 residents.

West Covina is bordered on the north by the City of Covina, the census-designated place of Vincent, and the Cities of Irwindale and Baldwin Park. To the west is Baldwin Park and to the southwest are the census-designated places of Avocado Heights and West Puente Valley. To the south is the City of Industry, the unincorporated community of Hillgrove, the census-designated place of South San Jose Hills, and the City of Rowland Heights. West Covina’s eastern neighbors are the Cities of Walnut, Diamond Bar, San Dimas, and Pomona.

West Covina is home to over 3,000 businesses. Key to the economic growth of West Covina was the placement of a major highway through the area—United States Route 99. United States Route 99 formerly extended from the Mexico-United States border to the Canada-United States border. The portion of Route 99 that extended through West Covina eventually became Interstate 10, which ranges from the Pacific Ocean to Florida.

Plaza West Covina is one of the largest shopping centers in the region, with over 180 stores and restaurants.

The City of West Covina’s largest employers include Emanate Health Queen of the Valley Hospital and West Covina Unified School District.

Emanate Health Queen of the Valley Hospital provides many high-value, high-wage jobs. Queen of the Valley Hospital was established in 1962 and is one of three campuses in a family of hospitals that cover the eastern San Gabriel Valley.

West Covina Unified School District was established in 1915 and currently serves over 14,000 students.

Eastland Center is a multi-tenant retail shopping destination with several large format retail stores as well as a collection of smaller retail stores. Parking lots and outparcels with drive-through restaurants encircle the main buildings of the shopping center.

West Covina Auto Plaza is comprised a several new and used car dealerships strung along Azusa Avenue.

The City of West Covina features a council-manager form of government. Five City Council members serve overlapping four-year terms and select one of their members to serve as Mayor on an annual basis. The City’s largest revenue sources include property taxes and sales tax revenues.

West Covina Fire Department operates five fire stations within West Covina. West Covina Fire Department has about 100 full-time sworn officers and over 60 civilian employees, as well as about 55 part-time employees.

West Covina Police Department was established in 1937. Two-thirds of the Department’s sworn officers work in the Patrol Division.

Public transportation is provided by the City of West Covina’s Go West Shuttle and Dial-A-Ride Services. Foothill Transit, a regional public transit provider, operates bus routes in West Covina.

The Los Angeles County Library provides library services for West Covina.

City parks include Galster Wilderness Park, which covers 42 acres in the San Jose Hills. Galster Wilderness Park features one of the few remaining examples of the Southern California Black Walnut Woodlands plant community. Overall, West Covina has about 500 acres of existing parks and open space. For those seeking additional open space, the 575-acre Peter F. Schabarum Regional Park is located in Rowland Heights only a few miles from West Covina.

West Covina Sportplex offers six baseball fields totaling 21.1 acres. The baseball fields are scaled-down replicas of major league ballparks such as Chicago’s Wrigley Field and New York’s Yankee Stadium. The Sportplex also features 8 batting cages, and a covered 20,000 square foot multi-sport pavilion that accommodates volleyball, basketball, and soccer.

South Hills Country Club, located in the San Jose Hills, was established in 1952 and features an elegant Mission style clubhouse and an 18-hole golf course. Other nearby golf courses include the 27-hole layout at Royal Vista Golf Club and the Industry Hills Golf Club at Pacific Palms Resort, which covers 650 acres and features a 36-hole layout.

Rancho La Puente and Early Agricultural Development
West Covina was once part of the Rancho La Puente, a large Mexican land grant. Much of the future West Covina comprised a portion of the Rancho low in elevation and thus subject to flooding. During much of the 19th century, West Covina was used mainly for cattle grazing. The few attempts at wheat farming were hampered by the lack of a reliable water source for irrigation. The first water well in West Covina was dug in the first decade of the 20th Century. A flood control project was also excavated, so flood waters from Walnut Creek would empty into the San Gabriel River instead of pooling to create a shallow lake in West Covina. The area’s rich alluvial soils, access to irrigation, and flood control measures allowed farmers to grow pumpkins, wheat, potatoes, alfalfa, barley, and beans. Around this time, a portion of West Covina was subdivided into about 164 plots consisting of about eight and one half acres each.

Incorporation
When the city of Covina attempted to convert agricultural land within the current borders of West Covina into sewage farm, the residents of that area fought back by incorporating the area into an independent city called West Covina in 1923. West Covina remained mainly agricultural, with an emphasis on walnut groves, for the next quarter century. The walnut trees were a hybrid between English Walnut and a native walnut tree. Unlike some of its older neighbors such as the City of Covina, West Covina did not develop a business district or traditional Main Street.

Residential Development
In 1941, Sunkist Village was developed as West Covina’s first residential subdivision. Soon thereafter America entered World War II and development in the City languished. However, after World War II a building boom swept across the country and West Covina was part of it. In fact, West Covina was one of the fastest growing cities of the 1950s, its population increasing 1,000% over the course of the decade. The rate of development outpaced services so that some new residents had to wait over a year for telephone service to reach their homes.

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