Paramount, California

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, Paramount has a total area of 4.8 sqmi, of which 4.7 sqmi is land and 0.1 sqmi (2.28%) is water.

History

The city today known as Paramount was originally identified in 1781 by Mexican settlers of New Spain. It was organized under two old Spanish Ranchos; on the west, Rancho San Pedro, and on the east, Rancho Los Nietos (now portions of the cities of Santa Fe Springs and Whittier). These ranchos were established under the Spanish Empire and granted by King Carlos III in 1784.

After the Mexican–American War, California was ceded to the United States. The then-unincorporated community of Paramount was created in 1948 when the United States Postmaster General ordered the merger of the post offices of Hynes and Clearwater. The name was taken from Paramount Boulevard, the main north-to-south surface street extending through the city. The city officially incorporated January 30, 1957 following a successful "Save Paramount for Paramount" campaign to fight annexation by Long Beach, Bellflower, and South Gate.

While the Paramount economy was based largely on the hay and dairy industries, the high cost of land led to their local demise. The last Paramount dairy closed in 1977.

2025 ICE protests

Main article: June 2025 Los Angeles protests

On June 7, 2025, the city was the site of protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), whereupon President Donald Trump federalized the U.S. National Guard under Title 10. He praised them for a "job well done" before their deployment, while Gov. Gavin Newsom called the move "purposefully inflammatory".

Demographics

1860–1870 1880-1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020

Paramount was first listed in the 1960 U.S. census as part of the Downey-Norwalk census community division.

2020

The 2020 United States census reported that Paramount had a population of 53,733. The population density was 11,367.3 PD/sqmi. The racial makeup of Paramount was 14.8% White, 9.6% African American, 2.6% Native American, 3.4% Asian, 0.5% Pacific Islander, 48.5% from other races, and 20.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 81.2% of the population.

The census reported that 98.9% of the population lived in households, 0.5% lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0.6% were institutionalized.

There were 14,508 households, out of which 48.3% included children under the age of 18, 45.7% were married-couple households, 8.7% were cohabiting couple households, 29.7% had a female householder with no partner present, and 15.8% had a male householder with no partner present. 13.7% of households were one person, and 4.8% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 3.66.

The age distribution was 26.0% under the age of 18, 11.5% aged 18 to 24, 29.3% aged 25 to 44, 23.6% aged 45 to 64, and 9.6% who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 32.7years. For every 100 females, there were 94.8 males.

There were 14,861 housing units at an average density of 3,143.9 /mi2, of which 14,508 (97.6%) were occupied. Of these, 42.9% were owner-occupied, and 57.1% were occupied by renters.

In 2023, the US Census Bureau estimated that the median household income was $70,912, and the per capita income was $24,808. About 11.9% of families and 13.3% of the population were below the poverty line.

2010

At the 2010 census Paramount had a population of 54,098. The population density was 11,177.1 PD/sqmi. The racial makeup of Paramount was 22,988 (42.5%) White (5.6% Non-Hispanic White), 6,334 (11.7%) African American, 440 (0.8%) Native American, 1,629 (3.0%) Asian, 419 (0.8%) Pacific Islander, 20,023 (37.0%) from other races, and 2,265 (4.2%) from two or more races. There were 42,547 residents of Hispanic or Latino ancestry, of any race (78.6%).

The census reported that 53,788 people (99.4% of the population) lived in households, 27 (0%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 283 (0.5%) were institutionalized.

There were 13,881 households, 7,999 (57.6%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 6,919 (49.8%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 3,104 (22.4%) had a female householder with no husband present, 1,328 (9.6%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 1,153 (8.3%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 105 (0.8%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 1,904 households (13.7%) were one person and 558 (4.0%) had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 3.87. There were 11,351 families (81.8% of households); the average family size was 4.22.

The age distribution was 17,630 people (32.6%) under the age of 18, 6,360 people (11.8%) aged 18 to 24, 16,271 people (30.1%) aged 25 to 44, 10,421 people (19.3%) aged 45 to 64, and 3,416 people (6.3%) who were 65 or older. The median age was 28.6 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.9 males.

