Home » California » Monterey Park

James W. Loewen (1942-2021)

We mourn the loss of our friend and colleague and remain committed to the work he began.

Monterey Park

California

Basic Information

Type of Place
Suburb
Metro Area
Los Angeles/San Diego
Politics c. 1860?
Unions, Organized Labor?

Sundown Town Status

Sundown Town in the Past?
Surely
Was there an ordinance?
Don't Know
Sign?
Don’t Know
Year of Greatest Interest
Still Sundown?
Surely Not

Census Information

The available census data from 1860 to the present
Total White Black Asian Native Hispanic Other BHshld
1860
1870
1880
1890
1900
1910
1920
1930
1940
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000 60051 12786 226 37125 391 17359 7474
2010
2020

Method of Exclusion

  • Zoning
  • Realtors
  • Other

Main Ethnic Group(s)

  • Unknown

Group(s) Excluded

  • Black
  • Asian
  • Other

Comments

After Monterey Park broke, the town became
mostly Asian American.

Monterey Park was helped to stay white by the
Alien Land Laws (forbidding “aliens incapable of
becoming citizens”, mostly Asian, from owning land in
California), restrictive covenants, FHA guidelines,
minimum lot size and home cost laws, prohibition of
multifamily lots (i.e. rental units), and private
associations.

The 1948 US Supreme Court case Shelley v.
Kramer, barring restrictive covenants; repeal of the
Alien Land Laws in the 1950s; and Title VIII of the
1968 Civil Rights Act, commonly known as the Fair
Housing Act, helped break Monterey Park.