Where City’s Pace Slows

Like many residents of South San Gabriel, Liz and Bob Vogel were attracted to the area by its affordability but stayed because of the quiet, unhurried flavor of the neighborhood.

“We moved here in 1960 thinking we would stay two years,” said Liz Vogel, who then was starting a graphic design business with her husband.

Nearly 40 years later, she and Bob are semi-retired, have raised four children and made several improvements to their house, and they wouldn’t dream of moving.

“I wouldn’t want to leave my yard, my patio or my bathroom,” said Liz, laughing. In addition to a lattice-shaded patio surrounded by flowering plants, Liz’s favorite remodeling project was the revamping of a bathroom, which now features an oversize tub flanked by a greenhouse-type window.

The Vogels, who paid $18,500 for their three-bedroom home when it was brand new, remember when South San Gabriel had a more rural feel and many residents owned horses. They even awoke one morning soon after moving in to see a herd of sheep traversing the hillside opposite their home.

These days, there’s not much room for herds of livestock, though lots in the area are larger than in many other San Gabriel Valley neighborhoods and the hilly part of town is still known as Billy Goat Acres.

South San Gabriel, a pocket of about 2,100 residences in a 1.4-square mile area, is an unincorporated part of Los Angeles County surrounded by Rosemead, Montebello and Monterey Park.

It is home to a handful of churches and shops but has no main shopping street and no schools of its own. (School districts that serve the area include Garvey Elementary School District, Alhambra City High School District and Montebello Unified School District.)

As Bob Vogel points out, in their town, “the post office is in Rosemead, the sheriff is in Temple City, the dog catcher is in Baldwin Park and the Y is in Montebello.”

Vogel, for one, is content with the situation and remarks that the county supervisor’s office is responsive in reacting to residents’ concerns. Spurred by constituents’ suggestions, the county is landscaping an unsightly stretch of Paramount Boulevard and has plans to put up signs marking the boundaries of South San Gabriel, said Angie Castro, a deputy to Supervisor Gloria Molina, whose district includes the area.

Home prices in South San Gabriel range from about $120,000 for a two-bedroom, one-bathroom house of about 900 square feet to $180,000 for a three- or four-bedroom home in about 1,700 square feet, said Eric Roque, a real estate agent with Century 21 George Michael in Monterey Park.

Although many of the older homes are small, many have large lots. The only recent new building in the area has occurred when buyers have torn down older homes to build larger new ones, realty agents said.

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In a neighborhood that lacks a city council and its own schools and libraries, civic organizations tend to be organized by the Sheriff’s Department and the supervisor’s office.

“We have a lot of town hall meetings to find out what are their concerns,” said Sheriff’s deputy Jesse Anguiano, who’s been working in the area for four years as one of three deputies assigned full time to South San Gabriel. “It could be as trivial as barking dogs or lawn-parkers.”

Problems like lawn-parking or building without a permit are addressed by the area’s Nuisance Abatement Team, a group of officials from various county departments, such as building and safety.

In addition, Aguiano organizes occasional “vine-painting” outings for local children and adults. Retaining walls along the streets of South San Gabriel are painted white, then covered with a green-and-brown vine pattern to discourage graffiti, Anguiano said. Volunteers gather to repaint the vines whenever the walls are marred by graffiti.

Another deputy, Rudy Cortez, coordinates the local Youth Activity League at Potrero Heights Park, which is actually in Montebello. Through an arrangement between the county and the city of Montebello, the park serves both that city and the families of South San Gabriel, which has no parks of its own.

For shopping and entertainment, residents tend to rely on the Montebello Town Center mall and stores in nearby Monterey Park and Rosemead.

“Sometimes we feel like the orphans” because of the dearth of local shops and services, said Frank Hernandez, a retired General Electric employee.

Nonetheless, Hernandez said he and his wife, Nancy, love their neighborhood, their backyard complete with avocado tree and deck and the serenity of the neighborhood.

