Although it is the fifth largest city in Los Angeles County, not much attention is paid to the city of Pomona, California. Pomona has a little over 150,000 people who live there, and although it was founded in the late 19th century as a primarily agricultural community, it has grown over time to become increasingly industrial. Here’s a look at thirteen little-known facts about the city of Pomona, California.
1. The Los Angeles County Fair, or Los Angeles County Fair, is held annually in Pomona and is the largest county fair in the entire United States.
2. Western University of Health Sciences is located within the city and was recently founded in 1977, during its first year it had a total enrollment of 36.
3. In 1887, Pomona College was founded in the city of Pomona and two years later moved to the city of Claremont, California, when an unused hotel building was donated for the school’s use.
4. California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (known as Cal Poly Pomona) is partially located on what was once the personal ranch of breakfast cereal manufacturer WK Kellogg.
5. Some of the people who were born or resided in the city of Pomona, California include: Jessica Alba, “Sugar” Shane Mosley, Tom Waits, Rich Yett, Mark McGwire and Richie Sandoval.
6. The people of Pomona, California are known as Pomonans.
7. Between 1900 and 1910, the city’s population almost doubled.
8. The first president of the United States to visit Pomona was Benjamin Harrison, who stopped at the South Pacific train station on his way to Los Angeles.
9. Cal Poly Pomona is the second largest campus, ranked by land area, in the entire California State University system.
10. For a brief period of about three and a half months during World War II in 1942, the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds in Pomona was used as a gathering place where Japanese Americans were temporarily held before being dispersed to various internment camps.
11. The Pomona Mall is an open-air pedestrian mall that stretches for nine blocks. This was the first mall of its kind built west of the Mississippi River.
12. The city of Pomona is named after Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit.
13. The city has regulations that limit when a family can hold a garage sale. The city generally designates four or five weekends a year that garage sales are allowed.
The city of Pomona plays an important role in the life of Southern California and the Los Angeles area in particular. Many major companies are based there, and both Cal Poly Pomona and Western University of Health Sciences contribute greatly to the area in both the jobs they create and the quality of students they produce. Pomona has a unique history and is a great place for anyone visiting Southern California to come and see.