The History of the City of Monterey Park

Monterey Park was incorporated in 1916 before these big waves of immigrants came. Some longtime residents back then were up in arms about this change that was happening, that they felt was too rapid. And you saw the Asian American residents there trying to fight this xenophobia and nativism by becoming more involved in politics. Monterey Park became a real springboard for Chinese American politicians in particular. There were vanguards like Lily Lee Chen, who in 1983 became the first Chinese American woman to be elected mayor of any city in the US.