Related Articles
History of Claremont
By City of Claremont, 2025
Much of what Claremont is today is the direct result of actions taken by the community's founders more than 100 years ago. Trees planted at the turn of the century now compete with nearby mountain peaks for dominance of the local skyline. The Claremont Colleges have become some of the nation's most highly respected educational and cultural institutions. The historic central …
Claremont Heritage exhibits “Stories of the East and West Barrios”
By Peter Dien and Carter Soe, October 12th, 2023
Today, the city of Claremont is defined by its colorful and quaint community: boutique shops, Sunday farmers markets and a slew of activities catered both to residents and 5C students. However, the city wasn’t always what it looks like now. Prior to the establishment of the Claremont Colleges, the city originally housed a small community of Mexican Americans who resided in the East and West barrio neighborhoods …
The Arbol Verde Preservation Committee: 50 years on
by Al Villanueva, June 27th, 2023
The history of Claremont is riddled with systemic racism and racially restrictive covenants. In the early 1900s, Mexican indigenous pioneers escaping the Mexican Revolution settled in the east barrio, known as “tierra de nadie.”
In 1965, the Mexican American community known as the “sleeping giant” woke up and the El Barrio Park committee was established by barrio Chicano activist, Al Villanueva, to pressure the Claremont City Council to build a city park for …
El Barrio Park, a unifying force for 50 years
By Steven Felschundneff, August 23rd, 2022
Legend has it the idea to build a park in Claremont’s traditionally Hispanic Arbol Verde neighborhood was hammered out after one too many beers at the Midway Inn on Foothill Boulevard. That makes for a great story.
And that’s exactly how it all went down, according to Al Villanueva, one of the three young men who spearheaded the effort in the summer of 1969 …
Athenaeum Talk Recalls CMC’s Destruction of Nearby Mexican Neighborhood
By Christine Lin, April 6, 2018
Seventy years ago, Arbol Verde was a vibrant Mexican-American neighborhood on the eastern edge of Claremont. Today, about 80 percent of the homes there are owned by Claremont McKenna College, most of which house college faculty and staff. The CMC parking lot and Biszantz Family tennis courts sit in other parts of the former neighborhood. Arbol Verde is bordered to the north …
“El Barrio” Residents Share Neighborhood Memories, Stories
By Janet Ma, April 29, 2011
Julia Gomez Salazar still remembers a time in Claremont when Mexican and white children were segregated, the colleges were all dry campuses, and Claremont Blvd was just a long stretch of brush.
Born in Claremont in 1923, Salazar has lived all her life in “El Barrio”—officially know as the Arbol Verde neighborhood …
Long-Time Residents Feel Impact of College Expansion
By Janet Ma, April 14, 2011
Margaret Ramirez Dean, 77, has lived in the house her father built off of Claremont Blvd. and 6th Street since she was 10 years old. Now residing with her husband and daughter, Dean speaks fondly of her house as a home full of rich and happy memories. So when she received not one, but two, letters from Claremont McKenna College (CMC) several years ago expressing interest in …