Los Alamitos, California


Los Alamitos is a city in Orange County, California, which was incorporated in March 1960. Its population was 11,780 in the 2020 census, up from 11,449 in 2010. A significant part of the city is occupied by Joint Forces Training Base – Los Alamitos, and it hosts the USA Water Polo National Aquatic Center.
WWW ci.los-alamitos.ca.us

History

The Tongva inhabited the area before the city was established, and Rancho Los Alamitos was known as the village of Puvunga. The area is still sacred to the Tongva people.
The town of Los Alamitos was established in 1896 by Lewellyn Bixby to support a new sugar-beet factory built by the Clark brothers. William Andrews Clark, a future Senator from Montana, had built his fortune in mining, banking and logging in that state. His younger brother, J. Ross Clark, managed their operations in California after he moved there for health reasons. Lewellyn Bixby, whose family owned the surrounding land on Rancho Los Cerritos and Rancho Los Alamitos, had been trying to build a sugar beet factory in that area for several years. Due to financial losses during the 1880s, he no longer had the money to build the factory complex on his own. Bixby had made a fortune in the 1850s when he and cousins Benjamin and Thomas Flint formed Flint, Bixby & Co. to deal in mutton and wool on Rancho San Justo, south of San Jose. After selling wool to the government during the Civil War, the Flints and Bixby bought land in southern California; this included the future Irvine Ranch and Rancho Los Cerritos, which is much of the western half of Long Beach. Flint, Bixby hired Lewellyn's younger brother, Jotham, to manage the Cerritos. When the company broke up, Lewellyn assumed their southern California properties, moved to Los Angeles and became the senior partner with Jotham.
Around 1881, cousin John W. Bixby wanted to purchase Rancho Los Alamitos with a consortium which included Lewellyn and Jotham and banker Isaias W. Hellman. When John died on May 7, 1887, the ranch was divided among the three families. The northern third, adjacent to the Rancho Los Cerritos, went to the Lewellyn-Jotham faction and became the Bixby Land Company. By the mid-1890s, after the crash following the 1880s land boom, this group was cash-poor and land-rich. After experimenting in northern California with sugar beets, the Bixbys agreed to provide the land and contracted with William A. Clark for capital; E.A. Dyer provided the expertise to build a sugar-beet factory. The community that grew up around the factory complex, with streets of company houses for workers and surrounding farms, was called Los Alamitos. During the early 1900s, sugar beets were delivered to a factory by horse and wagon. Economics, the elimination of a protective tariff, and a 1921 insect infestation reduced the sugar-beet crop in Orange County and ended the industry there and in Los Alamitos. William Clark and his brother H. Ross, who ran the Los Alamitos operation, received east of the factory and purchased north of the factory which became Long Beach Airport, Long Beach City College, and the city of Lakewood. Clark and Hellman were also involved with E. H. Harriman, Henry Edwards Huntington, and the Southern Pacific Railroad in southern California; the Clarks completed a railroad from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City, with a desert stop in Las Vegas.
On land south of the factory. Bixby allowed European-immigrant, Mexican, and Japanese farmers to rent land and grow crops. At the beginning of World War II, the Japanese farmers were rounded up by the military and relocated to internment camps in Manzanar and elsewhere.
Before and early in the war, the area around Los Alamitos became a center of the aircraft industry. The Clark heirs arranged for Donald Douglas to begin construction of the Douglas Aircraft Company plant north of the Long Beach airport, and the Navy needed an auxiliary airfield for its reserve training facility at the airport. A touch-and-go field was built on level ground east of Los Alamitos in August 1940, Orange County's first military post. In February 1941, the Navy moved its reserve aviation training from Long Beach and purchased. Trainees and other troops began using the new facilities in November of that year, and Naval Reserve Air Base Long Beach moved its operations to NRAB Los Alamitos in May 1942. NRAB Los Alamitos was the nation's busiest reserve air base during the Korean War, but suburban residential development began to curtail its activity by the late 1950s. The Navy moved out in 1972, and the California National Guard took over management of the base as an Armed Forces Reserve Center the following year. It is a reserve support center for units of the Army, Navy, National Guard and Marines and home to other government agencies, including Homeland Security, FEMA and the State of California Office of Emergency Services.
Former military personnel remained in Los Alamitos after the war, living in neighborhoods such as Carrier Row, Rossmoor Highlands, and Suburbia, New Dutch Haven, Greenbrook and College Park North. Los Alamitos has been the hometown for a number of noted athletes, including baseball Hall of Famer Bob Lemon, and Olympic gymnast Cathy Rigby. The Los Alamitos youth baseball leagues, which began in 1958 as the Rossmoor Little League and, developed Andy Messersmith. During the late 1980s, six former league players were playing major-league baseball: Robb Nen, J. T. Snow, Greg Harris, Dennis Lamp, Greg Pirkl, and Mike Kelly. The area has been home to long-distance swimmer Lynne Cox, California Supreme Court Chief Justice Malcolm M. Lucas, and mystery writer Jan Burke.

