The Art of Cooking In Huntington Park

     St. Matthias Catholic Church was founded in 1913 in the city of Huntington Park. Its ornate, original building, designed by architect Albert Carey Martin, is located at 3095 E. Florence Avenue, where the Church still stands and operates.

 

 

The Church’s demographics have grown and changed along with the city’s. Huntington Park was named after Southern California industrialist Henry Huntiington in 1902. The name was a tactic by a group of tract owners hoping to encourage Huntington to extend his Pacific Electric Railway through the area - he did! The city officially incorporated a few years later, with a large number of  thewhite, working class residents employed at factories in nearby Vernon. By the 1970s, Huntington Park was home to a growing population of Central and South American immigrants with over 97% of the population identifying as Hispanic of Latino in the most recent census. 

 

Today the Church holds primarily Spanish-language services and serves a vibrant community and also offers a K-8 school.