More about Cerritos California

The city of Cerritos, formally incorporated April 24, 1956, was originally known as Dairy Valley and is the home to an estimated 55,074 residents as of 2005. When the land that is now California was first built on by the Spanish, one soldier, Jose Manuel Nieto, was granted a plot of land covering about 300,000 acres by the king of Spain Carlos III. Nieto named the land Rancho Los Nietos, and the land covered what is today Cerritos, Long Beach, Norwalk, Downey, Lakewood, Santa Fe Springs and part of Huntington Beach, Whittier, Buena Park and Garden Grove. The area where Cerritos is, was inherited by Nieto’s son Juan Jose who named the land Rancho Los Coyotes. The cities original name, The City of Dairy Valley was a reflection of the more than 400 dairy farms, 100,000 cows and 106,300 chickens residing within the city limits. The cows at the time outnumbered the human residents 29 to 1. At the peak of its production, Cerritos produced more dairy than any other city in the country, even Wisconsin. The city started moving toward a more planned suburban feel after a special election in July, 1963, in which the residents voted to allow large-scale residential development. Not long after, in January, 1967, the city officially changed its name to Cerritos after the nearby Spanish land grant Rancho Los Cerritos. Between 1970 and 1972, Cerritos was the fastest growing city in all of California, experiencing a population boom of 16,000 to 38,000 in those two years. Since the 1980s Cerritos has attracted a large number of Korean, Filipino, and Chinese immigrant families, but the majority of residents are White, making up 26.9 % of the cities population. The city recently celebrated its golden anniversary in 2002, rededicating its library and unveiling a sculpture garden and having memorial ceremonies. Cerritos owes most of the cities income to three major centers: Cerritos Auto Square which houses all the auto-dealers for the city in one 3-block square. The center generates $1.1 billion in revenue for the city each year, it also provides half of the sales tax revenue for the city. The second revenue center is the Los Cerritos Center, an integral source of retail tax revenue for the city. Finally, the city receives revenue from the Cerritos Town Center, a power center combining retail, office, hotel and entertainment in one place.