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ARCADIA -MONROVIA-DUARTE & MORE

Mountain View News Saturday, May 11, 2024

RENAISSANCE YEARS: A HISTORY OF MODERN 
MONROVIA by Dick Singer Re-released

In commemoration of the 50th 
Anniversary of the election that 
changed Monrovia, a revised and 
updated re-printing of Renaissance 
Years: A History of Modern Monrovia 
is now available for purchase from the 
Monrovia Historical Society and the 
Monrovia Historical Museum.

At nearly 400-pages, the book by 
local author Dick Singer is a detailed 
account of the community’s decline 
after World War II and its subsequent 
rebirth under the leadership of Bob 
Bartlett, Pat Ostrye and Eric Faith, 
elected to the City Council in 1974.

Bartlett was the first African American 
on the council and served as the city’s 
mayor for twelve years. Ostrye, the 
city’s first elected mayor, was also the 
first woman to serve on the council 
and went on to also hold the City 
Clerk and City Treasurer posts. Their 
election in 1974 began a program civic 
renewal that eliminated blight and 
gave us today’s Old Town, two freeway-
adjacent hotels and an auto dealership 
row, developed affordable housing 
for hundreds of families, diversified 
the city’s economic base, built the 
Community Center and formed a mutually-beneficial partnership with the Monrovia 
Unified School District and the Chamber of Commerce. Their efforts eventually led to 
the community winning its coveted All America City honor in 1995.

Though focused primarily on the community’s renaissance, the book encapsulated the 
city’s entire history, from its founding in 1886 to events in 2017 when the work was first 
published. This re-printing of the original book has been updated to incorporate significant 
events since 2017, up to and including the just-completed March 2024 municipal election.

Renaissance Years was the first of three local histories by Singer, the others being 1887: A 
History of Early Monrovia, published in 2020, and People Like You and Me: A History of 
Monrovia in World War II, published in 2023. The first printing of Renaissance Years sold 
out. All proceeds from the three books go to support local history projects.

Renaissance Years and its companion books are available at Charlie’s House, 430 
S Myrtle Ave., from the Monrovia Historical Museum in Recreation Park, open 
Thursday and Sunday afternoons, or by contacting the Monrovia Historical Society at 
monroviahistoricalsociety1896@gmail.com.


CALLING ALL LOCAL ARTISTS: 
SUBMIT YOUR ARTWORK FOR THE 
DUARTE UTILITY BOX ART PROGRAM

Are you interested in having your artwork displayed in the Duarte 
communi-ty? The City is now looking for original designs by local 
artists to cover four utility boxes in Duarte!

Los Angeles County-based artists aged 18 or older are encouraged to 
show-case their talents while promoting eye-catching public art throughout the City. This 
application is open to all artists: professional, amateur, and stu-dents. All approved designs 
will be printed on vinyl and installed on City-owned utility boxes by a third-party vendor. 

The original artwork can be designed or created in any 2D medium such as graphic art, 
photos, or similar materials. We encourage applicants to develop designs in digital format, 
however, the City will also accept photographs or scans of physical art for the application. 

This call for artists is part of the Utility Box Art Program, which aims to trans-form these 
metal cabinets into works of art in order to contribute to the unique character of each site 
location and create a more vibrant and wel-coming cityscape.

Utility Box #1

• Located at the Southeast corner of Huntington Drive and Moun-tain Avenue.

• The theme chosen for this location is “Route 66.” 

• This location is the westerly gateway of the City and will be one of the first things 
motorists and pedestrians see as they enter the community. The utility box does not have a 
meter pedestal and is located within the public sidewalk.

Utility Box #2

• Located at the Southwest corner of Duarte Road and Circle Road.

• The theme chosen for this location is “Medical Health.”

• This location is at the easterly entrance to the City of Hope Cam-pus, across the 
street from the light rail station, and adjacent to the City’s Duarte Road bike lane. The 
utility box will be very visible for the many staff and visitors who use light rail to commute 
to City of Hope, in addition to the general public. A meter pedestal accompanies the utility 
box and a public sidewalk surrounds them.

Utility Box #3

• Located at the Northeast corner of Fasana Road and Highland Avenue.

