Pacific Boulevard

Pacific Boulevard is a street and principal commercial thoroughfare in the city of Huntington Park, California. It runs from Vernon and Santa Fe Avenues in Vernon to Cudahy Street in Walnut Park before changing to Long Beach Boulevard. The Pacific Boulevard commercial district is the third highest grossing commercial district in the County of Los Angeles. The Christmas Lane Parade, seen in millions of homes via television throughout the United States and parts of Europe, has run down Pacific Boulevard since 1946. As many as 300,000 people attend the annual Carnaval Primavera (Spring Carnival) held on Pacific Boulevard each year. Pacific Boulevard is well known to Latino residents of the L.A. area, and a magnet for commerce, culture, and night life.

Pacific Boulevard represents a "Hispanic Mecca" for shopping, culture, and people watching. The area offers a variety of shopping options and features several national and regional tenants such as Bank of America, Chase Bank, AT&T, T-Mobile, Daniel's Jewelers, JC Penny, Foot Locker, El Gallo Giro, Don Roberto Jewelers, 3 Hermanos and Tierra Mia Coffee. Pacific Boulevard also has numerous independent clothing and specialty stores that offer products for special occasions such as baptisms, first communions, quinceañeras, formal events and weddings. (Id.) Several bars and restaurants feature live music and entertainment in the evenings.

Pacific Boulevard is a common location for remote broadcasts from local Spanish-language media stations. Television stations often profile successful businesses and popular festivals that attract hundreds of thousands of people, bringing national attention to the area.(Id.) The Pacific Blvd. commercial area is arguably the most important area to the city because of the tax revenue it generates and the significant amount of employment available for residents. It is the center of the city’s business improvement district (B.I.D.), an organization established in 1995 to focus on community and business revitalization efforts vis-à-vis the commercial business sector.(Id.)

A New York Times article observed that Pacific Boulevard was once, "the apotheosis of the postwar California dream, an all-white working-class Beverly Hills with swank department stores, auto dealerships and first-run cinemas." To its residents, it was an idyllic spot: "Pacific Boulevard in Huntington Park was truly magical for me, with Christmas decorations stretched across the wide boulevard, decorated store windows and the Christmas parade on Pacific."

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