SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT PROGRAM IN El Monte

El Monte

El Monte is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city lies in the San Gabriel Valley, east of the city of Los Angeles. El Monte’s slogan is “Welcome to Friendly El Monte” and is historically known as “The End of the Santa Fe Trail.” As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 109,450. El Monte has a total area of 9.64 square miles and a population density of 11,452.3 persons per square mile. Located approximately 12 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, El Monte is the hub of the San Gabriel Valley, where two major freeways — Interstates 605 and 10 — intersect.

The area beside the San Gabriel River is part of the homeland of the Tongva people. The Spanish Portolá expedition of missionaries and soldiers passed through the area in 1769–1770. Between 1770 and 1830, Spanish soldiers and missionaries often stopped here for respite. They called the area “El Monte,” which in old Spanish means “the wood” — the first explorers had found a rich, low-altitude land blanketed with thick growths of willows, alders, and cattails located between two rivers.

The Old Spanish Trail trade route, first established by Antonio Armijo in 1829, passed through El Monte to its terminus at Mission San Gabriel via what is now Valley Boulevard. The Gold Rush of 1849–50 brought the first permanent residents to El Monte. In 1851 the Thompson Party arrived, weary from a 14-month trek across the continent. They found the oasis of El Monte with plentiful water and rich farming soil and settled. El Monte was incorporated as a General Law city on November 18, 1912.

Agriculture remained at the core of El Monte’s economy in the early 20th century, with fruit orchards, walnut groves, truck farms, hay and vegetable fields, and a growing dairy industry. The area also experienced social and labor conflict during this period, including the 1933 El Monte Berry Strike, which shed light upon institutional racism experienced by Japanese tenant farmers and Latino farm laborers. World War II brought major changes to El Monte — farming diminished and small war-effort factories sprang up. After the war, El Monte’s population soared along with the rest of Southern California.

El Monte is credited with being the birthplace of TV variety shows. Hometown Jamboree, a KTLA-TV Los Angeles-based show, was produced at El Monte Legion Stadium in the 1950s. In the 1950s, as the unstable racial climate and hostility toward rock and roll started to emerge, rock and roll shows were forced from the City of Los Angeles by police pressure. The El Monte Legion Stadium, outside the city limits, became the site of a series of rock and roll concerts by Johnny Otis and other performers. Guest performers included The Penguins, Jackie Wilson, Sam Cooke, Ritchie Valens, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chubby Checker, and the Everly Brothers. El Monte is known for the long-time rock and roll hit “Memories of El Monte,” written by Frank Zappa and originally recorded by The Penguins, one of the local Doo-wop groups from the 1950s that became famous nationwide.

El Monte has an ethnically diverse and dynamic population with 72% Hispanic, 18% Asian, and 7% White. As of 2024, 49.1% of El Monte residents were born outside of the United States. The median household income is $68,030 and the median age is 37.8 years. The largest industries employing El Monte residents are Health Care and Social Assistance, Manufacturing, and Retail Trade.

The El Monte City Council has seven members — an elected Mayor and six council members elected by districts. The Mayor and City Council are elected by the voters of El Monte and are responsible for overseeing the delivery of local government services. The city manager is Alma Martinez. The current mayor is Jessica Ancona.

The state-of-the-art El Monte Bus Station is the largest bus station west of Chicago, connecting the San Gabriel Valley to Downtown Los Angeles and serving 22,000 passengers daily. El Monte is also home to Longo Toyota, the number one auto dealer in the United States by sales and volume. Other major retail businesses include Home Depot and Sam’s Club.

El Monte was the birthplace of singer-guitarist Mary Ford, of Les Paul and Mary Ford fame. A popular attraction from 1925 to 1942 was Gay’s Lion Farm, where European retired circus stars Mr. and Mrs. Charles Gay operated a tourist attraction that raised wild animals for use in the motion picture industry and housed over 200 African lions — an attraction that has been called “the Disneyland of the 1920s and 1930s.” The El Monte Historical Museum at 3150 Tyler Avenue is considered to be one of the best community museums in the state of California.

City of El Monte