Irwindale lies to the west, as well as the unincorporated area of Vincent, and the city of Baldwin Park.

In the 18th century it became part of Rancho La Puente in Alta California, a 1770s Spanish colonial and 1842 Mexican land grant.

The city of Covina was founded in 1882 by Joseph Swift Phillips, on a 2,000-acre (8.1 km2) tract that was purchased from the holdings of John Edward Hollenbeck, one of the 1842 grantees of Rancho La Puente.

The City of Covina was named by a young engineer, Frederick Eaton, who was hired by Phillips to survey the area.

Impressed by the way that the valleys of the adjacent San Gabriel Mountains formed a natural cove around the vineyards that had been planted by the region's earlier pioneers, Eaton merged the words "cove" and "vine", and in 1885, created the name Covina for the new township.

Since World War II, however, the orange groves have been largely replaced by single-family (houses) and multiple-family (apartments) dwellings.

[8] Opened in 1997, the Covina AMC 30 located at Arrow Highway and Azusa Avenue is one of the busiest theatres in the United States.

A replica of a giant stone Olmec head, located in a place of honor in Parque Xalapa, was given to the city in 1989 by the state of Veracruz.

The statue was later moved from its location in front of the police department to Jalapa Park in the southeast portion of the city.

Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, dressed in a Santa Claus costume, entered a Christmas party at his ex-wife's residence and opened fire.

After the shootings, Pardo unwrapped a Christmas package containing a homemade flamethrower and used it to set the home ablaze.

After the massacre, Pardo drove his rental car to his brother's house in Sylmar, approximately 30 miles (48 km) away from the attack.

[12] The Southern Pacific Railroad, which reached Covina in 1884, and the Metrolink San Bernardino Line pass through the city just north of the downtown area.

[12] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 7.0 square miles (18 km2)—99.78% of it is land and 0.22% of it is water.

According to the 2010 United States Census, Covina had a median household income of $66,726, with 11.3% of the population living below the federal poverty line.

[37] An additional 31,072 residents live in zip codes associated with Covina but outside the city limits, making the total Covina-area population 78,868 at the time of the 2010 census.

[12] An additional 30,000 residents live in unincorporated areas of the three zip codes associated with Covina but outside the city limits, making the total Covina-area population 76,417.

A downtown Covina malt shop was named the Sugar Bowl (with the permission of the artist Carl Eds), imitating the after-school gathering place in the comic strip.