Neighborhood Spotlight: Pacoima's lackluster is hiding some bargains

"One such speculator was Jouett Allen, a Southerner and lawyer who bought 1,000 acres of land between two of the washes that funnel the runoff from the Santa Susana Mountains into the Los Angeles River. He kept 500 of those acres for his own use; in 1887 the other 500 became the site of a town he founded along the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks."

"Allen envisioned a wealthy enclave of gentlemen farmers, so he set $2,000 minimums for the cost of new houses, built concrete sidewalks and curbs (the first in the Valley) and installed a rudimentary water system in an effort to attract them to his fledgling town."

"As one of the only neighborhoods in the Valley without racially discriminatory housing covenants, it became home to Angelenos who could not live elsewhere in the city. First Japanese immigrants, then newcomers from Mexico, and, after World War II, African Americans, made their way to Pacoima."

Pacoima originated from Rancho Ex-Mission San Fernando during Mexico's control of former Spanish territories. In the late 1800s land boom, speculator Jouett Allen purchased 1,000 acres between two washes near the Santa Susana Mountains and founded the town in 1887 along Southern Pacific Railroad tracks. Allen named it Pacoima, claiming it meant "rushing waters" in Gabrielino. He envisioned a wealthy gentleman farmer community with $2,000 minimum house costs, concrete sidewalks, and a water system. The boom collapsed and floods devastated the town in 1891. For 50 years Pacoima remained semirural. Unlike other Valley neighborhoods with racial housing covenants, Pacoima attracted Japanese immigrants, Mexican newcomers, and African Americans seeking homes elsewhere denied to them.

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