Bellflower is a city in
Los Angeles County,
California
, United
States
, and is a suburb of Los Angeles
. It was incorporated on September 3, 1957.
As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of
72,878.
The city derives its name from a mispronunciation of
belle
fleur, a variety of
apple tree.
Originally
settled by dairy farmers of Dutch
, Japanese
, and
Portuguese
descent, Bellflower and neighboring Paramount
served as the milk production centers for Southern
California until soaring post-World War
II property values motivated most of the farmers to move
several miles east to the Dairy Valley/Dairyland/Dairy City area
(now the cities of Cerritos
, La Palma
, and Cypress
). In the 1950s and 1960s, Bellflower
Boulevard, the city's main thoroughfare, was a thriving commercial
strip.
However, suburban growth in Orange
County
and the San
Gabriel and San Fernando
valleys made Bellflower's relatively humble housing
tracts decidedly unattractive, and by the 1990s much of its
original population — and the businesses that served it—had left
and the city began to show signs of urban problems.
The
departed were replaced by just about every ethnicity imaginable, to
the extent that the "A-B-C" region, formed by Bellflower and
neighboring Artesia
and Cerritos, is considered one of the most
ethnically and linguistically diverse in the United States.
Bellflower Boulevard has recovered some of its previous business
traffic in the last decade.
Geography
Bellflower is located at .
According to the
United
States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of
15.9 km² (6.2 mi²). 15.7 km² (6.1 mi²) of it is land and
0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (1.14%) is water.
Bellflower
is bordered by Downey
on the north and northwest, Norwalk
and Cerritos on the east, Lakewood
on the south, Long Beach
on the southwest, and Paramount on the west.
Climate
Bellflower, like the rest of the Los Angeles basin is well-known
for its year-round pleasant weather:
-On average, the warmest month is August.
-The highest recorded temperature was 111°F in 1961.
-On average, the coolest month is January.
-The lowest recorded temperature was 25°F in 1963.
-The maximum average precipitation occurs in February.
Bellflower has a
Mediterranean
climate or Dry-Summer Subtropical (
Köppen climate
classification Csb on the coast,
Csa inland),
enjoying plenty of sunshine throughout the year, with an average of
263 sunshine days and only 35 days with measurable precipitation
annually.
The period of April through November is warm to hot and dry with
average high temperatures of 71 - 79°F and lows of 50 - 62°F. Due
to the moderating effect of the ocean, temperatures are cooler than
more inland areas of Los Angeles, where temperatures frequently
exceed 90°F (32°C) and occasionally reach 100°F (38°C).
The period of November through March is somewhat rainy, as shown in
the table to left.
The Los Angeles area is also subject to the phenomena typical of a
microclimate. As such, the temperatures
can vary as much as 18°F (10°C) between inland areas and the coast,
with a temperature gradient of over one degree per mile
(1.6 km) from the coast inland. California has also a weather
phenomenon called "
June Gloom or May
Grey", which sometimes brings overcast or foggy skies in the
morning at the coast, but usually gives way to sunny skies by noon,
during late spring and early summer.
The Los Angeles region averages 15 inches (385 mm) of
precipitation annually, which mainly occurs during the winter and
spring (November through April) with generally light rain showers,
but sometimes as heavy rainfall and thunderstorms. Coastal areas
receive slightly less rainfall, while the mountains receive
slightly more. Snowfall is extremely rare in the city basin, but
the mountains within city limits typically receive snowfall every
winter.
The greatest snowfall recorded in downtown Los Angeles was 2 inches
(5 cm) in 1932.
Demographics
As of the
census of 2000, there were 72,878
people, 23,367 households, and 17,128 families residing in the
city. The
population density was
4,635.6/km² (11,999.5/mi²). There were 24,247 housing units at an
average density of 1,542.3/km² (3,992.3/mi²). The racial makeup of
the city was 46.09%
White, 13.09%
Black or
African American, 0.92%
Native American, 9.69%
Asian, 0.70%
Pacific Islander, 24.38% from
other races, and 5.13%
from two or more races. 43.23% of the population were
Hispanic or
Latino of any race.
There were 23,367 households out of which 43.7% had children under
the age of 18 living with them, 47.0% were
married couples living together, 19.0% had a female
householder with no husband present, and 26.7% were non-families.
21.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.5% had
someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average
household size was 3.09 and the average family size was 3.59.
In the city the population was spread out with 31.9% under the age
of 18, 10.3% from 18 to 24, 32.0% from 25 to 44, 17.4% from 45 to
64, and 8.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was
30 years. For every 100 females there were 95.1 males. For every
100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $39,362, and the
median income for a family was $42,822. Males had a median income
of $32,658 versus $28,012 for females. The
per capita income for the city was
$15,982. About 12.8% of families and 15.8% of the population were
below the
poverty line, including 20.7%
of those under age 18 and 10.0% of those age 65 or over.
Government and infrastructure
Politics
Fire protection in Bellflower is provided by the
Los Angeles County Fire
Department from stations 23 and 98. Ambulance transport is
provided by
Care Ambulance
Service.
The Los Angeles County
Sheriff's Department provides law enforcement from a substation
in Bellflower and the regional station in Lakewood.
In the
state
legislature Bellflower is located in the 27th
Senate District, represented by
Democrat
Alan Lowenthal, and in the
50th
Assembly District,
represented by Democrat
Hector De La
Torre. Federally, Bellflower is located in
California's 34th
congressional district, which has a
Cook PVI of D +23 and is
represented by Democrat
Lucille
Roybal-Allard.
The
United States Postal
Service Bellflower Post Office is located at 9835 Flower
Street.
Education
Most of Bellflower is within the
Bellflower Unified School
District.
St. John Bosco High School
[15850], privately run, is also in Bellflower.
The Clifton M. Brakensiek Library is a branch of the
County of Los Angeles
Public Library.
Sister cities
References
- www.weather.com
- Burt, Christopher. Extreme Weather: A Guide and Record
Book. New York: Norton, 2004: 100.
- " Post Office Location - BELLFLOWER."
United States Postal
Service. Retrieved on December 6, 2008.
- " Clifton M. Brakensiek Library." County of Los Angeles
Public Library. Retrieved on December 6, 2008.
External links
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