About
Monterey Park was known as Ramona Acres prior to its incorporation as a city to avoid having a sewage farm built in the area by the cities of Pasadena, Alhambra, and South Pasadena. The city is most famous for being the first city in the continental United States that had a majority Asian population. This is made evident today by the massive amounts of Asians walking the streets, and the Chinese language business signs and stores. The large Asian population has also created some racial tension which exploded in the 1980s when the Caucausian mayor attempted to make English the city's offical language in a symbolic gesture.
If you were born in the Los Angeles area and are an Asian-American the likelyhood of you being born in the only major hospital in the city, Garfield Medical Center, is very high. In fact, it leads the nation in Asian births! Interestingly, the street the hospital is on, Garfield Ave. is effectively nothing but medical buildings for about 5 blocks.
The city is also home to one of my favorite restaurants...the ever popular (And almost always packed) NBC Seafood Restaurant.