Geography

Los Alamitos is bordered by Cypress on the north and east, West Garden Grove on the east, and Seal Beach on the south. The census-designated place of Rossmoor is bordered by Los Alamitos on the north, east, and west. The city shares a northwestern border with Long Beach's El Dorado Park neighborhood. Coyote Creek separates Los Alamitos from Long Beach.

Flora

The most common native plant species are hairy sand verbena, red sand verbena, and pink sand verbena.

Climate

Los Alamitos' USDA hardiness zone is 9, and its Sunset climate zone is 22.

Demographics

Los Alamitos was first listed as a city in the 1960 U.S. census. Before then, the area was part of Seal Beach Township.
Race / Ethnicity Pop 1980Pop 1990Pop. 2000Pop. 2010% 1980% 1990% 2000% 2010
NH white9,5309,0407,8366,7215,44982.66%77.42%67.93%58.70%46.26%
NH Black or African American563373583003470.49%2.89%3.10%2.62%2.95%
NH Native American or Alaska Native91453122340.79%0.39%0.27%0.19%0.29%
NH Asian4237811,0901,4472,0603.67%6.69%9.45%12.64%17.49%
NH Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander4237813547693.67%6.69%0.30%0.41%0.59%
NH other35131846680.30%0.11%0.16%0.40%0.58%
NH multiracialxx320448727xx2.77%3.91%6.17%
Hispanic or Latino1,3941,4601,8482,4183,02612.09%12.50%16.02%21.12%25.69%
Total11,52911,67611,53611,44911,780100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%

2020

Los Alamitos had a population of 11,780 in the 2020 United States census, and its population density was. The city's racial makeup was 53.3 percent white, 3.3 percent African-American, 0.9 percent Native American, 17.8 percent Asian, 0.6 percent Pacific Islander, 8.5 percent from other races, and 15.6 percent from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 25.7 percent of the population. The census indicated that 98.8 percent of the population lived in households, 0.1 percent lived in non-institutional group quarters, and 1.1 percent were institutionalized.
Of its 4,266 households, 39.2 percent included children under age 18, 48.2 percent were married households, 5.7 percent were cohabiting households, 30.2 percent had a female householder with no partner, and 15.9 percent had a male householder with no partner present. One-person households were 21 percent, and 10.2 percent were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.73. There were 3,104 families.
The city's age distribution was 23.5 percent under age 18, 8.9 percent ages 18 to 24, 25.4 percent ages 25 to 44, 26.1 percent ages 45 to 64, and 16.1 percent aged 65 or older. The median age was 39.3years. For every 100 females, there were 91.0 males.
There were 4,376 housing units, with an average density of, of which 4,266 were occupied. Of these, 44.4 percent were owner-occupied and 55.6 percent were rented.
In 2023, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that the median household income was $98,539 and the per capita income was $51,404. About 7.2 percent of families and 9.3 percent of the population were living below the poverty line.

