San Gabriel Valley, California on Route 66
Nestled against the dramatic backdrop of the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California, the San Gabriel Valley sprawls across 200 square miles. Once an agricultural heartland, it has evolved into a dynamic and multifaceted urban landscape. This transformation hasn’t erased its rich history, however. Today, a drive through the San Gabriel Valley offers a captivating blend of museums, historical landmarks, and roadside attractions, providing a fresh perspective for a new generation of Route 66 travelers. Beyond the valley floor, the rugged San Gabriel Mountains beckon adventurous souls with hiking trails, campsites, sparkling lakes, and the remnants of old mining towns tucked away within its forests and canyons.
The allure of the San Gabriel Valley lies not only in its scenic beauty but also in the tangible remnants of its past, carefully preserved and readily accessible to those who seek them out. From the meticulously restored historic buildings to the quirky roadside attractions, the valley offers a compelling glimpse into the evolution of Southern California.
San Dimas: A Slice of the Old West
Straddling the San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys, San Dimas offers a captivating journey back in time. Its story begins in the early 1800s, when the area was known as Mud Springs, a testament to its swampy terrain. The land was part of the Rancho San Jose, the last Spanish land grant in the region.
The town officially took shape with the arrival of the railroad in 1887, when the San Jose Ranch Company formally established the community. The name was changed to San Dimas, drawing inspiration from the San Dimas Canyon to the north. E.M. Marshall established the first business, a hardware store strategically located near Bonita and Depot Streets, anticipating a wave of new settlers.
In anticipation of the expected population boom accompanying the railroad, a hotel was constructed. However, the land boom was short-lived, collapsing in 1889 before the San Dimas Hotel could welcome a single guest. Miraculously, this historic building is the only hotel of its kind to survive from San Bernardino to Los Angeles. After its initial failure, the hotel was acquired by the J.W. Walker family, who occupied it for six generations, from 1889 to 1978. Later repurposed as a restaurant, the old hotel was eventually listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is now owned by the City of San Dimas. Known by various names, including the Walker House, Carruthers Home, and the San Dimas Mansion, this landmark stands just north of Bonita Avenue and San Dimas Avenue.
San Dimas developed as an agricultural center, mirroring the trajectory of many small towns along the railroad line. After experimenting with various crops, local farmers discovered that oranges, lemons, and avocados thrived in the area’s climate. The city became a hub for citrus production, boasting four packing houses and a marmalade factory. It was here that the Sunkist name, originally spelled "Sunkissed," was born. The San Dimas Feed Company, established in 1897, stands as a testament to this era, remaining the city’s oldest continuously operating business. However, by the 1950s, citrus trees were plagued by disease, and the agricultural landscape gradually gave way to residential developments.
Today, San Dimas proudly celebrates its heritage, particularly its connection to the Old West. In the 1970s, a "Western Village" concept was implemented in the downtown core, featuring wooden sidewalks and false wood storefronts to evoke a frontier atmosphere. Each fall, San Dimas hosts a rodeo at Horsethief Canyon Park, along with Western-themed events. Equestrian trails wind throughout the city, further reinforcing its Western identity.
Other historical attractions include the San Dimas Train Depot, now a museum located on Bonita Avenue at the west end of Old Town; the Walker House, located just north of the intersection of Bonita and San Dimas Avenues; and the Chamber of Commerce, housed in the historic Martin House at 246 East Bonita Avenue.
A visit to San Dimas isn’t complete without a stop at Pinnacle Peak Steakhouse, located at 269 W. Foothill Boulevard. This establishment offers mesquite-broiled steaks in an Old West saloon-style setting. Adorned with a wagon train in its parking lot, Pinnacle Peak has been a Route 66 institution for decades. A word of caution: this is not a formal establishment. Patrons who wear ties often find them adorning the ceiling, having been "donated" by fellow diners.
Glendora: Route 66 Proud
A short drive east brings you to Glendora, a town that proudly embraces its Route 66 heritage. Signs and businesses bear the iconic Route 66 name, and Glendora was the first city in California to rename its main street, Alosta Avenue, back to Route 66.
