The dedication of the grant-financed "Pillars of Community" public artwork at the Lakewood Civic Center is the capstone of a year of special community events celebrating the city's fiftieth anniversary. The "Pillars of Community" honors the values of the men and women who will always be "Legends of Lakewood."
Named “Pillars of Community,” the 11-foot-high, frosted glass and stainless steel pillars honor past community leaders. They were designed by the noted Los Angeles artist, Cheri Gaulke. She is best known for her work with the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s Pasadena Gold Line “art in public places” project.
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You can read the account of Lakewood’s history, its community traditions, and the neighborhood values that sustain the city’s quality of life today in online excerpts of the recently published book on the city's history:
"Tomorrow’s Lakewood will be the community its residents are building today. Or it will be the Lakewood they’ve accepted by default. Nothing about living in Lakewood forces residents to join in the work of giving Lakewood a sense of place. And nothing except vigilance will protect Lakewood from a dysfunctional state government."
From "The Lakewood Story: History, Traditions, Values" Chapter 12
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Learn more about the Lakewood Story book, DVD and streaming media
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You can read the account of Lakewood’s history, its community traditions, and the neighborhood values that sustain the city’s quality of life today in online excerpts of the recently published book on the city's history:
“Struggling to maintain local autonomy, Lakewood entered the twenty-first century with its neighborhoods, values, and optimism largely intact. The city, however, faced troubling questions about the viability of the ‘Lakewood Plan’ and new challenges to the city’s quality of life.”
From "The Lakewood Story: History, Traditions, Values" Chapter 11
Read the chapter in PDF
Learn more about the Lakewood Story book, DVD and streaming media
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You can read the account of Lakewood’s history, its community traditions, and the neighborhood values that sustain the city’s quality of life today in online excerpts of the recently published book on the city's history:
"Lakewood had little tolerance for anxious self-regard and raking over the past during its first fifty years. Lakewood always looked to the future – and found it by seeing ‘tomorrow’ realized in ordinary lives and everyday neighborhoods."
From "The Lakewood Story: History, Traditions, Values" Chapter 10
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Learn more about the Lakewood Story book, DVD and streaming media
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In part one, John S. Todd told his own story of the years between 1949 and 1954 when Lakewood went from empty fields to booming city and from unincorporated county territory to a thriving municipality of more than 70,000 residents. Part one ended with a grateful city council conferring on Todd the title of City Attorney and entrusting to him the delicate task of framing the laws and policies that govern civic life even today.
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You can read the account of Lakewood’s history, its community traditions, and the neighborhood values that sustain the city’s quality of life today in online excerpts of the recently published book on the city's history:
"Public safety – primarily through the city’s pioneering law enforcement contract with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department – is a core Lakewood value, best expressed by the enthusiasm with which residents have adopted ‘community-based policing” and Lakewood’s neighborhood-based crime prevention programs."
From "The Lakewood Story: History, Traditions, Values" Chapter 9
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Learn more about the Lakewood Story book, DVD and streaming media
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In 1969, City Attorney John S. Todd looked back at the momentous events of 1949-1954 and told the thrilling story of Lakewood’s struggle for independence. His account is the only history of Lakewood’s first years written by one who was there, in the thick of the fight, to make Lakewood a city.
Todd’s first-person history is an invaluable source of information about the making of Lakewood and the politics of cityhood. It’s also the story of one man’s vision for the future of a community that he helped to build.
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You can read the account of Lakewood’s history, its community traditions, and the neighborhood values that sustain the city’s quality of life today in online excerpts of the recently published book on the city's history:
"John S. Todd’s pioneering model for city services shocked the staid world of local government in 1954. The effects have rippled throughout California, and today, more than a quarter of all California cities are Lakewood Plan cities... The plan’s success, however, led to harsh criticism, and some state legislators now want to limit the Lakewood Plan."
From "The Lakewood Story: History, Traditions, Values" Chapter 8
Read the chapter in PDF
Learn more about the Lakewood Story book, DVD and streaming media
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You can read the account of Lakewood’s history, its community traditions, and the neighborhood values that sustain the city’s quality of life today in online excerpts of the recently published book on the city's history:
“Much of Lakewood changed form 1954 to 2004, from the size of the city’s regional shopping center – one of the first in the nation – to Census Bureau’s count of Lakewood households… A changing Lakewood never lost site of the point of it all – preserving neighborhoods for today’s homeowners and the next generation of eager new residents.”
From "The Lakewood Story: History, Traditions, Values" Chapter 7
Read the chapter in PDF
Learn more about the Lakewood Story book, DVD and streaming media
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The Lakewood Story is a large-format book with 218 pages, many of them with photographs. This unique “trade” paperback contains many historical photographs and was written through a grant from the Weingart Foundation. It is an account of Lakewood’s history, its community traditions, and the neighborhood values that sustain the city’s quality of life today.
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Lakewood's has roots deep in the history of southern California. In the special section that follows, you can trace those roots from the Spanish land grant that once included Lakewood, through the era of Mexican California, to the days of the Bixby Family and the Montana Land Company.
With the coming of the post-World Ware II building boom, Lakewood went from fields to homes. The result was a community of more than 17,000 households staking their claim in the American dream.
By 1954, that dream included the formation of a new and innovative city.
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Lakewood's story extends from early encounters with Native Americans to today's modern city. Woven into the story are the dramatic changes that turned farmland into housing tracts and transformed southern California.
Lakewood's past, present, and future continue to illustrate the dynamic evolution of the region's suburban communities.
(This brief history is intended for participants in "The Write Stuff" and "Take Your Place in History" essay programs.)
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Lakewood history and the roles of key Lakewood civic leaders are explored in this text version of a new CityTV cable channel 31 video documentary.
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Lakewood history and the roles of key Lakewood civic leaders are explored in this text version of a new CityTV cable channel 31 video documentary.
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The City of Lakewood is peppered with distinct names of those who helped create and shape "tomorrow's city today."
So, who was Mae Boyar or Angelo Iacoboni? How about Simon Bolivar? And, why are there so many facilities named after Ben Weingart?
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