The couple, both 63, paid $36,000 for their four-bedroom 2,500-square-foot home on nearly half an acre 26 years ago.

“It’s very peaceful,” Frank Hernandez said. “We sit outside sometimes in the evenings here and say, ‘My God, it’s quiet.’ ”

In fact, Hernandez said, it’s sometimes too quiet now that so many of the children on the street have grown up. His own three children and their kids visit frequently, however, and he notes with satisfaction that some families with children have moved in nearby.

“We have kids playing right now on the street with skateboards, and I like that,” Hernandez said.

His only strong complaint about South San Gabriel is that the family’s home is on one of several private streets in the area.

Though the county has occasionally paved a small portion of the Hernandez’ street during the many years the family has lived there, most of the street is privately owned, and county officials are not responsible for repairing or maintaining it.

Hernandez said residents on his street have two options: Pay to have their street repaired and repaved or pay to bring it up to county standards and then give it to the county. Either plan is sure to be costly. A group of neighbors is getting an estimate on what repaving would cost, and Hernandez said he hopes there will be some action taken by the end of next year.

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Latinos are the most prevalent ethnic group in South San Gabriel, with Asian residents making up the next largest group, followed by a sizable number of white residents.

Many of those living in South San Gabriel--including the Hernandezes and the Vogels--said neighbors are generally friendly with one another, but not necessarily closely involved in each other’s lives.

Hernandez, who is captain of his block’s Neighborhood Watch, credits that program with bringing together residents on his street.

“We’ve gotten to get to know each other a little better,” he said. “People are more concerned now, and they have a place to go,” now that neighbors know to call him with their safety concerns.

Home and vehicular burglaries are the only crimes that occur in South San Gabriel with any regularity, and the community experiences a below-average number for an area its size, said sheriff’s deputy Dana Chemnitzer.

Chemnitzer organizes a Neighborhood Watch program that boasts 25 active groups in South San Gabriel.

“The more people that become involved, [the more] it tends to reduce the amount of crime activity,” he said.

However, not all residents feel confident about the area’s safety.

“When I moved here, my friends were telling me it’s going to be bad for my kids,” said a 42-year-old mother of two who said she did not want her name used because she is still not sure her neighborhood is safe for her children, ages 17 and 8. But, she said, “I think the area is getting better. When I bought the house, I didn’t know the area.”

She said she and her 40-year-old husband, with whom she runs a construction business, wanted a house with a big lot where they could fit the equipment and trucks they own. They bought their two-bedroom home for $127,000 in September 1998 and have since added two bedrooms and an office, she said.

Previously the family lived in Monterey Park, which she described as “getting too crowded.”

The community’s quiet feel and affordability were what sold Ken and Betty Mach on South San Gabriel.

The couple had been living in Rowland Heights and working in Rosemead and downtown Los Angeles, respectively, and longed to shorten their commutes.

After looking at some neighborhoods that were too expensive and some where they saw too many “people drinking beer outside at night,” Ken said, they found their South San Gabriel home on a quiet cul-de-sac and moved in July 1998 with their two daughters.

Ken Mach, 40, said that at 1,000 square feet, the house is “just enough to live in” but that the lot is generous enough for a big frontyard, a long driveway and a large backyard with a prolific peach tree.

The couple paid $155,000 for their 46-year-old house and have already spent about $12,000 in remodeling costs, installing new carpet, a new garage door and air conditioning and fixing a patio.

The Machs’ daughter Angela, a 17-year-old high school senior, says, “It’s a really nice neighborhood because it’s not that rowdy. . . . [Neighbors] help each other out and communicate well.”

Ken Mach, who is Chinese American, said his new home is only a three- or four-minute drive from shopping at the Asian supermarkets in Monterey Park and 12 minutes from his office at Countrywide Home Loans in Rosemead.

“This house is quiet, and I feel comfortable,” Mach said. “Living here is no problem.”