Sheep Gave Way to Homes on the Range : La Puente: Houses are reasonably priced in San Gabriel Valley city with good schools.

When Rebecca and Jose Molinar came to La Puente looking for a home they had several requirements: four bedrooms, a nice, quiet neighborhood and no swimming pool. “Too expensive to maintain,” Rebecca Molinar said.

“We wanted to move to this area to be closer to my husband’s work,” she said. “He is a self-employed truck driver working primarily for a company in the City of Industry. We found the prices in Whittier were too high and began looking in La Puente. Our friends warned us that there was a lot of gang activity in this town.

“Before we made the offer on the house we wanted, I came (to the neighborhood) at different times of the day and night . . . looking for graffiti, parties and basically if the streets were quiet.

“The area we bought in was a quiet, well-maintained location. Everybody on the block is a homeowner and they care about their property.”

The 2,200-square-foot home they purchased in February, 1992, for $175,000 has four bedrooms, two baths and a big back yard--with a swimming pool.

“When the realtor suggested I look at the house I didn’t want to do it because of the pool,” Rebecca Molinar said. “But it’s not as costly to maintain (as I thought), although it is time-consuming.”

She said the family hopes to move to a larger home in the future, but she wants to stay in La Puente. An important reason is that they’re pleased with the schools.

Erica, their oldest child, attends Bassett High School. Two children attend Don Julian Elementary School and the youngest is a preschooler. “The children would not want to move away,” Rebecca Molinar said.

La Puente covers 3.5 square miles and has a population of about 38,055--74% Latino. It is 18 miles east of downtown Los Angeles and just north of the Pomona Freeway in the San Gabriel Valley. The City of Industry is on the south and west border. Los Angeles County is on the east and the unincorporated community of Valinda runs along the northeast.

The city is named for Rancho La Puente, a vast spread that 150 years ago covered 48,000 acres between the Whittier hills and the present-day San Bernardino Freeway. Mexican Gov. Pio Pico granted the rancho in 1841 to two San Gabriel Valley pioneers, John Rowland and William Workman, who raised cattle until the great drought of 1864 ruined that enterprise.

But the valley soil was rich, and farming and sheep raising flourished. European immigrants, including significant numbers of Spanish and French Basque farmers, were attracted to the region.

The Basque families herded their sheep from place to place, unhampered by fences, and farmers such as the three Patritti brothers worked hard to secure a good life for their families by hauling sheep and horse manure.

“It was kind of a trucking business,” said Jolene Patritti, who still lives in La Puente and who, with her brother, Lon, runs the family business.

“My father, Matt Patritti, who was born here in the early 1900s, later became a home builder,” she said. “They built single-family homes in subdivisions when the town started to grow. Later, they constructed apartment complexes.”

Nowadays, the family operates a property management company that Matt Patritti established. “We work out of the same old office in downtown La Puente,” she said.

Mona Wilk is another longtime resident. “We moved here in 1937, and it was all open country,” she said. “After World War II it was said this was the fastest-growing area in the whole United States.” She said that at one point it was called “Kidville” because there were so many children.

She and her husband, Lawrence, built their first home in 1939 on a one-acre lot that they bought for $1,800 and had two children of their own. By 1962, the family had moved down the block into a home for which they paid $14,500.

Wilk, now retired, worked as a realtor for many years and saw property values increase. “When I started in 1964, homes were selling for $7,000 up to $16,000,” she said. “Then suddenly they were selling for $25,000 and $30,000.”

Of course, you can’t buy a home in La Puente at those prices today, but compared to other areas in Los Angeles County, La Puente does offer some good opportunities for homeownership.

Mary Ramos, an agent with C-21 Metro in La Puente, said the average price in the city is about $155,000 for a three-bedroom, two-bath home in about 1,400 square feet. For $200,000, a buyer would be looking at 1,800 to 2,400 square feet and four bedrooms with 2 1/2 or 3 baths.

“Some of the homes on the hill close to the Industry Hills golf course will have a view,” Ramos said. “There’s a 2,900-square-foot home listed for $289,500. It has four bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths. It’s a two-story home and has a swimming pool, and air conditioning.”

Another listing, at $140,900, is for a three-bedroom, 1,445-square-foot home. “It’s perfect for a family looking for a nice place to live,” Ramos said.

That was the goal of Maria Altamirano, her sister, Marcella Aguilar, and their mother, Erma Aguilar. The three women, who have family in La Puente, had lived in Los Angeles, but they wanted to be closer to their work.

Maria is a psychiatric technician at Metro State Hospital in Norwalk, Marcella works in social services for Orange County and Erma is retired and plans to go back to school.

“There are a lot of Spanish people in La Puente. Mom speaks Spanish and she has friends and relatives here who speak her language,” Maria Altamirano said.

The home they bought in 1993 for $145,000 has four bedrooms and two baths in 1,400 square feet. One of the important considerations for the three women was to be close to a church and a parochial school. Maria has a daughter, Coreena, who is on the waiting list for either St. Joseph or St. Louis of France schools.

They live close enough that when an opening comes up, Coreena will be able to walk to school. In the meantime, the 7-year-old is attending a parochial school in Baldwin Park. Maria’s 2-year-old son, David, will also be able to attend one of the schools.

“When we started looking for a house we considered Ontario or Chino, but that was too much of a commute and too much traffic,” Altamirano said. She said prices in some other areas were just too high.

In La Puente they found a nice house with a big yard at the right price and the opportunity to live in a community with a strong ethnic flavor and with schooling opportunities the family wanted.

Public school students are served by one high school, two elementary schools and an adult education program, part of the Bassett Unified School District. Supt. Linda Gonzales said La Puente has excellent schools.

“We’re not in denial that we have gangs,” she said. “But we have not had any incidents of gang violence, and we have outreach programs. This is a community of people who depend on others in the community. This is a family-oriented town, and we have a strong outreach with the local churches.”

Lt. Don Larson of the Los Angeles County sheriff’s station in the City of Industry said the problems of gang activity are addressed with a three-pronged effort--that of the schools, the city and law enforcement.

There is some graffiti vandalism and occasional acts of violence, Larson said, “but the city is very aggressive in dealing with that problem. Cleanup is part of that program and is (done) in concert with the school districts and law enforcement.”

At a Glance

Population

1993 estimate: 38,055

Median age: 29.2 years

Annual income

Median household: 33,273

Household distribution

Less than $30,000: 44.3%

$30,000 - $60,000: 41.4%

$60,000 - $100,000: 12.9%

$100,000 - $150,000: 1.2%

$150,000 +: 0.3%