Brea

City, Orange County

© McCormack's Guides

 

Zip Codes: 92821, 92822, 92823

North county suburb with many businesses. Upscale, pretty. Located for most part in a shallow bowl-like valley. Famous among city planners for the way it overhauled and revived its downtown. Still building homes, many of them in its eastern hills. www.mccormacks.com

Brea requires developers to spend one percent of their construction costs on public art. Over 140 pieces, mostly sculptures, are scattered around town and in front of businesses.

School rankings in 80th and 90th percentiles.

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Population 40,081. Median age about 36 years. Under 21 make up 29 percent of residents. Family town, fair number of kids.

Good mix of homes and shops. Sears, Macys, Nordstrom, Penneys, Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Borders books and other large discount stores located east and west of Highway 57. Warehouses and light industry away from homes.

Low crime. One homicide in 2005, zero from 1998 to 2004, two in 1997, two in 1996, zero in 1995. See Crime. www.mccormacks.com

The state in 2008 counted 14,581 housing units, of which 8,499 were single detached, 1,095 single attached, 4,117 multiples and 870 mobile homes. The census put owner-occupied units at 64 percent, renter 36 percent.

“Brea” means tar in Spanish, black goo that oozed out of the hills and suggested the presence of oil. Brea got its first boom in 1898 when oil wells sprouted and in 1917 the town incorporated as a city.

Over the next 45 to 50 years, Brea slowly added residents and by 1950 the population stood at 3,208. Then the suburban boom came, boosting the population to 8,487 in 1960, and in successive decades to 18,447 and 27,913, and in 1990 to 32,952.

Since then, slow but steady growth and concerns about too much development, especially in east hills which are seeing new tracts. Environmental groups are trying to buy the hills and leave them in open space but a fair amount of housing is expected, especially on lands controlled by the county and by the City of Diamond Bar.

A lot of Brea’s housing stock is fairly new and built to modern suburban designs and standards. When you drive the tracts, you’ll find little parks and trails and benches and occasionally tennis courts. Utility lines are buried. In the older tracts, the lines travel above ground at the rear of homes. www.mccormacks.com

Walls shield the tracts from arterial streets and noise. The homes, townhouses and apartments are well cared for. Lawns mowed, shrubs trimmed. Little or no graffiti. No forests but many trees. The newer homes and apartments favor tile roofs. Many homes are two story. Some townhouse complexes have security gates.

The old downtown, Brea Avenue, south of Imperial Highway, has rundown housing but not much. And this little translates into housing for people of limited means.

Moving just a block or two away from the downtown, the housing changes to middle-class tract, well maintained. East of downtown, you will find charming blocks that use variation of row-house models.

Brea is one of the few suburban towns in California that can be called imaginative. Civic and government leaders have worked to make the downtown and bordering neighborhoods not only livable but also enjoyable.

Downtown was placed in redevelopment (a tax to raise improvement funds). Two movie palaces were converted into multi-screen complexes but kept their Hollywood glitter. Cottages were renovated and apartments opened on top of businesses. www.mccormacks.com

Farmers market. Old Navy. Rite-Aid, supermarket, public garages. Japanese, Italian, Mexican, Greek restaurants. Area called Birch Street Promenade.

Brea “cherry-stems” into Carbon Canyon, at the end of which you’ll find custom and upscale tract homes. About two dozen pumps are dipping up and down and scooping the black gold out of the hills. Many commuters use Carbon Canyon Road as a short cut to San Bernardino County, which irritates some residents.

In 2007 work was underway on 795 homes in the hills above Brea (near Tonner Canyon). The project is called Pepper Tree Hills.

Cities like malls and (clean) industries because local jobs mean short commutes, less pollution and higher tax revenues to pay for parks, recreation, and more. Brea has done unusually well in attracting businesses. The city is about halfway between John Wayne Airport and Ontario Airport and close to L.A., Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Fourteen parks, cultural center, three golf courses, municipal plunge (large pool, wading pool), historic museum, community centers, skate park, three regional parks, library, movies, bookstores. Senior center. Scout center. Boys and Girls Club (which is being improved). Little theater, light opera. Schools do double duty as parks and playgrounds. www.mccormacks.com

Typical sports, baseball, soccer, etc. California State University and a community college are located in neighboring Fullerton. Town encourages family events: concerts in park, Family Fun Fridays (events, games), community service. Brea Fest features food from local restaurants and raises money for arts.

Highway 57 bisects town and connects to other freeways. Typical commute hassle, especially for those traveling to L.A, about a 30-mile drive. Arterials crisscross the town, helping internal traffic get around. Endurable drive to Ontario Airport.

Chamber of commerce (714) 529-4938.

• Garbage dump in the east hills, off of Valencia Avenue.

• Some neighborhoods tax themselves for streetlights and landscaping.

• Union Oil used to have offices and facilities in town. The land is being turned to about 1,300 housing units, restaurants and shops. Plans are under review. www.mccormacks.com

• Brea is purchasing a small number of apartments, fixing them up, and turning them over to a non-profit group that will rent them at subsidized prices. The city also requires developers to sell a small percentage of new homes at “affordable” prices.

• In 2006, Sunset Magazine, citing Brea’s improvements in its downtown, pronounced the town one of the five best places to live in the Western states.

• City and school district are building a sports park and school on 39 acres at Valencia Avenue and Birch Street. Construction on the park (26 acres) started in 2007 — four ball fields, parking and a trail.

City web site: www.ci.brea.ca.us