Monrovia Tutors Come To You

In the shadow of the San Gabriel Mountains, Monrovia, California is located conveniently between the urban excitement of the Los Angeles metropolitan area and the serene wilderness of the Angeles National Forest. Originally part of Mexican land grants before the U.S.-Mexican War, Monrovia was acquired in 1875 by pioneering California businessman and real estate investor E.J. “Lucky” Baldwin. Baldwin promptly subdivided Rancho Santa Anita, selling a parcel to Civil War army officer and railroad builder William N. Monroe who combined his land with other investors and established the Monrovia Land and Water Company in 1886. Monroe built a house on North Primrose Avenue called the “Oaks” which still stands. He also named the city’s main street, Myrtle Avenue, after his oldest daughter. Monroe later went to Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush and built the first Alaskan railroad. He lived to the ripe old age of 94. His obituary in the Fresno Bee labeled Monroe’s life as the “story of the westward expansion of the United States.” In the first decade of the 20th century the Pacific Electric railway extended east allowing Monrovia residents to commute for work into Los Angeles.

A Monrovia tutor will certainly keep you ahead of the academic curve so you can take time away from the books to explore Monrovia and the greater Los Angeles area. For those who want to know more about the history of Monrovia and the surrounding environs, the Monrovia Historical Museum features more than 10,000 artifacts chronicling the area’s history dating back hundreds of years such as Native American baskets, pottery and arrowheads. Opened in 1986, the museum is housed in an historic Spanish style building which was once the city’s municipal swimming pool. Exhibits include a doctor’s buggy from the early 1900’s as well as kitchen, parlor and classroom items dating back over one hundred years.

For the outdoor minded, Monrovia is on the edge of the Angeles National Forest. Monrovia Canyon Park is an 80-acre park with two excellent hiking alternatives. The Waterfall Trail travels about one mile to the site of an active waterfall cascading down from the San Gabriel Mountains. The falls are best visited in early spring as temperatures begin to rise in late spring and summer. The Historic Ben Overturff Trail challenges hikers with a seven-mile hike which gains approximately 2,000 feet of elevation as it winds its way through some of the most picturesque wilderness in the San Gabriel Mountains.

For another heart pounding experience, Monrovia residents can take a short drive west to Santa Anita Park in Arcadia. For over 80 years Santa Anita has been the site of some of the very best horse racing in the United States. The iconic Seabiscuit, subject of book and movie, won the 1940 Santa Anita Handicap, at the time the most expensive race in the nation offering $100,000 in prize money. In the 1940’s and 1950’s the track was a virtual playground for the Hollywood stars of the time such as Betty Grable, Cary Grant and Bing Crosby. Triple Crown winners Affirmed, in 1978, and American Pharoah, in 2014, both raced at Santa Anita before going on to conquer the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont.