Where Small-Town Ways Thrive Amid the Urban Sprawl : Neighborhood: Shops are small, the clientele loyal. Families relax on front lawns. Yet crime has taken its toll on this community near the San Gabriel Mission.

In the neighborhood around the historic Mission San Gabriel, life unfolds in many patterns. Small-town ways coexist alongside urban grit.

On Del Mar Avenue, men munch popovers and sip sodas from Huerta’s Bakery while barber Rafael Rubalcava cuts their hair at J. R. Barber Shop.

There’s plenty of old-fashioned customer loyalty. Consider Robert Hunnicutt, 75, who moved out of the neighborhood 15 years ago, yet still comes back regularly for a trim.

Around the corner on East Main Street, cornstalks stand tall in one front yard, while other homes are decorated with more traditional suburban vegetation: flowering rose bushes, potted plants hanging from porch ceilings.

Freight trains rumble regularly along the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks that slice through the Central San Gabriel neighborhood.

On late summer afternoons, families relax on green front lawns, enjoying cool refreshments from the old ice cream truck that jingles by. Or, if they prefer, they can take a dip in the pool at Smith Park, nearby.

Sylvia Uriarte, 52, who with her husband owns Don Pepe’s Place restaurant on Del Mar, said: “The people are nice and everything here is quiet. We have the police station right next to us and the public library is across the street.”

But crime also has taken its toll.

Fred Morales, 73, who was born in a small wooden house on Angeleno Avenue, said he has seen the area change.

“Now,” Morales said, “I’m afraid to take a walk around the block after dinner. The trouble comes from outside gangs. But we have a Neighborhood Watch. The neighbors are very nice and very friendly.”

Morales’ roots in the neighborhood go deep. A Gabrielino Indian chief, he said his ancestors lived in the area before Franciscans founded the mission on Sept. 8, 1771, at a site on the San Gabriel River.

The mission, the fourth established in California, was moved five miles north to its present location on Junipero Street in 1775.

Even though the mission is now closed because of damage from the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake, it remains a focal point for the neighborhood, which has changed around it over the generations.

“Seventy years ago,” Morales said, “there were ranches all around--no cattle, just agriculture and some chicken ranches. A lot of pepper trees. We used to call this area ‘our beautiful community.’ ”

Some people think it still is.

One of Morales’ neighbors is former San Gabriel Mayor Edward Lara. Lara, who calls the neighborhood his barrio, said it is a quiet, friendly place in which he and his family have lived happily for many years.

Lara’s wife died in February, and he now lives with his 21-year-old grandson.

“The people on the street are cooperative and friendly,” Lara said. “And the children all call me ‘grandpa.’ ”

CLOSEUP: Central San Gabriel

Population Total: (1990 est.) 11,362 1980-90 change: -20.0% Median age: 33.0

Racial/ethnic mix: Black: 0.6% Other*: 9.9% (including Asians) White (not including Latinos): 29.1% Latino: 60.4%

*Because of the method of determining population estimates, Asians may be undercounted.

Income Per capita: $12,452 Average household: $31,998

Median household: $28,348

Income Distribution: More than $150,000: 0.5% $100,000 to $149,999: 2.3% $75,000 to $99,999: 3.1% $50,000 to $74,999: 14.8% $40,000 to $49,999: 10.9% $25,000 to $39,999: 25.6% Less than $25,000: 42.8%

Source: National Planning Data Corp.