West Covina is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located east of downtown Los Angeles in the eastern San Gabriel Valley, it is part of Greater Los Angeles. The population for the city was 109,501 at the 2020 census.
West Covina is bordered by Covina to the northeast, Baldwin Park and Irwindale to the northwest, La Puente and Valinda to the southwest, Industry to the south, Ramona to the east, and Walnut to the southeast.
History
The Tongva were the earliest inhabitants of the San Gabriel Valley.
Governor Pío Pico sold much of the land of West Covina to John Rowland and William Workman in 1845.
The first permanent settlers arrived in West Covina in 1905. Most famous among them were William Payne, Bob Dancer, Bender, Robinson and Larsen. They cleared the land of sagebrush and cactus. They also planted the first walnut trees in the area.
West Covina was incorporated as an independent city in 1923 to prevent the city of Covina from building a sewage farm in the area. Benjamin Franklin Maxson Jr. (1897–1928) initiated the incorporation process and was the first mayor. Walnut groves and orange groves continued to flourish.
A 2020 ranking of the fiscal health of California cities issued by State Auditor Elaine Howle's office placed West Covina as the ninth-worst in the state. The city was also audited by the state the same year, as the state auditor had determined that the city's poor finances put it at high risk for default.
The world's largest collection of shoehorns is housed in the Shoehorn Museum in West Covina. The state of California's largest hazardous waste landfill is also in the city. The California Department of Toxic Substances Control currently estimates clean up of the landfill will cost nearly $1 billion.
Geography
Climate
The San Gabriel Valley region has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate, with summer temperatures averaging above .