Lakewood History & Facts

Lakewood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 80,048 at the 2010 census. It is bordered by Long Beach on the west and south, Bellflower on the north, Cerritos on the northeast, Cypress on the east, and Hawaiian Gardens on the southeast. Major thoroughfares include Lakewood (SR 19), Bellflower, and Del Amo Boulevards and Carson and South Streets. The San Gabriel River Freeway (I-605) runs through the city's eastern regions.

Lakewood is a post-World War II planned community. Developers Louis Boyar, Mark Taper and Ben Weingart are credited with "altering forever the map of Southern California." Begun in late 1949, the completion of the developers' plan in 1953 helped in the transformation of mass-produced housing from its early phases in the 1930s and 1940s to the reality of the 1950s.

WWII veterans could get home loans with no down payment and a 30-year mortgage at only 4 percent interest. On the first day of sales, March 24, 1950, an estimated 30,000 people lined up to walk through a row of seven model houses. By the end of April, more than 200,000 people had flocked to the Lakewood Park sales office and more than 1,000 families had purchased homes (30 per day on average). On one occasion, 107 homes sold in just one hour. The monthly cost was $44 to $56, including principal, interest and insurance.

Famous Peoples From Lakewood

Ralph Barahona

Ralph Joseph Barahona (born November 16, 1965 in Long Beach, California and raised in Lakewood, California) is a retired American professional ice hockey center who played six games in the National Hockey League for the Boston Bruins. He scored two goals and two assists for four points in his brief NHL career. Prior to the NHL, Barahona played at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point where he won two National Championships in 1989 and 1990.

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