Stanton. When I lived there it was known as "Crossroads to Entertainment" because it was a city…read moreyou drove through to get somewhere better, like the beach, Disneyland, or Knott's. I think now it's now famous as the home of Elizabeth Taylor's 7th and last husband.
The "City of Stanton" in a governmental sense wasn't bad. They provided a great library and Boys & Girls Club. My first play "California Suite" was at the Stanton Community Center. All of our potholders had come in the mail with the names of Stanton's councilmen and representatives. Did that happen everywhere or just Stanton?
As a city, it's okay. I lived in Stanton for almost all of my pre-adult life. It was a quick bus ride to Huntington Beach (sometimes we rode our bikes the 12 miles), and a straight line to Disneyland, just five miles away, close enough that we could see the nightly fireworks that served as an unofficial curfew to come home. I attended Savannah and Mary Perez (both gone). For fun, we had a Golfland, Stanton Village Edwards, annual St. Polycarp festivals, trampoline basketball courts, and the unique Hobby City (now Adventure Land). Though we were regulars at an independent Mario's, the best places to eat in the late 70s were Sundowners (cafeteria style), Me & Ed's (especially after a game), and Pinnacle Peak, where they'd cut off your necktie and hang it, if you were stupid or silly enough to wear one.
Like many California cities, it had become populated due to a railway. The LA Interurban ran straight from Watts to Santa Ana in 1905. I, too, would run straight from Watts. Named for LA assemblyman Philip Stanton, the rural area grew and was incorporated in 1911, and although it was then the largest city in OC, Anaheim had planned to use it as their "sewage farm". I think some of the seeds are still there. They dis-incorporated in 1924 to avoid the cost of road building, and re-incorporated in 1950s with the post-war population explosion. Around that time the railway no longer carried passengers, but became my shortcut to junior high.
As of 2010, the population was 50% Hispanic, 23% Asian, and 22% white, with a median household of nearly 4 and an income of $51K.
Though Safewise included Stanton in their seventh annual "California's 50 Safest Cities" report in 2021, the only time I was "mugged" was two boys taking my newspaper money. It was a little shadier back then. I think the guy running the Olympic torch down Katella (which I witness in 1984) was running a little faster than normal.
