Pomona, California

Pomona (/pəˈmoʊnə/ pə-MOH-nə) is a city in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. Pomona is located in the Pomona Valley, between the Inland Empire and the San Gabriel Valley. At the 2020 census, the city's population was 151,713. The main campus of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, also known as Cal Poly Pomona, lies partially within Pomona's city limits, with the rest being located in the neighboring unincorporated community of Ramona.
The Tongva were the first inhabitants of the area.
The city is named after Pomona, the ancient Roman goddess of fruit. For horticulturist Solomon Gates, "Pomona" was the winning entry in a contest to name the city in 1875, before anyone had ever planted a fruit tree there. The city was first settled by Ricardo Véjar and Ygnacio Palomares in the 1830s when California and much of the now-American Southwest were part of Mexico.
The first Anglo-Americans arrived prior to 1848 when the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo resulted in California becoming part of the United States. In 1864, the widow of Ygnacio Palomares of Rancho San José sold 12,000 acres (49,000,000 m; 49 km) to Louis Phillips, a Jewish Prussian immigrant, who would shortly be known as "the richest man in Los Angeles County." He built the largest commercial building in Los Angeles central business district at the time, the Phillips Block, which would eventually house Hamburger's, the then-largest department store in the Western United States.
Phillips sold a parcel of his land to William "Uncle Billy" Rubottom, in 1866 who founded a new town there and named it Spadra after his hometown, now part of Clarksville, Arkansas. The site of Spadra is 3 miles (4.8 km) west of the Pomona Station along Pomona Blvd. just east of the 57 (Orange) Freeway. Spadra became a stagecoach stop, Rubottom built the Spadra Hotel and Tavern to serve travelers, and by 1870, Spadra had 400–500 residents, three stores, a school, and a post office. In 1873, Phillips convinced the Southern Pacific Railroad to build a line to Spadra. Phillips thought Spadra would become a great town, and built his Phillips Mansion there in 1875, which together with the Spadra Cemetery are the only two remnants of the town that still exist today. Fullerton's Main north–south road was named Spadra Road for its first 75 years, as long before the 57 Freeway it was the road through Brea Canyon to Spadra, and was later renamed Harbor Boulevard. The Southern Pacific Railroad had a terminus at Spadra, but the line was extended east to Colton, and Spadra lost momentum. In 1964, the area was annexed by Pomona.
By the 1880s, the arrival of Coachella Valley water, together with railroad access, made it the western anchor of the citrus-growing region. Pomona was officially incorporated on January 6, 1888.
In the 1920s Pomona was known as the "Queen of the Citrus Belt", with one of the highest per-capita levels of income in the United States. In the 1940s it was used as a movie-previewing location for major motion picture studios to see how their films would play to modally middle-class audiences around the country (for which Pomona was at that time viewed as an idealized example).
Religious institutions are deeply embedded in the history of Pomona. There are now more than 120 churches, representing most religions in today's society. The historical architectural styles of these churches provide glimpses of European church design and architecture from other eras.
Pomona Mall was a downtown pedestrian mall, recognized by the Los Angeles Conservancy as an outstanding example of Mid-century modern and modern architecture and design. It was completed in 1962, one element in a larger plan of civic improvements covering the whole city. The eastern end is now part of the Western University of Health Sciences campus, while the western end now houses numerous art galleries, art studios and restaurants.
In 2005, Pomona citizens elected Norma Torres, the first woman of Guatemalan heritage to be elected to a mayoral post outside of Guatemala. Later, she would become a U.S. congresswoman representing California's 35th congressional district in 2015.
Pomona is 30 miles (48 km) east of Los Angeles in the Pomona Valley, located at 34°3′39″N 117°45′21″W﻿ / ﻿34.06083°N 117.75583°W﻿ / 34.06083; -117.75583 (34.060760, −117.755886). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 22.964 square miles (59.48 km), over 99% of it land.
Pomona is approximately 30 miles (48 km) east of downtown Los Angeles, 27 miles (43 km) north of Santa Ana, 26 miles (42 km) west of Riverside, and 33 miles (53 km) west of San Bernardino.
Pomona is bordered by the cities of San Dimas on the northwest, La Verne and Claremont on the north, Montclair and Chino on the east, Chino Hills and Diamond Bar on the south, Walnut, South San Jose Hills, and Industry on the southwest, and the unincorporated community of Ramona on the west. The Los Angeles/San Bernardino county line forms most of the city's southern and eastern boundaries.
Pomona has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification Csa) with hot, dry summers and mild, damp winters, and a large amount of sunshine year-round. Summers are characterized by sunny days and very little rainfall during June through September. Fall brings cooler temperatures and occasional showers, as well as seasonal Santa Ana winds originating from the northeast.
Pomona first appeared as a city in the 1890 U.S. Census, the first incorporated place in the now defunct San Jose township (pop 1,170 in 1880).
The 2010 United States census reported that Pomona had a population of 149,058, a slight decline from the 2000 census population. The population density was 6,491.2 inhabitants per square mile (2,506.3/km). The racial makeup of Pomona was 71,564 (48.0%) White (12.5% Non-Hispanic White), 10,924 (7.3%) African American, 1,763 (1.2%) Native American, 12,688 (8.5%) Asian of which is Chinese 2,217 1.48% Filipino 2,938 1.97% Japanese 443 0.3% Korean 633 0.42% Vietnamese 1643 1.1% , 282 (0.2%) Pacific Islander, 45,171 (30.3%) from other races, and 6,666 (4.5%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 105,135 persons (70.5%).
