Industry, CA

Most of the eastern San Gabriel Valley passes through Industry at some point in the week, whether for a warehouse shift, a dim sum lunch or a Saturday grocery run. The character changes a lot from end to end. The middle, around Hacienda Boulevard, mixes truck yards with fast food and a supermarket or two. The eastern end, where Gale Avenue and Colima Road meet the freeway, turns into a dense dining and shopping district, lined with Taiwanese, Cantonese and Sichuan restaurants, hot pot rooms and dessert shops. Housing barely registers. The city holds only a few dozen homes, so anyone who says they live in Industry usually means a house in one of the unincorporated communities or cities around it, with this city as their workplace, their shopping center and their dinner spot. Green space comes in a few forms. Industry Hills Golf Club at Pacific Palms Resort climbs a hillside with fairways and valley views, and the Schabarum Trail heads up into the Puente Hills for longer hikes. Down on the flats, the Workman and Temple homestead museum keeps an old family estate open for free tours. Food is the reason most visitors come. JJ Bakery and Cafe in the big Gale Avenue plaza turns out Taiwanese breads and cakes, and the same strip fills up at night with noodle houses and shabu shabu. It works as the shared downtown for a ring of residential communities, and it empties out every evening once the last dinner rush clears.