There were 14,571 housing units at an average density of 3,010.5 per square mile, of the occupied units 6,024 (43.4%) were owner-occupied and 7,857 (56.6%) were rented. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.8%; the rental vacancy rate was 4.8%. 23,759 people (43.9% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 30,029 people (55.5%) lived in rental housing units.

According to the 2010 United States Census, Paramount had a median household income of $44,934, with 22.1% of the population living below the federal poverty line.

2000

According to the 2000 census, Mexican (60.1%) and Filipino (1.5%) were the most common ancestries in the city. Mexico (80.9%) and Guatemala (4.0%) were the most common foreign places of birth.{{cite web|url=https://maps.latimes.com/neighborhoods/neighborhood/paramount/index.html|title= Paramount Profile - Mapping L.A. - Los Angeles Times|website=Los Angeles Times}}

Government and infrastructure

Public services

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department operates the Lakewood Station in Lakewood, serving Paramount. The department operates the Paramount Substation within Paramount.

The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services operates the South Health Center in Watts, Los Angeles, serving Paramount.

The United States Postal Service Paramount Beach Post Office is located at 7200 Somerset Boulevard.

State and federal representation

In the California State Legislature, Paramount is in , and in .{{Cite web | access-date = April 6, 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150201113744/http://statewidedatabase.org/gis/gis2011/index_2011.html | archive-date = February 1, 2015 | url-status = dead

In the United States House of Representatives, Paramount is in .

Culture

Paramount has a large community of Mexicans originally from the state of Sinaloa reflected in the many restaurants selling Mexican food "estilo sinaloense" meaning "Sinaloan style." The city has been described as a "second Sinaloa."

Transportation

The Century Freeway (Interstate 105) passes east–west through the northern portion of Paramount, the Long Beach Freeway (Interstate 710) follows north–south along the city's western border, and the Artesia Freeway (State Route 91) runs east–west less than a one-half-mile from the southern Paramount city limits.

Paramount is served by bus service from Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and Long Beach Transit. The city also operates Easy Rider Shuttle City of Paramount - Transportation, a fixed-route local bus.

Education

The Paramount Unified School District includes schools in Paramount, as well as a few in surrounding cities.

The schools located within Paramount are Paramount High School-senior and west campus, Alondra, Lincoln, Wirtz, Jefferson, Mokler, Zamboni, Los Cerritos, Gaines, Jackson, Hollydale, Tanner, Roosevelt, and Paramount Park. Schools that are run by the Paramount Unified School District, but are located in Lakewood include Buena Vista Continuation High School, Odyssey STEM Academy, and Lakewood School. Collins school is also run by PUSD but is located in Long Beach.

Our Lady of the Rosary Private Catholic School is one of several private schools located in Paramount.

Renovations to the high school started at the end of 2007-08 school year. It was a four-phased endeavor that would improve the athletics field, development of a field house, expansion of the gymnasium and finally improvement to the west campus.

Libraries

The County of Los Angeles Public Library operates the Paramount Library.

Sites and attractions

The Paramount Hay Tree is a California State Historical Landmark. It is a still standing mature camphor tree remembered for its importance to the hay trading marketplace of the towns of Hynes and Clearwater, which later incorporated as Paramount. The hay traders met under the tree each working day to discuss the price of hay. Their numbers were quoted by the New York mercantile markets as the global hay standard.

Paramount is also home of the Zamboni Company. Frank Joseph Zamboni Jr. is the inventor of the ice resurfacing machine. Zamboni & Co. began and is still headquartered in Paramount. Zamboni manufactures and sells the machines worldwide. Since 1939 the Zamboni family has also operated Iceland, an ice skating rink with improvements patented by Frank Zamboni.

The city also gives its name to a packaging firm called Paramount Global, which was founded here in 1976.

Sister city

Paramount has one sister city:

• Mexico Tepic, Mexico

References

References

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