2010

The city had a 2010 population of 11,449, with a population density of. Los Alamitos' racial makeup was 8,131 white, 324 African American, 51 native American, 1,471 Asian, 50 Pacific islander, 726 from other races, and 696 from two or more races. The Hispanic or Latino population was 2,418. According to the census, 11,206 people lived in households; 40 lived in non-institutional group quarters, and 203 were institutionalized.
There were 4,212 households, of which 1,610 included children under age 18; 2,025 were opposite-sex married couples, 731 had a female householder with no husband, 282 had a male householder with no wife. There were 209 unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 19 same-sex married couples or partnerships. Individuals made up 885 households, and 355 had someone living alone who was 65 or older. Average household size was 2.66. There were 3,038 families ; the average family size was 3.10.
Ages were diverse, with 2,741 people under age 18, 1,077 people aged 18 to 24, 2,938 people aged 25 to 44, 3,099 people aged 45 to 64, and 1,594 people age 65 or older. The city's median age was 38.7 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.1 males.
There were 4,355 housing units, with an average density of, of which 1,967 were owner-occupied and 2,245 were rented. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.8 percent, and the rental vacancy rate was 3.1 percent. Owner-occupied units housed 5,274 people, and 5,932 lived in rental housing. Median household income was $80,449, and 7.2 percent of the population lived below the federal poverty line.

Government

The five-member, elected City Council represents the city's five districts. The council's first meeting of the year appoints one of its members to be mayor for the year. After the selection of a mayor, the mayor holds a city-council election to appoint a council member as mayor pro tempore. Shelley Hasselbrink is the mayor of Los Alamitos.

State, federal, and county representation

In the California State Legislature, Los Alamitos is in, and in In the United States House of Representatives, Los Alamitos is in. The city, in the Orange County Board of Supervisors' first district, has been represented by Janet Nguyen since 2024. According to the Orange County Registrar of Voters, Los Alamitos had 7,526 registered voters on May 17, 2025. Of those, 2,676 were registered Republicans; 2,725 were registered Democrats, and 1,577 declined to state a political party.

Economy

The first Claim Jumper restaurant opened in Los Alamitos in 1977; in 2025, the location was a Hof's Hut. Neverland Studios, often used by Christian rock bands, was in Los Alamitos. Tillys had its original location in the city.

Top employers

According to the Los Alamitos 2022 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the city's top employers are:
#Employer# of employees
1UCI Health – Los Alamitos1,100
2Arrowhead Products780
3Trend Offset Printing700
4Epson America693
5Mittera California238
6Discovery Practice Management205
7Bar Bakers200
8Resare Marketing191
9Alamitos West Health & Rehabilitation145
9Evergreen Pharmaceutical of California145
9Katella Delicatessen-Restaurant-Bakery145

Infrastructure

Bus service

Orange County Transportation Authority operates bus service in the city.

Water

Water in Los Alamitos is supplied by the Golden State Water Company, which obtains its water from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California by importing water from the Colorado River Aqueduct and the California State Water Project. Groundwater is also pumped from the Orange County Groundwater Basin.

Notable people

Schools

The Los Alamitos Unified School District began in 1898 as the Laurel Elementary School District and changed its name in 1953 to the Los Alamitos Elementary School District, providing education through the sixth grade. Students in grades 7-12 attended schools in the Anaheim School District until 1979, when local voters withdrew from the Anaheim High School District and unified their local grades as the Los Alamitos Unified School District.
  • Los Alamitos High School
  • Laurel High School
  • McAuliffe Middle School
  • Oak Middle School
  • Hopkinson Elementary in Rossmoor
  • Lee Elementary in Rossmoor
  • Los Alamitos Elementary
  • Rossmoor Elementary in Rossmoor
  • Weaver Elementary in Rossmoor
  • McGaugh Elementary in Seal Beach
  • St. Hedwig School, a K–8 private school

Friendship cities