Getting to Know Glendora
How Glendora Sits
Glendora is an independent city at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains, in the eastern San Gabriel Valley, about 27 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It covers nearly 20 square miles and holds about 52,500 residents, which keeps its density moderate, since the city stretches from the valley floor up into the foothills. Because it is its own city, Glendora sets its own rules on truck parking, oversized vehicles, and permits, separate from the City of Los Angeles. The 210 and 57 freeways meet at the city, and Route 66 runs through it along Foothill Boulevard, with Glendora Avenue and Grand Avenue among the other main routes. Glendora borders San Dimas to the east, Covina and the unincorporated Charter Oak area to the south, Azusa to the west, and the national forest foothills to the north.
The city is mostly residential and family-oriented, with a downtown, the Glendora Village, that is regularly named one of the best in the San Gabriel Valley. The housing ranges from historic Queen Annes and Victorian homes and early bungalows near the Village to postwar ranch homes on the valley floor and larger houses in the northern foothills. Glendora is known for its leafy streets, its strong schools, and its setting against the mountains, which is why it carries the nickname the Pride of the Foothills. The foothill location also brings Santa Ana winds and a wildfire season that the city plans around each year.
From Citrus Glen to a Foothill City
The land sat at the base of the mountains, home to the Tongva people, before the railroad land boom of the 1880s reached the valley. In 1887, George D. Whitcomb, a locomotive manufacturer who had moved west from the Midwest, laid out a townsite on 300 acres at the foot of the San Gabriels and sold all 300 lots on the first day. He named it Glendora, joining the word glen with his wife’s name, Leadora. A Pacific Electric Railway line reached the town in 1907, linking it directly to downtown Los Angeles, and Glendora incorporated as a city in 1911.
For the first half of the twentieth century, Glendora was citrus country, and by 1947, more than 5,000 acres of orange and lemon orchards surrounded the town, with packing houses shipping tens of thousands of tons of fruit a year. The postwar decades turned the orchards into neighborhoods as families moved to the foothills, and the downtown was preserved rather than razed, keeping its old opera house, train depot, and theater in new uses. Today, Glendora keeps that small-town, historic character even as it has grown into a city of more than fifty thousand at the eastern edge of the valley.
What a Glendora Move Really Involves
Glendora runs its own affairs, so the rules that shape a move come from the city, not from Los Angeles. For larger moves, the city grants temporary no-parking permits to hold curb space at the address, which we organize and post in advance. On the older streets near the Village and the winding foothill roads, where parking can be limited, that reserved space keeps a truck close to the door.
The terrain is the local factor that sets a Glendora move apart. The northern foothill neighborhoods have streets that climb and curve, with homes set above the road behind steep or winding drives. So we plan the truck size and the approach, and allow for a longer carry. The valley-floor neighborhoods are flatter but older, with historic homes near the Village that bring narrow doorways, original staircases, and finishes worth protecting. We bring the wrapping and protection to handle either one cleanly.
The 210 and 57 freeways meet at the city, and the main boulevards can be busy, so we plan the route and the timing to work around the traffic. We sort out the permit, the access, and the truck size ahead of move day, so nothing holds up the job once the crew is on site.