How could I find out the history of my city (south gate) or either the street
CA 90280

Go to your public library and the city/county historical museum. Often, a book has been written by a former resident about a city or village. Be sure to talk to a reference librarian who will know how to find more things in hidden corners.

Our library has much information about the village we are in, and the village historical museum keeps files about each street and even the history of each house. Old photos are usually part of the files.

The South Gate area was inhabited by the Gabrielino/Tongva Indians before development by Spanish ranchers.

South Gate developed during the 1920s and 1930s as an industrial city (primarily in "metal-bashing" industries) and its blue-collar community was predominantly non-Hispanic white.[22] During the 1940s and 1950s, South Gate was one of the most fiercely segregationist cities in Southern California; gangs of white youths were known to prowl the streets looking for blacks who dared to cross over from neighboring Watts. One of the most infamous clubs of the area at that time was the Spook Hunters.

After the Watts Riots in 1965, many young non-Hispanic white families began to flee South Gate for other areas.

Since the 1970s, South Gate has had a large Hispanic community, which became dominant in the 1990s as working-class Hispanics and immigrant Latin American families filled the vacuum left by white flight.

South Gate, California - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Gate,_California)

Also check out
Community History in Words and Pictures: South Gate (http://www.colapublib.org/history/southgate/)

The History Of South Gate (http://www.sogate.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/DetailGroup/navid/34/cid/66/)