City Is Old, But Full of Life : Monrovia: Ambitious redevelopment program in the '70s triggered economic improvements and rekindled the small-town spirit of residents.

By EVELYN DE WOLFE

Nov. 12, 1989 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

“Last one to leave town, turn off the lights” was a popular refrain in the 1970s when residents of Monrovia began looking beyond the town’s borders for a decent place to shop, to eat and to do business.

“But that was long before we came to live here,” said Margo Silverman, a former Hollywood resident, who likes the community’s small-town, Midwestern atmosphere and boasts about its rebirth in recent years.

With a population of almost 36,000, Monrovia hugs the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains 8 miles east of Pasadena, and is the fourth oldest incorporated city in Los Angeles County. Its immediate neighbors are Arcadia to the west and Duarte to the east.

The activity at the Silvermans on a recent Sunday afternoon centered on getting 8-year-old daughter Lauren ready for a children’s recital at Library Park, one of a series of community family events that reflect the town’s feeling of “togetherness.”

“It’s a good place to raise a family,” said Ken Silverman, a media consultant whose work takes him on daily commutes to Westside clients.

“The people are friendly here,” Margo Silverman added. “Besides, where else could a young family like ours find such a large and beautiful old home . . . for an affordable rent?” Realtor Miles Tolbert agreed that home rentals are reasonably priced in Monrovia and said he had just rented a three-bedroom home with 1 3/4 baths and swimming pool for $1,450 a month, adding that landlords usually accept tenants with children and pets.

One-bedroom apartments, he said, rent for between $475 and $600 and two-bedroom units in medium-income neighborhoods rent for $700 to $900.

Tolbert, 80, has lived in Monrovia for 55 years and has seen many changes in its property values. He bought a two-bedroom home there in 1936 for $1,700 with only a $300 down payment and a monthly mortgage of $16.80.

“Our present home was built for under $20,000 in 1960 on a lot with an existing structure. We invested a total of $33,500, and today the property is worth about $400,000.

“But, at least for a while, I think property values have topped out,” Tolbert said, adding that a home in Monrovia may still be a good buy for families who want to settle there. “They can expect some appreciation in the long run but Monrovia is no longer an area for speculators.”

The city is served by two major freeways, the Foothill (210) and the San Bernardino (10) and its northern and southern sections are divided by a stretch of Huntington Drive that has become the community’s major regional shopping focus, with outlets such as Mervyn’s, Builders Emporium, Home Depot and an impressive “auto row” now anchored there.

For most Monrovians, however, Myrtle Avenue remains the heart of the town.

Myrtle has evolved from an unpaved Victorian horse-and-buggy street into a charming Park Plaza Village setting with landscaped areas, brick walks with shade trees and benches, and a variety of small shops, restaurants and shopkeepers who greet their customers by name.

A familiar face along Myrtle Avenue is that of Steve Baker, parish administrator at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and president of Monrovia’s Historical Society. Baker lives around the corner from the town’s main street in an 1887 house that belonged to his great-grandfather. It is where his grandmother lived and where his father was born.

“I also attended the same local grammar school as my father,” Baker said, adding that in spite of the changes, the community has deep roots and retains many of its traditional values, pulling together whenever a common need arises.

A prime example, Baker said, was demonstrated when Monrovia--like other older cities in the San Gabriel Valley--began experiencing serious economic problems due to competition from chain retailers in outlying areas.

It took an ambitious redevelopment effort in 1977 to trigger the revitalization of the city, he said.

One of the leaders in the effort was Pat Ostrye, a longtime resident who was married and raised seven children in Monrovia. Ostrye was the first woman to serve on Monrovia’s City Council and the city’s first elected mayor (1978-79). She later served as city clerk.

“Whenever something needs to be done in this town, everybody joins in,” Ostrye said, “It was a major cooperative effort of schools, government, chamber of commerce, business and the residents that put this town back together again.”

Major improvements were completed in time for the city’s centennial celebration in 1986.

Monrovia was named for William Newton Monroe, a railroad construction engineer who came to Southern California in 1875. In the spring of 1886, with former Los Angeles Mayor John D. Bicknell and James F. Crank, Monroe laid out a 60-acre town on land purchased from the grant holders of the ranchos Santa Anita and Azusa de Duarte.

Its tree-shaded streets are lined with a wealth of Victorian, Queen Anne and Craftsman-styled homes set on spacious grounds. Some of the city’s older homes such as the Old Burr house, which Ramon and Maryann Otero have restored, date back to its founding days. And so does the surviving Aztec Hotel that is on the National Register of Historic Places.

“That’s why so many period movies are shot here,” said Karen Poindexter, who describes her own Colonial Revival home as “everyone’s idealized version of grandma’s house.”

Karen and Doug Poindexter, active members of Monrovia’s 200-member Old House Preservation Group, purchased their home 10 years ago for $93,500, and while they’ve done very little renovation, the home has quadrupled in value, they said.

Lou and Cathy Cisneros, owners of the local brokerage firm of L & C, believe property values in Monrovia are still on the rise.

“For a while there was a pervasive ‘down’ feeling in this community. But since the combined redevelopment efforts of city, schools and the affirmative action of Neighborhood Watch groups, there is something of the boom-town feeling again in Monrovia.

“The hottest market is for affordable homes under $200,000,” he said. “One home that sold last fall for $106,000 was resold this July for $157,000.

“Those are very scarce and move quickly, In the community’s more desirable areas, north of Foothill Boulevard, home prices average in excess of $300,000.”

Janice Marugg, who heads the local Chamber of Commerce, led the visitor on a tour of Gold Hills, for a look at Monrovia’s most ambitious residential development to date, just north of Myrtle Avenue and Scenic Drive.

“My husband and I grew up in Monrovia, and Gold Hills was our favorite playground as children,” she said. “It’s the largest foothill subdivision ever to be undertaken in Monrovia, with 54 lots on 60 acres, and its remaining 30 acres were held for permanent open space.”

Dubbed “the rich country of Monrovia,” Gold Hills’ large new luxury homes are selling in the million-dollar range.

In June, the City Council approved an $8-million, five-year plan to boost private development of low-cost condominiums in an effort to also enhance Monrovia’s poorer neighborhoods, Marugg said.

The fact that Monrovia now gets some of the worst smog in the county, both from industries sprawled for miles around and from the busy freeway traffic nearby, doesn’t seem to bother Marugg, who is the first to admit that “some days the smog is terrible. . . .

“I can remember when we had smudge pots burning in the orchards and the smog was even worse then,” Marugg said. “The irony is that Monrovia was once a sought-after health resort with a major tuberculosis sanitarium.”

Monrovia’s present concerns apparently relate less to smog and summer heat--10 degrees warmer than in Los Angeles--than they do to drug-related crimes.

“We face much of the same law enforcement problems as other communities in the Southland. Drugs and gangs are our primary concern,” said Police Chief Bill Tubbs, who’s been with the Monrovia Police Department for 30 years.

But when asked about crime in her community, one Monrovian replied:

“When we had serious trouble with drug dealing in one of our neighborhoods, the residents banded together, and with the help of the local police force activated a Drug Task Force that’s been very effective.

“That’s how it is in Monrovia. We band together.”

AT A GLANCE Population

1989 estimate: 34,775

1980-89 change: 13.9%

Median age: 30.3 years

Racial/ethnic mix

White (non-Latino): 61.6%

Latino: 25.6%

Black: 9.0%

Other: 3.8%

Annual income

Per capita: 13,241