Monterey Park Tutors Come To You

Just south of Pasadena and a few miles from the downtown skyscrapers, Monterey Park is a hillside suburb of Los Angeles. Originally part of the Mexican land grant Rancho San Antonio, much of the land which would become Monterey Park was purchased by prosperous Italian immigrant and sheep farmer Alessandro Repetto. Legend has it that Repetto was the victim of famed Mexican bandit Tiburcio Vasquez who beat him and robbed him of two bags containing $40,000 in gold and silver. Vasquez and his men, with the sheriff in hot pursuit, were seen burying the loot somewhere on Repetto’s ranch. Reportedly, Repetto searched his land until his death but never found anything. Today, the ranch has been paved over but the bandido’s legend lives on as the rocks east of Los Angeles where he had his hideout are known as the Vasquez Rocks. Repetto’s land and that of Richard Garvey, an army mail carrier, eventually became Ramona Acres, attracting small farmers who found the land to be excellent for settlement because of its proximity to Los Angeles. Soon enough, real estate investors began buying up property in Monterey Park as the area attracted more settlers and businesses. In 1926, peanut butter and potato chip manufacturer Laura Scudder invented the first bag of sealed potato chips in Monterey Park. In the years since 1970 Monterey Park has been particularly attractive to affluent Asian immigrants, so much so that the city is sometimes referred to as “The Chinese Beverly Hills” and the current population is over sixty percent Asian. In fact, Monterey Park became the first city in the United States to elect a Chinese-American woman, Lily Lee Chen, as mayor.

A Monterey Park tutor will undoubtedly keep you caught up on your studies so you can enjoy the exciting things to do in Monterey Park and the greater Los Angeles area. For a little natural serenity amidst the hubbub of the suburbs, Sequoia Park offers a quiet and clean retreat from the big city. The park features a playground, baseball field and a pagoda like structure in the middle of a Banzai Garden. In the spring, Monterey Park hosts the annual Cherry Blossom Festival. Japanese culture is on display with traditional dancing, taiko drums and martial arts demonstrations. Japanese food and handmade crafts are also available during the festival.

It’s worth a short drive east from Monterey Park to visit the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, a 127-acre oasis in nearby Arcadia which features a variety of plant habitats. The gardens are organized geographically and chronologically around Baldwin Lake, named after California pioneering businessman E.J. “Lucky” Baldwin. Gardens include South America, Australia, Africa and the Prehistoric Forest. The arboretum offers a variety of events throughout the year including concerts and tours.

Right next door to the arboretum, Santa Anita Park has been the site of some of the very best horse racing in the United States for the last 80 years. 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.