The Glendora area was first settled in 1874 by former Confederate soldiers John Bender and Bryant Cullen, who each homesteaded 160 acres. As more families moved to the area, the town was laid out and named "Glendora" by landowner George Whitcomb when the railroad arrived in 1887. The name combined "glen," referring to the area behind his home, and "Ledora," his wife’s name.
The new settlers cultivated castor beans, wheat, potatoes, and citrus groves. By the turn of the century, Glendora had become a citrus industry hub, shipping products worldwide. Over time, the city continued to grow, and orchards were replaced by new homes and businesses.
In addition to its Route 66-themed businesses, Glendora boasts several vintage remnants of a bygone era.
At 1223 E. Route 66, the Golden Spur Restaurant once stood, with a history dating back a century. Though its stucco exterior hides its long history, the Golden Spur began as a ride-up hamburger stand for the equestrian crowd. The restaurant offered a full steak and seafood menu for decades, but its vintage neon sign, complete with a cowboy boot, remained a reminder of its colorful past. Unfortunately, the Golden Spur closed in October 2018.
On the southwest corner of the intersection of Route 66 and Loraine, a 1940s gas station hides behind a tall evergreen hedge and a chain-link fence. Further down the road at 437 E Route 66, the old Alta-Dena Dairy is painted in vibrant colors, and at 619 W. Route 66, the Palm Tropics is one of the best-maintained old motels along the route.
Glendora also features a quaint downtown district where several buildings have remained unchanged for over a century. The city hosts annual festivities celebrating its heritage, such as the Flashback to the ’50s, the Great Glendora Festival, and the Route 66 Mile Run.
Azusa: The Canyon City
Nestled at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains, Azusa was inhabited by Shoshonean Indians, known locally as the Gabrielino, when homesteaders began to settle the land. Known to the Indians as Asuksagna, meaning either "a place of water" or "skunk," the city took its name from this Indian word.
The land began as a Mexican land grant in 1841 to Luis Arena, who sold his holdings three years later to Henry Dalton, a wealthy merchant from Los Angeles. Dalton called his holding the Azusa Rancho de Dalton. He planted vineyards and built a winery, a distillery, a vinegar house, a meat smokehouse, and a flour mill. When floods destroyed many of the mills in the canyons between Dalton’s property and San Bernardino, the Azusa mill prospered.
Gold was discovered in nearby San Gabriel Canyon in 1854, which brought a flood of miners to the new boomtown of El Doradoville, built at the fork of the San Gabriel River. Over the next 20 years, some twelve million dollars in gold was taken from the El Doradoville mines. However, the entire town was destroyed during the floods of 1861 and 1862.
In 1860, Dalton’s ranch was resurveyed by the United States Land Office, taking 1 ½ miles from the southern and eastern boundaries of the ranch. The land was then opened for homesteading, bringing another influx of people into the area.
In 1881, Dalton lost the title to all but 55 acres of the land to a Los Angeles banker named Jonathan Slauson. Over the next several years, the rancho was divided, providing more land for newcomers, and in 1868, the first school was built. In 1887, when the railroad barreled through, Slauson formed the official townsite of Azusa.
Though modern in all of its amenities today, Azusa still provides several vintage views of the past. The old Azusa railroad depot continues to stand, and the historic bank building housing Wells Fargo at the intersection of Route 66 and Azusa Avenue.
Azusa’s most famous icon is its classic red neon sign featuring the Foothill Drive-In. In operation until recently, the single-screen drive-in closed in 2001 after being purchased by the neighboring Azusa Pacific University. Stalling plans for classrooms and dorms on the site, the California Route 66 Preservation Foundation secured the drive-in as a California State Historic landmark. However, in October 2005, the theater’s screen came tumbling down to make way for a college parking lot. The historic sign has been preserved for future Route 66 travelers.
West of the theater marquee, two vintage motels with signage, the Colonial Motel at 534 E Foothill Boulevard and the Stardust Motel at 666 E Foothill Boulevard, still stand.
Just two blocks west is Azusa’s elegant 1932 City Hall, Auditorium, and Library complex, which looks much the same as when Mel Blanc popularized the city on the Jack Benny radio show in the 1930s and ’40s.
Outside of town in San Gabriel Canyon, large boulders covered with Indian markings offer a glimpse into the past. This area also leads adventurous travelers along a treasure-seeking side trip of abandoned gold mines that dot the San Gabriel River as it winds its way north from Azusa.
Irwindale and Duarte: Leaving the Past Behind
As you continue to drive through the suburbs of Los Angeles, you will soon arrive in the Cities of Irwindale and Duarte, originally settled as another land grant. The Gabrielino Indians inhabited this area before the governor of Alta, California, granted the land to ex-Mexican Corporal Andres Duarte in 1841. The 7,000-acre parcel was named the Rancho Azusa de Duarte.
By the 1850s, Duarte found himself in financial trouble and sold most of the land to Dr. Nehemiah Beardslee, who divided the land into 40-acre plots, started the first school, and laid out water lines for new residents.
Early pioneer families began to buy the property for its fertile soil and pleasant climate, and the area soon began to thrive as an agricultural community. Duarte remained primarily an agricultural area until after World War II when it was largely converted into a residential community. Irwindale has since developed into an industrial community with numerous plants, including a Miller brewery and Health Valley Foods.
On Route 66, a couple of glimpses of the vintage past can be seen at the old motor courts of the Capri Motel at 2435 Huntington Drive and the Evergreen Motel at 1648 Huntington Drive in Duarte. Two more informative stops include the Justice Brothers Racing Museum at 2734 E. Huntington Dr. and the Duarte Historical Museum at 777 Encanto Parkway.
Monrovia: Gem City of the Foothills
Monrovia is part of what were once two large ranchos, including the Azusa de Duarte and Santa Anita. Over the years, the ranchos were broken up, and in 1884, William N. Monroe, a railroad builder, purchased 240 acres, which soon became known as the Monroe Ranch. Gracious hosts, the Monroes frequently entertained friends from Los Angeles, and by the end of 1885, three of these friends also purchased acreage in the area, and the group decided to establish a town. In honor of W.N. Monroe, the new 60-acre townsite was named Monrovia. Lots were first offered for sale on May 17, 1886, and the Gem City of the Foothills was born.
The town was incorporated the following year under the leadership of prohibitionists who wished to control the arrival of an unwelcome saloon. One of the first orders of business for the newly formed government was to pass a tippler’s law prohibiting the sale of alcohol.
Shortly after the turn of the century, the Pacific Electric was opened, providing transportation to and from Los Angeles, making it possible for Monrovians to commute to work, and the town began to grow.
Today, Monrovia is primarily a residential community of nearly 40,000 people but continues to provide some charming visions of the past. One block north of Colorado Boulevard on Shamrock, a vintage gas station continues to stand on an older alignment of Route 66.
On West Foothill Boulevard are several vintage motor courts, including Harding Court, a 1921 property of 15 bungalows now designated as a historic landmark. The property has been completely restored.
Further down the road is the historic Aztec Hotel at the corner of Foothill and Magnolia. One of the unique Route 66 structures in California, the hotel was designed in 1925 by architect Robert Stacy-Judd, whose creations were inspired by Mayan and Aztec buildings. A local showplace during these early days, the Mayan murals, Native-American-themed lobby, brass railings, stained glass, and numerous antiques awed its guests. The historic hotel once boasted the city’s most prominent beauty salon, barbershop, and pharmacy. Restored today, the hotel continues to entertain Route 66 travelers in its casual atmosphere, where you can stay the night or drop into the hotel’s exotic Elephant Bar and Restaurant.
On the post-1933 alignment of Route 66, at Huntington and Drive and Mayflower Avenue, sits the Pottery Ranch, which has been doing business for decades providing everything from replacement plates to outdoor water fountains.
Old Town Monrovia provides ten square blocks of quaint main street America providing shops, clubs, cafes, boutiques, and more. Between March and December, the streets shut down for the weekly farmer’s market on Friday nights, where you will also find California-grown produce, crafts, and various other items.
As you near Arcadia, look for the life-size cow marking Mike’s Diary Drive-thru on the southeast corner of Mayflower.