• The theme chosen for this location is “Transportation.”

• This location is adjacent to the City’s light rail station, and across the street from 
the Duarte Station Specific Plan – the communi-ty’s transit-oriented neighborhood. A 344-
unit apartment building was completed in 2023, and a second, 292-unit, apartment build-
ing is slated to be completed by the end of 2024. Future uses ad-jacent to this box location 
may include additional mid-rise apart-ment buildings, mixed-use, and/or hospitality. This 
location is lo-cated at a “T” intersection and will be very visible to eastbound Fasana Road 
traffic. There is a meter pedestal with this utility box, but there is no sidewalk abutting 
them. A bike “sharrow” lane is located on both sides of Highland Avenue. 

Utility Box #4

• Located at the Southeast corner of Huntington Drive and Crest-field Drive.

• The theme for this chosen location is “Childhood.”

• This utility box is located on the public sidewalk, in front of the Maryvale Early 
Education Center along with the easterly segment of Huntington Drive. This location will 
be most visible to pedestri-ans and many of the commuters who take Huntington Drive for 
their evening commute. The utility box does not have a meter pedestal and is located within 
the public sidewalk.

All submissions must include a Utility Box Art Program application, original artwork, 
and both a 200-word maximum artist statement and artwork state-ment. In addition to 
these requirements, artists can also submit a resume and one to three examples of previous 
artwork. Submissions for locations with both a utility box and a meter pedestal must include 
designs for both boxes. 

Artists can submit up to two design proposals, but an artist can only have one submission 
chosen by the City. Artwork will be evaluated by the Arts Ad Hoc Committee and will 
recommend submissions to the City Council for final approval. If their work is selected, 
artists will be notified within one week of City Council approval. 

Selected artists will be paid a $750 stipend per each approved design chosen for those utility 
box locations that contain only a utility box. Selected artists will be provided an additional 
$200 stipend per each approved chosen design for locations that have both a utility box and 
a meter pedestal. The artist will not be responsible for installing vinyl wraps.

All submissions must be emailed, hand-delivered or mailed to the Communi-ty 
Development Department (1600 Huntington Drive) no later than July 8, 2024 at 6 PM. 
For more information on artwork requirements, artist eligibil-ity, project details, and 
application guidelines, please vis-it AccessDuarte.com/Utility-Box-Art-Program.

For more information on the Utility Box Art Program, please contact Jason Golding, 
Planning Manager at (626) 357-7931 ext. 231 or jgolding@accessduarte.com.


ARCADIA POLICE BLOTTER


For the period of Sunday, April 28th, through Saturday, May 4th, the 
Police Department responded to 979 calls for service of which 105 required 
formal investigations. The following is a summary report of some of the 
incidents handled by the Department during this period. 

Sunday, April 28:

1. At 1:35 a.m., an officer responded to the area of Colorado Boulevard and Old Ranch Road 
regarding a vehicle in lanes of traffic with hazard lights on. The vehicle was missing both front 
tires and had severe collision damage. Upon contacting the driver, the officer detected a strong 
odor of alcohol emitting from the driver. Through a series of tests, the officer determined the 
34-year-old female from Monrovia was driving under the influence of alcohol. She was arrested 
and transported to the Arcadia City Jail for booking.

Monday, April 29:

2. At 12:55 a.m., officers responded to a residence in the 400 block of Walnut Avenue regarding 
the report of a burglary. An investigation revealed several suspects stacked patio furniture and 
entered the home through a second story window. The suspects ransacked the home stealing a 
watch and the surveillance system. The suspects were seen leaving the scene in a white U-Haul 
cargo van. 

3. At 9:10 a.m., an officer responded to a residence in the 100 block of East Arthur Avenue 
regarding a vehicle vandalism report. The victim left his vehicle parked in the driveway of the 
residence overnight. He returned to his car in the morning and discovered that an unknown 
suspect smashed the front passenger side window. 

Tuesday, April 30:

4. At 3:52 p.m., officers responded to Arcadia High School, 180 Campus Drive, regarding 
an assault on two juveniles. The suspect exited his vehicle and began punching two teenage boys. 
After others intervened to stop the fight, the suspect got into his car and drove into one of the boys, 
striking him with the car. Both boys sustained minor injuries. The suspect fled the scene in a dark 
colored Toyota Highlander. An investigation by Arcadia Police Detectives led to the apprehension 
and arrest of the 42-year-old suspect from Arcadia. 

