Downey, CA

The city of Downey is located within Los Angeles County, 11 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is just east of the city of South Gate and the L.A. neighborhood of Watts. Downey sits between the Rio Hondo and San Gabriel Rivers and between the Long Beach and Santa Ana Freeways. Downey played an important role in the U.S. space program as a primary manufacturing site for the Apollo spacecraft and the space shuttle orbiters. The NASA industrial plant, most recently owned by Rockwell International, closed in 1999. Downey's population is a little over 107,000.

NEIGHBORHOODS AND DISTRICTS

Downey is divided into four quadrants by two intersecting arteries, Downey Avenue (which runs roughly north to south) and Firestone Boulevard (roughly east to west). The northeast section, north of Firestone and east of Downey Avenue, is considered the city's most exclusive residential neighborhood. Other notable areas within Downey include:

• The downtown district, centering on the high-traffic intersection of Firestone and Lakewood Boulevards. A shopping center called Stonewood Center and the Downey Regional Medical Center are situated in the immediate vicinity. The Avenue Theatre and Verizon building, currently owned by the city, are slated for development into new housing and community-oriented space.
• A few blocks south lies the former Rockwell facility, renamed Downey Landing and converted into a mixed-use complex. The development comprises the Downey Landing retail center, Downey Studios media production facility, Kaiser Downey Medical Center, Columbia Memorial Space Center, and a 10-acre public park.

ECONOMY AND INDUSTRIES

In the 20th century, Downey's economic fortunes were tied to the aviation industry. Companies such as Vultee Aircraft and North American Aviation produced fighter aircraft and missile systems. North American Aviation won key contracts to manufacture components for the moon landing in the 1960s, and at the height of production, more than 35,000 people were employed in the plant. These manufacturing industries remain in operation in Downey:

• Electrical components
• Fluid and gas pumps
• Machinery and machine tools
• Metalworks
• Plastic bags and packaging
• Paints and coatings

Health care is a major employer in the Downey area. Facilities include:

• Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center, L.A.'s primary public hospital specializing in rehab
• Downey Regional Medical Center (Downey Community Hospital)
• Kaiser Downey Medical Center
• Kaiser Foundation Hospital (Bellflower)

Other important employers in Downey include:

• Downey Studios, a large media center with indoor and outdoor studios and what is reported to be America's largest indoor water tank
• Coca-Cola, which recently retrofitted the lighting on its Downey production plant as part of a sustainability effort
• Bank of America, which owns the city's largest office building

SHOPPING

• Stonewood Center, with several department stores and more than 100 other shops and restaurants
• Downey Landing Shopping Center
• Florence/Paramount Crossroads

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

• Downey Civic Theatre, a 700-seat auditorium located in the downtown area. Both the Downey Symphony Orchestra and the Downey Civic Light Opera Association offer musical programs here.
• Downey Museum of Art, located at Furman Park, just southwest of the corner of Florence Avenue and Paramount Boulevard. In addition to its exhibits of contemporary works by Southern California artists, the museum is launching a new, sustainably-designed building called the Glidehouse.

BEST BETS

• Downey Historical Museum, a mile south of the art museum on Rives Avenue, displays artifacts and exhibits from the region's past.
• Columbia Memorial Space Center, a learning center that will open in 2009, featuring simulated space missions, artifacts from Downey's illustrious aviation history, and exhibits from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratories and the Smithsonian Institution. The center will be a federally recognized memorial to the crew of the Columbia space shuttle, who perished when the module exploded in 2003.
• Oldest vintage McDonald's, located at the corner of Lakewood Boulevard and Florence Avenue, opened in 1953. It was the chain's fourth restaurant, and predated the McDonald brothers' association with Ray Kroc, who later took control of the company. The Downey restaurant, which is still in business, is the world's oldest continuously operating McDonald's. It still displays the original Golden Arches. (Fast food fanatics will note that Downey was also the site of the first Taco Bell restaurant, opened in 1962 by Glen Bell.)
• The Downey City Library hosts a collection of material related to Karen and Richard Carpenter, who spent their teenage years in Downey and went on to pop music stardom.

EDUCATION

While no post-secondary institutions are located within Downey, there are several nearby:

• Cerritos College (Norwalk)
• Compton Community College (Compton)
• East Los Angeles College (Monterey Park)
• Rio Hondo College (Whittier)
• Whittier College (Whittier)
• California State University (Long Beach)

LOCAL MEDIA

Downey is situated in the nation's second largest television market, Los Angeles. The region's main newspaper is the Los Angeles Times, the second largest metropolitan daily in the United States. A local weekly, the Downey Patriot, has a circulation of 25,000.