Arcadia: Racing Into the Future
The San Gabriel Valley is full of historical places, and Arcadia is a place you must see.
Once a 13,000-acre land grant was established in 1845, the area was called the Rancho Santa Anita. Over the next three decades, Rancho Santa Anita changed ownership five times until, in 1875, Elias J. "Lucky" Baldwin purchased approximately 8,000 acres of the original ranch.
Having grown rich from investments in gold and silver mines, Baldwin’s initial purchase price of $200,000 would pay him vast returns when he split up the acreage into the Santa Anita tract that would become Arcadia.
Baldwin began to develop the enormous estate, which at its height encompassed the cities of Sierra Madre, Arcadia, Monrovia, El Monte, and Baldwin Park. The rancho grew oranges, lemons, grapes, and walnuts; supported large herds of cattle, sheep, and horses; and produced wine and brandy. Among the horses that roamed the large ranch, some were bred as fine racehorses, and Baldwin began to run his thoroughbreds nationwide during the last two decades of the 19th century.
Baldwin became its first mayor when the town was officially incorporated in 1903. The following year would fulfill Baldwin’s dream—building the Santa Anita Race Track.
Located at the present site of Arcadia County Park, the grandstand presented a beautiful view of the San Gabriel Mountains behind the running thoroughbreds. But for Baldwin, his dream was not to last. In 1909, California banned horse racing, forcing the race track to close. Baldwin died the same year.
In 1912, the grandstand burned, and the property went unused until 1917, when Anita Baldwin sold the land to Los Angeles County, which deeded it to the War Department, which utilized it as an Army balloon school during World War I.
As Los Angeles began to grow in the post-war period, Arcadia grew along with it as more and more homes and businesses were built. When Route 66 was completed through the area in 1931, it barreled through Baldwin’s old rancho.
In 1933, the Army transferred the land upon which the original racetrack stood back to Los Angeles County, and it was developed into Arcadia County Park.
After horse-racing bans had been lifted in California, the present Santa Anita Race Track was opened to the public on Christmas Day, 1934. As prosperity returned after the depression and travelers began to travel the "new" Route 66, Arcadia responded by building numerous motels and restaurants.
During World War II, the racetrack closed and was utilized as one of the largest Japanese American concentration camps. The government forced over 100,000 American citizens to abandon their homes and businesses, which were often never recovered. Originally planned for 15,000 people, the camp housed over 20,000 Japanese Americans, living in crowded conditions in barracks and sometimes in horse stables.
When the war was over, the racetrack opened up again in May 1945, and within the next two decades, several of the horses from Santa Anita went on to win the Kentucky Derby.
Today, Arcadia’s approximately 55,000 residents enjoy quiet neighborhoods, numerous parks, and tree-lined streets, about 20 miles from downtown Los Angeles.
In addition to the race track, visitors can enjoy the Los Angeles State and County Arboretum, established in 1947 at 301 North Baldwin Avenue. Situated on the original Rancho Santa Anita, the Arboretum includes 127 acres of gardens, waterfalls, and wildlife, an 1840 adobe house, the original Santa Anita Railroad Depot, and original buildings from the Baldwin family.
Check out Denny’s restaurant at the corner of Santa Anita and Huntington Streets for a vintage view of Arcadia’s past. Originally the site of a Van de Kamp’s coffee shop, sitting upon its roof is a large Dutch-style windmill. More history can also be found at The Derby, a restaurant dating back to 1938. Opened by George Woolf, the jockey who rode Seabiscuit to victory, the restaurant soon became a gathering place for jockeys and race fans. Here you will find a wide variety menu, including steaks, seafood, and race track memorabilia dating back to 1875. The Derby is located at 233 East Huntington Drive.
For the more adventurous traveler, Angeles National Forest, just north of Arcadia, provides camping, picnicking, recreation trails, and more.
In Irwindale, Foothill Boulevard (and Route 66) turns into Huntington Drive, continuing through Duarte and Arcadia, connecting with Colorado Place at the Santa Anita Racetrack. Follow Colorado Place northeast to Colorado Boulevard and continue your Route 66 journey westward to Pasadena. The San Gabriel Valley is a place to visit.