5. At 3:37 p.m., officers responded to the area of Live Oak Avenue and Second Avenue 
regarding the notification of a stolen vehicle in the area. Officers located the vehicle, occupied by a 
female driver with her small child in the rear seat, in the 600 block of Duarte Road. The driver was 
found to be in possession of methamphetamine. The driver called her girlfriend to take custody 
of her child and an investigation revealed the girlfriend had an outstanding warrant for her arrest. 
The child was released to a grandparent. The 30-year-old female from South El Monte and her 
34-year-old girlfriend from El Monte were arrested and transported to the Arcadia City Jail for 
booking.

Wednesday, May 1:

6. At 7:46 a.m., an officer responded to a residence in the 700 block of Fairview Avenue 
regarding a vandalism report. An unknown suspect used a pellet gun to shoot the victim’s sliding 
glass door. Three additional reports were taken. Employees at Rusnak, 101 North Santa Anita 
Avenue, reported the windows of three vehicles had been shattered by a pellet gun. Reports were 
taken at Starbucks, 300 East Huntington Drive, and O2 Karaoke, 1220 South Baldwin Avenue, 
where a pellet gun was used to shatter the front glass doors of the locations during nighttime hours. 

7. At 8:41 a.m., officers responded to a residence in the 1400 block of Carmelita Place 
regarding an audible alarm activation. Surveillance footage revealed three suspects walking onto 
the property. The suspects turned off power to the house and used a ladder to climb up to the 
second story where they broke the window to the master bedroom causing the alarm to sound. 
The suspects fled the scene in an unknown direction. They were described as male suspects with 
thin builds. Suspect One was wearing a black sweatshirt, black pants, a black baseball cap, black 
and white shoes, a black mask, and black gloves. Suspect Two was wearing a black sweatshirt, gray 
pants, a black and gray baseball cap, a black mask, and black shoes. Suspect Three was wearing a 
light blue shirt, black pants, a gray baseball cap, a black mask, black gloves, and tan shoes. 

Thursday, May 2:

8. At 3:53 p.m., officers responded to a residence in the 2000 block of South Sixth Avenue 
regarding a burglary report. Surveillance footage captured the suspect entering the home by 
smashing a sliding glass door before ransacking the home. The property loss was unknown at the 
time of the report due to the homeowner being out of the country. 

9. At 4:56 p.m., officers responded to The Shops at Santa Anita, 400 South Baldwin Avenue, 
regarding a fight in progress. The fight ensued after two drivers were involved in a road rage 
incident. Four suspects exited one car and began hitting the victim. A 16-year-old male from 
Covina, a 16-year-old male from Pasadena, a 16-year-old male from Azusa, and a 19-year-old male 
from Azusa were arrested and transported to the Arcadia City Jail for booking.

10. At 6:56 p.m., officers responded to the 1100 block of Encanto Drive regarding a burglary 
that had just occurred. The resident was in her bedroom when she heard a loud crashing sound. 
Two suspects smashed her sliding glass door. After seeing the resident, the suspects fled the scene 
by jumping the fence in the rear yard. The suspects were described as adult males approximately 
20 to 30-years old, five feet nine inches tall, with dark hair. 

 

Friday, May 3:

11. At 12:08 p.m., an officer recognized a burglary suspect while patrolling the area of Live 
Oak Avenue and Mayflower Avenue. The suspect had two outstanding warrants for his arrest. The 
44-year-old male from Duarte was arrested and transported to the Arcadia City Jail for booking.

Saturday, May 4:

12. At 4:10 a.m., officers responded to Miltry Pharmacy, 145 East Duarte Road, regarding a 
burglary in progress. The suspect driving a stolen gray sedan, drove into the rear of the business. 
The suspect entered the pharmacy and stole a bottle of prescription drugs before fleeing the scene 
in his vehicle. An investigation by Arcadia Police Detectives led to the arrest of a 22-year-old male 
from Los Angeles. 


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com