The Census reported that 144,920 people (97.2% of the population) lived in households, 2,782 (1.9%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 1,356 (0.9%) were institutionalized.
There were 38,477 households, out of which 19,690 (51.2%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 19,986 (51.9%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 6,960 (18.1%) had a female householder with no husband present, 3,313 (8.6%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 2,823 (7.3%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 299 (0.8%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 5,810 households (15.1%) were made up of individuals, and 2,010 (5.2%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.77. There were 30,259 families (78.6% of all households); the average family size was 4.15.
The population was spread out, with 43,853 people (29.4%) under the age of 18, 20,155 people (13.5%) aged 18 to 24, 42,311 people (28.4%) aged 25 to 44, 31,369 people (21.0%) aged 45 to 64, and 11,370 people (7.6%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 29.5 years. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.4 males.
There were 39,620 housing units at an average density of 1,771.8 per square mile (684.1/km), of which 21,197 (55.1%) were owner-occupied, and 17,280 (44.9%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.0%; the rental vacancy rate was 5.9%. 80,968 people (54.3% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 63,952 people (42.9%) lived in rental housing units.
During 2009–2013, Pomona had a median household income of $49,474, with 21.6% of the population living below the federal poverty line.
According to Mapping L.A., Mexican and German were the most common ancestries in 2000. Mexico and the El Salvador were the most common foreign places of birth in Pomona.
The most common ancestries in Pomona are German, English, Italian, Irish and French.
In 2022, Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority's Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count counted 716 homeless individuals in Pomona.
Since the 1980s, Pomona's newest neighborhood Phillips Ranch, experienced rapid growth with homes still being built in the hilly area between Downtown and Diamond Bar. Today, Phillips Ranch is nearly all residential.
According to the city's 2018 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city and number of employees are Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center (3,230), Pomona Unified School District (3,034), California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (2,440), Fairplex (1,071), Casa Colina Rehabilitation Center (1,020), City of Pomona (661), and County of Los Angeles Department of Social Services (350).
The city is the site of the Fairplex, which hosts the L.A. County Fair and the Pomona Swap Meet & Classic Car Show. The swap meet (for car parts and accessories) is part of the car show, which is a single-day event held seven times throughout the year.
The city is also home to the NHRA In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip (formerly the Pomona Raceway), which hosts the NHRA Winternationals drag racing competition.
The following structures in Pomona are noted by the Los Angeles Conservancy:
Pomona was incorporated on January 6, 1888, and adopted a charter in 1911, making it a charter city.
The city is governed by a seven-member city council. Regular municipal elections are held on a Tuesday after the first Monday in November in even-numbered years. Councilmembers serve four-year terms, and the mayor is the presiding councilmember, elected at-large. The other six members are elected by districts. Every eight months, the council appoints a new vice mayor from among its members. The mayor is Tim Sandoval.
According to the city's most recent Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the city's various funds had $220.3 million in revenues, $225.5 million in expenditures, $818.3 million in total assets, $520 million in total liabilities, and $80.6 million in cash and investments.
In the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Pomona is in the 1st District, represented by Democrat Hilda Solis.
The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services operates the Pomona Health Center in Pomona.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department provides fire department services for Pomona on a contract basis.
In the California State Legislature, Pomona is in the 22nd Senate District, represented by Democrat Susan Rubio, and in the 53rd Assembly District by Democrat Michelle Rodriguez.
In the United States House of Representatives, Pomona is in California's 35th congressional district, represented by Democrat Norma Torres.
Most of Pomona and some of the surrounding area are served by the Pomona Unified School District. Pomona High School, Diamond Ranch High School, Ganesha High School, Garey High School, Fremont Academy, Palomares Academy, and Village Academy are PUSD's seven high schools. The Claremont Unified School District serves a small section of northern Pomona. Residents there are zoned to Sumner Elementary School, El Roble Intermediate School, and Claremont High School.
The School of Arts and Enterprise, a charter high school, is also located in the city.
There are four parochial schools of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles located in Pomona: St. Madeleine Catholic School (K-5), St. Joseph Elementary School (K–5), Pomona Catholic Middle School and High School and St. Christopher-Joseph-Aquinas Academic Academy (2 locations). There are also three Islamic schools: New Dimensions School (K-8), ICC Community School (K-8) and City of Knowledge (K-12).
The major daily newspaper in the area is Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. La Opinión is the city's major Spanish-language paper. There are also a wide variety of smaller regional newspapers, alternative weeklies and magazines, including:
Pomona is connected to downtown Los Angeles and to downtown Riverside via Metrolink and is connected by Amtrak via the Sunset Limited and the Texas Eagle. Pomona will be connected to Los Angeles and eastern Los Angeles county via light rail when the Foothill Extension is completed in 2025. The rail line was renamed the A Line when the line was connected with the former Blue Line via the Regional Connector in downtown Los Angeles.
Foothill Transit's Silver Streak operates express service eastbound to Montclair, and westbound to Downtown Los Angeles. Omnitrans bus line 61 runs throughout downtown Pomona and connects to Ontario Airport.