Montebello (Italian for "Beautiful Mountain") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located just east of East Los Angeles and southwest of San Gabriel Valley. It is east of downtown Los Angeles. It is considered part of the Gateway Cities and San Gabriel Valley Cities, and is a member of the Gateway Cities Council of Governments and the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments.
In the early 20th century, Montebello was a well-known source for oil reserves. At the 2020 census, the population estimate was 63,833. The population estimate for July 1, 2024, was 60,617.
When the explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo arrived off the shores of Santa Catalina in 1542, he was met by the Tongva people. Because the language of the Tongva was different from the neighboring tribes, the Spanish called them "Gabrielino." As more non-natives arrived and established settlements, diseases that were endemic among them caused high mortality among the Tongva and other indigenous peoples. These were new infectious diseases to them. By 1870, the area had few remaining indigenous inhabitants.
Father Angel Somera and Father Pedro Cambon, both Franciscan missionaries, founded the original Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, called Mission Vieja, on September 8, 1771. Today the site is near the intersection of San Gabriel Boulevard and the Rio Hondo River. The establishment of this mission marked the beginning of settlement by Spaniards in the Los Angeles region; it was the fourth of twenty-one missions that they ultimately established along California's El Camino Real. The mission did well initially as a farm and cattle ranch.
Six years after its founding, however, a destructive flood led the mission fathers to relocate the mission farther north, to its current location in what is the present day city of San Gabriel. The original mission site is California Historical Landmark #161.
During the early years of the mission's operations, the region was managed by Spanish colonists who had a "Rancho" land grant system. The current city of Montebello consists of land from Rancho San Antonio, Rancho La Merced, and Rancho Paso de Bartolo. The Juan Matias Sanchez Adobe, built in 1844, still stands at the center of old Rancho la Merced in East Montebello. Rancho la Merced is the city's oldest standing structure.
Following the American Civil War, some of the East Los Angeles area was owned by Alessandro Repetto, an Italian immigrant from Genoa, Italy. Following Repetto's death in 1885, his brother sold his rancho to a consortium of five Los Angeles businessmen, including banker Isaias W. Hellman and wholesale grocer/historian Harris Newmark, for $60,000, or approximately $12 per acre.
The city of Montebello was developed in May 1899 from the Newmark and Cohn share of . After the partners received the advice of hydraulic engineer William Mulholland for the design and building of the town's water system, they subdivided the land. In 1900 the completed water system was incorporated as the Montebello Land and Water Company.
An area of adjacent to the tracks of what was formerly the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad was developed into a townsite called Newmark. It was bounded by Los Angeles Avenue on the south, 1st Street on the east, Cleveland Avenue on the north, and 5th Street on the west. The remainder of the land was subdivided into lots suitable for small-scale agriculture. On William Mulholland's suggestion, leaders of the city adopted Montebello as the name in 1920, replacing Newmark.
Originally an agricultural community, the city was known for its prolific production of flowers, berries, fruits, and vegetables. The first public flower show in 1912 was sponsored by the Montebello Women's Club and held in the Montebello High School auditorium on Whittier Boulevard.
On October 16, 1920, the city was incorporated. In honor of Montebello's agricultural roots, the city's official seal contains a red poinsettia in the center. Oil fields replaced agriculture. Eventually, the oil pumped from this find produced one-eighth of the crude oil in California. Over the course of sixty years, the Montebello hills were filled with producing oil wells.
In 1972, artist Millard Sheets designed a mosaic mural for the front entrance of the Home Savings of America branch in Montebello. The mural depicts local recreational activities such as kite-flying, picnicking, and horseback riding. The colorful meadow and flowering branches are references to the town's flower farms, hence the onetime motto: "The City of Flowers With an Oil Well Payroll."
On March 22, 2023, a high-end EF1 tornado struck the city, damaging 17 structures and injuring one person. According to the National Weather Service, it was the strongest tornado to hit the LA Metro area since March 1983.
Geography
Montebello is located east of downtown Los Angeles. The city is considered to be part of the Gateway Cities while the northern part of the city is in the San Gabriel Valley. The surrounding cities are Monterey Park, South San Gabriel, and Rosemead to the north, Commerce to the south, Pico Rivera to the east, and Los Angeles and East Los Angeles to the west. The city is a member of the Gateway Cities Council of Governments.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which are land and or 0.48% is water.