Temple City, California

Temple City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains, in the west San Gabriel Valley alongside Pasadena, Arcadia, Alhambra, San Marino and San Gabriel. The 2020 census counted 36,494 residents. The town began on May 30, 1923, when Walter P. Temple bought 400 acres that had been part of Lucky Baldwin Rancho Santa Anita. Temple wanted a community where ordinary people could afford to own homes, so he divided the land into lots, laid out a park and named streets for friends and family, and he petitioned the Pacific Electric Railway to extend a line to a depot beside the park. The town was first called City of Temple, and in 1926 the United States Postmaster General demanded a new name because mail was being sent to Tempe, Arizona. It became a city by incorporation on May 25, 1960, giving it the redundant formal name City of Temple City, and the city covers about 10 square kilometers.